Enjoyable meal on the patio after we stopped for the night - right off I-75. The chicken and Mushroom enchilada was very good. Good sized portions. Worth your visit. read more

This is our go to for Mexican food. Great selection. Good service Enchilada DinnerEl Caballero

Yelp and their website say they close at 10pm. Walk inside and told they close at 9pm. Computer must be broken, huh?

The tortillas were undercooked, but the staff was very nice. Food was not matching the price.

The food was really mid for the price that it was. The lady was really nice but she charged me $8 for some dumb queso. Wasn't even real Mexican food. read more

I relocated to this side of town and I'm so in love with the Avocado Enchiladas !!! Simply Amazing !!! I had a " Ok " server, he didn't seem to have a friendly attitude. Maybe it just wasn't his night to be friendly....So I will let this one sly. To the vegetarian peeps out there, They only had four selections I took a picture of it. read more

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The food here is good and not too expensive, I love the chimi combo! The service is good, they kept up on refills and were friendly.

Food came hot and full of flavor. Was seated fast and feed quick. Great food, great service, and good price! Would eat here again!

This is my go to for mexican food here in Knoxville. I'm from houston and I lived around mexicans for 30plus years and this place gives me my fix! It's hard to find charro beans and they have it here not to mention the quality of food here is TOP NOTCH! read more

It was good, pretty much your typical Mexican restaurant but there was nothing wrong with it.

Very good food. Fantastic salsa, decent margarita. Super friendly waitress and bartender

Very good food. Great service and I got my food very fast. When I return to Knoxville I will definitely come back.

Best place to eat. I've been eating here for over 20 years. Sherry is the BEST. She always remembers our order, very friendly and kind. We will wait for a table with her even if their is not wait for anyone else Great deals and prices and the most amazing sour cream sauce I've ever had! Don't skip dessert either! Their brownie skillet and Carmel apple skillets are delicious! read more

Waited for ever for our lunch on a not so busy day. 1 waiter taking care of the entire restaurant? Food comes out cold and old! Never again, sorry. read more

El Chico's was always my favorite when I lived in Texas. The food at this one is very good, however the service was pretty slow for the amount of customers. There was one other occupied table in our section. Having said that our waiter was very courteous. read more

Worst service ever. Every time we come here the service gets worse saw our server 2 times the whole damn night I am so pissed. I am a server and if I gave such shitty service to my guest I would never expect a tip. I might give this place one more try because my husband loves the food read more

I grew up eating El Chico's and have fond memories of this restaurant. They have a long storied history out of my home state Texas. It has been years since I've eaten at one of their locations until stumbling upon this one when getting a coffee almost next door. I just had to come in and try it out. It was Monday night so Football took center stage and I was glad to make to the stop and catch part of the game. After entering I was shown to my seat and brought chips and salsa then my order was taken. I ordered I think it was called the Juarez it came with a beef taco, cheese enchilada, and was supposed to be a queso taco, rice, and beans. The food came out and the plate was hot but the food was luke warm. The cheese in the enchilada wasn't even melted like you would expect it was more like a cheese stick rolled in a tortilla covered with chili sauce. The queso taco was the same but covered in queso. I've had a queso taco before and this was nothing like what I have gotten in the past. I was super disappointed with the quality and couldn't believe the lack of quality this location has. I will try it again, but if it doesn't meet the quality Ill let them know. read more

We had 2 in Nashville & I'm so sad they got rid of them. So when I saw they were in Knoxville I immediately had to go. Literally the best chips and salsa ever!!!!! Friendly staff. read more

Best authentic Mexican food in town. We ordered their Ultimate Margarita and they were simply delicious. The bartender happily customized the drink to my preference even though they were busy with customers. The staff is very friendly and the manager Girish was helpful and made excellent food recommendation from the menu. The "'mama's Favorite Top Shelf Guacamole" is to die for. We also ordered "top shef queso" and "top Shelf California Quesadillas" which again were finger lickingly good. I loved this place and highly recommend them. I definately would like to visit them again when I am craving some Mexican food... read more

El Chico - Top Shelf California Quesadillas, Shrimp Mexican Rice, and Ultimate Margarita - Mexican Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

