El Charro

The menu is not over complicated by Americanized food, trying to pass itself off as Mexican. It is very in-expensive, authentic, and absolutely delicious Mexican fair! The atmosphere is low-key and very friendly. Alex, (the owner/operator) is very generous with portions, as well as chips and salsa. Alicia, the waitress isn't always on the ball, but is extremely nice eye-candy. All in all it is as real as you get, and at a great price. I would recommend it to anyone who is not an uppity, pretentious person who appreciates delicious, authentic, Mexican food.

They have $1 tacos on Wednesday’s, you can’t beat dollar taco night. It comes with free chips and salsa and the salsa is amazing, tastes very fresh and homemade. I got 4 tacos and they were delicious as well. I have no complaints and come here most Wednesday’s.

New layout that is very open and inviting. The chef is always friendly and happy.He cooks to order and the food is the freshest. The guacamole is to die for! There is a new waitress that is great and friendly also. The prices are great and after going to most all Mexican restaurants around this is the best. If it had the location that Maize has it would be a far bigger hit. It is however across the street from Maize and a half a block away. Plenty of parking in the back.

Fast and convenient but also worth coming back to especially for students. There's great service, all staff are very friendly. And there tacos and guacamole are soooo yummy. Which is great every Wednesday since its $1 taco day. ( chicken or steak) yumm- And each meal includes fresh chips and salsa. So yes I recommend coming here. (:

I went in on a Wednesday for $1 tacos with four other friends. Initially, I was a little disappointed that the deal only applied to chicken, beef (not steak), pastor, and veggie tacos, but they're regularly only $2 so it wasn't a problem. We first ordered drinks and the margarita machine was clogged or something so we got those over ice. Then they were out of tripe and lengua, and when my friend ordered another type of entree, they were out of that too. When we ordered a veggie taco, we were told it would take 20 minutes to make (that was an overestimation) because they had to prepare the beans. Once half of us got our tacos, we were told that they also ran out of tomatoes (how??), so we got the rest of them without tomatoes. You can imagine how humorous this was becoming to all of us at this point. Unfortunately the food wasn't even that good. The steak seemed like borderline ground beef (every kind of meat I had was chopped very finely), and there wasn't a whole lot of flavor in most of them. I could go on but you probably get the point.

This place has the most authentic Mexican food in Illinois outside of Chicago. The service is always fast and friendly, the prices are great and you don't have to push through a "maize" of people to get in here.

I travel to C/U three to four times a year. Since I travel quite a bit, I try to avoid the chains and fast food places when I can, so El Charro was appealing right off the bat. El Charro won't impress you with its ambience or atmosphere. As a matter of fact, there's a sombrero hanging in the dining area that says "Viva Mexico, Cabrone!", which isn't very classy; but the food is amazing. The staff is very friendly, attentive and polite. Every time I visit El Charro, it's full of college kids, so that should be indicative of the menu prices and food portions. If you find yourself in Champaign, IL and you don't stop in and get some carne asado or a couple of tacos or some menudo, you'll never know what you're missing.

El Charro is a classic, hole-in-the-wall, dining experience. Quite honestly, it reminds me of corner store/taquerías back home in Chicago and has great food. Definitely, one of my favorites in the C-U