After a wonderful massage, hubby and I came for lunch.. The wet burrito was lovely, just don't get all the veg on it, it overwhelmed the flavor..the refried beans are tasty..our waitress was very attentive..the ceiling vents need to be cleaned, thats why it a 4 read more

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I've been eating El Charro for years, starting in SCS. Love this place. Had the enchiladas with a Patrone margarita. Boy, have prices gine up! read more

We have started going to the Rochester location and usually come here when we go see friends who live over in Macomb. There is definitely a different vibe between the two locations, but the food is pretty good at both. It's a good idea to come early before the dinner time crowd. It does get pretty busy and there can be a long wait on the weekends. The place is beautifully remodeled and the service and wait staff is excellent. I came here to celebrate my birthday, so our party of 6 was actually seated fairly quickly and our server was patient with us as we were all figuring out what we wanted to eat and answered questions for our picky eater. We started off with the botana, and I ordered the combination plate. I love that it comes with a little bit of everything, an enchilada, puffy taco, tostada, rice and beans, and it really is a big portion of food. I have never had a meal at El Charro that I didn't like! This is a pretty solid choice when it comes to Mexican food for the area. I've been to a few other local restaurants and I always prefer to come here! read more

Always a good choice if you are in the Mexican. Lots of great food and drink chooses. Staff is always friendly and efficient. Since the place is small and still have to limit capacity I would recommend making a reservation, which they will take it up to a week ahead of time. Be advised also though through no fault if theirs traffic on 21 Mile tends to back up so be prepared & plan accordingly. read more

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Best Mexican food, the people there are great. Try the beerita. The bar tender is awesome and the carry out is fast!

Worst Mexican food I've ever tasted. I'm shocked this place has more than 2 stars. The food is low quality, and the service is spotty. I ordered a combination dinner and I didn't even care to eat more than a few bites of everything, which is not my style in the slightest. The rice, beans, meat, EVERYTHING tastes like a kitchen sink smells--nasty. A lot of their dinners come with a side salad ("crappy head lettuce" as my mom would say) or a "Cheesy Nacho" which is literally a baked tostada topped with melted cheese. I thought it was a joke. To be fair, my aunt and uncle love this place and talked up their famous Puffy Taco, but I didn't care for it and would not want to eat another one. They do provide complimentary chips and salsa, but they only give medium salsa. Um, way to alienate your mild-only clientele. They could really improve employee knowledge. We asked the seater if it was still happy hour and she said, "I don't know. Your server will be here soon." Seriously? The seater is a guest's first impression of the restaurant, and you don't even know when happy hour is??? Their beer prices were wack too. A bottle of Dos Equis is $5.25. Yeah right. Do yourself a favor and go anywhere else. read more

A seemingly perfect Tex-Mex family hot spot is not so perfect. My husband & I used to frequent this establishment several times, until we both witnessed a disgusting sanitary issue. El Charro has a good selection of Tex Mex favorites. They haven't left a favorite off the menu. They also have a liquor license so you'll get your fix of margaritas or tropical drinks. The staff, however, are forced to wear hilariously hideous "Mexicana" blouses & aprons. I actually feel for them. Be weary this establishment's prices are slightly more expensive than other Mexican restaurants. The disgusting sanitary issue my husband & I encountered was with a server. We finished our dinner, then glanced back by the kitchen . We saw our server PICKING HER NOSE. She wiped her finger on her apron then proceeded to pick up plates of food to be served. As soon as we saw this disgusting sanitary issue, we both vowed to never go back. Any potential diners at El Charro, please beware prior to dining. read more

The food is amazing. Authentic Mexican and their own specialty puffy tacos. The only knock is that they allow customers to park in no parking signs area, and it screws with traffic going to Kroger or anywhere else. The customers can use a true parking space 30 feet away and not be lazy. read more

Thanks to an awesome coupon in the weekly ads my boyfriend and I decided to try El Charro's for dinner for the first time in quite some time. We were quickly greeted and seated as soon as we walked thru the doors. Quite busy for a weekday night but plenty of seats still available. Not more than 30 seconds later we were served chips and salsa. Meh. Chips were extremely thick and tasted more than a week old. Not warm or anything. Salsa had too much acid for my liking but thanks to table side sugar, I simply sprinkled the sugar in the salsa and that fixed the issue. I ordered the El Charro Original Combination. It comes with taco, meat and bean tostada, enchilada, and a burrito. All came with ground beef stuffed inside each item. Waitress said there would be an up charge if I wanted to substitute for anything else. My Boyfriend ordered the chicken and steak fajitas. Each meal came with cheese nachos, much tastier than the chips and salsa! Our food arrived as soon as we finished our nachos. Lots of food in front of us and we couldn't wait to dig in. Eh. My ground beef in my meal was extremely try and tasteless. Didn't something, such as a paste or more seasoning to make it taste better. I snagged my boyfriends sour cream and made a sour cream/salsa mix to help fix the dry issue. My boyfriend loved the fajitas! Only issue he had was the steak was already pre made and not fresh. He was hoping he could have the steak be cooked medium and since it was premade/frozen he couldn't. The steak and chicken were both well done and steak was chewy. Came with white rice instead of mexican rice but had corn inside. Food definitely is far from authentic Mexicantown food but it's good. Very large extensive menu. Theres something for everyone! Good place to take kids. Daily specials and drink specials. Kids eat free every Sunday with the purchase of an adult entree. Overall, decent experience. Service was top-notch. Prices are a lot higher than previous trips and even more expensive than other locations. Had enough leftovers to make another meal out of it. read more

