El Charro Cafe

Food is very overrated. A hamburger patty cut in half and place in a corn tortilla is not a taco.

I just ordered from El Charro for the first time through DoorDash and I ordered the Ceviche tostada salad. When I got my order all of the shrimp was RAW, completely grey. I know this is not how ceviche is supposed to be served, and luckily I didn't eat it because I would've probably gotten food poisoning. When I called the restaurant to let them know, the girl at the front answered and thanked me for letting them know and that she would tell the cooks. No replacement and no apology. Luckily DoorDash has better customer service and I was able to get a refund. I would stay away.

Stumbled across this spot during their anniversary celebration. The food was amazing and we showed up at happy hour for $2 off margaritas (excellent) and apps. We tried the vegan tamale stuffed mushrooms, which were absolutely amazing. Chips and a spicy salsa came with the food, also very tasty. I had to hold myself back to have room for the entree.

We tried the tamale trio and jackfruit taquitos. I loved everything I tried and would recommend the spot to anyone visiting. Very friendly staff and a very cute enclosed patio.

Went there for dinner extremely disappointed with service. Had to ask for water and when we did the server rolled her eyes. Done how she was inconvenienced. Over an hour to get food ordered. A one is to much. Food was not that great

One of the best spots for Mexican food in Tucson! Everything we've had on the menu is flavorful and the prices are reasonable. Some nice happy hour deals as well.

First time in to this location. Sat at the bar and was served by an awesome gentlemen named Cody. Great hire El Charro team! Excellent customer service and was very attentive to us. The food was fantastic, Had Carne Seca enchiladas and tacos. Out of this world! Great flavor and the salsa they served blends very well with the Carne. Happy 100th Anniversary El Charro team and wishing many more. A must stop when I come back to Tucson.

We came here for lunch on a weekday and were surprised to see there was no lunch menu. I feel like there used to be one but they took it away. The couple seated behind us were also disappointed there was no lunch menu. Otherwise, I do love coming here for dinner. They have the best fruit margaritas in town. I love the strawberry and prickly pear. The chips and salsa are good as well.

I usually get the tamale stuffed chicken which is super good. I skip the fajitas because the tortillas aren't as good as the places that make it in front of you. My husband loves the chile rellenos - they're his favorite in town. We had our wedding rehearsal dinner here 6 years ago. I loved the transparency of their catering menus. They actually listed prices online!

I appreciated the time saved while doing wedding research. Everything went smoothly with the booking and dinner. Kids 2 and under can get free rice and beans. We always have the best service.

It's nice to have a local restaurant that serves great vegan food. We are consistently pleased with the quality of their meals.

Food was tasty, fresh, and piping hot, price was fair. Lovely bartender in bar could smile and be more friendly. My waiter was great, and the Mariachi band was awesome. Ambiance was great.

Went here with a 10 other women at lunchtime and had a wonderful time. Our food was delicious. I am surprised, however, that the food came out piecemeal. I understand that feeding 11 at once at lunch is a challenge but they knew we were coming. If not for that, I'd have given another star.

The food was so delicious and authentic. So much flavor & perfectly made. I only gave 4 stars because customer service was slow and not very energetic. Our waiter took awhile to remove dishes that we were done with & took awhile to refill waters & bring check. Other than that, quite amazing! This place is extremely busy so I highly recommend making reservations!

Saw that Food & Wine magazine said this was one of the best places to eat in Tucson so figured we had to try it. We came in for lunch one day and glad we did. Now we have another Mexican place we can eat at. I ordered the Charro style tacos and Bobbie got the Family recipe chimichanga. Both came with rice and refried beans. I really liked the way the charro tacos were made and will be stealing the technique at home.

Instead of ground beef in the bottom of a taco shell they form it into a patty and fry it. This way instead of having meat at the bottom of the shell and none at the top you get meat in each and every bite. Genius! About the only down side was the meat patty could have been seasoned a bit more. Bobbies chimichunga had nice tender meat seasoned well with a great flavor.

