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    Avila's El Ranchito

    3.8 (864 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 9:30 pm
    Updated 2 months ago

    Order Avila's El Ranchito Takeout or Delivery

    Avila's El Ranchito Photos

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    AVILA'S EL RANCHITO ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Loud
    Outdoor seating
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - Avila's El Ranchito

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    Chicken enchilada combination plate
    Summer S.

    I grew up going to Avila's El Ranchito in Long Beach and Newport Beach but my favorite El Ranchito location is in Orange. The building was previously a church and it's really beautiful inside. I love the Orange Circle area and it's close to many shops and dessert spots. My favorite is the Chile Relleno and their chips and salsa. Several dishes are really good there. Very consistent. Attentive staff. Highly recommend this restaurant.

    Dr. Amelia H.

    Always a good time! Random stop in for the evening and the food, drinks, and bday ice cream never disappoints. Attentive service as always and we all left stuffed

    Carnitas
    Angela D.

    Parking is always abysmal here in Orange so let that be an unfortunate heads up for any out if town visitors! The restaurant used to be a chapel (to my understanding) so the decor feels very light and peaceful. There are lots of stained glass pieces and beautiful woodwork within this establishment. There are both indoor and outdoor seating with both being absolutely stunning. We chose to sit inside and can I say the service here never disappoints! Everyone here is incredibly attentive, friendly, and welcoming. Usually one server sticks to a table but here, everyone helped everyone. Not once did I have to ask for something. All needs were more than met here. The food itself was delicious! Both my boyfriend and I ordered the carnitas which came with beans, rice, pico de gallo, guacamole, and some jalapeños. We ordered corn and flour tortillas and neither disappointed. Everything, including the chips, were fresh. Overall, we had a great experience. My boyfriend (from Los Angeles of all places) is a huge Mexican food lover/critic yet absolutely loved the place. Take that as your stamp of approval. Will definitely be returning here

    Salsa is exceptionally great!
    Lynnann W.

    You know it's a fantastic brand that's managed well when you return years later and it's just as great, if not better! Outstanding presentation and contents of their Grande (!) Taco Salad; so delicious with grilled chicken!! Without a doubt; this brand has the best salsa too. Great service (Jesus S.,) beautiful decor of an old church preserved and a menu that's diverse but more importantly consistently prepared. Delicious, large portions; you'll get your money's worth and have a great time! Note: front entrance has stairs but there is an elevator at other end of building to support ADA customers! :)

    Amazing food and amazing staff!
    Arjaé P.

    Authentic, amazing and delicious Mexican food and so affordable. The only place we go to when we are in the mood for Mexican food. Just delicious, from the chips and salsa to the main course to the flan. 10/10!

    Azteca Chicken Salad
    Amanda M.

    We came here with a large party of 14 for my Aunt's birthday. They were amazing to set us up in a great spot and gave us excellent service. The food was tasty and we enjoyed our drinks. I docked 1 star because the chips were disappointing, they tasted stale and bland. Also, one of the servers spilled salad dressing down the side of my aunt's sweater when he was clearing her plate, and then later dropped a bunch of the chips on her pants! Some additional feedback for the restaurant - This restaurant is in a beautiful historic building that used to be a church, with the original stained glass and has such amazing potential for a nice special dining experience. Yet, there are big TVs mounted in the main dining area. I could understand having a TV or two in the bar area, but this is not a sports bar and the TV takes away from the ambiance and romantic characteristic of Avila's El Ranchito restaurant. To make matters worse, the news was playing in the middle of dinner on a Saturday night. The staff member was kind enough to change the channel to something else when I requested, but I think the restaurant could pay attention to what's playing and maybe just have a yule log on or something holiday-esq rather than a large distracting TV broadcasting disturbing news (since that's all the news is full of), taking away from the ambiance.

    Our staff holiday party!
    Paloma O.

    Our organization decided to do our holiday party here at Avila's. It was such a hit. The back room is perfect for privacy and we were able to shut the door and be as loud as we needed to be. The food is do tasty, especially the flautas. The chips and salsa are also always a hit. The servers that were helping our room were so professional and kind. We are a group of about 45 employees and everything went so smoothly. The location is a bit to the side of the Orange circle, so during busy times parking may get a little tough. I was able to find a spot close by though on a Thursday afternoon. It is well worth it, and we would happily do our events here again!

    Menu
    Trevor C.