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this place is so good! if u wanna eat somewhere its here its so cheap for such good food! also the people there are so friendly and they food came out like 5 mins after we ordered not even joking!! read more

Inconsistent food and service. Sometimes the food is good and sometimes the food is bad. We were craving Mexican so decided to go here after work. Main reason for going was to get the top shelf queso dip...which is amazing...when you actually get it. Our main entree was delivered and we never got it. When we asked about it, the server admitted to forgetting it. She ended up later bringing it, but its like getting an appetizer after your main course. My meal, the old fashioned tacos with chicken, which is usually amazing, I could hardly find any chicken and toppings were pitiful. When I did ask the server about it she was nice and brought out two more tacos...and the dishes looked like night and day. Not to mention that my fiance and I had the same cocktail drink and they neither tasted or looked the same. Bottom line...its a good place with good food and good service...sometimes... read more

El Chico - Old Fashioned Tacos. Same dish, totally different quality of tacos. - Mexican Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

I used to live in Johnson City and people everywhere were crying when they lost the El Chicos. Thank God there is one in Knoxville. This is the best Tex-Mex place around. Forget the cheap crappy Mexican places that say they are authentic. This place isn't the cheapest but you get what you pay for. Definitely recommend the fajitas. You can't go wrong with any of them. The chips and salsa are primo and (thank you Jesus) someone in Knoxville finally knows how to produce a decent guacamole! The service can be hit or miss at times (some waiters are awesome, some are clueless) but the food is good enough to warrant 5 stars. read more

Seems every time I go there, the service gets worse. The food is marginal at best. Just doesn't seem to work for me. The happy hour specials are actually expensive. I ordered a Jim beam and coke and it was more expensive than makers mark. The staff just doesn't seem to be in sync. I work too hard for my money to just give it away these days. I won't be returning there anytime soon... read more

I thought I would try this place on a Saturday night. There was no wait, and that should have told me something. We were seated and the waitress was nice. She brought us chips and salsa. The chips were room temp and the salsa was too. The salsa tasted like it came out out a large can and tased weird. I ordered the chicken burrito. The food came and it was pretty much bland, and had no real taste to it. I dumped salt on it and used the chips to help it out. The restaurant looked very dated, and there was a flashing led spotlight outside the window that was very distracting. I would say no bueno to the place. read more

My family loves eating here. The food is really good and and Carlos is the best server/bartender in town! After eating there 1 Sunday he remembered our families orders and drink preferences. The atmosphere is to be expected for a tex-mex restaurant and it is always clean, even the bathrooms! Now, it can get a bit busy and there is one server whose section we will not sit in. I don't know his name but he always only has half the buttons on his shirt buttoned. The first time that we were served by him he completely forgot to place our order and we didn't find out until 30 minutes later when we checked on the status of our food. read more

Love the food but took one star off for inconsistent service. Sometimes its great and other times very uncaring. We eat here once or twice a month and have tried almost everything on the menu (my favorite app, entree and dessert are listed as quick tip) Last night our server was good. She had a very large table seated simultaneously to ours and she took extra steps to ensure we weren't forgotten. (Although the girl who took our entree order literally said "what do you want" with no smile and no inflection in her voice and slumped away without acknowledging our empty glasses). Our actual server came back shortly after to confirm our order, fill our drinks and offered a friendly smile. The rest of the meal was perfect. We recently took my mom and grandma who were visiting from out of town to El Chico and they just loved it. Grandma couldn't get enough of the Top Shelf White Queso. Both have commented how great the food was at El Chico after returning home. When the other side of our family visited from California they went crazy for the Top Shelf Guacamole. You know the guac is good when Californians say it's good. read more

Premier Tex-Mex. Folks in Knoxville don't know how they lucky they are.. I'm from Oklahoma (and lived in Texas), where El Chico originates. I'd do anything to get one of these in Maryland. Enchiladas are superb.. read more

El Chico - Fine Tex-Mex Since 1940. Older than the Bell!! - Mexican Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