We both liked the beans but the rice was a bit off for both of us. Probably just our taste and not a hit on the way its prepared. Over all a very nice meal and we'll be back to try more selections.

I made a reservation to meet a friend for dinner. When I got there it wasn't too bay which was nice. The waitress sat me rather quickly. Someone brought over chips and salsa shortly after. Our waiter was nice and attentive. My friend and I liked the food as we always do.

My server was wonderful and very cheerful. She took my order correctly. It was delicious! She was attentive and made me feel important.

This place has only gotten better with age! Love the ambience and atmosphere of this charming building, built in 1896. My mom grew up near El Charro and it was nice to take her on a lunch date and listen to her reminisce of her memories at this amazing restaurant. The food was delicious and the service was fantastic!

I am so tired of their 2 hour waits! We went on a standard non holiday, not Spring break week day night. So frustrating. The best part was one of the workers told us to try La Cochina right up the street and it was fabulous! This will be our new go to. With live music 6 days a week as well. The pictures are of La Co. Plus now that I look at my credit card statement from a previous dinning experience at El Charro I was over charged, unless they are including the tip in the bill now. Check your receipt carefully!

Okay, time for an update because it has been more than a few years. First of all, I think this place might have managed to get even better over the time it has been since I've been back, not that there was anything really wrong with El Charro to begin with. Service? Very good. I have ordered takeout from here about twice over the last month and the food was always promptly made, and boxed.

I dined-in today, and same great story. Very attentive service from the wait staff, the food came out very fast, and they kept things very neat and clean. Food? Like always, good, but historically, that is not an area in which El Charro faltered. One thing I do have to say is that their seafood options are fantastic. I've had seafood enchiladas, the pescado tropical, and today, the Sinaloa shrimp culichi, and they have all been very tasty. So much so, that I'll be thinking about it non-stop for the next week. Oh, and that prickly pear margarita was damn good. I'll be back very soon.

One thing about "Mexican" restaurants I can't accept is when the Salsa is bad and not spicy. Their salsa was like a generic industrial-made tomatoe mulch with no zing or flavor. Hell I didn't even detect any cilantro in there. I asked for another salsa to no avail as there are no other choices. The place was packed, and the decor is friendly and nice.

We ordered the platter and the enchiladas. Wow! super-bland stuff, low quality ingredients, the refried beans weren't too bad though. I guess this would be a fun place to have drinks with guests from outta town, but forego eating, even the chips where pretty bland. Also, ordered the guacamole, which was 12 bucks, in essence an avocado puree with no spice of any kind. :

We were looking to try a local restaurant for our first trip to Tucson and this hit the spot. It was President's Day so they were busy. Originally we were told a 45 min to hour wait and they weren't taking names on a list. We were actually seated in 30 minutes and no one got ahead of us who arrived later. The salsa with the chips was very spicy and we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of cilantro used.

Definitely a different taste than we were used to in St. Louis, Missouri. The margaritas were a great treat also. They were celebrating their 100th birthday and we could tell why they have been in business that long.

This is our second visit to El Charro. The service was great and friendly. The food did not disappoint. It tasted authentic and was served nice and hot. Our server was attentive and got the order perfect without using an order pad. The salsa tasted a bit different than on our first visit - not as good. We joked they must have a new chef. The lights and art work add a nice feeling of authentic Mexican eating establishments. My understanding is this fine place has been run by the same family for decades. They do a great job. Good Mexican food at reasonable prices. Worth a visit.

Our family of six came in after visiting from Phoenix. We have a vegan and someone that eats gluten free so we were happy to see that El Charro Cafe has many options for everyone! Got sat right away in Olivia's section, she was awesome! We were greeted quickly, food and drinks came quick, we never had to wait for anything (including refills!). Olivia was great and so pleasant, she had a mask but you could see she was still smiling.

