El Ranchito Taco Shop - Palm Desert

I've been here 5 times now and I have to say it's better than most Mexican restaurants in the entire desert. Even though it has a small dining room, most customers seem to do take out. It is always busy. They have excellent Mexican food, which is saying a lot for someone who is also Hispanic. Their burritos are way better than Castaneda's, which are over priced with meat that tends to be dry on most occasions and also guacamole and sour cream n cheese are usually extra but HERE, most burritos come with cheese and some even with sour cream and guacamole! Their meat is SUPER moist and tender and you're not gonna walk outta here with a 13.00 burrito like Castaneda's. They even have an amazing dinner special with 3 items plus beans n rice for around 11 bucks. You're NOT going to find that at any restaurants here. AND... they give u A LOT! On top of that... they have an excellent salsa bar with many different types of salsas, fresh cut limes, lemons, pickled jalapenos n carrots, etc. All u can drink soda fountain, fresh brewed iced tea, NOT FOUNTAIN iced tea. Fresh! They also have excellent entree dinners with rice and beans. Fresh and nice portions. I drive the 18 mins to go here rather than go to the multitude of Mexican restaurants that are within blocks of me. Their taquitos are excellent, served with sour cream and guacamole. Their fajita burrito is so delicious. Their chile verde burrito is so moist and the tortillas taste so fresh. I have yet to be disappointed. I'm going to work my way through the whole menu. Apparently they have another location in cathedral city. I give this place 5 stars and HIGHLY recommend them. Their prices are so great too!

Fresh, tasty Mexican food at a good price with well seasoned Salsas decent service is always a victory for me. ITEM's ORDERED: El Ranchito Special (beef enchilada, chicken taco bean tostada) Combo 5 (cheese enchilada, beef taquito chicken taco) TASTE: All the food came quite fast was very hot. Everything was decent while my favorites were the beans Tostado chicken taco. This is not a pretentious or higher end restaurant, just forward, easy, good food. I found that the beef is a small gland compared to the better seasoned chicken, and I would only choose chicken next time. I was pleasantly surprised how much they filled everything with meat cheese. Actually, compared to similar places, I might have got 2x meat here. The tortillas were a bit thicker than I used to like what I enjoyed, especially in the tostada I had. I also like that the fried items do not seem excessively greasy, which is quite common. The sides of the rice beans in Combo 5 were perfectly decent. Not the best I had, but still good. Maybe some more seasoning could be used, but the Salsas comes in. For me it is often the salses that bring Mexican food to the next level. Although I would have wanted more heat overall, all salsa had made a good taste the food just so much better. Some of the cream sauce they had with the salsas on my tostada was my favorite bite. As I mentioned earlier, parts are good here. Literally, if you are not so hungry, you could probably add a combo among 2 people just an additional taco or something. SERVICE: This is more of a fast casual restaurant. Similar to Rubio's, but with a more domestic mood. The cashier was friendly when I ordered that I was actually surprised how quickly my order was called, considering how busy it was on a Saturday night at the lab day weekend. In this place, there may be 12 stands that were taken quite a lot all the time when I was fed there. LOCATION PARKING: You are located in the Desert Gateway, by Monterey Ave, somewhat ironic between a Del Taco El Pollo Loco. Parking is no problem here. As we are in SoCal, these kinds of Mexican spots are a dozen, but the value, freshness make these one of the better ones I was. I want another tostado with extra salsa! Cheers!

Good food, great prices. Salsa Bar. They sell beer.

The fish tacos here are huge and perfect! Great taste. This is our goal for fish tacos. Other places have small fish tacos and are Bland. The other items in the menu are also good! Service is good and fast.

They have the best food quick service too. That employee's are always so nice. I have yet to eatsomething I didn't love!