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| - Once a grocery that served food, now a restaurant that still has some grocery items. There is a good reason that the restaurant portion of the place has been growing ever since they've opened. It is good, simple Mexican food. The menu is basic but everything is freshly made and everything we've tried has been very good. We often get takeout tacos de lengua on dollar taco Wednesdays. The owner and chef are run ragged on Wednesdays as this is right in an area full of student apartments, but the quality is always good.
We've also tried their burritos over time, and the ones we've had (vegetarian, tongue, and al pastor) have all been large and tasty. They make their own tortillas and you can tell. They are always soft and fresh. My personal favorite, however, is the pozole. Personally, I think it is among the best in town.
The restaurant itself looks to be a hole in the wall, which I think hurts its business a bit. Plus, it is across the street from El Maize, one of the gourmet Mexican places. But, El Charro is as good as El Maize for any of the usual suspects-- tacos, burritos, hurraches, gorditas, birria, etc. Plus, they have the advantages of lots of tables, they have parking, and the wait is fairly short. Almost anything is made with your choice of meats: carnitas, tripas, chorizo, lengua, pollo, bistec, or barbacoa (and maybe one or two other options), so you can see that this is definitely not competing with Taco Bell. This place is good.
You usually get chips and salsa even in take out orders. If you eat there the chips come quickly and have always been hot and fresh: lightly salted and not too greasy, The salsa is always "mild" although it is freshly made in house and "mild" can have some variance. There is a choice of hot sauces on the table if the salsa is too mild, and I have a hunch you can ask for something spicier. If you order queso with the chips they ask how hot you want it; after all, everything is custom cooked here.
All in all we like El Charro a lot. Authentic and tasty, but with a sub-par location and across the street from one of the hottest Mexican places (not to mention, Fiesta Cafe is just a block away), El Charro often gets overlooked. But with easy parking (behind the building, so you have to look for it), great food, and very pleasant owner and staff (who are happy to chat if they aren't busy), we like it a lot. I don't think it's reputation will improve unless there is a serious upgrade to the appearance of the exterior, with its cheap paint job, hand painted sign, and largely unadorned windows. But, some of the best Mexican food I've ever had has been in "dives," many worse appearing than this (I remember one place in LA that had dirt floors and merely whitewashed walls, but great food).
It is family owned and operated, and they are always there and usually working hard.
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