El Charro Café Oro Valley

I find it hard to believe that El Charro gets such high ratings. My wife and I had dinner here last night and were not happy. The margarita was made from a mix, and had very little tequila in it, substandard. The dinner was equally disappointing. I had a dish called Pollo Asado. The chicken looked and tasted like it was excavated from Pompeii, it was carbonized and so dried out and tasteless. My wife had a Keto Fajita Lettuce Cup with Steak. There was almost no steak, almost all overcooked veggies in the dish with a few tiny pieces of meat. I have had bad experiences with other El Charros before but decided to try this branch and regret it. Try Amelia's, Elvira's or Frida's for decent Mexican food instead.

Excellent place in NW Tucson!! Consistently good for many, many years!

I know El Charro is a Tucson gem, but now I’ve suffered poor service from both the downtown and Oro Valley locations. This review is for Oro Valley.
We had a reservation for our party of nine. We arrived very early in the evening (meaning they weren't particularly busy) and they immediately started struggling with three simple drink orders. It took about ten minutes to get them directly from the bar.
After we were seated and placed our orders, they brought out two wrong dinners, which is weird because the waitress used a handheld computer to take our orders.
Then, they brought out a few of our meals, which sat there and got cold while we waited about ten minutes for the others to arrive.
I received my meal, but had to wait about ten minutes to get my side orders.
I asked for a side order of cheese. They finally brought me a salsa bowl with only a single tablespoon of shredded cheese in it…and they charged me an extra $1.50. I don’t mind paying for service and ambiance, but no one wants to get ripped off. They also charged me $4.00 for a cup of Pepsi, which they never refilled.
We ordered appetizers, which were never delivered.
Some received their side orders at the end of the meal, like they were dessert or something.
Some never received their side orders.
One of us ordered a glass of wine at the table, but received the wrong wine.
They did bring an unknown woman out to our table to apologize. She never introduced herself, wore a blank, grey sweatshirt, and only said “sorry” before walking away.
Despite the terrible service, they still tacked on their own 20% tip without telling anyone.
I will close with a couple of positives that the waitress was, at least, not rude to us, and that they did honor their 10% military discount.

Unfortunately they have changed the steak fajitas to skirt steak and it’s just too chewy. We have tried this new way twice now and both times have been disappointed. And $24-$25 we want it to be delicious. The price went up and the food unfortunately went down. We would have been ok with the price increase since everything has gone up but the quality really has suffered. And when you are getting two per table sometimes three it’s just not worth it to us anymore. This use to be our go to place but after this last time I think the kids are over it as are we.

I love the cheese crisps. Other favorites as well.

Waited almost 2 hours from the time we ordered until we received food

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 1

A friend mentioned they had Carne Seca in the menu at this restaurant, it is a special kind of dish that I hadn’t found in the USA since I moved here in the early 2000s. I was very excited to try it. I ordered the Carne Seca platter and it is very good except for two things:
> in Mexico the shredded dried beef it’s cooked with the tomatoes and onions so this adds just enough “juice” to the meat so it doesn’t stick in your throat when you make a taco. Here the meat is served by itself, completely dry and it was kind of hard to swallow it. Other than that the flavor of the meat was very good.
> we ordered the Mini Quesabirria Chimis as appetizer and the birria filling was pretty scarce, all I could taste was the melted cheese.
We had to wait more the half an hour for the appetizer and our dinner order but considering It was a Sunday and around 5pm that wasn’t so bad. Next time I’ll definitely make a reservation.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: The Carne Seca Platter

This place rocks. Not only is the staff fast, extremely friendly, and attentive but very blessed in the looks department. If you want authentic from scratch Mexican food served to you by an attractive friendly server at the oldest family owned Mexican restaurant in the United States this is the place to go. The meals also are pretty reasonable considering our economy and the fact that a twenty dollar bill honestly is the new five dollar bill. Dishes range from eleven dollars to a max of thirty dollars. They also offer takeout, online orders, phone orders, and catering. I finally found a place with authentic refried beans that don't taste like they came from a can. I've been looking for these refried beans since El torero shut down years ago. While dining we were greeted by the owner and had an amazing chat with him. It's great to see that he cares about his family business and his guests and employees to put effort into showing up and making sure everything and everyone is taken care of. My waitress Dianiya gave top notch service. She's beautiful and informative and always had a smile on her face. She answered all the questions I had regarding the menu and she was extremely fast at bringing drinks and food out. What amazed me and my table was that she never let anyone at the tables glass go empty and we drink like water buffalos. Thank you young lady for the great energy and stellar service. Lastly this location is perfect for an outside early lunch due to the beautiful view of the mountains. I highly recommend eating here and I'm telling everyone they should do the same. I shall be back with more of my family and friends and I'm looking forward to it. Thank you El charro see you guys soon!!!

Vegetarian options: Cheese enchiladas
Cheese Quesadilla
Bean and cheese burro
Flan
Tres leches cake
Chille relleono
Salad
Beans and rice
Churros

Dietary restrictions: Will abide by any allergies or diet restrictions you have as long as you mention what your needs are to the server

Parking: Depending on the time you go in you might not have close to the door parking and handicapped parking spaces may be taken up due to the elderly or disabled people who arrived prior

Kid-friendliness: High chairs
Booster seats
Kid menu options
To go cups

Wheelchair accessibility: Wheelchair accessible

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Steak, Tortilla, Chips and Salsa, Sauce, Green Chile, Rice and Beans, Flan, Steak Fajitas, Cheese Crisp

I updated previous review. Regular customers and tonight was a disaster and management did nothing to fix. Normally it is fabulous but it was over the top bad hoping it was a one ti.e thing. So dissapoitec

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 1

Should have known after walking in. Good service but the food sucked. Dry as hell but also bland. Probably the worst chimichanga I ever had. Save your money and go elsewhere.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 4

Absolutely delicious Posole and amazing staff ! Olivia and Cesar made our lunch super enjoyable! The salsa is delicious the Tamales are amazing. Everything through and through was absolutely fantastic (No exaggeration).

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Flew in from Chicago yesterday After deep research while on the plane I found that Az known for Mexican food.
" Chimichanga" being top of the list and El Charro Cafe". I was not the least bit impressed and either was my family . Ground beef taco was a hamburger patty cut in half which in return made the 2 tacos forgot onion & cilantro just shell & patty. The Chimichanga was a huge deep fried tortilla shell with probably half cup of steak meat maybe 3/4...fatty crispy meat. The young lady that took my order was nice , she helped me out with the menu although seemed fairly new, we found my Chimichanga of choice and went over that it included avocado well Que no avocado to literally top it Off!! All that wait , hype and money . This place is a DUD!!
3days later.... I forgot I bought a half dozen of chicken tamales... They are SO DAMN GOOD!!! At least "Carlotta's Kitchen " on 👉

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 5

Dietary restrictions: Vegan

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great place great food and great service. You won't be disappointed.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Flan

Intimate setting thru out. We were seated in the basement! Not what I expected. Turned out to be very comfortable, private, and on the spot service. I seldom like to pay top price for regular Mexican food, but this food was exceptional and worth the price and service.
Will definitely return on my next visit to Tucson.

Kid-friendliness: Do have kids menu.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Avocado, Rice and Beans