I guve the service 4 stars. Manager wants you to be happy with your experience and I appreciate that. Food was delish. Had the tableside quac and enchiladas read more

Meh. That pretty much sums up what I have to say about El Chico's on the whole. I was the holiday party planner for my job and needed a place nearby in everyone's price point that took reservations. On the phone the staff was very friendly and helpful setting the reservation. Also during the whole dinner of 12 people the service was efficient and friendly. That's was El Chico's best feature. The menu had good enough variety and plenty of cost-efficient options. However the food quality is both generic and bland, reflecting the price-point and atmosphere of the chain in general. I had the queso, chicken tortilla soup and enchiladas, and all of it was pretty blah (it doesn't help that I'm a tex-mex snob). The restaurant itself is also situated on a weird section of the interstate frontage road. Unless you're approaching from the lake, expect to do some weird parking lot hopping to get to the entrance. As long as you're not super picky about your Tex-Mex cuisine (like me), then El Chico is an adequate dining choice. To be honest there's nothing super awesome about this restaurant - overall it's "meh." Yet there's nothing outright awful about it either. In the end the ultimate opinion is up to you when you try it yourself. read more

I had not been to El Chico in probably 12 years, I saw they had remodeled so my husband and I thought we would give it a try. We love Mexican food and margaritas, so it's always nice to have an extra place to go. The service is ok, not amazing, but not bad. I think a lot of the servers are still learning. The food is good, I like the fajitas and the fajita enchiladas. They have great drink specials, Mondays are margarita days and the house margarita is $2.99 and it's a big drink. It might become our Monday night favorite. read more

The food was just terrible. Seriously one of the worst meals I've ever had in my life. Tortillas and taco shells were dry and limp, meat was bland and had a gross texture, the cheese inside my enchilada was straight orange and lumpy. I barely ate any of it. Just very poor quality overall read more

My family dines at the Rockwall location about 3 times a week. The staff and management are amazing. When we walk in and staff know me by name and my kids names you get that friendly welcome vibe like your back home. Food is terrific and very reasonably priced. My family of 5 can dine for about $35.00. Love the salsa and homemade tortillas. Restaurant stays clean. If something is spilled or a mess is made you can bet one of the bus boys are there within seconds to clean up. Margaritas are amazing and decently priced. Mondays they are only $2.99 which is awesome. What is more awesome is kids eat for 99 cents on Thursdays! If you're looking for great tex-mex and a friendly atmosphere El Chico in Rockwall is the place to go. read more

Eel Chico's tonight. I had table side guacamole, very good. Queso was tasty. Hubby had shrimp tacos and was very satisfied. Excellent server, Isidro. Definitely will be back. Thanks for above average service. read more

This is the place you go to if you can't decide whither to go . It 's like the default choice for cheap, not- too-terrible Tex Mex. The service is acceptable, if not stellar. Really nothing here is "stellar", but it's all straightforward & workmanlike. The menu ticks off the necessary boxes. Fried ice cream? Check. Chili con queso? Check. Uninspired Combo platters? Check. I rather like their enchiladas, which I prefer not to be too fancy anyway . Tacos are very simple, with ground meat, grated unmelted cheese, iceberg lettuce, etc. Usually I have to add some sauce from my enchiladas or some of my refritos to make the tacos palatable. Tamales are good for what are really "industrial" tamales. The salsa with their chips is inoffensive but adds enough spice I find it worth stirring into the queso. My wife hates El Chico so I don't make it here often. There us always somewhere better anyway. Still I find it comforting to think that El Chico's level of not-quite-suckiness will probably always be here. At least it's cheap! read more

I would normally give this restaurant a 5-star rating, but NOT today. I am handicapped and my husband is Choctaw Indian. We we the 2nd people in line after they opened. The "new" manager (never saw him before) told us to follow him, AND HE SAT US IN THE VERY BACK OF THE RESTAURANT BY THE TOILETS!!! The place was literally EMPTY! My husband was so angry that we left. I noticed two other couples come in (who were African American) and he sat them in the back as well. ALL OF THE WHITE PEOPLE WERE SEATED IN THE FRONT. DO NOT EAT THERE IF YOU ARE NOT WHITE OR HEALTHY! !!! read more

