My family was going down to the States and we ended up passing the border around lunch time. We decided to stop at El Ranchito in Lynden for a Mexican lunch. I remember my family used to come here when I was younger but I haven’t been back for quite a few years. The inside is a little dingy and worn out.
I love when Mexican restaurants give you complementary chips and salsa.
They gave us two kinds of salsa. One of them was a chunky salsa fresca. This salsa tasted very fresh and mild.
The other salsa was thinner and more runny. This one was more spicy than the other one.
The menu has changed a bit since I last visited and for lunch they now have a lunch specials menu. I ordered the tamale because I wanted to try something different. This one was stuffed with pork and served with refried beans, rice, and coleslaw. The pork inside was quite dry and didn’t have much flavour and the tamale was unique and filling but a bit pasty. I’ve never had another tamale before so I’m not sure how this one compares to others. The rice and beans were great. The rice was fluffy and lightly seasoned and the beans were almost creamy and topped with cheese.
They always give you a complimentary dessert after your meal. It’s a crispy tortilla chip covered in cinnamon and sugar and topped with whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and a small dollop of ice cream. This was pretty tasty for a free dessert.
Overall this isn’t great Mexican food and it was a bit bland. It is a definite upgrade from the fast food Mexican around but it is still quite Americanized. All of the lunch combos are under $10 and they are pretty filling and since you get free chips and salsa and a dessert so it’s a pretty good deal. I probably wouldn’t return here unless I was starving and didn’t want to wait until I got to Bellingham.
Recommendation:
No, the food is filling but mediocre.
