I never leave bad reviews. However, my party's experience at Rancho Lewis was disappointing at best. Our server, Mike, was pushy, unapologetic when a hair was found in a meal (which was still charged in full), and aggressive, adding random sides that were never ordered to our bill without disclosing extra charges (and trying to hide this from my party).
The most concerning issue was being denied an itemized receipt, despite multiple requests, making it impossible to verify what exactly we were paying for. I only found out about these extra charges after asking Mike three separate times for my itemized receipt, which he told me he could not provide a printed version, and showed my check (and only my check) on the Toast (their POS system) screen. I use Toast every single weekend in my job, it takes three seconds max to print a reciept. When confronted about the extra charges for sour cream that were NEVER ordered, his repsonse was "I can take it off, it's only $5". It's not the cost, it's the fact it was never ordered and you're taking advantage of an auto-grated party EVEN after being called out for it.
When we asked for a manager, Mike aggressively intervened and kept asking "Is there a problem?", making us so uncomfortable that we left before speaking with one. While we called later and the manager later refunded some charges, we still never received a receipt for clarity. We even emailed the restaurant for further resolution but never got a reply. This level of unprofessionalism and lack of accountability is unacceptable, and the food was bland at best. I hate to leave bad reviews, but I have never felt so direspected nor have had someone behave so aggressively towards me that I was denied the opportunity to even verify what I was paying for.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 1
Cheryl Smithem
I have been Rancho Lewis several times before and have always enjoyed it. It was a nice place to be on a cold and rainy day. Our server was attentive and the food was very flavorful. We were a group of ladies chatting and reminiscing and catching up with one another. All of us exclaimed over the large portion sizes. My Christmas Burrito was so large that I was able to have it for dinner. I will definitely go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Marshall White
This was a very nice restaurant and the service was awesome. The salsa bar was out of this world good but the main course was okay. Probably should have ordered the ribs.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steak Fajitas
Anna Ware
I'm not one to write a review, but felt it was important to share my experience from February 2025. Ordered takeout for lunch after being excited to try Rancho Lewis since they opened. It was a pricey lunch, but to be expected. We ordered Cora's Combo, along with a few other items, which included a side of beans on the main plate. When plating up the lunch we found 3 pieces hair mixed into the beans, touching everything else in the container. It wasn't on top like it came from one of us, but mixed into the beans. We called to notify their team and person who answered the phone was very short and quickly hung up. The manager called back 5 minutes later about a different issue - they had left off a topping for the soup. When I brought up the hair in the beans, she said that it was likely a thyme sprig left in the pot. I was a little insulted that someone would think I would confuse multiple pieces of hair with a thyme sprig, and made it very clear to the manager that it was absolutely hair mixed into the beans. She apologized and said thank you for letting me know and that she would update our bill. They ended up taking off one side of soup, but still charged us for the platter with beans, which was $24.99 before tax and tip. I understand that mistakes happen in a restaurant, but to be both dismissed/insulted when reporting the issue, then charged for the dish, is incredibly subpar customer service from a restaurant that I expected more from. After this experience, I do not plan to return and have shared this with friends and family.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Wes Sandifer
Hostesses do not know how to fluctuate from what is on their iPad in front of them. They do not know how to seat people in a timely manner. It’s always a hour plus for seating even when tables are open.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 1
Ben Lamb
Came here for a work dinner. The food was prepared with extra BBQ flare. The steak fajitas weren't just cut up into small pieces, but instead served with huge piece of steak. Only bad thing was that the old fashioned drink was way too syrupy.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steak Fajitas
Lane Grant
Cool spot, but the food was just so-so. Better Mexican food in the area.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Paul Kemp
overpriced
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Wendi Hinson
Sub par at best. Chips were on the edge of stale. Salsa was good. The bartender said the drinks were 1/2 with her but full price if we ordered from our server. Our server said that our first drink was 1/2 price in the bar area because it was still happy hour (before 6pm). The second drink was ordered at 6:03 and he said it was not happy hour. No prob. When we got the bill, the first drink was full price. We asked him about it. He said it was not happy hour and it rang up full price. We ordered the wedge salad. No flavor. I told the server it desperately needed some coarse ground black pepper. Could he bring it? He said sure. He brought salt and pepper shakers. The pepper was ground so fine it was like powder. We also ordered the rack of ribs. Such a disappointment… no smoke flavor. We know Lewis BBQ ribs have an amazing smoke flavor. This is not them! They are covered in sauce. Sauce wasn’t that great. If you have to cover meat with sauce then you have a flavor problem. These ribs had no smoke and not good seasoning. So unfortunate. The sides all needed salt. The coleslaw was flavorless: the beans weren’t cooked all the way. Potato had no flavor. We were truly disappointed. Lewis BBQ is amazing: RanchoLewis is meh.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 2
Jason Davis
The food was tasty, a little spicy for my taste but still good.
