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I think Chicos got a bad rap after the incident with the gay couple here guys.
It's not that Chicos would not serve a gay couple, its that this particular couple were inebriated and kinda loud, and one thing led to another and eventually they were asked to leave and were refused service. it had nothing to do with preference. It was an escalated situation that happens all the time no matter who it is.
No matter what though, Chicos still rocks the midnight snack groove!
WoW! I came all the way from NJ and would return again and again each time HANDS DOWN! This is a… Read more »
The flautas, I mean "tacos" are overcooked and covered with some sort of sauce that is made out of rotten crack. With so many better mexican places, why go here.
By the way, if you are Gay or Lesbian, Chicos does not serve you: http://www.elpasotimes...
Mexican food equivalent of a dive bar. Make no mistake, Chico's Tacos is not clean, not healthy, not anything other than a street food stand in a building.
And it is GD awesome. Crispy fried tacos served in a paper dish covered in cheese and liquidy spicy saucy sauce.
Pivotal to anyone making a trip to El Paso.
I think people from out of town have somewhat of a misconception about Chico's Tacos. It is by no means "Mexican" food and the only way it can really be classified is as El Paso food. It's one of those places that you just have to try. You either hate it or love it. There seems to be no in between.
It is by no means clean or healthy but it is an El Paso favorite. Chico's is comfort food for all of us in El Paso. That first bite into the rolled tacos, grilled cheese, hot dog, etc brings back memories from the past.
If you're drunk, you'll like this place. It's terrible quality but no worse than a fast food chain - but at least is a local legend. They only have a couple, weird items that are sort of like a mental patient's idea of Tex-Mex. If you're in the right mood, you'll love it otherwise you'll wish you'd spent your $3 elsewhere.
I will never patronize a place that kicks out my gay brothers just for showing affection! It is NOT illegal for gay people to show affection to each other. Get a friggin grip this is America home of the free! Your TACOS and antiquated and discriminatory mindset suck! Mexican's should know better than to show hatred to another group. Guess they need to belittle another group to feel they are superior.
El Paso natives-- I get Chico's Tacos. I GET IT!! And I LOVE IT!!!
I am passing through town from Austin, headed to Phoenix. I found Chicos on Yelp. It was1:30 am, and I needed tacos.
I was giver FAIR WARNING in the reviews... "hate it or love it... you have to be from El Paso to like it, etc." I LOVE food. And I was hungry, and who can screw up a taco... in EL PASO??
I pulled up to the place which was PACKED. There were rent a cops outside. I went inside. There was SPANISH MUSIC blaring on the jukebox. This place has the feel of a diner, and there were many couples and groups hanging out under the fluorescents socializing.
I walked up to the counter and ordered from the nice motherly lady. She was very sweet and smiled. I got two singles and a grilled cheese with a large DP for about 8 bucks. The food arrived in a cute little box with a lot more stuff in it than I thought I'd ordered. But all of the condiments and stuff are packed seperately. I waited about 10 minutes for my order, and took it to go. Althoug by the time it was ready, I kind of wanted to stay and hang out at Chico's. Everyone seemed to be about having a good time.
I got home, opened the package and panicked. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!!!??? TAQUITOS??? YELLOW CHEESE?? AND WHAT THE HELL IS THE TOMATO WATER!!! I was prepped to write a seething review.
I started eating and was not liking it. Then I read that the taquitos should swim in the red sauce. So I poured the red sauce over the tacos. They came to LIFE!!! YUM-O!!! It was like a necessary element was absent from the equation. These tacos are FANTASTIC!
El Paso YELPERS. You called it right. This place is cool.
This place is definitely weird, and it would be helpful to have a guide to help you on your first visit to Chico's. Or you should at least read the reviews frist to know what to expect. But my assessment is that this place is TOTALLY cool and definitely a GEM in the city of EL PASO.
The only thing that makes me sad is that I don't live here, and so I will not be able to easily get my Chico's Tacos fix...
