Authentic Mexican food in Hawi. Chili Verde was great. Got our food to go. Large portions and affordable prices

Food was edible but not enjoyable. Prices were okay but the place was absolutely disgusting. I am not one to leave negative reviews but I just wasn't comfortable the entire time we dined in. The service was bare minimum and they decided to wait until we've decided what we're ordering to tell us they were out of literally everything. Aside from that- went to use the bathroom after our meal and it almost made me throw up everything i'd just eaten. do not recommend. read more

This is really good authentic Mexican food! The red enchilada sauce is so good! The tacos are fried so nice and crunchy. The Chili Relleno is not breaded so you can taste the chili and sauce flavors so well. Everything exceeded my expectations of Mexican food on an island! The staff is friendly and the restaurant is super clean and cozy. If you are up exploring Hawi, Hawaii you should try this place! read more

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Went with my family of 6. Ordered the chicken salad, when she brought me the plate she stated that was all the ranch she had and squeezed out what was left in the bottle bringing me very little ranch for my salad. The food was mediocre, when I asked for a to- go box she gave me a piece of aluminum foil and paper plate and told me the to go boxes were for ordered take out. After our bill was well over $100. The bathroom was disgusting. She gave us the key to unlock it and inside we found a dirty sink and floor was horrendous. There was no soap in the dispenser and everything looked very dirty. Customer service was bad. Cleanliness very poor. Food mediocre. Go eat somewhere else! read more

Home style food in spartan atmosphere. Slightly dirty inside and outdoor dining areas. However, that aside, the tostada salad asada and the hard-shell chicken taco/ enchilada were good. Friendly service. Cash only. No bathroom. read more

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We popped in here for lunch on a Saturday and I had high hopes for this place based on some of the reviews but I should have realized I was getting Mexican food in Hawaii and recalibrated my expectations. We tried the chicken, pork and the ground beef tacos and unfortunately nothing was overly flavorful or memorable. There very best thing we had was their salsa! It has a kick and great flavor. You order at a window (cash only) and they bring your food out to you. Their beverage selection consisted of a smattering of caned sodas. Pro tip: you can buy local drinks of all types at the store next door to enjoy with your food. I would not go out of my way for Mi Ranchito but it's serviceable if you are Hawi and you are dying for Mexican. Pros Hot salsa Lots of indoor seating Cons Food overall was nothing special Street parking Cash only (not really a "con" but just be aware) read more

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A small mom and pop place on the way back from polulu lookout/hike... The lady at the counter is also the lady that cooks too! She was super sweet! We got chips and guac, veggie quesadilla and chips and salsa! Hands down the freshest and best quesadilla I've ever had! The guac too, sooooo fresh and oh soooooo yummy!!! Feliz Navidad! read more

Tasty Mexican restaurant. We stopped here after a hike at Pololu Trail for a late lunch. We split shrimp tacos and fish tacos. Both were delicious and came with good rice and beans. Waitress was very nice and attentive . I would recommend! read more

We've lived here almost two years and we have never gone to this restraint before. I have seen it open late and get some good traffic so we've always said we would, We finally tried it today and it was lovely, just a quick to go order but the staff were nice and the food was great as well. The enchiladas were flavorful and not spicy and the tamales had great flavor as well. read more

Great hole in the wall restaurant. Large portions, friendly staff. Food tastes fresh and authentic. Cash only or Venmo.

The chips were good but the salsa damn near melted my face off. They must take it directly from the volcano. Yikes! The Chili Colorado pork burrito that I had wasn't as hot as I was expecting considering the searing heat of the salsa, but was instead a pleasant sweet spice mix that was just right. The wife enjoyed her flautas but the tacos didn't do it for me as they came across as deep fried. Take note, they only accept cash here, so bring your green. It's not an upscale place by any means, but as far as great Mexican food on the big island goes this joint is just about spot on. read more

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For Mexican food on the big Island very good! The waitress/cashier/everything is a trooper! Folks need to be kind! She remained pleasant & kept doing her job while a regular returning customer was not making it easy on her. So five stars for her! Try their pork it's very good. Their corn tortillas seem to be home made as well, tastes great! Be patient, seems they have only 2 people working . A cook & the five star person! Rice & beans are good too. Enjoy! read more

