I was raised in Tulsa but lived in Nebraska (try finding decent TexMex in Grand Island, ha!) for 30 years. Just moved back and immediately sought out one of my old favorites, El Chico. I’m happy to say that the store on 21st St. reminds me of why I liked it so much back in the good old days. The tacos, enchiladas, cheese sauce, chili con carne, salad, sides and chips and salsa are what I grew up on. And the pickled relish and tortillas are still there! I try to eat there once a week and since day one I haven’t been disappointed with anything. That includes the servers too!!! I can’t think of another restaurant experience where the wait staff is so universally pleasant and efficient, visit after visit. I am not ashamed to give El Chico on E 21st St a 100% star evaluation, and I look forward to next weeks visit.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Michael\u0026Racquel Campbell
It was great. Good food and good service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
James Norris
The place was not busy at all. Nice and quiet. Service was pretty slow considering how dead it was. We had to go ask for chips and drink refills. We ordered the top shelf guacamole and the avocados were a tad bit under ripe wich made them kinda hard and not a lot of flavor. We Ordered 3 orders fajitas no peppers on all 3. One came out with looked like extra peppers and little onion. We asked for more onion and they sent them out nice and hot. Overall the food was good. We are human, all have off days. I'll go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
WendySells OKLAHOMA
I don’t get to eat here enough. ❤️
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cathy Glover
I joined good friends for a special occasion They frequent this establishment all the time and they love it. I stopped going because just is not that good in my opinion. Unfortunately I believe the food has not improved just does not have a good flavor and yes I understand it's text mix it is El Chico's but the flavor itself is just not there. The service was amazing I forget the waitresses name she was great. Atmosphere is okay it's just run down, the walls are pretty dirty and the doors leading into the bathroom are covered with grime. You are able to look through the door into the kitchen and it did seem clean or much cleaner than the bathrooms. It was nothing terrible but if I go back again with them I probably would not order any food and just eat chips and salsa.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Julie Landsberger
Great for lunch! Staff is very friendly and attentive! Pricing is still affordable, especially lunchtime.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Porscia Majors
Love the food but this restaurant isn't franchised owned and you can definitely tell whoever owns this El Chico doesn't put any money back into the restaurant fixing it up if we can help it we'll go to the one on 71st it is franchise owned better service better menu better atmosphere but I do have some favorite waitresses on 21st so I do still go there but he could do better
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 5
Nam H. Nguyen
Before Cancun, before El verde … El Chico was the institution of Mexican food in T-town. This place used to be very popular, early 90 used to come here for lunch with consultants. Glad to see it is still here! Didn’t sit at the bar because not anyone there, but close enough to see the actions and interactions. The skinny margaritas was excellent! The bean was really good! Love the beef taco and the beef and chicken enchiladas, especially the sauces! Will be back for more !
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
What's Up Willis
We love white trash Wednesday's for lunch!!!! If you havent tried it just ask what it is.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jerry Marlin
Been going there for years. It's great service is good. Everything is good.
This place is the coolest Mexican restaurant I've ever been. Awesome food and good service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Keno S
I've eaten at El Chico pretty regular over the past 35 years. Food is always great. I'm leaving this review to say that our server today was named Mason and he did a fantastic job. Kept our Diet Coke's refilled, checked on us regularly and made the experience very pleasant. Thanks for a great lunch Mason!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kim Fry Cousins
We’ve been coming here for 30 years. The one on 21st has gone down hill. Ordered a regular margarita and it was terrible. Tasted off and no alcohol tasted. The seat they tried to sit us at was sticky. When I complained about the margarita, the server said “that’s because I didn’t make it”. When we tried to flag down the owner, he just waved to us and helped other people. He eventually came over and told us that we would have to pay more for a margarita (that wasn’t in a machine). The margarita I did order was ok. I don’t care about paying more. I just want a good margarita. The food was ok. The chips were over cooked The service was not that great. I’ve loved coming here for 30 years but I don’t think we will be back and that’s sad.
Abbey Gregory
I’m going to give this a five star review because it’s my favorite place to eat Hispanic food since I was a little kid people keep trying to drag me to other places that suck and I tend to always want to come here, but no one will listen to me. So the last two times I’ve come here And now they’re seeing what I’m talking about. Great service, good food, good people, not as busy as the other places, a lot quieter and all in all I just feel at home here so thank you to everyone.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mackensie
Old fashioned tacos and queso. Everything met or exceeded expectations. The queso was thick not like the watery kinds you find in Mexican restaurants lately!
