El Rancho Grande Cantina

[Tulsa Zephyr]

Location(s) Being Reviewed: El Rancho Grande Cantina
Date/Time of Visit: December 2017 multiple times
Quality of Food (1-5): 4
Menu/Food Options (1-5): 4
Quality of Service (1-5): 5
Atmosphere (1-5): 5
Overall Rating (1-5): 4.5
Price ($-$$$$$): $$
What makes this restaurant unique: El Rancho Grande is a Tulsa icon which opened on Route 66 in 1953.  It's the first place I ever had Mexican food when my high school Spanish class went there, and I'm sure it was the first place for many Route 66 travelers.  The food is pretty good, but nothing I ever dreamed about.  They've served beer and alcohol for many years, but after it changed owners a year or two ago, they completely created a cantina upstairs made out of repurposed wood and added on an outside deck with a view of downtown Tulsa.  It's billed as a tequila bar, but they have beer and other cocktail specials.  The Cantina has it's own kitchen, and it's own bathrooms.  It's extremely attractive and a pretty chill place.

Tell us about your experience: The first time we went right after they opened, we were the only customers (around 5pm).  Since then their business has picked up as word of mouth gets out.  They've got several large screen TVs tuned to sports and it gets pretty busy on game days.  They started with their own menu, different from the downstairs restaurant which was alright but pretty limited.  They welcome suggestions and I suspect because of that, customers can now order items off the restaurant menu including the somewhat famous "Nighthawk" enchiladas.  The only drawback is it's not very accessible.  As far as I can tell, the only way to get to the Cantina is by way of the beautiful new staircase they installed.  Their hours are 4 - 10pm Mon - Thu, and 11am - 11pm Fri and Sat.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Location(s) Being Reviewed: El Rancho Grande Cantina
Date/Time of Visit: December 2017 multiple times
Quality of Food (1-5): 4
Menu/Food Options (1-5): 4
Quality of Service (1-5): 5
Atmosphere (1-5): 5
Overall Rating (1-5): 4.5
Price ($-$$$$$): $$
What makes this restaurant unique: El Rancho Grande is a Tulsa icon which opened on Route 66 in 1953.  It's the first place I ever had Mexican food when my high school Spanish class went there, and I'm sure it was the first place for many Route 66 travelers.  The food is pretty good, but nothing I ever dreamed about.  They've served beer and alcohol for many years, but after it changed owners a year or two ago, they completely created a cantina upstairs made out of repurposed wood and added on an outside deck with a view of downtown Tulsa.  It's billed as a tequila bar, but they have beer and other cocktail specials.  The Cantina has it's own kitchen, and it's own bathrooms.  It's extremely attractive and a pretty chill place.

Tell us about your experience: The first time we went right after they opened, we were the only customers (around 5pm).  Since then their business has picked up as word of mouth gets out.  They've got several large screen TVs tuned to sports and it gets pretty busy on game days.  They started with their own menu, different from the downstairs restaurant which was alright but pretty limited.  They welcome suggestions and I suspect because of that, customers can now order items off the restaurant menu including the somewhat famous "Nighthawk" enchiladas.  The only drawback is it's not very accessible.  As far as I can tell, the only way to get to the Cantina is by way of the beautiful new staircase they installed.  Their hours are 4 - 10pm Mon - Thu, and 11am - 11pm Fri and Sat.

Thank you so much for reminding me about this place!

I used to go there quite a bit in high school and for several years after... it has been more than 30 years since I have done that!  Maybe closer to 40.  Will try to go this weekend.  Like you said, not necessarily 'dream' food, but I remember it as pretty good.