Rustling up Dinner at the Ranch Enchilada

Ranch Enchilada

4965 Valley View Ave. 

Yorba Linda, CA 92886

The first part of this year has been highlighted by a lot of family time for Katie and me. We went to her sister's house for Superbowl, we went to my niece's high school play, and now we were headed back up to Yorba Linda to watch my other niece cheer at her high school basketball game. We had plenty of time to grab some food with the family, so of course, it was my duty to choose the restaurant. I decided it was time to head to the Ranch Enchilada.

Ranch Enchilada has been around for a long time, just not at this location. Up until 2014, they used to be situated in East Yorba Linda but moved right across from the Veteran's Park Little League fields, right near the intersection of Yorba Linda Boulevard and Valley View. A lot of my really good high school friends worked at the old location back in the day, so it was kind of a hangout for us.

I asked our waiter if it was the same owners from way back then, and he answered in the affirmative. This location is pretty comfortable, with ceiling fans circulating the air from up above, some decorative pieces dotting the walls, and for the warmer months, a patio out back. The menu here is dotted with exactly what you'd expect to see in every Mexican restaurant. There are plenty of starters, tostadas, enchiladas, burritos, fajitas, and combo plates to choose from. What I'd term very safe Mexcian food options. If you are looking for more exotic stuff, you need to move along now. Let's see if Ranch Enchilada is as good as I remember when my friends worked here in the early '90s.

Here's a quick shot of the Chips and Salsa that were given out to each table while ordering at the Ranch Enchilada. Pretty basic stuff here. The chips were fine, the salsa was pedestrian with very little in the way of flavor, but it did add some moisture, so I guess that's a plus.

Since the salsa was a little weak on flavor here, a Side of Guacamole ($3.95) definitely needed to be ordered. Unfortunately, this guacamole also suffered from the same calamity as the salsa, it was bland. It also needed to be mashed up a little better than it was when it came out to us. There were big chunks of avocado that were not incorporated into the rest of this pretty good sized portion.

Since we were up this way to watch my niece Kaylie cheer at the basketball game, we appreciated how quickly the food came out for all of us. It seemed like it was way less than ten minutes after ordering that we were digging in. My mom got this Beef Enchilada ($9.75) as her meal on this evening This was the perfect sized meal for my mom, as she ate all of her enchilada and almost all of the rice and beans on her plate. The beef enchilada was covered with Colorado sauce and plenty of melted cheese. I did not try any of this, but my mom seemed to like it plenty.

Katie had a threesome on this evening when she ordered this Pepe's Trio ($9.95). This consisted of three mini crispy tostada shells which were topped with melted cheese, pico de gallo, a scoop of guacamole, and fajita chicken. Red and green sauce was served on the side. She felt this was a pretty solid meal. The tostadas were a little messy to eat, but the chicken was moist and she was pleased with both the red and green sauces. She'd get this again.

When I was growing up, if we went to a Mexican restaurant I would always get a hamburger. Some of the worst burgers I have ever had, but I did not like Mexcian food before I was ten. I guess my niece Lillie inherited this quirk from me, or she just wanted to be different. Whatever the case, she had these Chicken Strips ($6.55) from the kid's side of the menu. The three pieces of chicken looked pretty boring from across the table, but they seemed to do the trick as she ate two out of three, which is a pretty good night for her. Maybe if they had some barbecue sauce to go along with these she might have finished them all. Sorry, that's an inside joke between me and her.

It's always a crap shoot as to what my dad will order, and on this evening he went with the unusual choice of the San Felipe Omlete ($13.95). This breakfast for dinner option featured a two egg omelet filled with crab, shrimp, tomatoes, mushrooms, and green onions.  It was then finished off with the red Colorado sauce and melted cheese. My dad really enjoyed this dish and would not hesitate to get it again. As is his usual, he did not offer me a bite of this. Very selfish.

Our little cheerleader Kaylie did not want something really heavy before she was going to be doing some flips, handstands and whatever else cheerleaders do, so she kept it very light with these Chicken Soft Tacos ($7.00). These soft tacos came simply dressed with lettuce, cheese, and chicken per Kaylie's request. She had no problem finishing these up, and they must have given her some luck as the basketball team won their game with a last-second basket. Way to go Aztecs.

An interesting plate for my sister Kristin on this evening. She had the menu item known as Guanajuato ($11.50). I'm not sure if that's the state in Mexico where the flauta was invented, but that's what the people at Ranch Enchilada call this plate. The flautas are rolled with chicken and fried, then have a green sauce poured on top of them with melted cheese.  My sister was pretty happy with this, and even more happy that they allowed her to have french fries with this instead of beans and rice. Are we even related?

I seem to remember really enjoying the Panchos Favorites ($11.95) when I used to come here decades ago. It's basically a wet chimichanga cut into pieces. This comes with refried beans inside and your choice of either beef or chicken, I went the beef route. It was pretty average. The Spanish sauce covering this lacked any kind of excitement, the beef was not very flavorful, and the highlight of this for me was the plentiful amount of cheese that they used on this. Maybe my food preferences have evolved a bit since the early '90s.

No dessert for us, as we were off to the basketball game, but these Cinamon Crisps came with our check. They were fine, but the sugar and cinnamon did not stay on the tortilla chips very long. Still, a nice touch getting these as a thank you for coming in.

Even though everyone else on this evening seemed to like their food, I was not so sure that the food at the Ranch Enchilada hasn't passed me by. I felt that my meal was very drab, and lacked any real pop of flavor. Everyone else's plates kind of looked boring to me as well. I'd term this very humdrum Mexican food. It's adequate, but nothing that I'd drive out of the way for. I don't even think my parents, who live just over three miles away, will come out of their way to return. The positives? I thought the prices were more than fair and the service we had on this evening was great. Our server, sorry I did not get his name was on top of our every need and kept things moving so we could get Kaylie to her basketball game way before tip-off. Even though the Ranch Enchilada failed to impress it was still a great night of family time.

Out of five headstones, (because the city of Yorba Linda is home to the second oldest private cemetery in OC, the Yorba Cemetery, which offers tours one day each month), five being best to zero being worst, the Ranch Enchilada gets 2.5 headstones.

The Ranch Enchilada does not have a website, but you can find more information about them on their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ranch-enchilada-restaurant-yorba-linda