I was raised in Tulsa but lived in Nebraska (try finding decent TexMex in Grand Island, ha!) for 30 years. Just moved back and immediately sought out one of my old favorites, El Chico. I’m happy to say that the store on 21st St. reminds me of why I liked it so much back in the good old days. The tacos, enchiladas, cheese sauce, chili con carne, salad, sides and chips and salsa are what I grew up on.
And the pickled relish and tortillas are still there! I try to eat there once a week and since day one I haven’t been disappointed with anything. That includes the servers too!!! I can’t think of another restaurant experience where the wait staff is so universally pleasant and efficient, visit after visit. I am not ashamed to give El Chico on E 21st St a 100% star evaluation, and I look forward to next weeks visit.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
It was great. Good food and good service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The place was not busy at all. Nice and quiet. Service was pretty slow considering how dead it was. We had to go ask for chips and drink refills. We ordered the top shelf guacamole and the avocados were a tad bit under ripe wich made them kinda hard and not a lot of flavor. We Ordered 3 orders fajitas no peppers on all 3. One came out with looked like extra peppers and little onion. We asked for more onion and they sent them out nice and hot. Overall the food was good. We are human, all have off days. I'll go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
I don’t get to eat here enough. ❤️
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I joined good friends for a special occasion They frequent this establishment all the time and they love it. I stopped going because just is not that good in my opinion. Unfortunately I believe the food has not improved just does not have a good flavor and yes I understand it's text mix it is El Chico's but the flavor itself is just not there. The service was amazing I forget the waitresses name she was great. Atmosphere is okay it's just run down, the walls are pretty dirty and the doors leading into the bathroom are covered with grime. You are able to look through the door into the kitchen and it did seem clean or much cleaner than the bathrooms. It was nothing terrible but if I go back again with them I probably would not order any food and just eat chips and salsa.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Great for lunch! Staff is very friendly and attentive! Pricing is still affordable, especially lunchtime.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Love the food but this restaurant isn't franchised owned and you can definitely tell whoever owns this El Chico doesn't put any money back into the restaurant fixing it up if we can help it we'll go to the one on 71st it is franchise owned better service better menu better atmosphere but I do have some favorite waitresses on 21st so I do still go there but he could do better
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 5
Before Cancun, before El verde …
El Chico was the institution of Mexican food in T-town.
This place used to be very popular, early 90 used to come here for lunch with consultants.
Glad to see it is still here!
Didn’t sit at the bar because not anyone there, but close enough to see the actions and interactions.
The skinny margaritas was excellent!
The bean was really good!
Love the beef taco and the beef and chicken enchiladas, especially the sauces!
Will be back for more !
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
We love white trash Wednesday's for lunch!!!! If you havent tried it just ask what it is.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Been going there for years. It's great service is good. Everything is good.
Restaurantji Recommends
This place is the coolest Mexican restaurant I've ever been. Awesome food and good service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
I've eaten at El Chico pretty regular over the past 35 years. Food is always great. I'm leaving this review to say that our server today was named Mason and he did a fantastic job. Kept our Diet Coke's refilled, checked on us regularly and made the experience very pleasant. Thanks for a great lunch Mason!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We’ve been coming here for 30 years. The one on 21st has gone down hill. Ordered a regular margarita and it was terrible. Tasted off and no alcohol tasted. The seat they tried to sit us at was sticky. When I complained about the margarita, the server said “that’s because I didn’t make it”. When we tried to flag down the owner, he just waved to us and helped other people. He eventually came over and told us that we would have to pay more for a margarita (that wasn’t in a machine). The margarita I did order was ok. I don’t care about paying more. I just want a good margarita. The food was ok. The chips were over cooked The service was not that great. I’ve loved coming here for 30 years but I don’t think we will be back and that’s sad.
I’m going to give this a five star review because it’s my favorite place to eat Hispanic food since I was a little kid people keep trying to drag me to other places that suck and I tend to always want to come here, but no one will listen to me. So the last two times I’ve come here And now they’re seeing what I’m talking about. Great service, good food, good people, not as busy as the other places, a lot quieter and all in all I just feel at home here so thank you to everyone.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Old fashioned tacos and queso. Everything met or exceeded expectations. The queso was thick not like the watery kinds you find in Mexican restaurants lately!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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