History Lesson and Dinner at El Cholo

El Cholo 

8200 East Santa Ana Canyon Road

Anaheim, CA 92808

Yes, I know this is my third straight Mexican restaurant review. No, I am not turning this into Orange County Mexican Restaurants, although I do wish Christian would come back and write some new reviews, but, I guess he's a little busy with Naugle's comeback. It's just as the weather turns a bit cooler, it makes me yearn for some Mexican food to warm me up. Also, it was my mom's birthday, and she was looking for a place we haven't been to for a long while. Enter the historic El Cholo.

I say historic because El Cholo has been operating since 1923, with only a short break when they shut their doors due to food rationing during World War 2 and did not want to sacrifice food quality. They may have been the first Southern California restaurant to feature nachos on their menu (1959), added combo plates way back in 1938, and at one time were the world's largest user of Jose Cuervo 1800 tequila.

All of this as they remained a family business, now in their third generation of family ownership. OC restaurant legend Ron Salisbury is the grandson of the original owners of El Cholo #1 in Los Angeles. They have now grown to six locations, with three of these in OC, (La Habra and Corona Del Mar are the other two). Ron also picked up three other restaurant concepts to join the El Cholo family; Louie's on the Bay and The Cannery, both situated in Newport Beach, and the legendary Cat and the Custard Cup in La Habra.

This Anaheim Hills spot opened in 2013 and used to be the site of another Mexican restaurant, Chevy's. Remember them? Anyways, back to the present day, we arrived here on a Monday evening around 6. This big restaurant was half full, and our party of 9 was seated comfortably off by ourselves in a corner of the restaurant. The menu is pretty much just like every other Mexican restaurant in Southern California. Appetizers, enchiladas, combo plates, and specialties of the house are listed here. What I enjoy most about their menu is that they list the year that they started selling that particular item right next to it. Like they did not start selling fish tacos until 2001, fajitas made the menu in 1984, and it took until 1977 that they added a burrito. It's kind of a history of when different kinds of Mexican food became popular. Enough buildup, let's see how my mom's birthday dinner choice turned out for everyone.

First, a shot of the Chips and Salsa we were served on this evening. The chips were light, but not much to them. The salsa was kind of the same. Not enough spice to it, but I did like the consistency that it had. Lots of chunk to it, but it needed a pop of flavor to be considered good in my book.

Katie and I were a little bit late to dinner, so we missed the tableside presentation of this Guacamole Molcajete Style ($12.95). Just like the salsa, this needed some seasoning to make it taste anything better than bland. It's a shame really because the consistency was there, but it failed to stand out.

The combo meals started coming out for us fast and furiously and Katie got hers first. She went with the No. 1 ($17.95) which is a Rolled Beef Taco and a Chicken Enchilada, which was a two-dollar upcharge. She had heard this was the thing to get at El Cholo. Katie thought the rolled beef taco was better than the enchilada, which she thought was bland. Combo meals are rounded out with Spanish rice and refried beans.

My dad got the No. 2 Combo ($15.95) which comes with a Chili Relleno and a Cheese Enchilada. He liked the relleno a lot, as it had a little kick to it and was filled with plenty of cheese. The cheese enchilada was good, but he wished it would have had a little extra sauce. Beans were fine, but he called the rice just filler. He was not a fan of it.

The birthday girl went with a One Item Combo ($9.95) and picked a Cheese Enchilada as her one item. She seemed pretty pleased with this. It had plenty of cheese and she really enjoyed the cheese topping the refried beans. Glad this plate could make my mom happy on her big day.

My sister and brother in law broke our streak of combo plates when they split this Fiesta Platter ($15.95). This comes with a big mound of nachos and is then surrounded with chimichangas, crab and beef taquitos, quesadilla segments, and sour cream and guacamole on the side. Predictably they had plenty to take home.

As usual, when I'm eating at a place for the first time, I'm going to get the plate that allows me to try the most things. At El Cholo that would be the Taste of History ($19.23). This came with four of their most popular items; a Chile Relleno, Cheese Enchilada, Pork Tamale, and a Rolled Beef Taco. All of them were kind of average. I think they all kind of tasted like each other, which is a little bizarre to me. Nothing really stood out on this plate for me. The rice and beans were just hanging out. I was not overly impressed, but on the bright side, I was not overly disappointed either. I guess that's something.

Not the most adventurous of eaters, like she is with boyfriends, my niece Kaylie got these two plain Chicken Soft Tacos ($5.95). She requested just chicken and cheese and they complied with her wishes. They looked really boring from across the table, but this was the way she wanted them and it seemed like she was pretty happy with the result. Glad I grew out of my picky eating phase by the time I was her age. Maybe someday she will like other things on her tacos like hot sauce or even lettuce. Here's hoping that she grows a little more courageous in her food exploration in the next few years.

Another picky eater is my niece Lillie. I took a quick shot of her Kid's Taco Plate ($6.95) before it was whisked away because she had wanted her taco with no lettuce and tomato. Man, this younger generation. I did not bother taking a picture when it came back, but she seemed pretty content and even ate a good majority of her beans and rice. Great job Brownie Booster.

El Cholo was not horrible, but nothing I had here would make me want to come back anytime soon. I'd put this restaurant right there with El Torito and Alcapulco's based on their food, and just a tad below what you can get at El Ranchito or Rodrigo's. I love the history here and how they celebrate it, but the meals themselves were pretty average. We live in an area where great to very good Mexican food is readily available, so I'm not entirely sure why people like these chain Mexican restaurants so much. Maybe it's familiarity or convenience, which are my guesses. Service was good on this evening, as our server made sure our party of nine had everything that we needed during our stay. Sorry again for the three Mexican restaurant reviews in a row, but anything for mom on her birthday.

Out of five traffic signals, (because not only was 1923 the year that this restaurant opened, it's also the year that the traffic signal was invented), five being best to zero being worst, El Cholo gets 2.5 traffic signals.

For more information about El Cholo, head to their website here: https://www.elcholo.com/