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    Mi Ranchito

    3.9 (137 reviews)
    InexpensiveMexican
    Open 11:30 am - 4:00 pm, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
    Updated 3 months ago

    Mi Ranchito Photos

    Business Info

    MI RANCHITO ATMOSPHERE

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

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    Recommended Reviews - Mi Ranchito

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    Reviews With Photos

    Tostada salad
    Leslie F.

    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.

    Menu 9/2024
    Lesley D.

    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)

    Airy dining room.
    Donn D.

    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.

    Crunchy chicken taco & green pork enchilada!
    Kelley K.

    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!

    David M.

    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!

    Half eaten asada burrito.
    Alicia I.

    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!

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    14 days ago

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

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    4 months ago

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    5 months ago

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

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    3 years ago

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    7 months ago

    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.

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    3 years ago

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

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    7 years ago

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    2 years ago

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

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    Page 1 of 4

    Ask the Community - Mi Ranchito

    Is this cash only?

    Yes it is cash only.

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    COBA - Chicken tamales and cheese enchiladas

    COBA

    5.0(68 reviews)
    34.4 mi

    42-1027 Hawaii Belt Road Paauilo, Big Island Hawaii…read more Legit. I know now what a delicious tamale tastes like. Thank you Reinaldo for opening my eyes and taste buds to the best tamales in Hawaii. Masa from a bag but not dry or hard. The tamales here are flavor FULL with very tasty fillings of beef, cheese and green chile, chicken and pork. At $5 each they are expensive compared to what you can find in LA. But hey! We live in the middle of the ocean and it's cheaper than a plane ride. Reinaldo honed his skills while working at the Frontera Grill in Chicago. Not in the kitchen as he will humbly tell you, but as a server...Still, he picked up the needed knowledge to really turn out truly delicious offerings. Cash only! So I ended up driving 9 miles to the nearest ATM and back to buy more tamales to take home to Oahu. Looking forward to my next meal here and a little storytelling about Reinaldo's world travels. Park out front next to the sign that says tamales!

    My family and I stopped by this spot due to the excellent reviews we saw on Yelp. Let me tell you…read morethat the 5 star reviews are all legit. The food in this place is by far the best Mexican food we ever had. We had the guacamole along with a steak burrito and some tacos. We were full till the next day as the portions were very generous for the price. Don't be fooled by the location or the look of the place, the food is excellent and the service from the owner was amazing. Everything we ordered tasted fresh and healthy. This restaurant is definitely a must try. A+ for the service and A+ for the excellent food

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    Sergio's Cantina

    Sergio's Cantina

    4.4(281 reviews)
    74.0 mi
    $$
    Casual dining
    Locally owned & operated

    good food and super kind and helpful staff, great bar too. would recommend definitely.read more

    This place was unexpectedly delicious. My family was there two summers ago, and on our last day we…read morewere arguing about where to eat and what everyone wanted. I found this place on line and when we drove over to it from our resort on Kaanapali, my husband pitched a fit because it was in a strip mall and he thought it was going to be terrible. We walked in and it was nicer than I thought it would be. He still wasn't convinced. We went back to the resort and went to one of the hotel restaurants on the beach, his idea of where we should be on our last night - despite the fact that we'd already had oceanfront dining at two other places and were ready to try something different. The rest of us didn't want to be there. My daughter got dress-coded for having a bathing suit top on at the beach (literally oceanfront, outdoors, and part of our resort). I get it, but it just added to the mood. The water they gave us tasted like it came out of a hose. The prices were dumb. We left. Everyone was mad at dad. And hangry. After going back to our room and looking at our options, we decided to go back to the first place (Sergio's) and just get takeout. I ordered a bunch of stuff, we picked it up and brought it back to our room. Everyone - even my husband - agreed the food was amazing and probably the best meal we'd had all week. Bonus that it didn't break the bank. Looking back in my camera roll, I actually did not take photos. Probably because I was mad. You should still go. The reason for my extremely late review is today I was talking to someone about to travel to that area and I told her she might want to look it up. They deserve the rave review.

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    The refresher, super refreshing

    Mi Ranchito - mexican - Updated May 2026

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