Where else can you get happy hour prices of 16 oz of the most popular domestic beers for $1.99 or a good size margarita for 3.99? My wife's frozen Margarita was a little light on the tequila. Happy hour seems to be most of the time at El Chico... We went there for lunch and ordered the beef and spinach enchilada(s) which came with refried beans and rice. The beef enchiladas for 4.99 and spinach enchiladas for 5.99 was a steal. Food was good, not great, but the portions were large and price was amazing. To me the beans were better than the rice. Rice was the weakest thing on my plate. Enchiladas were good but very spicy. Even if you're not thrilled with the food it's tough to beat their happy hour drink prices. Probably will try again soon but not a place I would order an expensive dish. read more

Not too expensive and the margaritas are not from a mix! The food is the best Mexican I've had in Knoxville - best for vegetarian Mexican!!! Also the service was awesome. read more

My boyfriend and I come here often and it never disappoints! The food is always fast and incredibly good! One of our favorite places

Would love to have given the place a higher rating. The food was really good (although they messed up my order) but the service was very lack luster My wife and I arrived for dinner on a Saturday around 7:30 Our server was Leon I ordered a taco trio with NO sour cream and avocado on the side (for my wife) Not quite sure what my wife ordered When our food arrived, I only had 2 tacos and it had slices of avocado on it. I quickly returned it as my wife dug into her meal. I asked her how she like it and she was not happy at all. She said the flavors were very bland. I gave her a bite of mine and she said that tastes good. When the server FINALLY got back around to us, I told him that my wife didn't care for her meal and asked if she could change it to what I had. Our server acted like I was asking him for the world and advised he had to talk to a manager. By the time her second meal came out, I was already done with my meal so we got a to go box and took it with us. The food I got was really good and if I was sure I didn't get "Leon" again, I would go back read more

First, we waited for a server to greet our table for about 8 minutes. But, the service was hardly the worse part. Food was gross... Decor was cheap. We ordered cheese enchiladas... Who can mess those up? They came out made with cheddar cheese- at a Mexican Restaurant? Also, fajitas were as equally disgusting. Never again will we eat here. Gross atmosphere, bad service and nasty food. Two stars only because the food came out correctly. Don't waste your money. You'll have better luck and satisfaction at Taco Bell. read more

This is a clean, chain eatery just off N. I-75. Their food is OK but not particularly authentic. Sherry is the outstanding "feature" of this location. Fantastic, friendly server. She's been working there since they opened over 20 yrs ago and makes a stop more than worthwhile! read more

We stayed across the street and just needed a quick dinner. I am so glad we decided to stop in. The Sangria was strong, the tacos were delicious (especially the deep fried shell and shredded chicken) and the white queso is excellent. But more than that, our service was the bomb! Jessica was friendly, helpful, attentive and super pleasant. She was quick to answer our requests and checked in on us frequently. She made a quick dinner choice one of our best meal choices of the weekend! read more

First of all whoever said that this was authentic Mexican must not have any taste buds. We saw a commercial on The Sports Source and figured we would try it out since it was highly recommended. We had chips and salsa, and the salsa was subpar at best. Our second round of top shelf spirits were not top shelf at all. We ordered top shelf with less ice. The bartender must have gotten offended because when we received our drinks there was no alcohol. Our food was very bland, no seasonings whatsoever. The grande burrito was basically meat rolled up in a tortilla wrap with no sauce. The frijoles rancheros were horrible, just beans with a whole lot of onions in water. The service was good but I guess the waiters can't control what goes on at the bar or in the kitchen. We do not recommend this restaurant and will not be back. read more

Absolutely love this place! Great food and service. Everything I have tried is delicious. My favorites are the chimi combo and the queso blanco. read more

Unbelievable!!! This place has LITERALLY the BEST Top Shelf Guacamole EVER!! Micayla was a great server, request her if you can! Go here for sure!! Food was excellent, prices are great, and portions were enough to have lunch for tomorrow!! Awesome!! read more

This place been there for long long while , the food was good service was great but I think they need to change the menu and the food .

Way too expensive! Happy Hour drink specials don't exist. Ordered chicken fajita nachos, was literally 10 tortilla chips spread across the plate with shredded cheese melted on top! Extremely disappointing! read more

It's our fave chips,salsa and queso spot! Oh and let me mention the GREAT happy hour! Daily from 2:00pm-close!! $4 and $5 bar food items, $3.99 Margs and Sangrias and beer specials, awesome bartenders and locals that frequent this little gem! You can find us here every Friday night for my mexican fix! read more