Mi Ranchito - Crunchy chicken taco & green pork enchilada! - Mexican Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

Disappointed their prioritized to go orders over customers there when the opened at 5pm ready to order and the woman said it would be 40 minutes before they could cook our small eat in order...one relleno and a two tacos. We know they have really good food, but after a 45 minutes drive up to Hawi to eat there we were very disappointed. They need more help or need to figure out a better policy. read more

Visited for lunch and found the food and service generally underwhelming. My husband ordered the carnitas burrito, which ended up being mostly refried beans. I got the shrimp ceviche tostada thinking the proximity to fresh seafood would play in my favor - it did not. Ended up being mostly onion and lacked flavor. Also, there aren't restrooms available. They have signs posted about this but weren't helpful in directing us to where we could find one nearby when our toddler nearly had an accident in the restaurant. read more

This place is disgusting. The staff is as rude as they come. The food is a joke. It's apparent, they do not care. Cash only.

After a 2.5 mile UTV guided tour of the local valleys we were hungry and wanted to try some local fare. I don't normally give bad reviews just because service is terrible but when the bad food did finally come after a 45 minute wait with a worker with a terrible attitude I decided to write this review. Let's start with the terrible service: Next door is a fantastic market (Kohala Grown) with a great selection of sandwiches local grown/produced foods and canned goods my daughter and her friend ate there... I chose Mexican next-door ie Mi Ranchito. I was in the mood for Mexican food and I felt bad because the place was empty (first sign I should not have ignored). Back home any Mexican food place that happens to put Ranch in their name is usually a good place. Anyway compared to the business next-door I thought they needed a little boost. I went up to the little Window/counter and a young lady just stared at me. I had to ask for a menu. I ordered 2 tacos and guacamole. After a 1/2 hour wait w no chips & salsa I had to go up to the counter and ask them for chips and salsa and inquire about the guacamole I had ordered. The young lady at the window said she was just about to bring it out. 8 minutes later (I timed her) she arrived with....chips and salsa. Unfortunately the chips were literally from a bag they probably opened up from somewhere. I know this b/c I am king of bagged chips. Anyway the chips may as well have been homemade in front of me bc I was so famished. The salsa was like watered down tomato paste that they may have put chili powder in to 'spice it up'. I then realized that the guacamole was still missing. 15 minutes later I went up to the counter ...again and asked if my food would be coming anytime soon b/c I noticed 3 other people had come in and they had served them all their food. The young lady literally looked at me and said they ordered before me. I laughed and even the lady sitting near the counter shook her head at the counter girl (her and 3 kids had come in after me and we had exchanged pleasantries and they were currently eating the rancho food) . Although hungry and food lonely I was still very polite and asked the young lady (who was very annoyed) if it would be coming soon. She said your next. I had faith that the long wait would be well rewarded. "food": 10 minutes later my food arrived and well...it was flavorless, bland and a true disappointment. Listen im from Los Angeles and grew up in East Los Angeles/Orange County. I have a little experience with Mexican food. That was....bad! Seriously I even like bad/pocho/Amercanized food if it it's good (dont ask) but this was truly bad. I know it's The Big Island but common. I would rate Taco Bell better than this place (although I strangely love Taco Bell so that's not fair how about I would have preferred Del Taco which stinks) Their rancho (I really wouldn't call it mine) seemed to give no true effort and let's just say they...punted it hoping the European travelers and midwesterners would believe this is somehow related to mexican food. In summary If you want a bad (not the good bad kind) Mexican meal this place is for you. I'm a pretty big guy and I usually clean my plate unless there's food poisoning on the horizon. The product of baby boomers. Let's just say I left most of the beans rice and one of the two chicken tacos for the buzzards. Pls stay away and order a grill cheese next door (Kohala Grown) which btw was divine! read more

Mi Ranchito - Mexican Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

My husband and I both ordered Chili Relleno's Al a carte. They weren't good at all. Tasted like scrambled eggs with strips of peppers in it. I would not recommend ordering them. Waitress was pleasant. read more

