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    El Valle

    3.7 (143 reviews)
    InexpensiveMexican
    Open 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

    Order El Valle Takeout or Delivery

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    Business Info

    EL VALLE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - El Valle

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    Queso dip - it was more milky and runny than I prefer
    Bianca H.

    This is a classic Mexican restaurant with great food and great service. The restaurant is popular and lively, and the food selection is extensive. I tried the "fresh" margarita and it was really delicious and light-tasting. All of the food was fresh and flavorful. I was even pleasantly surprised by how good the guacamole in my salad was. I'm happy to have found this place. This will be my neighborhood go to for Mexican cuisine.

    Mango margarita (regular size)
    Jennifer D.

    Love this place more every time I come! Service is always on par and food tastes made from scratch. The fajita bowl is always full of meat and vegetables which I love and their portion sizes are great.

    Drink specials as of 6/23/2023
    Wes R.

    Excellent food and service! One thing that really stood out was the beef hamburger meat. Most places the beef comes out semi-greasy but at El Valle it has been perfect every time and flavorful. Margarita specials are nice also! Check them out!

    Roberto Y.

    Another great meal! I have been coming to this place for nearly 17 years and it is still good. Servers are very attentive. Brought some family members from Florida and they enjoyed their food. Keep up the good work!

    Gregory B.

    One of the best Mexican food restaurants in Charlotte. The cheese dip is amazing, and very cheap. The service speed is unreal. I've waited in longer drive-thru lines. Food is always out, in no more than 5 minutes after ordering. I got the #15 combo, but will continue to try every combo each visit.

    Some places have signs in the restroom that employees must wash their hands.  Others give you little stories that are gross (but funny).
    Eric K.

    We returned to El Valle for dinner with some friends, after not having returned for -- yikes!! -- 7 years. I must give El Valle kudos and a higher rating this time around, as we had an exceptional experience. I honestly couldn't remember our last visit, but I'm glad we returned. The menu is quite extensive. It took awhile to review it entirely. And I found a lot of different choices than a lot of Mexican restaurants offer, which was a nice surprise. All at fantastic prices, with an average of about $10 a person. I finally decided on Camarones El Loco, which is described as "shrimp in a special burning hot chipotle sauce, served with rice and beans." What intrigued me most was the "burning hot" sauce. While it didn't seem "burning hot" to me (sadly), it certainly was delicious and came with a lot of shrimp. It was a creamy sauce without much kick. Bonus: all the sauce doubled as a sauce for the rice. I didn't even use the tortillas that were brought with the meal; it was all good and filling on its own. One of our friends ordered one of the soups that she's ordered before, proclaiming its size enormous. She ordered the small bowl, which is much bigger than other restaurants' small size. And she was right. It was a huge-portioned, very chunky soup, stuffed with a lot of goodness. It's a meal in itself. We all left the restaurant fat and happy. My opinion of El Valle has been changed...for the better! They have fantastic food at excellent prices. (TIP: When you're done at El Valle, sneak around behind the building and discover Artisen, which serves Ecuadorian gelato for dessert. YUM!)

    Tacos Al pastor

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    2 years ago

    Best ACP around. I would recommend this place to anyone. And the portion size was fantastic.

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    4 years ago

    Excellent service always. Best homemade chicken soup around. Great family restaurant.

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    This place has gone downhill so much. Retried beans had been watered down. Fajitas were just awful. Meat was tough. Rice was dry.

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    Page 1 of 4

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    Cantina Louie

    Cantina Louie

    4.0(163 reviews)
    1.5 mi
    $$

    Ambience is so fun! We were seated quickly. Love the outdoor games and outside seating for a fun…read moretime with good food. They have a Taco Tuesday special for $2.99 any taco. So, we ordered one of each (easily split btw 3-4 ppl) and LOVED it!! My fav taco is the street corn taco with shrimp . Delicious sweet and savory. Our service was great the first night, but the second night it was a miss. They eventually advised us that they were in training at the moment. So, that's understandable and answered our questions and concerns. Overall, as long as they keep it very clean and food tastey, we will be back to this restaurant regularly.

    Stopped by prior to the Ice Storm we were getting ready for this January and in between shopping…read more I've been here before and tried their innovative tacos... service was a bit slow as there were only one waitress in our section it would take long until she would come back and or realize I was trying to her her attention. Apart from that she was friendly and helpful. We ordered the shrimp fajita and bc my daughter loves shrimp I asked if was spicy and even the queso they only have the one w jalapenos which I love but my daughter couldn't enjoy as much bc it became too Spicy for her. The horchata was too sweet - according to my 7 year old who loves sweets, I also tried and compared to our local taco place it was very sweet, she didn't event drink it and ordered water. I had the skinny margaritas which also not my favorite the alcohol portion was on point very nice and you could taste it which I appreciate it since I was cold outside, but the flavor was missing. Overall the food is good the prices and service are all very good. Ambience is traditional Mexican skeletons decor like dis de los muertos everyday. If you haven't been here it's worth the trip to try Mexican style and imaginative American menu.

    Photos
    Cantina Louie
    Cantina Louie - Keep it light & fit with our Baja Salad! #MexicanFood #Margaritas #TacoTuesday

    Keep it light & fit with our Baja Salad! #MexicanFood #Margaritas #TacoTuesday

    Cantina Louie - Get filled up with our Enchilada Supreme #MexicanFood #Margaritas #TacoTuesday

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    Get filled up with our Enchilada Supreme #MexicanFood #Margaritas #TacoTuesday

    La Unica Mexican Restaurant Indian Trail

    La Unica Mexican Restaurant Indian Trail

    4.1(393 reviews)
    4.4 mi
    $
    Large group friendly
    Outdoor seating

    This is one of my favorite restaurants! The service is always great! I love the staff; they are…read morealways so friendly! The food is delicious and 100% authentic! I always get their queso as an appetizer and tacos as an entree. I will also sometimes get a frozen margarita which is always yummy! Everything is clean and the food comes out quick. Highly recommend!

