How has this place not received any reviews yet?
I can truly appreciate how good this food is now that I have lived in AZ for years and have eaten at, at least 100 mexican restaurants out here. I love mexican food and usually try at least one new place each week. You would think AZ would have some good mexican food being so close to Mexico, but sadly I haven't found anything that comes close to the authentic mexican food in Sterling.
Just starting with the chips and salsa which are both fresh and extremely flavorful. I haven't even been able to find a place out here that can compete with their chips and salsa, let alone the entree items and basics.
I pretty much always older one of their combos where you can choose 4 different items, and sometimes I add more because I can eat a ton of mexican food if it is good. I usually get a taco, carne guisada burrito (which are non-existent in AZ, in fact no one has even heard of them), enchilada, and tostada. This also comes with beans and rice, which needless to say is absolute perfection, simple but so flavorful and is a great compliment to the meal.
Most places in AZ basically serve some version of burritos, with either under seasoned chicken or steak, swamped in red or green sauce, then piled with cheddar cheese, or tacos with bland meat that has been deep fried and once again piled on with a pound of cheddar. The beans and rice at practically all the mexican restaurants in AZ are inedible, because they are so horrible tasting. The chips are usually store bought and heat lamped and its rare for a place to even have a good tortilla, let alone a meal. I don't even bother to write reviews for the mexican restaurants out here because it would be a waste of time, they are all the same and are basically as I just described.
El Jacalito is what I think of as real authentic mexican food. Prices are also extremely reasonable, which is to be expected in a smaller town like Sterling, but in a larger city these guys could be charging at least 50% more and it would still be a bargain. Also, they serve Jarritos (mexican soda), which is something you may take for granted, because surprisingly next to no one in AZ offers Jarritos.
This and Willys (also in Sterling) are amazing mexican restaurants and I wish they would open a location in AZ to offer their version of authentic mexican. read more