El Rancherito

Decent food. Make sure you order off the menu and not the buffet. Friendly staff and quick service

The dining area is decked out in Mexican style and perhaps a bit overdone. There is plenty of seating, a good amount of space between the seats so you don’t feel jammed and from where I sat, the place was clean.
The wait staff are very friendly and tentative. As for the menu; I didn’t see anything unique, but it does cover the usual items one would expect to see at a Mexican restaurant in the US.
I’ll admit, I did do my homework before coming here and under normal circumstances, considering many of my fellow Unilocalers have given poor ratings I would not have come here. But, considering Effingham does not have many Mexican Restaurants, I thought it was to check it out for myself.
I kept the order rather simple, but even that, the chicken came out overly cooked on a greasy griddle. The beans and rice were also very bland. The meal was so poor in quality that I didn’t even bother finishing, paid my bill and left.
Clearly I will not be coming back here again. More importantly, I would encourage everyone to stay away and if your in the mood for Mexican, then I would suggest going to Don Pedro’s which is by far a much better experience !

This place is amazing! Great food, great atmosphere. Every chair, table and booth is a piece of art. Servers are attentive and accommodating, but not constantly pestering you. The Mocajete, steak, chicken, shrimp, fajita veggies and a tasty sauce sizzling in a hot stone bowl straight from the oven is my favorite dish. Comes with tortillas, guac, sour cream, Pico de gallo, rice etc. I have also had the seafood Mocajete which is equally tasty. It’s tough deciding which to order, but not a tough decision on what restaurant to choose. El Rancherito is one place I never miss on my trips to Effingham.

The food was just ok. I had chicken enchiladas, taco, and rice. The food was lukewarm and bland. The salsa was good. Our table and silverware were dirty, I can honestly say I won’t return.

Actually I thought this place was quite good. Beans and rice, Salsa were good. Chicken was grilled and marinated well as was the steak.
Not a taco bell if that’s what your looking for… yeeecchhh to that btw. I’ve eaten at Mexican places across the states and this was fine. Especially for Illinois !!!

Pretty standard mexican food, nothing too special. I’ve seen cleaner bathrooms at gas stations.

My wife drags me here every so often. I can’t stand it. She seems to enjoy it though (she also considers taco bell Mexican cousine…). I can’t name a singular bad experience but I know that I never look forward to going here. If you want some real Mexican food head over to don pedros. you can watch them make your food and it is delicious.

Not a good experience. No customer service AT ALL. You wait forever for a waiter, then they never come back to check on you. We watched other tables and waiters and we all got the same non-​attention. Heck, we had to stop him to get our check. Oh! Our «combination» fajitas reminded us of that frozen stuff that you just pour out of a bag and warm up. The tortillas are not fresh made. Just because you have a bunch of Mexicans working there, doesn’t make it authentic Mexican food. Don’t do it. SMH

This is by far the worst Mexican restaurant that I have ever eaten at. Enchiladas were stone dry. The soft shell taco was inedible as was the salsa. Taco Bell has much better hard shell tacos. In short, don’t waste your money.

Nothing fancy, but good stuff overall. We stopped there on our way cross country from New York City and enjoyed our meal, the server, the interior. I had the pork guizada and my husband had the shrimp diablo dish. Generous portions and good flavor on both.

I’ve been enjoying «the ranch» ever since it opened in the 90’s. They have great Mexican food and I am blown away by how quickly the food is ready. While I don’t live in the Effingham area anymore, I make a visit here every time I visit.

A guide to rancherito:
1. Do you like waiting 20 minutes to get your drink and another 10 to order?
2. Do you expect to take into account the time required to grow lettuce and slaughter your meat when you eat out?
3. Do you wish your fajitas to come out stone cold with no tortillas while your family waits another 15 for theirs?
4. Do you find yourself wondering what the contents of your stomach look like after eating?
Yeah, didn’t think so. So there’s your guide to El Rancherito. Just don’t.

We stopped here for dinner during a trip. Looked for Mexican and let the GPS take us to what was close to the freeway.
We didn’t want to eat anything with meat and were happy to see that there was a vegetarian section to their menu. I had the veggie fajitas which were pretty good. My wife enjoyed her meal as well. Sides were alright but nothing to rave about. Service was okay. We didn’t have any of the negative experiences the previous reviewers have had.

My bf & I went here for lunch over the weekend. He said that many people hate this place. I totally understand why. My pork tacos came out wrong. I ordered them with just the pork & nothing else. It came with lettuce, which gives me GI problems. The taco shells were clearly old. The pork had way too much oil. If I’m not mistaken, the tacos were supposed to come with sides which it didn’t. The guacamole dip didn’t have the usual kick to it. The salsa was okay. My poor bf ended up taking a couple of trips to the porcelain goddess. He ordered the beef fajitas. The server wasn’t really helpful & didn’t refill our chips.

Despite introducing me to the addiction I know have for mexican I am leary to ever eat here again. They have been shut down on a couple of different occasions. Most recently a case of Ecoli. Before I have heard cockroaches and even rats.