El Chico Cafe

    It was day 4 of snowpocolypse and my wife and I were getting hit very hard by the cabin fever. We needed to get out. My wife wanted to buy some galoshes and a trip to Target was the consensus. Unfortunately Target had been raped clean of anything snow related. The mall was next on our list of  destinations. After finding the footwear my wife so desired it was time to fill our bellies. Since the weather was so bad we figured a nice tropical drink would be soothing to the soul and a margarita sounded just right. This brought us to El Chico cafe located in the Sooner Mall.
    We were sat in the back of the restaurant, somewhat between the restroom and the kitchen. My wife was complaining about a smell and in hindsight we probably should have moved tables right away. Our server was very knowledgable but he appeared like he would have rather been anywhere on earth except at El Chico waiting tables. For margaritas I ordered a 32 oz house margarita and my wife ordered a frozen strawberry margarita. They were good, but drinking frozen drinks when it is snowing outside probably was not the best idea. For dinner I ordered the chimi combo. It consisted of a steak & cheese chimichanga, a chicken tostada and a steak chalupa. The chimichanga was amazing with the melting cheese inside complimenting the steak superbly. The chalupa was ok and I did not have any room in my belly to finish the tostada. For $8.99 it was a good bargain.
     The ambiance of the restaurant could best be described as a scene out of the movie Waiting. Because we were sat near the kitchen we got a wonderful view of the staff interaction. The manager was clearly an a-hole and at one point the kitchen manager came out and started yelling out for a food runner. This came across as being very unprofessional considering we could clearly view and hear everything. I can't really blame the staff for hating life because it was snowing and business was very slow. All in all I would not recommend El Chico Cafe. It is a poor version of Chevy's or On the Boarder and I would suggest choosing one of those places instead.

My Rating: 5 out 10
$: 6-15
http://www.ElChico.com/