We visited this restaurant the Friday after Thanksgiving and the service was terrible. It appeared that they were under staff, and had to wait to get refills on drinks, the food was average, and a bad experience overall. Although we live close by, we will not visit this restaurant again. read more

The food is great. I especially like their queso dip, but what I like more is the customer service. My husband placed an order online for us and I went to pick it up in person after 12 hr day at work, only to find out my husband accidentally forgot to submit the order my meal. The man who helped me put an order in for what I wanted and had it out to me in like 5 min so I could go home and eat after a long day and I really appreciated that. read more

Good fresh chips. Excellent service. The only negative was the food was more about presentation that quality. Overall, good experience.

If there was any way to give this place ZERO stars I'd do it. Restaurant was filthy, unbussed tables throughout restaurant when we entered, same dirty tables as we were leaving. The skinny margarita I ordered had a faint petroleum flavor to it so I sent it back and got a regular frozen margarita. It had very little if any alcohol in it, to the extent the drink never melted even a little bit. The menu is so drab we had a difficult time finding something on it that sounded good. I finally decided on the fajita nachos and my dining partner ordered a combination enchilada plate. The food came out 45 minutes later cold and congealed. No guacamole or sour cream for the nachos just this green mess that resembled guacamole and sour cream combined in a very small dollop in the center of the plate. The enchiladas were also a disappointment. The server did not bring utensils for us to eat until 10 minutes after the food had been delivered to our table so all we could do is sit and stare at our cold, congealed plates until he finally remembered us. I had a stomach ache for a full 24 hours after the meal which is not a normal occurrence for me. I think it would be safe to skip this "dining experience" unless you really hate yourself or the person(s) with whom you are dining. read more

Went to El Chico tonight for dinner. Our server was Mojico. Even though they were busy he provided us excellent service. The food was hot and fresh and delicious. Highly recommend this server as well as El Chico. We will definitely return. Loved the carrots, onions and jalapenos brought with the chips. Could have made a meal just off those. Tortillas were hot and fresh and with butter made the perfect dessert. Found nothing to complain about. read more

This is the best Mexican place in town you have been a wonderful service great MLK happy holidays A. From Emily (7yrs old)

Waiting for a table on a Friday night is frustrating when you count over ten tables sitting empty and not being seated. I don't get it- do they not have servers, or enough cooks to seat every table? Food is good but service is slow throughout read more

Its one of my favorite spots but tonight the service and taking if the services was just bad. Our server was servicing our table and the bar please dont do this. She didnt get our order right and was very neglecting. I don't know if I would come back to this location. The steak fajita was on point thou! read more

Haven't been to El Chico in a long time and won't be back anytime soon! I attempted to order from the kids menu as I do not eat much, I was told no. Every restaurant I have been to allows me to eat off the kids menu. So they lost our business and won't be back. Clearly they don't need our business. read more

Awful. Stale greasy chips. Asked for fresh. Second attempt worse- stale and hard- still greasy. I mean hard! One couldn't break them easily! Third attempt - finally got edible chips but they tasted of oil which means the fryer oil needs to be changed. Waiter said it was not the first complaint. Kids plate tasted like the cheese was off. There was a gross blob of whitish green that the waiter said was guacamole yet the guacamole on the table was normal looking. Sent dish back. The fajitas were okay. The enchiladas were sub par and nothing good about them. The taco salad had a greasy stale shell that was made worse by lard tasting refried beans. We've been there before and left happy. Today, was a reason never to go back. When you serve old stale chips, the rest of the meal goes downhill. But it gets worse: the bathrooms smelled like they were the inside of a Fabulosa bottle! You are supposed to dilute that stuff! So overpowering that it gave my husband a headache. Never again. read more

Food was really good and service was outstanding! Ask for Patricia! Best server we have had anywhere in a very long time!

