El Chico

10 Reviews on “El Chico”

• Nigel Bunshaft

  1/18/2019Went in for dinner and was rather shocked to discover there has apparently been a shakeup in the management and staff. The long time management and wait staff that for so long ran the restaurant and made it the one and only real restaurant in the mall have departed. The food was always well prepared and presented. There were always new items offered and so it was nice to have a reliable well run restaurant that still had well thought out variety and excellent service.The ‘new’ restaurant will be a work in progress for a while. The management team had a disagreement with ownership and departed along with all but one of the experienced server staff. The back end cook staff remains so one should expect that food quality will remain high (it was tonight!). I feel for the one experienced server left!Time will tell if the new management and staff will function up to its previously excellent past. I really hope so since El Chico has been a bright spot for decades in the mostly blah Lawton food places. They are obviously not a five-star restaurant in a shopping mall but they are a big step up from the many pretty much standard and easily forgettable places throughout Lawton.6/13/2015Been coming here since the 1980s. The food is based on standard tex-mex but usually stepped up a bit.For instance, most places have a chicken monterrey – but these guys have it with grilled vegies … and cascabel wine sauce if you ask.Likewise they have standard queso but their’s has a bit of spice from tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cilantro. This much improves the taste from the plain yellow-orange cheese sauce I often see. If you prefer they also have queso blanco based on a white cheese sauce.You can get the usual standards – tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and the like. One thing I wish they would do is house-made flour tortillas as it would be an upgrade from the commercial tortillas they currently use.If you are looking for desert they have a slice of Mexican apple pie with a hot carmal rum sauce served with cinnamon ice cream on a sizzling skillet. It smells so good on its way to the table and tastes even better.Since we’ve been coming here for decades we obviously like it.BTW: if you are so inclined order a cherry coke. If by chance you get a blank stare from a new wait person suggest to them that they should ask of the manager the whereabouts of the grenadine bottle – for they make their cherry cokes rather than dispensing them directly.

  September 13, 2015, 7:51 am

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• Sonja

  Has changed. Used to like that place; not anymore. New Manager? Otherwise I can’t explain the nasty food and dirty grungy looking servers. Even the guests look different. Has gone way down hill.

  October 21, 2014, 7:53 pm

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• Redwingfan_19

  Santa Maria el Chico truly brings a taste of Mexico home but unfortunately I really need a do over at this restaurant!. This restaurant located in Lawton,s central mall is a fabulous place to grab a taste of Mexico . But , apparently I didn,t get the memo as I had one of the most Americanized meals you could find on the menu cheeseburger tacos with fries . To my defence everything on the menu looked so great I was rushed to decide my friends got a very good fajita which came out sizzling and hot like it,s supposed to while my other friend took advantage of the build your own burrito option which looked great! The chips and salsa were fabulous and we all had a great meal I just simply did not give el Chico a fair chance desperately need a do over! My companions are regulars at this place and I am so jealous! Great little cantina!

  June 9, 2014, 6:32 am

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