El Chico

Story Rd/​Hwy 183 in Irvng CLOSED as of August 2015.
We got a coupon listing this location… they are widening the Frwy road in that area and have been for about 10 months, not sure if that is the reason THEY ARE CLOSED IN IRVING ?!
I read another review posted about the queso being «milky-​watered down» I recall this on my visit to NRHills El Chico as well. Poor quality and overpriced «tableside guac» using garlic powder and no cilantro @8.50 $ —C’mon!
In general, the Lunch Menu price and value is good but Flavor and Taste are «blah-​to-​decent».
Agreed with other reviews on poor wait-​time turnaround at Lunch peak hours.
This Review is not Based on Irving location!!! (NRHills)
THE LOCATION IN IRVING IS CLOSED
as of Aug 2015 !!!@@@

Absolutely disgusting and the place is filthy. Never again!

Dirty plate, dirty knife, brown guacamole and an entrée that was inedible. At least we didn’t have to pay for the entrée that was sent back, but no one even said they were sorry — no manager in sight.
All I wanted was a simple plate of chicken enchiladas — this place couldn’t even come close to delivering. By the way chicken enchiladas aren’t even on the menu here any more!

This place has gone WAY down hill over the years. I wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy.
I went there today, and the food was bland. The chips they bring you are just horrid tasting.
The waitress I had was named Tiffany. If you make the mistake of going to this place, DO NOT LET Tiffany wait on you! She’s an idiot and a rip-​off artist.
First off, they had half off fajitas. Or, so they claimed. I asked Tiffany if the fajitas were half price today. She said yes. So, I said I want the fajitas then. My brother said he would have fajitas as well.
Much, much later on (it took them forever to cook fajitas), she brings us two massive orders of fajitas and four plates of rice and beans. I was like, «why so many orders of rice and beans?» She tells me that its because we both ordered the double portion fajitas cause that’s what was half price.
I was like ok what ever. She sends the manager over, and the manager asked how we were doing, and then was going to run off like nothing happened. We explained the situation, and the manager says, «well the double portion fajitas IS half price.» I had to explain to this idiot of a manager that we didn’t order double portion fajitas. We ordered two single portion fajitas.
So, the manager agrees to take on of the orders off the bill.
Ok, so back to the fact that Tiffany (our waitress) is a rip-​off artist. I heard her telling a couple at another table that her mother died when she was young, her dad died shortly there after, and she just found out she is six weeks pregnant. She told them that as she handed them their bill.
Then it comes time for our bill. She brings the bill. I check to make sure one of the fajitas was taken off the bill, and it had been taken off. I gave Tiffany my credit card, and she went to charge it.
She comes back with a bill, and says that they just changed to a new system, and it won’t let her do my charge with out her putting in a tip amount. I laughed and said, just put $ 5 on it. She then proceeds to tell me the system won’t let her put a dollar amount for tip, that I have to choose between one of the there percentages shown on the bill. She starts pointing out the 20% tip amount, and asking me if I noticed they took one of the fajitas orders off the bill.
I told her to go ask another waiter to help her with the machine. She comes back with a bill like normal where I can write in my tip amount this time.
I will NEVER go back to this place ever again.

If I could take stars away from other reviews I would. Service is absolutely horrid, took 45 minutes for the fajitas when there was only 6 tables filled and then during my first bite I got poked in my cheek and tongue. Seems there was a piece of the wire cleaning brush in a piece of chicken. I asked to speak to a manager, explaining to the waitress what had happened, took another 10 minutes. I truly don’t see how this place is in business, but I do know it has lost mine permanently.

I think this place is getting ready to shut down due to the new 183 expansion project. I went in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday April 4^th 2015. It wasn’t busy. I was politely seated and given a menu. 30 minutes later someone came to ask me what I wanted to drink. Upon the waiters return he took my order of tortilla soup and an enchilada dinner. 35 minutes later my enchilada turned up Luke warm. No soup. 5 minutes later he brings me the soup. I turned it away. When he brought the check the soup was still on there requiring me to send the check back to be corrected. Again, it was NOT busy as I tend to have more patience with wait staff when the restaurant is busy. Won’t be going back here again.

What a great little find referred to is by an Über driver. Great service, good tex-​mex selection and very reasonably priced. We gave up another local tex-​mex chain without good service and spotty quality to now call this out favorite place.

The food is just average tasting Tex-​Mex food. The wait staff is not only rude, but equally inattentive.
They have a smoking section and the smoke drifts into the entire restaurant, including the non-​smoking section.
Not recommended.

They should put a picture of the El Chico sign in the dictionary next to Tex-​Mex. When my partner and I visit the DFW area, we always try to make it over there at least once.
El Chico, please consider helping out a couple of Tex-​Mex-​loving Northwesterners and open a location in Portland, Oregon!

We went to El Chico today after picking up a friend at DFW. We used to get an «Avacado Enchilada» @ another mexican restaurant that was to die for; unfortunately, it is no longer in business. I was both surprised and pleased to find it on this establishment’s menu. It is a little different than the «other» place, but what a treat. The combo of avacado/​mushroom/​spinach filling and the sour cream sauce was FANTASTIC! I will NOT be a stranger to this location. I am hoping the pending widening of HWY 183 does not have a detremental affect here.
Also must say, our waiter was the greatest, and the rest of the staff was very attentive to all THEIR customers. BRAVO!