In my opinion, Lewis BBQ is THE BEST in the Charleston. So, we were so excited to try Rancho for my wife’s birthday! I saw that it only had 4.4 stars, so I was hoping that it would blow my expectations… But, the mid level reviews were pretty accurate. The chips and salsa were okay… The food was okay… And the service was okay… We got the Christmas burrito and the Lloyd Lewis — with a side of queso and it was $84 after tip! It definitely had its own “Tex-Mex” taste and vibe, but I would say that it was not far off from your average “Mexican American” style restaurant that we all love — and pay half of the price for.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Sheri Cesnek
Have been to RL many times. This was, by far, the worst dining experience. The beef burrito was tasteless ground beef in a chewy corn tortilla with excessively hot, thin sauce poured all over it - no cheese, no flavor other than heat. My husband enjoyed the burger. Served was very distracted. Had to ask us 3 times what we ordered after we just said what we wanted.
UPDATE: Management did reach out and send me a gift card.They were very responsive. We will give RL another try.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Lance McLeroy
Guacamole was great. Queso was great. Chips were pretty good. Red salsa was not good. It is on half the “Christmas Burrito.” Something did not agree with me; was “inconvenienced” for most of the next day.
Will try the restaurant again, but with a guarded outlook.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Queso Asado, Guacamole and Chips
Z J
Overpriced and they make you put the entire bill on one card for a party of 8 as most places you can split it up. Server messed up everything.
I never leave bad reviews. However, my party's experience at Rancho Lewis was disappointing at best. Our server, Mike, was pushy, unapologetic when a hair was found in a meal (which was still charged in full), and aggressive, adding random sides that were never ordered to our bill without disclosing extra charges (and trying to hide this from my party).
The most concerning issue was being denied an itemized receipt, despite multiple requests, making it impossible to verify what exactly we were paying for. I only found out about these extra charges after asking Mike three separate times for my itemized receipt, which he told me he could not provide a printed version, and showed my check (and only my check) on the Toast (their POS system) screen. I use Toast every single weekend in my job, it takes three seconds max to print a reciept. When confronted about the extra charges for sour cream that were NEVER ordered, his repsonse was "I can take it off, it's only $5". It's not the cost, it's the fact it was never ordered and you're taking advantage of an auto-grated party EVEN after being called out for it.
