matt's el rancho

i ate here quite a few months ago, and i've forgotten what i ordered, but i felt so strongly about the restaurant that i'm gonna do a tiny review. not good at all! theplaceis all glitz and hype and no soul. it's quite obviously all about volume. in other words, serve the greatest number of people the lowest quality they can get away with. if you're in austin, there is a lot much better than this in the tex-mex genre. i don't know how they were in the past, but they are existing now solely on an old and obsolete reputation, maybe some nostalgia of long-time austinites, and a great view of the skyline. let it go people; make way for someone who cares about quality, not only the dollars. i lived in san antonio for 20 years, have travelled in mexico, and i love good mexican food; this ain't it.

good food, great drinks, awful service.. had a wedding rehearsal dinner here and once we were seated, things were ok. we had a party of 40, i know it seems huge but we did everything we could to make sure there were no issues, we called months in advanced, offered to pay in advanced for the meals, offered to pay a per seat charge to hold the tables, and nothing. they are completely against any form of reservation. well this was the grooms favorite restaurant so we went, thinking that once we filled their lobby with 40 angry people they would do whatever it took to take care of us... wrong. they didn't care at all, it took over 2 hours to get our tables and even then they couldn't seat everyone at the same time. we ended up on 2 long tables in the same section after waiting over 2 hours. they do not care what you think or how many people they upset.

i've eaten there other times and had better experiences; the food is great, and the drinks are really strong so they have that going for them. all in all, small parties won't have a problem because thisplaceis huge, and the food is great, but nothing you can't get at other texmex places.

want the best texmex in tejas? come to matt's. thisplaceis great. outstanding texmex with fantastic service.
enchilada dinner with a mexican martini is my go-to. add a bob if you are really hungry.
if you want aplacethat serves "authentic" mexican food go somewhere else. if you want true authentic texmex, go to matt's.

it seems lately that when describing a mexican restaurant, the phrase "it's just tex mex" gets thrown around. as if tex mex is an insult. not everyplaceis going for "authentic" mexican dishes, and believe it or not....many people like tex mex. and, a lot of them are in .........texas! matt's is good basic tex mex, and apparently they're pretty good at it.

matt's el rancho is a greatplaceto go with a big group of people. big rooms with a lot of space, so it's a goodplaceto go with a big party. i usually just have appetizers and drinks at matt's, so i don't know much about the food from first hand experience. i've never heard anything extremely outstanding about the food, but nothing bad. the house margarita is good! frozen with salt, and you're golden.

matts el rancho is a huge restaurant. you never have to wait and there is plenty of friendly, tentative staff. i would sit outside near the fountain on a cool day. the food is typical tex-mex and nothing to write home about. i did like the fajitas and they are big enough to share. thisplaceis great for large groups.

good food, long wait. thisplacehas good food, so it can be very crowded. still enjoyed our meal though.

pretty solid family dining.. i have worked in the food industry off and on for years. my friends are owners of places and i enjoy checking places out and trying to justify what makes aplacework for me.

this is basically a family friendlyplaceand totally worth trying. i can't give rave reviews to the food quality as much as the atmosphere and energy level. that being said you get a strong drink, decent food and fast service with a huge basket of chips and salsa shortly after seating. the food is served hot and in larger portions than i tend to try to fit into my body. this is a cautionary sign for many places. it suggests quantity over quality. in the end it gets people coming back. you know, the more bang for your buck thing. but, as i said the food is solid.

my feelings are that this is a white person's joint and you will likely not see many non-white people eating there. it just has that thing about it. they obviously have a huge following because of the vast amount of parking and seating. i mean vast.

i hate being crowded into a seat and elbow to elbow with other patrons. as crowded as it gets it feel open.

great for large groups, too.. stopped in for sunday lunch. huge filled parking lot indicates thisplacemust be very large and spacious inside and it is. we were greeted warmly and seated promptly. our waiter quickly presented us with menus and took our drink orders. we started with queso and chips without looking at the menu. wished we had seen the bob armstrong dip before we ordered. will try it next time. my husband is a flautas connoisseur and really enjoyed his chicken and beef meal. i ordered the old fashioned taco dinner (ground beef, chicken and/or brisket). the tacos are fried which i didn't realize. tasted great but not my thing. will try something dif next time. it comes with a nice cilantro and onion salad mix plus a small guacamole (very small -order additional if you are a guac fan). the chips are large tortilla pieces not the traditional chips in a bag. the salsa is spicy, fresh and tasty. lots of nice outdoor seating. great bar with large screen tv. lots of room for large parties or groups. i see myself returning to this spot again

holy sh!t margaritas. get the house margarita. it absolutely crushes every other margarita in austin. oh, and if you like weak margaritas, then too bad. these are strong. i'm a big guy and caught a buzz on 2. so, naturally i had 3. tried to get 4 but was vetoed by my wife. just wait til i go back alone, though. by god, i'll drink 5.

the chips are my personal favorite chips in town, too. salsa is also very good. queso is gd the worst thing i've ever put in my mouth. but you don't have to eat queso at every mexicanplaceyou go to.

remember: house margarita. not top shelf, that's bs. house.

large groups beware. thisplaceis completely unaccommodating of large groups! our group was planning to have about 20 people for dinner as a christmas dinner. we called ahead 2 weeks in advance and were told that they don't take reservations. the dinner was on a wednesday night, and it was busy but there wasn't anyone waiting to be seated- except for our group. we waited nearly an hour and had to ask multiple times before they even began to set aside tables for our group. then we were told that only part of our group could be seated (after waiting about 1 and a half hours) because we were waiting on a small group to vacate the table. apparently they had been sitting at the table for an hour after finishing their meal, but the restaurant refused to say anything to them. my boyfriend loudly told one of the other members of our group that she couldn't sit down because we were waiting for their table, and one of the managers had the nerve to come over and scold him for being rude. it was nothing short of appalling. when we finally were served our meals, it was definitely not worth the wait. i personally am a fan of tex-mex, and this was definitely some of the worst i've had. the only thing that i liked was the queso, which was grossly overpriced like the rest of their menu. to top it off, they wouldn't do separate checks, so we spent about 30 minutes trying to separate out the bill. and they added an 18% gratuity as well! overall, i will never go back there, even with a smaller group. if you are planning a dinner for a big group, definitely do not go here! it was a nightmare!

i still haven't quite figured out the infatuation with tex-mex, which almost by definition means low-quaily. nondescript and mass produced slop. matt's el rancho fits nicely into this category with it's massive and usually packed dining room which has the ambience of a high school cafeteria. given the volume of food thisplacechurns out, your food is almost certainly not going to attract the focus of the chef. that said, if you like typical greasy, bottom-of-the barrel tex mex, matt's will deliver.

love it! ...but wouldn't call it tradtional "mexican". thisplaceis great.. if you know what you're in for. there is nothing tradtional about this fare... it is 100% american mexican, and really american tex-mex at that. if you like your food covered in cheese, than you are in luck. this is cheese at it's greatest, as long as you like velveeta! it's nice and big, with plenty of seating indoors and out so there is never a long wait to sit, or for service. why not try it out. especially if you are looking for some cheesy comfort food!

thisplaceis an insult to the diner. horrible horrible slop that they call food. the tasteless food must be made in large vats where they slop it on a plate and call it mexican food. can't say enough bad about it except to avoid it.

thisplaceis great! if you're looking for a classic austin mexican restaurant that's the best, you've found it here. if you have not eaten here yet you are really missing out.