    Located in a corner unit of a small strip mall, La Unica is a quaint Mexican restaurant that should…read morebe considered when those Tex Mex cravings are bubbling deep inside the soul. When my X and I first moved to Indian Trail, a lot of friends suggested this restaurant as the authority for Tex Mex. It's a good thing they have a big parking lot as they're generally packed, which means people like it. Me? My short reply is it's pretty good. Opening up the doors the atmosphere has a bit of reserved authenticity, no dollar tree prefab gimmicks are there just to plant a flag, claiming to be just like all other options out there. No this is the real deal with a warming atmosphere designed to entice locals to take a load off and relax. The server stand is directly in front and what appears to be a predominately family-owned business. The staff is quick to greet and seat everyone who enters and the place is extremely clean with a low noise level. Lets get to the food, shall we? First of all, I prefer thinner chips as theirs are really thick, but that's not a quality issue. The salsa is darn good and be careful for asking for hot salsa, you'll get what you asked for. Generally I fill up on chips and get something light however I've heard so many good things about La Unica I had to hold back so I could sample some of the former mrs food and gorge on my own. Please note I did drop by twice so I have three dishes I can speak too. First the former Mrs me got the flautas dinner. All the sides; lettuce, tomato, guac, sour cream and rice were fresh and tasty. The tomatoes were ripe and the guac wasn't discolored which means fresh. The flautas were perfectly cooked, crispy with flavorful and moist chicken while not being greasy. Top it with some lettuce and sour cream YUM! My first sample was the Shrimp burrito or I'll call it the Titanic as it was HUGE & IT WENT DOWN! Very tasty with plenty of fat shrimp and all the sides inside. I found it fun to cut into it, pop a bite into my mouth and see which ingredients hit my tastebuds; a revolving experience. Overall, it was very good and not to spicy. For the record, I don't eat beans so I'm not a good judge of what happened there. My final menu item was my best bud, my old faithful, my ride or die - steak fajitas. Again, the sides were awesome no issue there but I found the steak a bit tough. It was seasoned well and tasty but I did some chewing to finish it off. I think it may have been an off day. Other than the MMA fighting steak (implying it's tough) the dish is outstanding. Overall, La Unica is the best Mexican aka Tex Mex restaurant in Indian Trail. The staff is friendly and fast, the chips and salsa are great and for the most part you can always get a seat. Even when busy, the food doesn't seem to suffer. I wish I could have tried more items, alas life has dictated I'm a nomad so I won't be back. But don't let that stop you for hitting up the best south of the border joint in town!

    Photos
    La Unica Mexican Restaurant Indian Trail
    La Unica Mexican Restaurant Indian Trail
    La Unica Mexican Restaurant Indian Trail

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    Hacienda El Rey Austin Village - Empanadas and mojitos

    Hacienda El Rey Austin Village

    4.0(45 reviews)
    3.6 mi

    My family has dined here about two times before and told me that I needed to join them the next…read moretime to check it out. I was go glad they showed me this spot. The inside of the restaurant was clean and very trendy with plant walls, and signs that glowed which made it super cute! There was no wait when we arrived for a party of five which was nice and the hostess sat us politely and quickly. Our server was fast to stop by and brought out the complimentary chips and salsa that were both great. I ordered the chicken fajitas for two to share with my mother which we both agreed that they were delicious. I opted for black beans instead of refried and they were good too. The fajitas came with two plates of toppings for them so that we each had our own to build the fajitas on the house made tortillas. The others ordered the chicken nachos, veggie burrito, and the combination meal with two enchiladas. All of us were pleased with our choices. I look forward to coming back soon to try out some other items on the menu!

    I gave 2 stars for the ease of ordering to -go while there, and how pleasant everyone was…read more I ordered the Don Victor burrito which is a new item. For my meat I chose chicken. I also got the elote loco. I really wanted a traditional elote but the lady said elote loco and I replied yes, and so that's how that went. Not even 10 min later my food was out. They give complimentary chips & salsa. The elote loco was ok. Not usually something I would order but wasn't bad. I ate it all. Worth ordering twice if you're a fan of the red stuff. My burrito was a decent size. Short and fat. Rolled terribly. All of the guac and little bit of sour cream was on one side of the burrio and the other end had the chicken and rice. There was a thin amount of beans. The chicken was hella dry. Like it has been cooked a day before and reheated in a microwave. The flavor was lacking. The chips and salsa. The chips were warmed, but the salsa was giving crushed tomatoes with garlic. It was more of a tomato than a salsa. Personally, I wouldn't come back but they do have other dishes and so maybe I just ordered something that isn't one of their bests. My total was around $26. A bit steep for such mid food.

    Photos
    Hacienda El Rey Austin Village
    Hacienda El Rey Austin Village - Queso Birria Tacos

    Queso Birria Tacos

    Hacienda El Rey Austin Village - Jalapeño Margarita (L) Caribbean Margarita (R) Virgin Mojito (C)

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    Jalapeño Margarita (L) Caribbean Margarita (R) Virgin Mojito (C)

    El Valle - mexican - Updated May 2026

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