When we asked for a manager, Mike aggressively intervened and kept asking "Is there a problem?", making us so uncomfortable that we left before speaking with one. While we called later and the manager later refunded some charges, we still never received a receipt for clarity. We even emailed the restaurant for further resolution but never got a reply. This level of unprofessionalism and lack of accountability is unacceptable, and the food was bland at best. I hate to leave bad reviews, but I have never felt so direspected nor have had someone behave so aggressively towards me that I was denied the opportunity to even verify what I was paying for.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 1
I have been Rancho Lewis several times before and have always enjoyed it. It was a nice place to be on a cold and rainy day. Our server was attentive and the food was very flavorful. We were a group of ladies chatting and reminiscing and catching up with one another. All of us exclaimed over the large portion sizes. My Christmas Burrito was so large that I was able to have it for dinner. I will definitely go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
This was a very nice restaurant and the service was awesome. The salsa bar was out of this world good but the main course was okay. Probably should have ordered the ribs.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steak Fajitas
I'm not one to write a review, but felt it was important to share my experience from February 2025. Ordered takeout for lunch after being excited to try Rancho Lewis since they opened. It was a pricey lunch, but to be expected. We ordered Cora's Combo, along with a few other items, which included a side of beans on the main plate. When plating up the lunch we found 3 pieces hair mixed into the beans, touching everything else in the container. It wasn't on top like it came from one of us, but mixed into the beans. We called to notify their team and person who answered the phone was very short and quickly hung up. The manager called back 5 minutes later about a different issue - they had left off a topping for the soup. When I brought up the hair in the beans, she said that it was likely a thyme sprig left in the pot. I was a little insulted that someone would think I would confuse multiple pieces of hair with a thyme sprig, and made it very clear to the manager that it was absolutely hair mixed into the beans. She apologized and said thank you for letting me know and that she would update our bill. They ended up taking off one side of soup, but still charged us for the platter with beans, which was $24.99 before tax and tip. I understand that mistakes happen in a restaurant, but to be both dismissed/insulted when reporting the issue, then charged for the dish, is incredibly subpar customer service from a restaurant that I expected more from. After this experience, I do not plan to return and have shared this with friends and family.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Hostesses do not know how to fluctuate from what is on their iPad in front of them. They do not know how to seat people in a timely manner. It’s always a hour plus for seating even when tables are open.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 1
Came here for a work dinner. The food was prepared with extra BBQ flare. The steak fajitas weren't just cut up into small pieces, but instead served with huge piece of steak. Only bad thing was that the old fashioned drink was way too syrupy.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Steak Fajitas
Cool spot, but the food was just so-so. Better Mexican food in the area.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
overpriced
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Sub par at best. Chips were on the edge of stale. Salsa was good. The bartender said the drinks were 1/2 with her but full price if we ordered from our server. Our server said that our first drink was 1/2 price in the bar area because it was still happy hour (before 6pm). The second drink was ordered at 6:03 and he said it was not happy hour. No prob. When we got the bill, the first drink was full price. We asked him about it. He said it was not happy hour and it rang up full price. We ordered the wedge salad. No flavor. I told the server it desperately needed some coarse ground black pepper. Could he bring it? He said sure. He brought salt and pepper shakers. The pepper was ground so fine it was like powder. We also ordered the rack of ribs. Such a disappointment… no smoke flavor. We know Lewis BBQ ribs have an amazing smoke flavor. This is not them! They are covered in sauce. Sauce wasn’t that great. If you have to cover meat with sauce then you have a flavor problem. These ribs had no smoke and not good seasoning. So unfortunate. The sides all needed salt. The coleslaw was flavorless: the beans weren’t cooked all the way. Potato had no flavor. We were truly disappointed. Lewis BBQ is amazing: RanchoLewis is meh.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 2
The food was tasty, a little spicy for my taste but still good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Beef Back Ribs Half the Cow
Restaurantji Recommends
Tried to overcharge. Be careful
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
In my opinion, Lewis BBQ is THE BEST in the Charleston. So, we were so excited to try Rancho for my wife’s birthday! I saw that it only had 4.4 stars, so I was hoping that it would blow my expectations… But, the mid level reviews were pretty accurate. The chips and salsa were okay… The food was okay… And the service was okay… We got the Christmas burrito and the Lloyd Lewis — with a side of queso and it was $84 after tip! It definitely had its own “Tex-Mex” taste and vibe, but I would say that it was not far off from your average “Mexican American” style restaurant that we all love — and pay half of the price for.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Have been to RL many times. This was, by far, the worst dining experience. The beef burrito was tasteless ground beef in a chewy corn tortilla with excessively hot, thin sauce poured all over it - no cheese, no flavor other than heat. My husband enjoyed the burger. Served was very distracted. Had to ask us 3 times what we ordered after we just said what we wanted.
UPDATE: Management did reach out and send me a gift card.They were very responsive. We will give RL another try.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Guacamole was great. Queso was great. Chips were pretty good. Red salsa was not good. It is on half the “Christmas Burrito.” Something did not agree with me; was “inconvenienced” for most of the next day.
Will try the restaurant again, but with a guarded outlook.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Queso Asado, Guacamole and Chips
Overpriced and they make you put the entire bill on one card for a party of 8 as most places you can split it up. Server messed up everything.
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