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DOT COM DINING A Look At San Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com

Chano’s Restaurant, located at 1030 E. Last Tunas in San Gabriel, (626) 451-0663, features Mexican and American fast food.  The first time I walked in the door (to sell stuff, not to buy), my immediate thought was that this smelled like some darn good Mexican food.  I went back a few weeks later to eat, and it turns out I was absolutely right.  It tastes as good as it smells.

I ordered a couple of hard tacos with rice and beans, my wife ordered taquitos and a taco, and my son ordered a bean and cheese burrito and a small order of nachos.  We were all happy with our meal.  Those of you reading this review on the website might notice in the pictures that the tacos have tomatoes on them, and I’ve mentioned in previous review that I don’t like tomatoes.   Well, they didn’t mess up the order, I did.  I forgot to order it no tomatoes.  (I hate when that happens).  So I just picked the tomatoes off, and enjoyed a generous helping of hot, shredded beef with crisp lettuce, and freshly grated cheese on a crisp, hot tortilla, and this was not some pre-formed tortilla like you get for $0.49 at one of these big corporate chains.  It was freshly cooked and hot, nice and crispy, and light, too.  The combo was served with some chips, also fresh, which I used to scoop up the rice and beans.  Chano’s has their own homemade hot sauces, I took the hot stuff, and it was deceptively spicy.  I didn’t think it was all that hot as I piled more on, but let me tell you, it wasn’t long after dinner that I knew that I had had some serious hot sauce.

My wife enjoyed her taquitos, said they were plenty meaty, and again, the tortilla was light and crispy, not too thick like some taquitos can be.  She also enjoyed her taco (she remembered to order hers without the tomatoes), and my son’s beef and bean burrito was a very good sized portion.  The nachos were simply melted cheese and chips, again, with fresh, crisp, tortillas that weren’t real heavy, just the right thickness.  He ordered the small regular nachos, but they also carry a large order, and a small and large supreme nacho.  The supreme nachos include guacamole, pico de gallo, beans and meat.

The only American food we tried was an order of French fries, and they were delicious, nice and hot, fresh from the fryer, and a good size portion for the price.

And let’s talk about those prices.  Chano’s offers only three items on its entire menu that cost more than $5.00.  They are the Papasote burrito, with ground beef, rice, potatoes, beans and guacamole, in 3 flour tortillas, topped w/red or green chili, at $6.99; the Mamasota burrito, with chicken, rice, potatoes, beans and guacamole, topped w/red or green chili, at $5.29; and the Roger burrito, featuring asada, chicken, carnitas, beans, guacamole and salsa, also at $5.29.  Everything else comes in at $4.99 or less, including their combination plates, which come with rice, beans and salad.

You can view Chano’s menu at www.sangabrielvalleymenus.com/chanosrestaurant.htm.   As always, if you find that address too long, just go to sangabrielvalleymenus.com and click on their link.  Once you get to Chano’s page, you’ll find links to coupons you can print up.  As if their prices weren’t already low enough, Chano’s offers four coupons from the website, including a buy one menu item get one free coupon (excludes beverages); a 4 tacos for $3.99 coupon, a coupon good from 8pm to 11pm only, for $.99 tacos, and their big family meal deal coupon, 3 bean and cheese burritos, 3 hard tacos, 2 orders of taquitos, chips and salsa, and 2 extra large sodas for $12.99.  That’s a heck of a lot of food for a very small price.  Now that I think about it, we paid more than $16, and only got one order of taquitos, and only one bean and cheese burrito, and while we got three drinks, none was extra large.  Of course, I don’t use the coupons from my website when I go out, (I don’t feel right, since it’s my website and I was paid to put them up there, but you should certainly take advantage of them, you are who they’re up there for).  If I had, I’d have saved a few dollars and gotten more to eat.

While its name is Chano’s Restaurant, this is fast food folks, you order at the counter and find yourself a seat, there’s no waiters or waitresses here.  But it’s good fast food, of restaurant quality, in my opinion.  They have a catering menu, too (it’s also on the website), where you will find prices as low as $3.09 per person for an asada, chicken or carnitas burrito with chips and salsa when ordering for 30 or more.  Even steak or chicken fajitas, with rice, beans and chips, can be had for as low as $3.99 per person, with an order for 30 or more.

If you’re going to survive as a restaurant serving Mexican food in a city like San Gabriel, where a lot of the populace really knows Mexican food (more than 1/3 of the population was Mexican or other Hispanic in the 1990 census), it helps to be good.  Chano’s has been here for just over a year, and they’re open 7 days a week from 7am to 11pm.  I enjoyed it, and I think you will too. 

Bill Coburn is owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a restaurant website featuring dozens of restaurant’s menus, as well as downloadable coupons.  He has nearly 20 years experience in the restaurant business, and has been eating for much longer than that.

All menus (and prices) are subject to change without notice, menu items are subject to availability.  We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.

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