LOVE IT.
Left a bad taste in my mouth.
I ate tacos here with my girlfriend yesterday. The food taste frozen and they need to clean the place up. There were flys hovering over the register and grease spattered on the walls in more than one place. Taco Bell does better.
Ugh! Worst Taco suppliers, EVER! I'd rather LISTEN TO Taco than go here.
Something you have to say you've had if you're in El Paso but beyond that it's not a frequent fav of mine. The greasy mixture of government cheese and special sauce is an experience unlike any other. I used only crave them in high school after a long, hard game. Beyond being absolutely famished after a hard work out, to down a carton of heart attack rolls seems unfair to your body. So I say go once, say you've had it and call it quits.
The tacos here are nasty. And so is the service. I ate here on a road trip and am never coming back.
After visiting here, I have to say it's not worth the trip. The recent events leave a bad taste in the mouth.
Greasy Food... hateful attitude...
Worst taco ever!
Ughh....Chico's Tacos aren't as good as people say. My family is originally from El Paso, Texas and almost every summer for years my sister and i would go to visit our family. Chico's Tacos was the bomb when i was little and would go every once in a while as a treat. As i got older i develped more of a pallete and can't stand the smell or taste of them anymore, not to mention they're greasy , no fresh ingredients , and just full of crap wrapped in a tortilla with some tomatoe sauce.
I'm always dissapointed (not to mention sick to my stomach) everytime i go to El Paso, but i have to admit the french fries dipped into the tomato sauce is good, but not the greatest.
For some odd reason Chico's Tacos is the happening place, the lines are always long, and the staff are rude ! am i missing something here ? are all natives of El Paso immune from getting sick ? or they just don't know any better ?
You can easily make these at your house and can use quality ingredients that won't make you sick.
Sorry Chico's 2 thumbs down :(
When you walk in to Chico's the first thing you notice is the filth on the floor, the tables and the counters. If you want to sit down, besides waiting an hour for one to open up, you should bring something yourself to clean it with. The rolled tacos are greasy, but not in a good way. You can actually taste how OLD the oil is when you bite into it. These are then drowned in a "salsa" which consists of (taste wise) salt and semi rotten tomatoes. The only thing edible about this is the government cheese on top.
One of my old work buds would go there to get the hotdogs. They get a couple of violently red hot dogs, slice them into long strips and place them on a hamburger bun, then cover with chili. It was like cheap bar food.
I would never go again on a bet, but now that I'm a pescetarian, you know I'm avoiding this place like the plague (which it might carry j/k).
So I will NEVER eat here again after seeing one of the cooks coming out of the bathroom scratching his rectal area (Clearly on the Inside of his underware) on his way back to the kitchen. I would seriously get vaccinated for hepatitis if you plan to eat here.
HATE IT OR LOVE IT.
Rolled tacos in watery tomato sauce? Shredded cheese? Order a hot dog and you get a hamburger bun with mustard, pickles, chilli beans and franks slicked in half? What is this stuff?
That was my first impression when i first received my order at Chico's tacos on Alameda. Chico's tacos is a local restaurant chain in El Paso that conisists of several stores around El Paso. I went to high school in El Paso and it was sort of a custom of after having a night out we would all go to Chico's tacos to grab bite to eat.
The most common order of tacos is the single or the double, which include 3 or 6 tacos, which come topped with grated cheese. However, I advise that you order two singles instead of a double in order to achieve best cheese coverage on all tacos.
Aside from its tacos, Chico's Tacos is also known for its hotdogs, which unlike traditional American hotdog is made with a hamburger bun, containing two franks sliced in half lengthwise, chili beans, mustard, and pickles.
After going to Chico's Tacos you are either going to Love IT like I did or hate it!
