El Chino Mexican Restaurant

Perfect for our Valentines day, lunch or dinner!

I made sure to eat here on three separate occasions before leaving this review to ensure my experience wasn’t an outlier or luck of the draw. I love El Chino. Each of my visits have been excellent. I have ordered a variety of items, including different types of enchiladas and tacos. The food has been consistently delicious and fresh. I cleaned my entire plate every time. Keep in mind that I visited El Chino for lunch, so I cannot speak to the service later in the evening, but I was happy to be seated and served very quickly on all three visits. The prices are fair and reasonable. I enjoyed the quiet atmosphere. There are booths and tables to sit at. This isn’t the most fancy restaurant you will ever visit, but you can expect a tasty meal and friendly service. The food arrived to my table hot and well cooked. Pretty good chips and salsa. Full Bar available, beer served in pint glasses. I will be returning to El Chino regularly. The front parking lot is small but you can access more parking in the back.

It was Our 1st time Visiting this Restaurant, and we were craving Good Mexican Food! So we were Lucky we found this Place when I got out of my Dentist Appt! I Ordered the Enchiladas Rancheras and they did not disappoint! My Husband Got the Plate with a Taco(Asada) and Enchilada(Pollo) And He Also Loved it! And yes we are Picky when it comes to Good Mexican Food! And again this Place did not Disappoint!!

Now that I think about it after the dinner with my ex-coworkers I realize the acoustics in there are really good because there was a lot other people in there also and I didn't really hear anybody at the other tables and was able to hear All the people of my table.

Excellent food. The waiters and waitresses are so Kind and friendly. They make sure you are comfortable and happy with your meal. I've been coming here since I was a kid. I really love the food here. The 1 1/2 pound borrito is my favorite. 😊

I loved the place. It's a very friendly family who runs the business. And the food was Soo tasty.

Been a long time since we'd been there. Still delicious. Service was quick and reasonably priced. They have great lunch specials.

I was working an event at One Plant and needed a bite and was delighted to find a la carte enchiladas on the menu here! It was perfect- the shredded beef was tender, full of flavor and they put plenty of it inside. The sauce was delicious and I was really happy- for a person with a small stomach the portion was perfect. I'll be looking forward to my next visit to Soquel when I'll try the enchilada Verde!

Have eaten here multiple times. I usually order tostadas, which are very good. This time I ordered ala carte chile rellenos and tamale. Side of guac. Not very good. The tamale was skimpy on the filling and dry. The rellenos batter was the worst- it looked and tasted very eggy. It was not "batter" at all- it was like a chile inside a flat omelette. Worst rellenos I've eaten in my life. Guac was good. I will be back because this is a regular place to meet up with some friends, but I will avoid the tamales and rellenos in the future. Service is good. A simple place with simple decor.

We love El Chino! They have great lunch specials. We've tried them all and they're all good. Today I tried their Huevos Rancheros. The eggs were cooked perfectly over medium without even having to ask. Served over a fried corn tortilla with a light red salsa, so good! I've had a lot of Huevos Rancheros and these are the best of all. Highly recommended. The El Chino super burrito is also good packed with lots of meat of your choice, and it's a huge burrito. Always Good complimentary chips and salsa. We LOVE this place even more because they're super dog friendly! I asked if we could be served outside because we had our dog with us and she said of course and quickly set us up out front on their patio, Umbrella and all. She brought our dog water when she brought ours too. Which she gratefully lapped up. Service is always great.

The food is definitely great stuff to me. It's something that everyone will be satisfied with. Responsibility is everything in this area. It's definitely also a tranquil looking place to be in. The atmosphere will be pleasant around here. Make sure we get the best of this service. It's been a pleasure to know about this restaurants setup. It's about how all of the chairs and tables are set up. Even though the parking lot is pretty small. The only thing different is what kind of paraphernalia is on the walls and ceiling.

I ordered Nachos with everything. Came with beans, cheese, carne asada, sour cream & jalapeños. That is all. No guacamole or pico de gallo or salsa. Disappointed! Price was high $20 also it was to go and they served it on a plate with foil over it. Looks just they just popped it in the microwave.

This is a classic Mexican Restaurant. The service is good, and the food is really good. I've passed by here many times, and finally had time to stop. I'm happy I did, a definite redo. It's a nice large place with that Mexican style vibe.