Wow, this place has really gone down hill. The service is terrible. The young lady who works the register is rude and acted like we were inconveniencing her by eating there. At one point she told the guy in the back "they're driving me crazy" in Spanish. It's sad to see such poor customer service in such a beautiful town. They definitely don't represent Kohala. If you're looking for somewhere to eat in Kohala try Gill's Lanai- the foods great and most importantly they know how to treat their customers. read more

Fortunately the terrible service here isn't a reflection of the rest of the community. Hawi is a great little friendly town that we have visited many times. Unfortunately the service here is VERY BAD. Extremely rude person taking orders - it's like you are bothering them when walking up to the counter to order food. Once you finally make your order, they accept cash only and it will take a LONG TIME to get your food. Like 20-45 minutes even if there is nobody around waiting for food. The food is bland at best. Extremely underwhelming and they got most of our orders wrong (asked for no tomatoes, add jalapeños etc.) The kitchen looks filthy. The dining room is clean enough, not very inviting. There are other much better places to spend your money in this town like Gill's Lanai, KO Pizza or Kohala Grown. read more

Yummy! This place is very good. Even in Hawaii we found authentic Mexican food! The burrito doesn't have rice but don't miss it. Ohh and it's cash only! read more

Mi Ranchito - Half eaten asada burrito. - Mexican Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

Been going to this family-run treasure with my family for over ten years. The food is by far the best mexican on the island, probably in the whole state. It's consistently delicious, authentic homestyle food. The service is friendly and personable. The seating is comfortable and casual. If you get the opportunity to stop by, they do a lot of take-out orders too. read more

Hit or miss.. we love this place but your experience can be 5 star one day and 3 star the next here. When Maria is in the kitchen cooking, the food is awesome every time. When grandma or daughters are... ehh. Service is always friendly no matter who is there, and they've recently added expanded seating which is good for everyone, as they used to be pretty limited. We like the carne asada tacos (on the rare occasion they're available) and fish tacos, and the enchiladas are pretty good as well. We hear rave reviews about the burritos but neither of us are a fan so I can't report on that. It's a family owned and operated restaurant and these people work hard , I just wish they would be more consistent with the food quality, which is why we are there to begin with. We be hungry! read more

not sure which was worse- the food or the customer service. my very first interaction with the younger girl taking my order I asked, "can I please have the enchilada taco combo" which resulted in "which number is that, in which she named off some numbers" when I found the correct number, she made it a point to tell me that I said a chile relleno instead of an enchilada. I let it roll, and just ordered. The food came out for our party at all different times. I was one of the last to get my food, about 15 minutes after the rest of my party got theirs. On top of that, they came out frustrated and rolling their eyes at the food. Sheesh- didn't know a 10 person party would make a business upset! The food was so so not good. The enchilada sauce was literally a can of tomato sauce- no flavor. The beans were unsalted, the rice was okay. The beef taco had noooo flavor & the salsa again, was from a can. Really bad food. Prices were right, but would not consider ever returning here. edit to add: the business response to my review. read more

Mi Ranchito - Mexican Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

Great food, fast service, and great value. It's great to have this place in Hawi. My favorites were the shrimp and quesadillas. Thank you so much! Highly recommended. read more

Authentic Mexican food in Hawaii? Yes! You're not going to get a taco filled with mangos and shredded cabbage here--if you've tried to find Mexican food on any of the islands you feel my pain lol. This is the real deal. read more

Wonderful Mexican food, was authentic and delicious! Felt like homemade! I had a taco and chili rellano and hubs has a chicken chimichanga. All was wonderful. read more

Good Mexican food. Hit the spot before we went on our zip lining adventure. Just remember to bring cash!!