El Charro - El Charro original combination entree. Enough for another meal! - Mexican Near Me - Macomb, Michigan

The puffy taco's cannot be beat and either can the service. The lunch specials are fairly priced w a good proportion. Top it off w a prickly pear margarita to make a perfect meal. read more

First off, this is a generous 3-star rating; the rest of my group felt that was charity.... so let's not wait for it. I haven't been here in years so I was okay with trying it with a group of six. I went with one fluffy taco which awesome. However, the other five people hated their meals. The fajitas didn't sizzle or have much flavor. After two of my friends were complaining about their food I had to try. Now the chicken fajitas had a different flavor; I wouldn't say it was bad, but it was different. My friends hated it; I'd say it's just preference. Granted I didn't like it, but it was just a little different. The nacho dishes weren't traditional nachos but rather one circle chip with cheese --- kinda odd. Drinks were good. Atmosphere was so so, not like the original el charros. They did have a super awesome fish tank.... so if all else fails, you can see some sweet fish. In the end, we will not be back. read more

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Always a great meal. Many great menu options. Great margaritas and sangria! Awesome carryout service. Great atmosphere.

Average. No complaints, no real pull to come back, super average food, slightly above average price for what you're getting ‍

I've been eating at El Charro's since the early 80's when they had one location cramped into a little strip mall on Utica Rd in Fraser, MI. Over the years they have expanded to several east-side locations, including this one on 21 mile in Macomb. The food is not real Mexican, it is the usual homogenized blend of Americanized Mexican to soothe the conservative palate. If prepared correctly, the food can be very good and worth an occasional trip, however the prices are rather high for certain dishes, especially the ala-carte puffy taco which sells for close to $5 each. I remember when the puffy tacos were called soft shelled tacos and sold for .99 cents each! Now the waiters wear t-shirts proclaiming El Charro is "Home of the Puffy Taco". In terms of the physical plant, the interior decorator did a fine job. Guess who's paying for those modern Codex Guadalajara curtains? In regards to sides, like the Frito Bandito, El Charro plays the nickle and dime game. Want guacamole? A small portion will cost you $2.50. Sour cream? A mere thimble for $1. Like to drink booze? They serve overpriced novelty drinks at the bar. Beware of the watered-down margaritas with sickeningly sweet Triple Sec aftertaste. I miss the black anise melty-mints they used to give out post meal. It seems each time a new location opens or one is remodeled the prices shoot-up throughout the entire chain, a pattern seen for years. IMO, El Charro is only worthwhile for lunch specials or the occasional splurge. That said, my favorite items are the puffy tacos, smooth red salsa with chips, original Botana and deep fried ice cream with honey. Remarkably, the taste and preparation of these items has remained mostly unchanged over the years. Kudos for consistency! I did have a disappointing experience on a recent visit. I ordered the large seafood nachos for $18, the menu described the dish as a "Crisp flour tortillas with a blend of seafood delicacies..." When the nachos arrived there was clearly no blend of seafood delicacies, it was a pile of fake Krab meat between two cheese fried tortillas. I was very disappointed that El Charro's had the nerve to plate and serve such a monstrosity especially after charging me $18. Who considers Krab-with-a-K to be a seafood delicacy??? On the bright side, after voicing our concern, the waitress, who initially could have cared less, advocated on our behalf to the manager who dropped the price from $18 to $9. That said, I will never order the seafood nachos again. See pic for the monstrosity served. What's the old saying...never order seafood in a restaurant that doesn't specialize in it. BOTTOM LINE: Great for lunch specials or the occasional splurge. Try the deep fried ice cream for dessert. Puffy tacos are the iconic dish here, however, they are pricey. Heck, for homogenized Mexican food, the whole menu is rather pricey. Stick to the lunch specials. Avoid the marginal novelty drinks at the bar. Avoid the mystery meat seafood nachos. read more

El Charro - $18 for fake Krab meat seafood nachos? Can you say gross rip-off? - Mexican Near Me - Macomb, Michigan