The food there is very authentic and amazing!!! The service is great and prices are very reasonable!! I've only had a couple of things there, but I'm sure everything is awesome. We will always go back when we are in the area

Looked clean inside. Staff polite but not friendly. Carnitas dinner was delicious. Too much meat. Hamburger with bacon - Hard to find hamburger meat. Server never returned to check if everything was ok. I had requested a 'little' cilantro, sour cream and pickled jalapeños with my dinner. When I requested a container for leftovers I was given a paper plate with foil Unknown to me the 'little' extras were $1.50 EACH. If I had known I never would have ordered. Had to walk back to register to use credit card.

Food was ok, our take food order was ready on time, but part of our $100 order was forgotten: our guacamole and a taco. Not a big deal but didn't realize it until home for dinner. Check your order before leaving!

Worse Mexican food in Santa Cruz. Served congealed unrecognizable slop cold not what we ordered me Waitress plays dumb when orders wrong. Sticky unclean tables. Dirty floors. Not even close to real Mexican food. Staff rude and refused assistance even with 4 wrong orders. Awful.

Service was meh, I didn't enjoy the food. It was completely dead and it took awhile to get our food. I ordered fajitas, they came out on a sizzling plate which I'm used too but they put tomato sauce, yes plain old tomato sauce on top that popped and sizzled onto my lap and clothes. I didn't eat it all. If my kids weren't there, we would have gone somewhere else.

Looking at the way I wrote my last review. That first sentence can be taken wrong and be confusing to the reader. What I meant to say is... When I have eaten out at other Mexican Restaurants over the years and I try the Huevos Rancheros, I am always disappointed. El Chino Restaurant has their Huevos Rancheros mastered to perfection. I do not know of any other Mexican Restaurant that takes me back to my childhood like El Chino.

Came here because of good review. In the beginning doesn't look like anyone there. The food is excellent! Very tasty and loaded w/meat. Everyone loves their plate. Will come back and recommend. Glad we came. 40 years in business!

Nice, comfortable restaurant with good food and friendly service. Had relleno and tamale combo, it was delicious. Will be back.

We have been coming here for a long time and the faritas still the BEST plate. But the other dishes are good too. Please don't change the faritas recipe

Machaca. Don't know what machaca is? They have the best in town. If you want something else, the carnitas is THE best in Santa Cruz. Try me. Seriously the best.

We love El Chino and can't understand why more people don't eat here . Everything we order is always good and good quality. It's affordable not like many other places. The cook is so good and Javier the waiter is the best super pleasant. Please give El Chino a try you won't be disappointed!!! I love the crunchy beef taco and the chiliquiles are vary good with a tasty sauce. Hope this review gives you the desire to try

I was a little apprehensive about eating here. It was Sunday afternoon around 1:30. It doesn't look like much from the front and parking was behind the building. There was hardly anybody there which I thought was strange for Sunday afternoon. I decided to give it a try. The owner was very friendly and the food was great! I like the fact that they serve the food on hot plates.

In my never ending quest for huevos, rancheros, I once again went to El Chino restaurant on Soquel Ave. Everything was great. Exactly the way it should be. Eggs perfectly cooked. I prefer over easy. Rice was fluffy and refried beans. Corn tortillas, of course. I left with a full stomach and a smile on my face. Give it a try. Does not disappoint.

I wish I had pictures, but we were so hungry tho! This place really delivers on the food, service and ambience. They don't skimp on anything and the drinks were amazing!!!

Great food, welcoming environment! Amazing!! Try their mushroom enchiladas. Highly recommend.

Delicious food in a homey space, good prices, and helpful staff. I particularly enjoyed the chile relleno.

My husband ordered huevos rancheros, and I ordered a shredded beef taco with beans and rice. Every bite was delicious. No wonder this restaurant has been here for so long. The prices are reasonable as well.

Always fresh food. Be prepared that they don't have al pastor but they are a smaller place so I can't knock them for that. They're very friendly and always so happy to see you upon arrival. They answer quickly if I call for a Togo order and it's ready in 15-20 mins, I've never had to wait for it.

Very authentic Mexican food, very clean and cozy atmosphere. Very friendly people. The food is amazing. Love the menudo .

I went here with my daughter the other day. This is a sit-down place and we were in a hurry. I told the guy and he said no problem. The food was actually awesome. It came quickly. I had a taco that was amazing. The facility has high ceilings, it's airy and was not crowded (we were there at lunch on a Thursday). The people were super friendly. I picked this place at random. Next time it won't be random. I think anybody would feel totally comfortable here and be happy with the food.