Hard to get five stars out of a true yelper. I swear deserves it. We came here to celebrate a 90th birthday week of events w/20+ people. As they say... If you know you know. Hawi one of the best Kept secrets in all of Hawaii. There's like one block of small businesses & this Mexican restaurant is Tucked away in the back of a little arcade type of place.It's just a little window with about four tables unless they open up their banquet room on the side. Needless to say this is family run by a Mexican family farm around the Guadalajara area. Their menu is vast and they offer everything from the best Chili Rellenos I've ever had, (and I've had plenty all over the West Coast & the whole USA) to six different kinds of tacos several different kinds of enchiladas every conceivable type of taco salad. This place has everything. Don't expect a view of anything special don't expect a bar, but you can BYOB, just expect great service and excellent food. The people working here are old-school... They take pride in what they do. You sure don't see that much anymore. Love this place and highly recommend it to anyone coming all the way out here in the middle of no place. read more

Mi Ranchito - Braddah Julio @ order window - Mexican Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

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Holy moly. 3 taco combo plate. 2 beef, 1 veggie. Mam. MAN. The beef is shredded. The tortillas r homemade, I believe. If not, they sure tasted like it. The pico de gallo chips and hot sauce were phenomenal. They didn't make it to a photo because I ate them too fast. For a place in the middle of nowhere... its on par with LA mexican restaurants. I may come back to Big Island just for this place! Thank u Mi Ranchito! Ps. Can you open in Honolulu? :) read more

Mi Ranchito - Mexican Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

Three times I've tried to eat here. During hours they post as open. Spanning three years! Never have I been able to get in. Twice (including yesterday) I see people inside who don't answer when you knock OR answer the phone number that Yelp says is theirs. When you call it, you hear it ring just inside the pickup window but the person you see ignores it. I don't understand why so frequently they have been closed. I would think answering or opening up the window to say "we are opening a bit late" or whatever the situation is would be in order. I was there yesterday at 11:15 when the sign says they open at 11. What gives? I truly wonder! read more

Clean, the service was great and the food was the best we have had on big island! Will be returning for sure and if you want good authentic Mexican food, go here! read more

Stopped for a little nosh in Hiwa. Town is really small and this was the only place opened, but glad we tried it. Ordered a carnitas burrito which was big enough to share. Inside was beans, cheese, onions and tender chunks of roast pork. No guac, as you would expect--but the beans and cheese were surprising and tasty. read more

Mi Ranchito - Order long window - Mexican Near Me - Hawi, Hawaii

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Such a quant restaurant. Every meal was delicious, especially the enchiladas! Food came out quickly and the staff was nice. It was a cute little restaurant and the cat wandering around was an added bonus. A great food stop if you're in town! read more

Average but good if you are hungry and want a meal in Hawi then this is place for you. Tables to sit. Tried Taquitos meal. Satisfying lunch. read more

The food is really tasteless as a shrimp was had no flavoring or spices on it whatsoever

DISGUSTING PLACE!! Dirty and no restrooms to wash my hands. The food had no flavor but I couldn't over the fact that most restaurants in the town of Kawi had no restrooms....isn't it a law to provide restrooms for your patrons? Didn't the pandemic teach us nothing? The workers wear masks but have no place for patrons to wash their hands..and the place was so dirty I was too turned off to finish my food. read more

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Beaning from Mexico and being raised by the border I must say this is true authentic Mexican Food! Corn Tortillas were hand made (Minsa tortillas). Service is amazing friendly and always polite! read more

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"If you had to decide between being given a million dollars and eating tacos, which would you choose ~ corn or flower ?" I picked both and was glad for the carnitas recommendation, the Ohana kitchen kept me smiling ~ Mahalo #shaka read more

Not the best Mexican food I've had on the Big Island. On the plus side the portions were good. Service was OK, nothing special. On the negative side they were out of many basics like tortilla chips, beef. Their salsa was El Pato straight out of the can. Overall it was nothing special. It was recommended by a friend who lives in the town so I'm not sure if my experience was typical. read more

Little Home owned Mexican restaurant who cook the real deal. We stopped here to grab lunch on our way to the Mauna Kea Summit. I ordered 2 enchiladas - one with chicken and tomatillo sauce other with veggies and red sauce (not sure if it qualifies as mole sauce because mole sauce is usually is a little smoky and sweet). Both the sauces were delicious nevertheless. Husband got a chicken burrito with tomatillo sauce and it came with a side of rice and refried beans. We also got complimentary chips and spicy salsa. They had the Tapatio sauce and not the fake hot sauces like Cholula. So, that impressed me :) The lady at the counter is very sweet as well. read more

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