    This restaurant serves authentic and flavorful Mexico City-style Mexican cuisine. While I would have loved the tortillas to be freshly made or properly warmed, the meal was still thoroughly enjoyable.

    Churro vanilla ice cream
    Cherie P.

    Service was excellent. Friendly and courteous. Ambiance is kid friendly. Food was delicious. I would come here again.

    Absolutely insane we ordered takeout, the fajita plate and a burrito. The burrito was fine, until we opened the fajita plate. It wasn't even a full chicken piece and looked like some trashed pepper and onions from someone elses plate. Weve ordered inside before and ordered the same items and we got full portions and a FRESH fajita dish. Well tonight wasn't that.. Dont waste your money here

    Mayan Burrito, Avocado Burrito, Fresco Burrito, & Autumn Burrito
    Jina K.

    We came on a weekend before noon, and we were easily able to find a nice booth spot by a window. We noticed that as we were in the restaurant, more people started to slowly pile in. By the time we finished eating, there were quite a lot of people. The staff here were very kind. I love their complimentary chips and salsa, which you can get free refills of! I got the Mayan Burrito, which I've tried before at their Laguna Beach location. It was delicious like the last time I had it. I love the salsa verde on top and all the filling (shredded chicken and rice). The portions were all great, and I took my burrito home. We all enjoyed our burritos, and we will definitely be back to try more dishes!

    Interior
    Irvine M.

    Chips and salsa were great sometimes that's the tell tell if a great Mexican restaurant. The tortilla chips are made in house and served warm and unlimited from what I got! My order was the wet burrito with carnitas! Delicious! My girlfriend order the camarones à la diabla and they were again very delicious! The customer service was on point they were so attentive and overall a great mood. My girlfriend asked to sit outside for the "vibes" but was still cold haha so they offered to turn in the heater just for her! Overall great!

    Amazing taco Tuesday
    Kerri F.

    I love coming here for dinner. This building is a masterpiece. We love to bring our dogs so we end up sitting on the patio, but the building is a true marvel. Our server was super friendly and checked back on this multiple times even though we were so busy chatting with friends we delayed ordering, but he was very patient, kind and we needed nothing. I ordered a two item combo with a crispy chicken taco and chicken tamale. You can't go wrong. Everything was spot on as usual, and my mouth is still watering.

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    Avila's El Ranchito Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Avila's El Ranchito

    Hi, are small dogs allowed?

    Hi do you take reservations?

    Hi Evelyn! We take reservations for large parties over 6 and for our private room.

    Do you take reservations?

    I just called to try to make reservations for a party of 10 and was told that I needed more people in our party in order to make a reservation. Not very happy about this.

    Hi is there outdoor seating? Thanks

    Yes a small patio is available

    Is there a gluten free menu? I can't find one anywhere Edit: authentic Mexican food is gluten free, flour did not originate in the americas and corn is used in traditional…

    This isn't the place for you. The food served here is authentic Mexican food and there are next to no authentic recipes with that in mind. They do offer a "lighter" menu but I'm guessing that it was of no help.

    Brunch any good and does anyone know the brunch hours?

    Temporary quarantine hours are daily for curbside pickup / takeaway 12 pm (noon) – 8 pm

    Do they use lard for cooking?

    Per the manager; only in chips and refried beans. But they can make chips without upon request without lard and have both black and pinto bean vegetarian/vegan options.

    Does anyone know if the Albondigas soup is gluten free (no wheat flour)?

    No they add flour

    View All 11 Questions

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    I love coming here. There are both indoor and outdoor patio seating. It's clean and servers are…read morefriendly and attentive. We were a party of 10 and they offered to take our orders at the table instead of ordering at the counter. The server was also willing to do individual checks! That was really accommodating. There is a wide selection of menu items. It's been fun to try something different each time. My Short Rib Omelette was very tasty and flavorful. It was a good sized meal. I couldn't even finish it. My iced lavender latte was perfect. It hit the spot. A great place for brunch but make sure you come early. It gets crowded.

    Came here by a friend's recommendation as my husband and I were meeting up with them. For what it's…read moreworth, I like the ordering system where you go up to the counter to order before finding a seat since it made it much easier to split our bill. For the price, they give you a good amount of food. I got the egg scramble with ham and cheddar cheese. It came with toast (my husband picked sourdough for me) that was buttered and had a bit of jam on the side. It also had hash browns. The food was delicious and filling. My husband got a breakfast burrito in which he forgot sometimes he isn't a fan of them because they overload with potatoes, but he said he really enjoyed this one. Considering I'm also pregnant in my first trimester, I was so glad they had milk to help with my calcium intake. All in all, I would definitely come back here given the chance. (I'm from the Bay Area in Northern California so visiting regularly isn't quite feasible.)

