The experience

Today Mina was at church with Oma and Grandpoo so the rest of Team Phipps had to have dinner without little Mina.  We decided that we were in the mood for Mexican (when are we not in the mood for Mexican?!).  I thought it’d be fun to try a restaurant suggested by one of our readers awhile back.  Ogre looked up directions and found them to be quite conflicting, but we figured we’d find it.  We got in the car and headed to Tortillas del Rancho y Restaurante in Garland.  Of course, it wasn’t in either of the spots Ogre recalled from the directions on the internet. 

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Luckily, we had the navigation that had the restaurant on the DVD.  We found it pretty quickly after that, but be warned, it’s hard to find, particularly when it’s dark out! 

We walked in and were seated right away.  They brought over highchair for Benji.  I started fiddling with the seat buckle and the manager type guy told me that they were all broken.  Hmm, I told him that I hoped Benji would stay in his seat.  The manager said he thought he would.  Uh, you must not read our blog.

We sat down and started munching on chips while we looked over the menu.  It took about 90 seconds for Benji to try to climb out of his seat.  The buckle actually made a loop that I could tighten, so I had Ogre help me put Benji through the loop and tightened it up. Perfect.  Haha!  Benji was stuck!

I wanted to order some queso for Benji, but Ogre informed me that he didn’t think they had queso here.  Bummer.  I confirmed this bad news when we ordered dinner.  After the waitress walked away, Benji kept looking after her saying, “queso.”  Poor Benji.  Ogre called her back over to order some guacamole as a consolation prize.

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Poor Benji just kept asking for queso.  No queso tonight, Benji.

Benji and Ogre ate the guacamole.  Benji was in a super good mood despite not having any beloved queso.  He was singing his ABCs and this was very entertaining to the couple next to us.  The woman in the twosome kept saying how cute Benji was and Benji just ate it all up!  When they left, he said, “bye bye” to the nice woman.

Our food came out and Ogre cut up Benji’s enchilada and had a bite for himself.  “Mmmm,” Ogre said, “You gotta try this!”  I decided I’d let Benji eat some before I tried it.

He was right, though, the cheese enchilada was quite tasty!

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Ogre and I ate our dinner and enjoyed it, as well.  Ogre more so than me.  I am not a big fan of Chicken Fajitas.  Ogre kept accusing me of not wanting to try his because I was “scared” that his would taste better than mine.  I’m still rolling my eyes.  He was also tickled by the fact that we were “pumping Benji full of beans” and he’d be spending the day at Lala and Lolo’s tomorrow.  My husband is very mature.

Benji and Ogre played “hip hip hooray” just like they do on Wowowee (a Filipino game show) and once Benji finished up the last of his enchilada, we decided we’d better get home.

The food

Good ol’ Tex Mex.  More Mex than Tex, but still Tex-Mex.

We ordered guacamole as an appetizer, which Ogre said was quite tasty.  Benjamin seemed to like it, too.

DSC00876I ordered the street tacos with beef.  I thought they were pretty good.  I like La Paloma’s better.  I’ve decided I like the meat when it has more of a grilled flavor as opposed to a “steamed” flavor (which I think happens when they do a large batch of meat).  The rice and beans were decent, as well.

DSC00877Ogre ordered the chicken fajitas on recommendation of our waitress.  Ogre thought that they were “really good!…especially for the price.”  They did smell really good! I didn’t try them.  Just in case you’re curious, they were 7.99 for about 12 oz meat.

DSC00878Benji’s cheese enchiladas were also a super star.  I did try these because Ogre said I “had” to try them.  And he was right, they were really good!  They use that white Mexican cheese that has a rich flavor and the sauce had a good tomato ancho flavor.

Also on the kids menu were quesadillas, hamburgers, chicken nuggets and a couple of other Tex Mex items for only 3-4 bucks!

The service

Service was good.  She was pretty attentive and food came out quickly.  We did note that compared to my current fave for street tacos (La Paloma), this is a” full service” restaurant and it’s actually cheaper than La Paloma.

The kids

It’s kid friendly.  No kids activities, but they have a few kids menu items.  It’s a casual, laid back restaurant.

I’d recommend this for a VERY inexpensive, yet good Mexican meal in Garland.  It’s a bit of a drive for us from the Plano area, so unfortunately, I don’t know if we’ll head all the way out there again, but if you live in the area, it’s a great deal.

The total: 23.24

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