Avila's El Ranchito
$$ • Mexican Restaurant
Most Recent Reviews
They have a gluten free menu. Chicken & carnitas are gluten free. They also have a few enchiladas that are gluten free. I brought my own chips. They do NOT have a dedicated fryer.
Definitely not celiac friendly. Unless you can handle salads there’s truly nothing they’re everything‘s in a mixed fryer. They put flour in sauces and flour cross-contamination all over the kitchen. It’s a beautiful beautiful interior place together but I don’t think I’ll ever go there again. The chips are in a mixed fryer. There’s no accommodation for changes. It was just +20$ for a couple corn tortillas and some very dry stringy chicken breast. I’m also allergic to raw onion and they only use pico so there’s no way to get tomatoes and cilantro separately. Truly, if you’re in orange call around the corner to Wahoos and pray that Taco Adobe opens soon again in old town orange
I got really excited to eat here based on the other reviews, but something must have changed since they went. The chips are no longer in a dedicated fryer and I did not feel reassured by my waiter that my food would be safe. I ended up cancelling my order and leaving because it just felt like too many red flags.
I hope in the future they can have a dedicated fryer and be willing to reserve/clean space for their gluten free menu dishes again.
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More Reviews
We ate here tonight and it was awesome! We asked if they had a gf menu and the waiter got the manager and she came out with the menu and to answer any questions we had. The food was prepared on the same equipment as their other food, but the cleaned, sanitized, and cooked the gf meal separately. They were all very knowledgeable about what we could have and what we couldn’t. The chips were made in a dedicated fryer as well. Plus the food is out of this world. We will definitely come back and we recommend it highly.
I had a great experience here. They have a separate GF menu, and the server assured me that the cooks would take precautions against cross contamination (which they must have done, as I did not get sick at all). The chips are fried in a dedicated fryer, too!
I have Celiac and I'm proud to report no cross contamination/food safe meal! Which is Rare!!! I had the guacamole, chips and salsa, and the shrimp entree dish with butter garlic sauce and corn tortillas. Food was hot and yummy. I'll definitely be coming back.
Reviews of this Chain
Asked for something GF and they assured us the carnitas, rice & beans are all GF. Didn’t eat the chips (not dedicated fryer) or the tortillas, and still got extremely sick.
We’ve been to this restaurant several times over the last few years with lots of friends. This was by far the worst experience ever. I’m GF and allergic to tomatoes, they have a GF menu. I communicated my allergies with the waitress and asked her to mark the ticket and to let the kitchen know. My plate came out with tomatoes in the meat, said it was cooked together, but she did not tell me this when I ordered despite telling her I was allergic to tomatoes. So, they offered a new plate, the only meat not cooked with tomatoes is carnitas, so I asked for the carnitas plate. Delivered a single taco with carnitas, not the carnitas plate, which had tomato in the taco!!!!
Uggg! They DO NOT take allergies seriously. Very frustrating.
Our experience here was so good we went back for a second night in a row. The food is very fresh, well-prepared, and flavorful. We never had any sign of having been glutened.
The first night we both had asada plate and the meat was good quality and cooked perfectly. The second night I had the shrimp botana platter and Oh My Gosh was it amazing!! The wood fire grilled shrimp was to die for, and the fresh avocado and tomato with it was super yummy!
My husband also loved their California Cadillac margarita and I had a virgin blended lime margarita both nights and it was excellent. Definitely recommend!!
Some of the tacos default to flour tortillas so be careful. I mistakenly saw corn on the menu for most of the tacos and ended up accidentally eating a flour tortilla. I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant due to safety issues and cross contamination
Corn chips but they are fried in the same fryer as flour.
Mexican fried rice is also cross contaiminated.
I ordered the carnitas which had to substitute the rice for salad or vegetables.
There is a separate menu online of GF options marked.
Food as a whole was "okay." Meat was try, the salsa and avocado was flavorless.