I had lunch here by myself a few days ago. The service was very friendly and efficient and my food was very good. I would have gone 4 stars on this place but the floors were sticky. That makes me concerned about the overall cleanliness. I mentioned that to my wife when we drove by the following day and she did not want to go in. They have been around since 1940 so maybe I hit a day when the cleaning crew was off?? read more

The service and food has progressed at this location. My encounter with staff and management and their strives to be more there for the customer was impressive. If u end up with a bad experience with managers here you are probably just a negative person looking for something to write about. They really go above and beyond here. Good stuff read more

It's between one and two stars for me. I haven't been in a long while and noticed that they have been remodeling. It's not completed yet but right now it looks very strange. It was warm and cozy feeling prior to the remodeling and so far with the new interior it feels very open and cold. Almost cafeteria like. The middle section has always been a bit crowded but their layout now is ridiculous. There is absolutely no space between tables for the people in the chairs no less for the wait staff. Our table had one chair completely against a brick pillar (my chair that I couldn't pull out, I had to push the table away, sit down, and then pull the table back to me so my husband could sit in his chair). The seat where our highchair was placed was actually in the main walk way for the restaurant. My husband's chair was poking out and got kicked and bumped everytime someone passed and our last unoccupied chair was luckily so, because I couldn't have fit into it with a baby sling from the other table against it. My husband and son had cleaning supplies, dirty dishes, and food carried over their heads at least 15 times while we were there. On to the food. I use to LOVE this place. My husband has never been a fan and so we started to venture out and have since found much better places for the same price. I don't know entirely if they've always been sub-par or if they've gone down hill but their food is not at all how I remember. My tex-mex burrito was swimming in grease. Their chips are nothing special, their salsa is alright but again nothing special, kind of bland. Their tortillas are amazing though. The rice and beans are pretty bland as well. If it were a bit cheaper I wouldn't be so hard on them, but Posados is the same price and taste like restaurant quality. El Chico is a step about Poncho's for me. I was pretty sad about our experience. I know for a fact that the tex-mex burrito was worse than I've had, but as far as the overall taste I might have just found greener pastures in other tex-mex restaurants. Either way, there are far better places to eat for the same price. read more

Arrived to find the young looking brunette hostess thoroughly looking miserable to be at her job. She took great lengths not to make eye contact. She wiped menus clean, looking down, never smiled, and left her station constantly. Everyone who came in after us came to an empty kiosk area looking around and had to wait for her to return. She didn't smile, say a greeting, or anything more then asking name and party size. She didn't offer any waiting time, every single person had to ask. She then immediately left before they engaged her in more *gasp* conversation. We were seated by a very harried-looking blonde who was running around and more concerned about - I don't know, whatever was going around her - and again, we barely got a "hi" or greeting, she did NOT ask if we preferred a booth or table (I always prefer booth - and of course, she walked us by a nice inviting empty booth to seat us at a table). And then almost threw the napkin/flatware and menus at us and left. No "your server will be with your shortly, enjoy your meal" no offer to take our drink orders - simply left to grab the next group and seat them as fast as she could. (I must note - the restaurant was not that busy!) Ok, so then our server shows up. A nice young man whom I eventually found out was named Oscar. Because he did not introduce himself nor was he wearing a name tag. About 10 minutes into our service, I had to ask his name myself. He took our drink orders, took our food orders all ok. But nothing extraordinary about the service. Nothing terrible. He did the minimum of what was needed to get our food to us. This guy did manage to smile once or twice, but never came by in the middle of the meal to ask us how we were doing (thank heavens there really wasn't any issue with the food). Ok, the food. Really tasty. The chips and salsa were yummy, I'm a big fan of sweeter-leaning salsa and cilantro so I was pleased to find both in the salsa. My husband ordered the enchiladas (one chicken, one cheese, one spinach) and he loved them. The beans were tasty too. I got an appetizer as an entree, the Loreto Sampler, and it could have fed 4 people! That's ok, that is what to-go boxes are for, right? The beef quesadillas, spicy chicken jalapeño poppers were the stars of that plate. So, 4 stars for the food, minus one star for the terrible service. read more

