[Newport Beach] [Mexican] Avila's El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant

Avila's El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant
2800 Newport Blvd
Newport Beach, CA 92663-3724
(949) 675-6855
http://www.avilaselranchito.net

We decided to take advantage of Newport Beach Restaurant Week and went out for lunch on Sunday.  After browsing the menus for all the participating restaurants, I found Avila's El Ranchito offering a 3 course Mexican lunch for only $10!  Sounds like a good deal to us!



The restaurant has a very small parking lot, but there were plenty of free street parking spaces.




The restaurant was full with a lot of people waiting for seats.  Luckily they had a two people table open so we got seated right away.  The tables are really close to each other.  It was difficult for people to get in and out of the seats, and we could hear everyone's conversation.  The entire restaurant was full with Caucasians.  It was probably the first restaurant we've been to for restaurant week that was not filled with Asian people.  haha....



They offer the same menu for lunch and dinner.  Lunch is for $10, and dinner is for $15.


Salsa & Chips

Lunch started with salsa and chips.  Their chips are really thin and crispy.  It wasn't oily at all.  I like their salsa, too.


Avila's Chicken Soup
Chicken breast and rice soup, garnished with avocado.

Our first course was Avila's Chicken Soup.  Big chunk of chicken breast, along with rice, onion, avocado, and cilantro.  This was a very good bowl of soup.  It tasted a lot like tortilla soup, but without the tortilla.  I love the fresh avocado in the soup.


Tomatillo Shrimp Enchilada
Topped with sour cream.  Served with a pico salad & black beans.

We shared our two entrees.  The first entree was Tomatilla Shrimp Enchilada.  All the entrees came with a side salad and black beans.  I like black beans a lot more than pinto beans.  It was very yummy.



There was only one shrimp enchilada on the plate, but it was a big one.  This enchilada has about 10 or 12 big whole shrimp inside.  We were really surprised at how much shrimp they gave us.  I was expecting little pieces of chopped shrimp in the enchilada.  The enchilada was very good because the shrimp tasted fresh and sweet.


Mazatlan Grilled Fish
Topped with Ortega salsa & warm tortillas.  Served with a pico salad & black beans.

Mazatlan Grilled Fish was huge!  The fish fillet was very soft and very tasty.  It rested on top of sauteed onion and green bell pepper.  On the menu it said that the dish comes with warm tortillas.  We didn't get any tortillas, but portion was so big that we couldn't even finish the dish.


Churros
Strawberry filled.

Dessert was Churros.  I love the smell of churros.  It always reminds me of amusement park.



This is not your typical churro.  Those are strawberry jam filled churro.  Double yum!



Food was great.  Service was fast and friendly.  And their waitresses are all young and hot girls in tank top and short shorts.  There was a husband and wife sitting next to us.  The husband ended up tipping the waitress $8 on a $20 bill.  The wife was maaaaad!  haha....  For only $10, it was such a good deal!  Couple more days left for Newport Beach Restaurant Week if you want to try this Mexican restaurant!

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