So yummy!!! We are from out of town and we were starving. We walked in at 10:00pm and they were so friendly. April was our waitress and she was beyond perfect. Friendly, helpful suggestions, and warm chips! Thank you for a great meal and welcoming service — even when it’s late.

We went for a late lunch around 1:15 and they were not too packed. The lunch specials are crazy cheap (I think it was 5.99−6.99) and it was more than enough food. Our waitress was nice but not particularly welcoming or friendly. She gave us our check when we were ¹⁄₃ of the way into our plates and and went to pick up the check a couple of minutes later when we were only half done… and I was like oh, we haven’t done that yet. She hadn’t asked to split it either, and with two same-​gendered coworkers I would think she’d have at least asked. I totally understand shifts end and people get busy but just be honest. I’ve had waitstaff say «Do you mind if I give you your bill now? I’m sorry but I’ll be leaving in a bit and if you need anything else this is so-​and-​so and they can help you» and it would have made sense… but she didn’t explain or anything. We just felt kind of rushed and not really appreciated. I could have honestly went for a dessert or something but we were never asked or given an option.
That said the food was pretty standard, definitely good but not life-​changing. Worth every penny of $ 7 though! I think we will *probably* be back, mostly because of proximity and price.

Great service and good food! Everyone is very friendly! We come here all the time. Keep up the good work! :-)

Excellent food at this location. I have ate here for years. The fajitas are the best in town. They use real steak and sliced chicken breast on a bed of steaming hot onions and bell peppers. They give free cheese sauce with excellent chips and hot sauce. Fast friendly service with fair prices.

I could probably eat here everyday. Love the chips n salsa but my fave item is not even on the menu, Fiesta Nachos. Staff is always nice n friendly, they seem to know everyone who comes in. Margaritas are good, too!

I always order something that’s not on the menu «Shrimp Spinach Enchiladas» & they never say I can’t have it due to it not being on the menu. My good friend Tomi loves their Top shelf guacamole as an appetizer which she orders everytime we go together. The servers cares about there customers & El Chico. Thank you for being 1 of my fav restaurants.

I almost always have a coupon for El Chico so that is why I have eaten here three times in the past couple of months. It’s definitely not for the ambiance. It IS an older building with older, kinda groovy jnterior AND it also is smoker-​friendly, so if you need to use the restroom, you will have to walk through the dining area that smells like old carpet and ash tray.
But aside from that, the first time my husband and I came here, he got the chile relleno enchiladas and I got the avocado enchiladas. Both were good, but his were better. The avocado enchiladas seemed like maybe a healthier option for someone craving enchiladas but still wanting something a little lighter. I also had a margarita, but it was pretty weak – definitely not worth the $ 6 or $ 7 we paid for it, but it was a learning experience. The service this time was good enough.
The second time we were here, he had a delicious chimichanga with steak and I got the chicken & mushroom fajitas. Yum. Both the food and service was on key! Learned this time that their queso really isn’t that good though. Cheez Wiz out of the jar probably tastes better, but, hey… it’s free! So whatever.
Third time’s a charm, right? Wrong. We were here last night and when we were greeted and taken to our table it seemed like things were going to be done in a speedy fashion. The hostess/​bartender seemed in a hurry and speed walked us to our table while also talking to two servers about who was cut from their shifts and who wasn’t. I realize that it was 8:00 at night and they close at 10:00, but it just seemed a little tacky to do in front of two customers who haven’t even been seated yet. Also, I overheard the server speed-​listing all of the drink options in a hurried fashion to her table.
So with all this being said, I thought we’d at least be in and out in a speedy manner. Nope. Now, I don’t like it when servers hover, but I also don’t like being ignored. We were seated in a spot on the floor where our waitress and another passed by at least once every five minutes each, but my husband’s beer was empty and so were our chips & salsa for a while… and she passed by us at least twice while he even was looking up right at her to be acknowledged. Then, when our food finally came, she didn’t even offer a new beer/​chips – we specifically had to ask – and none of our stuff was bussed off the table when it was brought out, so everything was cramped on our table. One positive thing was the salsa we DID get was spicy and delicious and you can tell it’s homemade and not out of a jar because the spiciness level is never the same. We both ordered the chile relleno enchiladas because his were so good the first time he had them, but we both agreed that they were not that great this time around. It was just a lackluster, disappointing, and awkward dining experience.
I probably WILL be back if only because of the coupons I always seem to have, but probably not for a while just because the last experience seemed to corroborate other reviews’ claims of quality inconsistency. When it’s good, it’s good, but El Chico definitely isn’t the be-​all, end-​all of Tex-​Mex places in the area, I’m sure.

I was coming out of a long day of seminars with two of my colleagues and we stopped at El Chico. The lighting is kinda low and its like stepping into lil Mexico.
I ordered a bowl of tortilla soup and a sopapilla. The soup was very fresh and delicious. The chicken in the soup was so flavorful, I know it was marinated.
The sopapilla was fluffy, hot and delicious and the service was great.
Oh, don’t let me forget the nice man playing spanish style guitar. It was nice, relaxing, and entertaining. I would come back just to hear him. Glad to report no complaints, and will be back again.

Went there today for lunch, food was good. Loved the chips and queso.

The service is great but you can tell it is an old building because it is a little dirty in the out of the way places. The food is good and a good place for family dining.