Disgusting Chicano food, they're Flautas I don't know why they call them tacos. They recently kicked out a gay couple for kissing each other, which makes them homophobic assholes on top of dirty. Its gross, I've heard a lot of people have gotten sick, they put lettuce on tacos which in Mexico you would get your balls chopped off for doing that to tacos (any place where tacos have lettuce is automatically bad). I've never liked this place. People from El Paso love it. Just Gross! Shittier than Taco Bell.
perfectly decent tacos, unless you are gay, in which case they will kick you out. stay away!
I have so many memories of this place from high school. i was really sad when I heard the McRae location closed down.
yes..the food looks disgusting. What the hell is that soup? omg what is up w/ all that gloppy cheese? these aren't tacos! these are flautas aren't they??
I remember that's how I felt when i first went to Chico's tacos when i was about 13 yrs old. I thought "there is no way i'm going to eat this." Who knew the joys that come w/ eating a double w/ fries thrown into that soup to soak up all that flava? Omg i'm drooling thinking about all that badness.
i try to go back every time I come home to visit, but sometimes time doesn't allow a visit to Chico's. I regret it when I come home and don't get to go get some Chico's!
it's truly an El Paso staple and truly original to El Paso. :)
Wow this place has really gone down hill. Everyone that lives in el paso says "YOU HAVE TO TRY CHICOS" but I guess they don't get out much cause these are some of the worst tacos I've ever eaten. Completely greasy with horrible ingredients.
Nasty greasy stuff. there are *far* better tacos available... just about anywhere. It's sad, really.
I personally liked Chicos, my hubby on the other hand didn't quite feel for it. Everyone else's reviews pretty much sums it up. Really simple menu, cheap prices too, we fed 4 of us for 20 bucks once and we were all stuffed. Not bad. Not feeling the atmosphere and always always crowded. you basically have to be on guard to watch who finishes eating and leaves an open table up, and then run towards that table. Not feeling the wait. Like everyone says, you either like it or you don't.
Dear Chico's Tacos:
I just moved back here, from San Francisco. I am 4 months pregnant and the gooey, saucey, mystery meat 'EXTRAVAGANZA' that is your tacos...makes me want to puke.
I guess I outgrew 'us'. It's me, not you. Let's stay friends.
I went to this place after reading the reviews. What most of these reviews fail to mention is that their menu is very limited. I don't eat beef so there was only the fish fillet, fries, and grilled cheese sandwiches. All the tacos/burritos are beef only. Take a look at the picture because that's basically the entire menu. Just about everyone was getting the tacos and fries. I can't really comment on the quality/taste of the tacos. The friend I was with said they were okay. The fish fillet was okay and the fries were decent.
Spanish speaking would be greatly beneficial here. I was trying to ask for a cup of water and the guy just kept shaking his head. Eventually he gave me salt and ketchup (which I needed anyway but wasn't asking for). Agua means water, right?
Chico's is most certainly NOT an acquired taste, rather, genetically strained into one's DNA, predisposed to either love or loathe a boat of such synthetics as rolled beef tacos, cheese, and a runny tomato-based hot sauce. Individually, i could not conjure a selection of more vile solitary food items, but when alloyed together, such an impressive, magical piece of art, particularly between the hours of 2 and 3 AM.
Yes, its a culinary anomaly. How can three fantastically poor items form the perfect engagement of flavor, edibility, and tradition? Its a mystery best accepted from the OTHER side of the order-counter.
And such is the glorious 'myth' of Chico's. No one can truly explain its inordinate appeal, but its certainly there, look around. Look at the smiling faces here. The absurdity of the brick hut, the over-poured green sauce, the saturated-and-delectable squishy french fries, the outdoor bathrooms, an amusing and unintentionally mashed-up juke box, one of which even DJ Dangermouse would be impressed by. Its all collectively the highest testament to the aura of dining at Chico's.
El Pasoans certainly get goofy over the notion of this place. Its certainly a ubiquitous source of pride, and to that i say, "why the hell not?" Its a nod to "Keep El Paso Goofy", a helixed spin on "Keep Austin Weird" or "Keep San Antonio Normal". Its a different breed over in the far, far recess of Texas, and it's refreshing that such a place can exist for so long in a municipality of quality Mexican culinary prowess.