This restaurant has been here since I moved here over 25 years ago. It's always been just a normal run of the mil Tex Mex restaurant. Not as good as El Chico, but definitely more than good enough. I'd say its the best tex mex I can get in the immediate area (since Freebirds went to crap). I have always had good service there, sometimes exceptional. Food is great. Prices are fine. I do miss the trickling water-fall wall that they had turned on until like... 20 years ago. read more

Had the Quesadilla Circulo salad. It was edible but I would not order it again. The grilled chicken strips tasted freeze burned. The salad was fresh but the dressing was very watered down. Overall it was a fresh tasteless lunch. read more

I have El Chico salsa running thru my veins. When I think of Mexican food, this is the first place that comes to mind. I love my local El Chico, but I do have to say that the interior is needing a makeover. Other than that, it gets a 2 thumbs up from me! read more

Worst enchiladas ive ever had... all the food was subpar really. Salsa tasted like blended tomatoes or just store bought. No flavor no spice... service was okay. I will not be going back. read more

This place knows how to cook good Mexican food. We frequent this location often, as the one closer to our home closed. Food is consistent. Service is fantastic. Fresh torillas (there was one time we went and the tortillas were blah but normally they are melt in your mouth.) read more

Slow service. Took 20 minutes for water and chips. Waiter was rude but not friendly either. I ordered chicken enchiladas was served pork, he argued with me that it was chicken. Everyone at the table tried it, it was pork. read more

Food was hot, tasty, and reasonably priced. The service was spectacular at lunch on a Saturday. We will definitely be going back.

on the remodel: the waterfall wall is all dried up, and that makes me kindof sad. otherwise, the place looks great! they packed the tables in tight, and it was pretty busy the other night. we had a coupon, alright? BOGO enchiladas, so the bf & i ate for about $20. price was good, but it wouldn't have been worth it without the coupon. i ordered the 5 mini enchiladas, each one different than the last. bf had chili reinos enchiladas. i looked over the drinks and desserts (fairly priced) but decided against them because i was too full. the GOOD: chicken, for some reason the cheese, and surprisingly the beef. quick on refills, and bf was able to watch the game from our table. service was polite- and the bartender was friendly. the not so good: chips and salsa weren't great, and the floors were really sticky. give us your coupons and we'd go back. read more

Meh it's ok. The queso was great, but the tacos I had were not that good. Service was average.

***Made my whole Family and Neighbors sick** Took the family here after church with are neighbors and the food was horrible. My wife ran to the bathroom and threw up about 2 mins after i payed the bill. Well when we got home I threw up and the kids said there stomach hurt. Talked to the neighbors the next day and they said they where in the bathroom most of the afternoon and night. I will never go back here ever again. My stomach turns every time i see the sign. read more

One of the first restaurants in Rockwall that I have eaten ate my whole life practically. The remodels aren't bad but they lost some warmth due to colors and decorations being taken down. My wife and I, weather permitting, just always try to sit outside. They have an amazing apple pie/ice cream desert that is the only reason my wife asks to go back. Margaritas are pretty good, but if you want a great marg go to Mi Cocina and order the Mambo Taxi. read more

Love the atmosphere and service here. Food is good and great on the wallet. Super tentative managers, and my kiddos love it here also. :)

Updated to 3 stars because the manager is a real sweetheart and reached out to us, it's not how ya screw up, but how you handle it.

We took our mother here yesterday for Mother's Day and all of us we're very disappointed. Food wasn't as good as it usually is. They needed more wait staff for as busy as it was. It's usually pretty good. read more

It has been years since I visited an El Chico. We stopped in for lunch and it was as good as I recall. We ordered the top shelf quest and it was excellent! The Tex-mex burrito was very tasty. The enchiladas were average. Service was good and the atmosphere enjoyable. read more

Ate here in the eve a month ago..had the best fajita and table side guacamole.... Ate here at lunch today and very disappointed ..come on kitchen..wait staff ..please get the order right... New manager... Was polite and attentive... read more

I was there recently with a really nice sweet server Wafai a black teen in her early 20's she hasn't been working there along time but she tries her best and has the best attitude! read more