My wife stopped here on her way home from work to bring dinner home. She went in and ordered our dinner and they completely screwed up my dinner. I want 2 wet burritos with no refried beans and asked for double the rice. Well they ended up doubling refried beans with no rice at all and the burritos were not wet. My wife did not know until she got home to van Duke and hall rd. area and had to run all the way back to them after calling them up and explaining what we received. So my wife ran back up there. Our dinner was $55. And when she arrived and went in bringing back the first order. They did not offer her anything. Just an apology. No coupon for future use or any type of refund. We will never go back to El Charros on 21 mile in Macomb County. Especially with the distance she had to drive back to them, with the price of fuel today and the outrageous prices that restaurants are charging now days. If you plan to get dinner from them I suggest eating it there if you want it right.​ read more

Best Mexican food. We stopped trying other restaurants because they don't come close. High quality hot food. Love puffy tacos

Good food and good drinks. Service is hit or miss. Overall, I like this place. Could use more seating and faster table turnover. read more

El Charro - My favorite - Mexican Near Me - Macomb, Michigan

Excellent on all counts! Our server, Jenny, did an excellent job- friendly but still professional. She was efficient but not intrusive. The prices were very reasonable! ! Had a very nice meal and an enjoyable time. This was my first time at this location - I would definitely go again. read more

It's a Detroit staple of Mexican food, and ii don't understand how, because it's startlingly mediocre. It's the most basic Tex-Mex out there, but the prices are jacked up to levels not commensurate with the quality. I've eaten at a number of Mexican restaurants in the Detroit area, and on the occasions I've eaten at El Charro, it's never my choice, and I always leave feeling underwhelmed. If you just want average quality Tex-Mex, or authentic Mexican food ain't your bag, I guess this is fine. But if you aspire to something more than burritos and tacos, there's a lot better options. And even better options for burritos and tacos. read more

Home of the puffy taco! Super yummy food and drinks! They always have good deals on drinks throughout the week!

I would literally give el charro 100 stars if I could. I love their puffy tacos soooo much. The puff tacos are a must try, I recently went to another Mexican restaurant against my will.. and they had something similar to the puffy taco, but it wasn't even close to the amazing-ness of the OG puffy taco. The shell wasn't as good and neither was the meat... el charros shells are fried to perfection and stuffed with the most delicious seasoned beef. ( you can choose other things like chicken.. but I think the ground beef is the best) When you dine in you have two salsa options and both are truly outstanding. I have never had a bad time at charro. If you have never been to el charro you really need to add this to your bucket list. The pricing is fair but if you want a real good deal they have awesome lunch options that run until 3 or 4 pm. You can access their menu online for more info read more

Love going here with my girlfriends for a relaxing fun dinner! The salsa is a little spicy for my liking but I have a sensitive stomach so that's my bad!!! So yummy! read more

The Horseman, what a wonderful place to eat. The food is authentic and the drinks are very good. The tacos and enchiladas are second to none. I even got to-go take out and it didn't disappoint. I usually can judge a great authentic Mexican establishment by their guacamole and again 5 stars on that too. Put your boots and spurs on. Throw the saddle blanket on. Tighten that cinch and stick the left foot in and pull yourself up.... Your in for a great easy no BS ride at the Charro! read more

Love this place, food is great !!!! If u like Mexican , you will like el charro :) I think !!!!!!!!!!nachos are the best and there puffy tacos read more

I hadn't been to El Charro's for 20-30 years. My friend offered to take me out for my birthday to a restaurant of my choice, after researching menus, location, and reviews from Eat Local Macomb, I chose El Charro's new location in Macomb. First of all, very slow service and it wasn't crowded yet. I ordered shredded beef wet burrito and my friend got the chicken wet burrito. After we were served our entrees we the had to wait for our server to return with eating utensils. Only to find out minutes later that I had also been given a chicken wet burrito. The server had disappeared from sight. When I finally got my corrected order, I was disappointed. The food was not at all what I remembered! It was too bland, there was nothing Mexican about it. Should've gone to Las Tortugas, Mexican Village, or Sagebrush Cantina. read more

I've for sure had better Mexican food. Good place to get Mexican food if you are craving it but not really authentic Mexican.