My husband and I both ordered chilaquiles. His had the eggs fried into the chilaquiles, mine had them over medium on top. My son had a bacon, egg, hash brown and cheese burrito with onions and salsa. All of us really enjoyed our meals and would definitely go back. I had gone to this restaurant once a long time ago and I will say today's meal was a big improvement over what I remembered. The place didn't require us to wait for a table as there were plenty of seats, that made me hesitant but went ahead and took a seat to order. The food was made to order and hot. If you haven't been in a while or at all, give it a chance. The beans and rice were also good on our order and those are probably consistent through the day. Put aside the old reviews and focus on more recent ones and try it out. The people working were attentive and refreshed our drinks, chips and salsa and were generous with the chips and salsa. The salsa was good, a little salty while the chips were not. They were a good compliment to each other.

Awesome Mexican food, with traditional ambiance, generous portions, and salsa is delicious. Service was prompt, food came quickly. We'll definitely return when in town

Real good Mexican food with a big selection. Great service. They had plenty of room to accommodate my family of 10

Being from the Bay Area, I'm a hard sell when it comes to Mexican. After reading the reviews, I decided to give them a try. I was not disappointed. I tried the chicken taquito meal and I was pleased. They were so good. You can always tell a place is good by the rice and beans. I'll be returning to try other things especially when my kids come home from vacation. I'm happy after 8 yrs of living here, I finally caved.

Fantastic food, simple atmosphere and good service. As always the price is right too.

For a little Mexican cantina, El Chino serves some tasty food. Driving in Soquel, south of Santa Cruz we were looking for a somewhere to eat and the thought of fast food, Erik's Deli Cafe or Subway did not sound appealing. We looked on Yelp and we found this little cantina. Muy bueno. El Chino has that authentic Mexican ambiance, south of the border. Lately I have been ordering Chimichangas and El Chino serves a really nice one. Fried just right with flavorful chicken and some good ol guacamole. That is what my wife ordered. Sometimes you just want tacos and burritos, that is what I ordered. Reasonably priced, a great place to stop in Soquel. El Chino has an extensive menu but I did not notice a full bar or a tequila bar. Maybe beer only.

I come here quite often to get lunch or dinner.Yesterday, I got their chilie relleno for dinner as take out As always no matter what I get,El Chino doesn't disappoint.The Chili Relleno was very tasty.It came with refried beans and rice which also was delicious..The service is really good. I highly recommend this place

They use Kern's Horchata which is weird but otherwise this place has decent breakfast. I usually get the cactus with egg Beans and rice are decent The chorizo is good too The one negative and one of my biggest pet peeves.. one of the guys in the kitchen in the morning talks crap about customers (yes I heard you talking about me and yes I speak Spanish!!!!)

Great food and service by Leo! Will definitely return! The chicken Enchilada Suizas plate and the Chicken Enchilada and beef taco plate were great.

Best Mexican Food in Santa Cruz!!!! Not kidding. There are soooo many taquerias here but this is the place to eat! Asada tacos Mexican style with avocado is excellent. Chicken enchilada plate.

came for the mexican food, stayed for the beans. beans = 10/10 you'll thank me later ;)

I called for a super shrimp burrito, but they don't carry shrimp! So I got chicken instead. Paid $10 for a "super" chicken burrito, that is mostly just rice and chicken, with a teeny bit of salsa in the middle. No lettuce, no avocado, no sour cream or guacamole. Chicken has good flavor, and was an easy process, but very disappointing burrito.

Great food and great service! The place is comfortable and casual. They have the best Huevos Rancheros I've ever had. They pay attention to what you want and accommodate your needs or work with you to give you a yummy experience.

I came here for the first time ever and didn't like it the food was mediocre the only thing that was good was the beer. And on top of it employees where arguing right by us not good for business. Eat at your own risk. And what ever you do don't order there tamales they are terrible it tasted rotten.

Very good authentic Mexican food. The staff is very sweet. One of my favorite places to eat at.

Came in with a large party and ordered the chicken fajitas. Once they came out it was a little off the chicken and fixings were covered with tomato sauce. Well it tasted like it was cooked under some sort of chemical. I wouldn't order those again ever. Everyone else around me enjoyed their meal though, as I sat hungry and ate chips and salsa.

