Download Restaurant Coupons!!  Search dozens of San Gabriel Valley restaurant menus by city, type of cuisine, type of restaurant, or alphabetically.  Visit our directory featuring nearly 400 San Gabriel Valley restaurants' addresses and phone numbers.  Read restaurant spotlights featuring full color photos, and download coupons!! 

Search The Complete List (A to Z)

Search by City

Search by Cuisine

Search by Restaurant Type

What's New/Coming Soon

Download and Print Coupons

Adding Your Restaurant

Sign me up for the SGV Menus.com mailing list

Dot Com Dining Restaurant Reviews

Restaurant Directory (non-members too)

Events Calendar

Media Partners

Links

Contact SanGabrielValleyMenus.com

Awards We've Won

Press Releases

View Ranchero, Duarte's Menu

A Look At San Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com

Let’s Fiesta at the Ranch - Ranchero in Duarte

By Bill Coburn

Ranchero has been around since 1969, and so they are celebrating their 38^th anniversary this year.  They’ve made it this far by offering good food, good service, and affordable pricing.  Our meal the other night was no exception.

Ranchero in Duarte is like this great neighborhood restaurant, where the employees treat you like an old friend, even if they’ve never seen you before.  And if they do know you, you’re family.  It’s not at all unusual to see patrons greeted with a hug when they walk in.  I remember shortly after my mom passed away, the family stopped in after getting together to work on details of something, and you could see in his eyes that Tony, the boss, was genuinely distressed and hurting not just for, but with us.  The other night, we went in, and the first thing he wanted to know was how my sister was doing, concerned about some health issues she’s fighting.  You don’t find that kind of caring at just any restaurant you walk in to.

The Duarte location is much larger than the Pasadena location, and features a bar/lounge that you won’t find in Pasadena, though they do serve cocktails in Pasadena.  But the Duarte location has a 15-20 seat bar with a big screen TV (and some smaller sets, as well).  The lounge does have table seating as well, in fact, much of their main seating is in the lounge.  On the other side of the restaurant there is a room suitable for banquets, so if you have a large party, contact Ranchero to make sure it will be available for you. 

I frequently order my favorite Ranchero’s meal Camerino's Camarones, marinated shrimp wrapped with bacon and deep fried.   It is served with rice, salad and fried potatoes, and com or flour tortillas.  Always an excellent meal.  But this evening, I decided to try the Filete de Halibut al Mojo de Ajo, a filet of halibut grilled in garlic sauce, served with rice, beans and some salad.  This was actually the second time I’d had it in less than a week, as we had been there with one of my sisters about a week earlier.  Both times I got a really nicely grilled cut of fresh halibut, served with a dish of a garlic sauce that is great for dipping the halibut in.  The rice was nicely seasoned and fluffy, and the beans were nice and fresh.  I didn’t eat the salad because I forgot to order it without the sour cream on top.  Twice.  Figure that out.

I forgot to mention that we started out by ordering a side of fresh guacamole to go with our chips and salsa that was brought to us when we sat down.  When I went with my sister, we were discussing the fact that we like their chips and salsa more than other places, and we agreed that it was because the chips are a little thinner, and therefore lighter to bite into.  Another thing I like about Ranchero’s, they bring you two kinds of salsa with your chips, traditional pico de gallo, and a less chunky, definitely hotter salsa.  Since I’m not a fan of pico de gallo, and do like the heat, the second salsa is, for me, a big plus.  The guacamole we received was this huge mound of guacamole, made of fresh avocado and seasoning.  No filler, no shredded lettuce, no chopped tomatoes, just lots of fresh avocado (it did have a wedge of tomato on the dish, so if we wanted tomato in it, we could have it).  I don’t eat guacamole often, and when I do, it’s generally in small portions, with lots more chip than guacamole.  But this stuff was so good, I was surprised how much I was putting on each chip, and even told Katie I’m considering trying avocado on a sandwich.  At my age, I’m not much into trying new things, so that will be a big step.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Anyway, back to dinner.  Katie ordered Carne con Chile Verde, tender chunks of pork in a green sauce, with rice and beans and a choice of corn or flour tortillas.  There was more than enough for her, she took half of it home.  I tried a big chunk of the pork, and it was quite tasty, very tender and moist, and the sauce was delicious, but definitely not the green sauce either of us expected to get with a chile verde sauce.  I just asked Katie to describe it, and she said it was a very large portion, was very tender, very tasty, a lot of flavor to it, and not the green sauce she expected.  So I guess we pretty much agreed all around on her dinner.

Keelan had the half order of carne asada nachos, which he ordered without sour cream.  Unfortunately, he forgot to order it without guacamole, so he had to pick a lot of that off, and eat around it.  Kind of funny considering he was chowing on the guacamole with the chips, but he said in essence that with the chips, he was controlling how much guac was on the chip, and the nachos came out pretty much smothered.  I guess I can understand that.  Anyway, he said it was really good, with lots of meat, and he really enjoyed it once he got past the guacamole issue.

Ranchero’s offers 30 combination dinners, plus a whole section of seafood entrees.  They have a half dozen enchiladas a la carte, more than a dozen burritos a la carte, a variety of tacos, Mexican pizzas, nachos, soups, salads and much more. 

I would be remiss if I failed to mention their margaritas.  The margaritas are delicious.  I’ve had the Cadillac Margarita as well, but be forewarned, if you order one, they are only available as a double, which comes in a great big schooner glass, and they’re not exactly priced like a beer.  On this visit, Katie ordered a mai tai, which she’s had the last couple times we’ve stopped there, and she says they’re quite good.  I asked her how this one was, and she said “it’s good.  I’m ready for a nap.”

You can find the menu for Ranchero at www.sangabrielvalleymenus.com.  Be sure and tell them you read about them in the Dot Com Dining column. 

Bill Coburn is owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a restaurant website featuring dozens of  restaurants’ 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.