Puffy tacos....if you from the area I don't need to say much more. By far my favorite item on the menu. Great for a quick lunch and always has margaritas on special. The puffy fish tacos are so great...very filling and easily another meal for later. Please never change. read more

So disappointed! I have waited for weeks for El Charro to reopen because I've been a very loyal patron. I had $120 in gift cards from a Christmas promo and 1.) they would not honor the $20 gift card saying it was outdated... sigh... during a pandemic when they were closed? Poor business! Then I ordered5 meals and two were "not available" so I had to get substitutes that were poor quality! Then... as if that was not enough I bought 2 margaritas for $28 each (ludicrous!) and the failed to give them to me! What the hell!? I'm done! Won't go back! There are enough good Mexican restaurants! read more

I want to start by saying the service was excellent and everyone was very nice. We had never eaten at this location before, only at the one in Fraser literally decades ago. We were not happy at that location (poor service, meh food) but wanted to try the Macomb location bc it always seemed busy. The restaurant was decent enough, not fancy but nice enough. However the food was a huge disappointment. It wasn't awful but it wasn't amazing either. I ordered the three enchiladas with the rice and beans. The rice was decent but again not amazing. The beans were so bland I had to add a LOT of hot salsa just to give them some flavor, and I can't eat hot things like I used to do. I have made refried beans at home and it's so easy to make them flavorful, so someone needs some lessons in making them taste better. The chips were good but the salsa was just meh. I was so disappointed in the enchiladas. They had no flavor and I ended up taking them home and rescued them with some extra cheese and seasoning. My husband had the wet burrito dinner but wasn't impressed either. I gave two stars only bc I didn't want to be too harsh but we won't ever go back. There are other options that are much better! read more

We go to El Charro pretty much every weekend. If you haven't tried their puffy tacos, you're missing out. PUFFY TACOS!!

The Blue Margaritas look pretty good - on special today. My server was Erica S. She was delightful as a waitress, obviously experienced. I ordered the Chef's Special Enchilada dinner and I really liked it. Followed with an ice cream sundae to finish the meal. This location is tucked away next to a Kroger Supermarket in the northwest corner of 21 Mile and Card Road. Kids eat FREE on Sundays. One free meal per each adult meal purchased. On your birthday, take your age as a percentage off the price of your meal. (i.e. if you turn 25, you get 25% off). Military discount offered. read more

Needed to go to the bank and tucked into the corner of this strip mall is this little Mexican place beckoning to me to come in have a bite for lunch.. ok! Nice space, nice staff and a bustling dining room really brought this place alive. Did I mention they have a full bar? Shoosh, you had me at Carta Blanca! So I get the Lunch Special Wet Burrito and man was it wet. I had a bit of a time finding the burrito under all the cheese, rice, beans and salsa. Maybe a little too wet when I added on the sidecars of Sour Creme and Guacamole. My fault, not theirs. The thing was that it had really good flavor and it wasn't mottled, everything stood out in the way it should. I had a flight of salsa at my disposal as well. The girl brought me 4 different kinds of salsa and I gladly indulged every one. The mild was a bit salty and not to my taste, the more traditional was a really good blend and probably grandma safe. The green was really tasty and the hotter sauce had a really nice smokey flavor to it, probably my fav. These days I spend as much at Taco Bell as I did here, except here they have booze. So i'll be back for more! read more

El Charro - Wet burrito lunch special - Mexican Near Me - Macomb, Michigan

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DH and I went here for dinner on a Saturday night around 7:30 and waited about 5 minutes to be seated. It looked like El Charro was doing a good carry out business too as their front counter was covered in carry outs. DH ordered the Steak and Chicken Fajitas and I ordered the Combination Enchiladas (ground beef, shredded chicken and cheese). Our entrees came with a choice of garden salad or cheese nacho. We got one of each, the salad was regular and the nacho was one giant chip covered with cheese. DH said his fajitas were very good- the meat was not oily and it was quite flavorful. My enchiladas were delicious. Since I don't eat Mexican food very often, I have nothing to offer in comparison. The beans were nice and smooth (I normally stay away from these) and had a nice amount of cheese on top. The service was very prompt, despite a full house, our food came out within 15 minutes of ordering and the server was friendly. If we were to get Mexican again, we would not hesitate to come back here. read more

Try their puffy tacos. They're very good. This location is fairly small compared to the Garfield location. Service was great and food was fresh. read more

El Charro - Mexican Near Me - Macomb, Michigan

I ruined my Saturday night, by going to this place. I called them ahead, I reserved a table and then I got ignored about 45 minutes after the appointment. I will be ever come back to this place. read more

Just OK the original is 100 times better Service is not as good as original food isn't even close.

The taco's are outstanding, and the botanas is to die for. Everything here is great, the food, the drinks, and it's just down the street.

I love this place! Great Mexican food. Their Queso is good. Only comes with 3 tortilla so make sure you get extra! I also love the style cheese they use on their food. It's not the thick white cheese that most other Mexican restaurants use. It seems more authentic. Highly recommend. read more

Take your age as a percentage off, on your birthday, I'm an enchilada freak and theirs rate right up with the best.. read more

El Charro - Mexican Near Me - Macomb, Michigan

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What: 5 stars for their homemade corn tortilla chips and homemade mild spicy thin red salsa. How: For carryout of the good stuff, order "a pound and a pint." #RajivRecommends100% #DetroitCity #FoodReviews read more

El Charro - Mexican Near Me - Macomb, Michigan