Double order, side of fries, and a Dr Pepper is pretty much the ancient cure for any West Texas malady.
Dear Chico's Tacos,
I live in San Francisco now. I am too cool for your tacos. In fact I hate you now. I love tapas and papusas way more.
No, don't believe me, don't leave me! Please? I just wanted the cool kids to like me...NOOOO!
Okay, seriously. I cannot remember a week going by when I lived in El Paso that my family did not eat here. It is a staple, a classic. It deserves it's own location and segment on the food pyramid. The mayor of El Paso should appoint it the El Paso food of choice and give it the spatula to the city or something.
For those who didn't know, Chico's Tacos are these flauta-like rolled tortillas that are served in this brothy-tomatoy sauce and then covered with cheese. The sauce is a huge family secrete and certainly a big part of the Chico's cult like following. Then you pour this wonderful strange booger looking green death sauce all over it and dig in! (Word to the wise? Most people pick them up with a fork...I wouldn't try to grab them...)
All I can do is hope that they figure out how to get them to me all the way out here.
I will never stop loving you Chicos,
Tiffany
I'm fairly certain that this will be my favorite restaurant until I'm dead. Even living in a city like San Francisco where there's good food everywhere, Chico's Tacos fills each one of their cardboard trays with a certain je ne sais quois that no other restaurant in AMERICA offers.
True, this is probably an acquired taste for uptight individuals who take themselves too seriously, but they shouldn't be trying new things anyway.
This is one of those restaurants that grabs ahold of your psyche and refuses to let go. Oh, on the downside, it always feels like you got finished drinking gasoline after you eat here, but you'll get used to it.
I miss you Chico. Tell Tacos al Carbon to quit trying to imitate you. And don't forget me, because I won't forget you.
Love,
Eric
My favorite favorite.
I have NOTHING bad to say.
Except that, since I don't live in El Paso and hardly ever visit, when I do make it to a Chico's I eat so much food I feel like dying. You think I'm exaggerating? Oh no... once time, when I was about 13, I ate Chico's for all three meals for two days.
Delicious.
Oh Chicos, how i love you. How i love coming home and spending my first day in El Paso eating Chicos and then having a sno cone. Even better when you follow it up with a trip to music under the stars.
I stand by what the other yelpers say. You haveto be from El Paso to understand it and if you are from El Paso and you still don't like it...then get out! you are no longer needed in El Paso.
And it sucks that they closed down the Chico's on McRae. That on was my favorite. I had friends who preferred to piss outside on the dumpster than enter the horrifying bathrooms.
Oh God, Chicos! Good Times. Good Times.
This is the holy grail of fast food restaraunts in El Paso. I have often overheard transplanted El Pasoans vow to kill their grandparents upon delivery of a double order.
The real feature at Chico's are these rolled tacos, taquitos or little flautas if you will, that come three to a cardboard tray, immersed in a thin, delicious, tomatoey sauce...topped with a mound of shredded, government cheese. Depending on the day, the hot sauce can be just plain hot to "I can't remember how I got here" hot.
You might think this doesn't sound so great, but your wrong, dead wrong. I've actually witnessed people traveling hundreds of miles with a cooler full of chico's just to appease a homesick El Pasoan.
I think any place I have to eat at in the presence of rent-a-cops should be questionable. The women violate health regulations with the fake nails, huge earrings, and lack of hair nets, or something to pull their hair back. The tacos look like a welfare concotion of tex-mex. This is not mexican food but rather tex-mex. The only thing I can tolerate eating there is the grilled cheese. I try to avoid this place.
Chico's is an interesting place, and can be frightening for those from out-of-town or those who aren't drunk. It's not bad for lunch or dinner. You have no idea what's inside the soaked tacos when you're eating them, and you really don't care. It's not till later when your stomach begins to sound like a thunderstorm in the distance that your mind begins to go over the many kinds of Grade F meat you've just ingested. What's so amazing about Chico's is that I keep going back, over and over. It's truly best when you've got a minor-to-massive buzz going, it's like snack food for drunkies really, but it's not bad otherwise, just prepare yourself for a tummy-grumbling mystery afterwards.