El Chino offers Door Dash... now, I already take issue with Door Dash because I think it's extremely lazy, but I was stuck in Hwy17 mudslide traffic and had to reroute to 101 to get back into Santa Cruz and had already been driving for 2.5 hours... long story short, my wife ordered Door Dash - even though I hate Door Dash. I got home, and we were tracking our dasher, who was heading out to the Westside: we live in Capitola. When my wife texted the dasher she was told that Door Dash didn't accept her order. Strange. This is when we followed up with El Chino and were told that the food was done, but the Dasher didn't pick it up. So, the Dasher lied about our order. Remember how I said I hate Door Dash? The man on the phone said the order was ready, so I decided this was too much of a hassle and just drove out to pick it up. In the interim, my wife calls me to tell me Door Dash will pay for the Order and they were calling the restaurant right then. I told the man behind the counter "Door Dash says they will pay for it" and he looks at me and says "No". Then... like a scene out of a movie with perfect timing... the phone to the restaurant rings, and the man says "I think this is Door Dash" and he pushes the button to hang up on them! The phone rings again, and the man hesitates to pick up. When he picks up the operator explains to him that Door Dash will pick up the tab. Then - he hands me the phone! I am totally confused at this point. The man acts like he doesn't understand the Door Dash operator and kinda just shrugs his shoulders. I give the man the phone back and paid - $38.80. Out of frustration at this whole episode and my disdain for the inherent laziness of using Door Dash (instead of just going to pick up the food), I stormed out. I got home, I ate the food (reluctantly) and it outright sucked. The meat was dry and the burrito was tasteless. Later on, my wife discovers that the bill I paid at the restaurant included the Door Dash fee! El Chino simply ripped me off. Crappy food, horrible experience and the place smells like bathroom cleaner. That was the first and last time I will ever set foot into that place.

Easy to get to, plenty of parking, can always get a table, full bar, and GREAT AUTHENTIC MEXICAN FOOD!!! Casual and the prices are good.

The food from El Chino is so delicious! We particularly like this carnitas as well as the mole. If you like Mole definitely give those a try! If I'm in the mood for something healthier I'll get some thing with their chicken, because their chicken is not greasy and is very healthy. The price point is a little bit more than you'll pay at some Taqueria 's, but it's totally worth it. You can tell that they use quality ingredients and put a tremendous amount of time into the food that they make.

This is by far the best Mexican food I have had since moving here from San Diego. The interpretation of Mexican food is typically different in Nor Cal (which isn't bad...)But, El Chino is authentic. My favorite is the combo plate of a enchilada suiza and a carne asada taco. I'm craving it while writing this and now know what's for dinner! I have had this dish numerous times and it's always consistent and I have hard time not licking the plate each time

This was my first time here, I came on a recommendation from some friends. I have to say that walking into the place my first thought was that this place was a bit divey and could use one of those "restaurant impossible" makeovers... I walked in and had to go find a host but was seated quickly and the service was good. The place was about half full on a Saturday Night. I ordered the carne asada skirt steak with a cheese enchilada and guacamole. This dish had moments of greatness mixed with moments of disappointment. The steak was cooked properly but it was sparsely seasoned so one bite would be great, and then the next bite would be not so great. My favorite combination in the world is guacamole and steak so the bites that were good were really good as the guac had just the right amount of chunky to creamy ratio. The cheese enchilada was tasty as well but it was bloated with cheese and my preference is the opposite. I doubt I'll be back but that's just me, give em a try and see for yourself...

I read several reviews and I honestly don't know what people are talking about. I loved their food & ambiance. I'm Mexican and I'm picky about Mexican food. It's a Mexican restaurant so I don't know what people are expecting. The food was delicious, their drinks were strong, and the service was very pleasant and professional at a great price! Will definitely be back when visiting the in-laws!

I eat here often. The food is great. They have RC cola, Pepsi, and Coca-Cola. What other place has that kind of service? They take Visa and Mastercard, and there is a back room for meetings and banquets. It has always been a friendly place. "El Chino" gets the name from the nick-name of the owner. His father was Chinese.

We stopped here after golf at Seascape. The service was exemplary, the food was yummy, and the portions were large. We had the carnitas plate and burritos. Both were delicious. The refried beans were just the way I like them. We were both full and had leftovers to take home. If you want some real, old style Mexican food, don't miss this place!