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    4.5(1.1k reviews)
    5.9 mi
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    The place was very cute, a lot of pink aesthetic. It felt a little geared towards the influencer…read moretype, which is funny to see outside of Los Angeles but it was beautiful and clean nonetheless. The server was very kind and helpful, he was communicative and attentive. And the food! The food was great! It tasted good, AND seemed healthy and nutritious. Also, I appreciated their variety of options. I have a dairy allergy, and am often quite limited in what I can comfortably/safely eat, especially going out for breakfast. But here, they had multiple alternative dairy options! I even was able to get an oat milk latte! I will definitely be back. Love this place and am so glad they opened up this location.

    LOTS OF INDOOR SEATING; easily able to host big parties and big families. Slow during the week days…read moreand busier on the weekends. We went on a Thursday morning at 8:30am and it was empty! Service was friendly and quick. Restrooms are available inside. Hot lattes were delicious but more so "WARM LATTES" and not actually HOT /: which was disappointing but the flavor was good. We got the coffee flight: Pistachio, Chocolate, & Horchata. Food was good but it lacked seasoning - i definitely had to add quite a bit of salt and hot sauce to enjoy it. I would probably go somewhere else if I wanted eggs Benedict. We ordered the Birria eggs Benedict and the chilaquiles. It was good but nothing exciting, I would order something else next time or go to a different breakfast spot. But overall, I left happy but not full.

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    3.9(2.8k reviews)
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    Large group friendly
    Vegetarian friendly

    extremely fast, food came out in less than five minutes, and outstanding customer service, great…read moreenvironment and the food is amazing

    3/23 visit Dine in -…read more Came by during brunch hour around 11-12 noon rush . First off parking is a headache it's in Orange which is street parking .. wait time was 15-0 mins . The host was pleasant there are benches outside & shaded whips you wait . This little spot was packed which is great !! Once we got seated our waiters were extremely attentive and super friendly. I ordered their ice coffee which alright really basic not a wow fa tire but they'd steak & chimichuri sauce was delicious. Steak was cooked well versus medium like I requested but still te see , potatoes were tasty and flavorful & crispy . Overall , it's really good and nice ambience. I even ordered a few of their fresh baked treats to go like their croissant, banana nut muffin , blueberry & their chocolate coconut muffin. Only downfall is they have ONLY 1 bathroom .. for that amount of patrons is wild to me . Definitely having a secondary one would help . I legit waiting close to 20 mins + plus to wash my hands before I eat is ridiculous.. to the guy that was in the bathroom for a close to 30 mins like Dude.. you heals up the line for myself and 6 other ppl waiting so darn inconsiderate. Besides the bathroom .. situation I'd come here to dine in again and hit the coffee spot across the street Phil's coffee and get a honey haze it's amazing .

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    Lola's by MFK is honestly one of the best Filipino restaurants I've ever been to. The inside is…read morebeautiful and has so many thoughtful touches that remind you of the Philippines, which makes the experience feel even more special. The staff were also very welcoming. The Adobo Omelette is sooo good and always a must for me, and the chicharron was so delicious that I had to order another one to-go before leaving. Everything we've tried there has been flavorful and comforting. This has become one of our go-to spots whenever we visit California, and it's always worth the stop!

    9/10 Ube Fruity Pebble Pancakes - These were good as it was not overly sweetened like how some…read morepancake syrups are. It had a good medium sweet level to it. It didnt have as many fruity pebbles as it shows in the photos so I was disappointed in that aspect. 10/10 Silog Breakfast Plate Longanisa & Chicken Adobo - I got two different meats for this meal and I'm so happy I did because I wanted both. The plate and the two meats were absolutely delicious. 10/10 Ube Horchata - This was absolutely amazing. I need this all the time! It wasn't overly sweet either. Cost - Ube Fruity Pebble Pancakes $14.95, Silog Breakfast Plate $15.00, Longanisa $2.00, Side of Chicken Adobo $5.00, Ube Horchata $5.00.

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    Don't forget the Binegar! Dip your tocino or spoon over your bangus with this! If you don't, you'll miss out!

    Avila's El Ranchito - mexican - Updated May 2026

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