The bussers were also on top of it, grabbing plates out of the way and making sure we had everything we needed. Service was 5/5, food and drinks were 5/5, and ambiance was 5/5. I recommend this place to anyone that loves Mexican food and is in the area, everything was great!

It was okay. I was looking forward to trying this restaurant, but I think we caught them in a bad day. All the good reviews talked about the beef seca but we weren't at all impressed with them. The tamale stuffed chicken was pretty good though. I'm sure there's other dishes to try, but I wasn't blown away like I was hoping to be.

Ordered a bunch of food for a group on the website and was told it'd be ready for pick up in 80 minutes. We get there on time and we're told the food was ready 20 minutes ago. Get it home and everything was cold. They had our phone number and could have called! Cold Mexican food sucks.

Good food and okay service. This was our first meal in Tucson and it's definitely a winner. It has lots of nooks and crannies - both indoor and outdoor seating including numerous bar areas. They were definitely short staffed and moderately busy when we arrived because they had plenty of seating but we still had to wait. Our service was decent but not great. The food was very good and there was so much variety it was hard to pick. Again - I will go with very good but not great.

Ended up stopping by after taking a hike in Catalina State Park with two pups. They were very accommodating. We ended up really enjoying all of our food and the outside atmosphere. I would definitely recommend as the flavor and customer service was great!

Instead of driving to downtown, I loved that there was one in Oro Valley with convenient parking, more open seating and not as crowded. Highly recommend getting a reservation. We had a 5:30pm reservation on a Saturday and it was packed by the time we left. The highlight was their World Famous Carne Seca! They slice thin strips of beef and place it into a special drying cage they hoist over their restaurant to dry in the hot Tucson sun.

Then they shred it and add green chile, onion and tomato. Each bite was packed with flavor and loved the texture. My favorite item was the cheese crisp with carne seca! The perfect balance of cheese and meat. We also ordered the chimichanga since they claim to have invented it?!? We ordered it "elegante style" which comes with enchilada sauce, guacamole, pico salsa and crema.

I couldn't tell it was fried since it was covered in sauce but overall, delicious! The staff were readily available and even with a busy night they were always there. There was a large group having a birthday party in an area that was separated by curtains. It seems like a great place to host a large party since there was a long table to seat everyone, privacy from the restaurant and they even had a mariachi band playing!

The absolutely the best Mexican restaurant in town. I have lived in Tucson for more than 20 years and am not sure why I have not tried this fabulous restaurant. I had business lunch there and I loved it so much I had to take my wife there for a dinner date. Number 4 combo is just fabulous, wife loved the Fajitas with classic margaritas.you gotta try this place if you are in Tucson.

I had a solo birthday dinner here two days ago (thanks, Covid). I had Shrimp Culichi ($19.95), which was good, and a Sopapilla & Churros with honey and chocolate sauce dessert (free with e-mail birthday offer, normally $6.95), which was OK. I sat outdoors and the late-afternoon weather was great, aside from some wind trying to blow the tablecloths off the tables. Good weather is one of the advantages of a March birthday.

Wanted to give this place a 5/5 as it has been open 99 years but for me the flavor is lacking. There is plenty to choose from on the menu. I will say that the steak is very tender and the plates are very colorful. Service was good.

We've been here before and we'll come here again. The dishes are fresh and tasty. Delicious! We visit Tucson every couple of years, and we come back to El Charro. It's up toward Oro Valley. The space is large so they can accommodate larger parties. The waiters are good to explain the dishes, and their service is professional. Calling for a reservation we were asked to come a little later since several large parties were coming in.

We were a party of seven. We were seated right away and given paper menus. Tho we waited a tad too long, once the waiter came the meal service was excellent. The drinks and food came in an appropriate time. For dessert I tried the Tres Leche cake. It is a very moist white cake using three milks. The cake is delicious. The piece was large enough to share. The group is looking forward to coming back here.