As a tip, save your order of fries for after you've eaten your tacos, then dump the fry basket into your red sauce and enjoy soupy fries. It's incredibly bad and good at the same time.
The first food stop on our cross country road trip, I found Chico's by searching on yelp while on the way there. I wanted to find some authentic El Paso Mexican food, and I found it.
The tacos are greasy, cheesy and don't have that much flavor. The french fries were good and the atmosphere is awesome. We were the only non Mexicans in the place and they seemed to notice this as well. The jukebox plays everything from ranchero to No Doubt.
It was a perfect culinary representation of El Paso.
So bad it's not worth a review......
What is the big deal with Chico's Tacos? I grew up in El Paso - went to HS just down the street and if I could I would give them negative one star. It's a gooey mess of greasy rolled tacos, supposedly beef, with mounds of cheese and a soupy tomato mixture. What gets me is these people who order extra tomato sauce ... some die hards will even drink it! Ewh!
Chico's Tacos is the "Willy Wonka" of the culinary experience; a youthful reminder of our "back-in-the-days". Offering up a low price fare has garnered the loyalty of those with loose change and a hungry stomach. And who hasn't been there and done that in El Paso? Therefore, Chico's has become a part of nearly every El Pasoan's past and a source of reference to those now living and doing better elsewhere in the world.
The favorite order is the rolled-up-and-fried-tacos served up in a cardboard boat which are then covered in a very watered down version of a diced tomato sauce, a finely shredded cheese and a green jalapeno sauce that adds flavor and zing to the sauce. Given its ingredients and presentation, one can't help but wonder why the attraction or undying loyalty that keeps those caught in its taste bud wonder returning and/or dreaming of returning someday? Certainly it can't be the other menu items that are seemingly an afterthought and that in general don't get paid much attention.
It has to be those tacos and the the way all those ingredients blended together become some form of mind-altering concoction! The mere thought of going to Chico's sends us into a time warp giving us "salivation jitters". Chico's Tacos is not food, its an experience.
"Mr. Chico", intentionally or unintentionally, culinarilly redefined the average taquito into an enigmatic dining experience and thereby managed to keep masses of us die hard Chico's fans "lined up and moving along".
I think it's true that you have to have grown up in El Paso to appreciate Chico's tacos. I've taken out-of-town friends to experience "the best food they've ever had" only to see an appalled look. The specialty is rolled ground beef tacos topped with a mound of grated cheddar cheese then drowned in their tomato sauce. Imagine a gooey, soggy, messy delight. Of course, you can always order a hot dog (which comes in a hamburger bun) a burger, fries or a grilled cheese sandwich. These are usually always the "side orders", though.
As a kid, my family would come here often. Abundant rumors of only almost rotting tomatoes being used in the sauce only kept us away for a short while.
As a teenager this was one of the few places we (my friends and I) could actually afford. We'd come here after high school football games, after parties, after dances. It isn't unusual to see people dressed up in evening attire eating tacos after midnight.
I've experienced some of the rudest service here. You practically have to get down on your knees and beg for an extra napkin and pay for extra sauce. They know they can be as rude as they want and we'll still keep coming back to them like an addict to their drug source.
You become a different person when you come in here. All of a sudden you don't mind standing in a line. Then you become vulture-like waiting for a booth to clear. While eating, you turn back to when you were a toddler . . . utensils optional and messes acceptable.
I still love to visit every time I'm back in town. The only problem now is that we have to remember to bring cash. Do they still not take debit/credit cards?
El Paso, TX
Category: Mexican
El Paso, TX
Category: Restaurants
El Paso, TX
Category: Mexican
El Paso, TX
Category: Mexican
El Paso, TX
Category: Restaurants
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