Rancho Alegre - Columbus

This one is a warmer looking, more upscale sister restaurant to the one in Grandview. It's a very open, atypical Mexican looking place. The bar area really caught my eye with its appealing lighting. I came in about 1:15 on Friday and there were maybe 20 customers in all. Only two servers working so the service was fair but not quite as fast as I'm used to in a Mexican restaurant. I got my current favorite: Camerones de Diablo requested spicy (and it was). Washed down with a Tecate and all was good. So, good somewhat Americanized Mexican food. No complaints here.

I have to admit I was very skeptical about coming here. The previous Mexican restaurant that occupied the same location was a huge disappointment. I am really glad I gave this place a try. My boyfriend and I came here around 7 on the Friday before Cinco de Mayo. They have a small patio outside that was filled with people. The inside is spacious with lots of booths and tables. We got a seat at a booth, immediately ordered jumbo lime margaritas (of course) and enjoyed the free chips salsa. The chips salsa were pretty good just your average Mexican restaurant chip, but the salsa was fresh and flavorful. The margaritas were HUGE. I was expecting a generic fruit flavor, but the real lime flavor was strong and had a great balance with the tequila. It is probably one of the best margaritas I've had in Columbus. I ordered two chicken quesadillas. The waiter said one probably wouldn't be enough if I was really hungry because they were small. I also got a hard beef taco. The quesadillas were without a doubt the best I've had from Mexican restaurants in Ohio. They were loaded with chicken, peppers and cheese. The chicken was really tender and had great flavor. The beef taco was pretty standard with ground beef filling, lettuce and cheese. My boyfriend was very impressed with his meal, and he is usually not a fan of Mexican food. The service was slow, but there was also a table of 27 beside us that was in our servers section. It was understandable that he was busy with them and it took a little long to get our check. In one visit, this place has become my go to Mexican restaurant.

I adore this place! The ambiance is wonderful! Not too bright with neat things to look at. The lights are interesting and I love the stone bar! The service was excellent; I loved our server. Everyone was friendly and prompt. I was a bit skeptical due to the negative reviews about their food, however, it must be my lucky day because my chicken fajitas were wonderful and my wife loved her taco salad. I'm not even kidding when I say they have the best margaritas I've had in the Columbus area! My wife and I get the frozen strawberry. Highly recommend! It was a bit expensive.... that's my only complaint. $9 for one margarita is a bit nuts for lunch, but there's no doubt that I will be back for more! It's definitely worth checking out. And get a margarita.

We REALLY like Rancho Allegre. The place is big, so with the exception of May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) you can almost always get seated right away even on a Friday or Saturday night (unlike many other Mexican restaurants in the area). Service is always quick and attentive. Drinks are strong and fairly priced. Food is very good, with generous portions, and they have wide variety of menu choices. Very family friendly. This is a very solid, go to Mexican restaurant that 's right in the Upper Arlington neighborhood...

Great tex-mex food and overwhelming house margaritas at this big strip-mall restaurant and bar. Four stars for food and drink, but service still needs some training. House frozen Margarita was huge, strong and surprisingly good, plenty of lime flavor and intensely cold. Just $6. Did I mention strong!? Seriously, it's great when they actually put in some tequila, not just wave the bottle nearby LOL. Chips are not quite as dense as typical house-made corn chips, they're a little puffy and just barely salted. Salsa comes in a small bottle, pour as much as you want in your own little dish. Notably spicy, almost medium, great. Om nom nom, who needs an entree? On weekends you can still get the cheap lunch menu at midday, awesome. Just $7 for most combo plates is a total steal. I had the lunch tamale special, a chicken tamale with red chile sauce, a crispy corn taco plus mex rice. Excellent tamale, not dry. Taco had seasoned (but not sauced ground beef, lettuce and cheese, good. Red rice was much better than expected, a tad crispy in places. About that service. Not everybody speaks English, the kitchen was a little slow with our food even tho the place was pretty quiet and my order went in wrong. So my food came out wrong, our waiter fixed it but didn't fix the computer. And then of course the bill was wrong. Front counter people fixed that too, and threw in a free cinco de mayo tee shirt plus a coupon. They're really trying here. The huge cantina area has eight (8! TV screens, a broad choice of tequilas and friendly bartenders, very nice. The Alegre margarita is a frozen margarita with a corona kinda added on top. Hmm, a Coronarita. Uh, maybe next time. Very yelp geeky to be reviewing a Mexican place on cinco de Mayo I know, but hey, what can I say :