One of my favorite Mexican food places! Prices are low. Food is good. Service always great!

Family favorite since they were Plato Loco. My youngest doesn't eat meat but they were always happy to accommodate her and fix her something meatless.

To my husband and l this is the best and only place to eat really great Mexican food. The staff is a blessing and we love the owners like they are family. That also goes with the staff waiters. If you are good and hungry want a plesent and wonderfully meal then go to don chanos, in Alvarado Texas, 76009. You truly will not forget how good a meal can be.

The girls were overwhelmed with the customers. They needed at least one more worker to help clean and wait tables. The food was great.

Our neighbor Vicki Burk is employed in the restaurant, invited us to try out what their restaurant offers. Came to be, it was very outstanding meal and service. We will stop by in the near future. Thanks for the best service and meal.

Eat here a couple times a week. Excellent small town Mexican joint. Grilled Chicken is great. Wait staff can get overloaded during large rushes but overall a great little place

Best green salsa I’ve ever had. Street tacos are amazing!!!

You want really good food to eat go and try them' you will keep going back. I know the owners personally. Your not happy' there not happy. They work the resturant, and make sure your a happy customer.

Very good Tex-mex food. Good service and decent prices. The combo fajitas are a favorite of mine. We order large orders regularly for lunch at work and have been for years.

Delicious! The chili con carne is fantastic. Great prices and everyone is friendly. Such big portions!!

Just this for the first time and blown away! There tamales 🫔 are amazing so good. Not enough words for them and had the soup and the wonderful. Glad they are only 2 miles away from my home.

Excellent food, service, and prices! My first time to go and I can't say one thing bad about this place. I will go back!

Great Mexican food place!! The owner she is fantastic and humble. Her daughter is really good too, It’s a small restaurant, but they work hard the food is very good and they give good service. The owner does her best to go everything with excellence!!! They have a lot of regular’s and I am one of them!

I had the chicken fajitas and asked for the mixed veges instead of rice and beans... it was wonderful!! So much food that I brought enough home for a couple of more meals. Husband had the Guiso Ranchero and said the meat was very tender and tasty. Waitresses were very nice and efficient too. Good food for a great price.

Been coming here for decades. Good Tex Mex food at good prices.

We were having vehicular technical difficulties on the eve of my 40th birthday, and the closest safe, well lit stopping place was in the Don Chano parking lot. It was cold and wet and we were preparing for the worst. 5 minutes before they closed, we decided to go in and get some food Togo. The place was completely empty and they were almost done cleaning for the night, but the 2 ladies working not only greeted us happily, but also let us charge our phones and use the restroom. As a restaurant manager, I can tell you that servers are not always a birthday greeting late-comers: I wish I remember their names, because these two ladies were exemplary. We will definitely visit again when we are in the area. Oh I almost forgot to mention, the portions were awesome and the food was great!

We are obsessed with Don Chanos! It's our weekly dinner date. I recommend the fajitas. Good value and plenty of food for the price!

I’ve been here 3 different times. Each experience was very good. Delicious food!! Good chips and salsa Great price. Friendly staff. I recommend Don Chano for any time of day😋

Went here for a Sunday lunch with my girlfriend, her sister and her mom. Wonderful food and it didn't break the bank. The 4 of us at for $36. And they still have free margaritas. You can't beat that. Earlier posts mentioned "slow and/or poor service". I did NOT see that on this visit. Keep it up Don Chanos and I'll keep coming back.

Good stuff. I get the Shrimp Fajitas every time. Very flavorful. Tails are on, would rather tails be off because I am a lazy eater. But the flavor is great. Definitely recommend.

Great customer service! The food is always made fresh to order and affordably priced. This is a family owned and operated restaurant and they treat their customers as family.

Fantastic food and wonderful service. We were waited on immediately. Waitress was very friendly. Recently moved here and this will be the only mexican restaurant we will be eating at. Can't wait to go back and try something new.

Great hometown favorite that hits the authentic Mexican food craving every time. How can food this delicious, this fresh, be so reasonably priced? Our entire family of 5 enjoys a dinner here with margaritas for less than $40!

Lovely cafe, lovely people, and delicious food. First day we had gorditas and had enough for the next day. Second day Jim had fajita tacos he loved and I had a bowl of pozole. It was enough to feed a family of four. Our last day we had taquitas and flautas and still were so full we didn’t need supper. Just delicious.

Had so much to offer for the price compared to Taco Torres! Rude rude rude people from that place especially the lady who was just wanting to talk about me whenever I was just right in front of her over a Caldo and crackers that she said she would have to charge me for a few crackers! I would have had to pay for a few cracker packages according to their policy...I love u guys at Don Chano! U have a forever more customer and my family will always come to u guys!🫶🥰🩷🙏🏻

The "Jose Plate" is a must... I order this every time I'm there or at work for pick up. It is so tasty

Great food, lots of options and real good salsa!

Omg..this is the place to go and enjoy great food with awesome service and atmosphere. Jenny our server, great service, with a beautiful smile.

Always great service, the food is good. I love the chimichanga and Chile relleno and my daughter just pigs out of the queso and guacamole. They give you quite a bit of guacamole for the large serving at a very reasonable price.

This is one of my favorite restaurants! The food is excellent, the staff is amazing, and the prices are great! I try to go here as often as I can. I do not hesitate to recommend this place to anyone.

Excellent service, and the food was wonderful. Thank you, From a very satisfied customer!

Probably the best portions of food for the money you will find in Johnson County. Excellent salsa, and friendly service

Johnny Karate

Great food @ good prices! Chicken tortilla soup is delicious

Eliza Ibarra

The service was great and the food came out fast and it was delicious. They had a steady flow of customers and I can see why. I will definitely be back when I'm in the area again.

+1

Edgar Buckley

It was very good. I met my friend here for lunch. We both liked it and we will be back

Patricia DeHart

I eat there often & it’s exactly the same Everytime! Delicious! The ladies that take ur order are great & it’s ready in no time! I love spinach enchiladas w/sour cream! The whole place is awesome! Can’t go wrong eating here or taking to go!

Kerry Thall

The tortilla soup was delicious! They weren’t stingy with the chicken, the veggies, the cheese! Oh my! Wish I had them close to me!

Nora Jean Boulware

What a fantastic small family run Mexican restaurant this is. The entire staff are friendly and helpful! All the food was fresh and delicious. The next time we come near Alvarado, Texas, we will go out of our way to eat here again!!!! Thanks so much, Don Chano.

Amy Knight

Our server was pleasant and is a people person, meaning she can jump in a conversation and blend in. She has a good sense of humor.

Ashley Speaker

It may look like a hole in the wall Mexican food joint in a strip center in a small town, but Don Chano's is an Alvarado institution. Originally Plato Loco, but closed and reopened under different management, the menu is pretty much the same and the food is too. Yeah, it's not the prettiest place, and they're often super busy and short handed. But I just love the food. Their enchiladas are some of my favorites, and the fajitas are the BEST - VERY delicious. Their salsa and queso are great. I love the #9 - a soft cheese taco (queso), a cheese enchilada (chili), crunchy taco, and rice and beans. A little bit of everything. The Nachos Supreme are another favorite! It's your classic Tex-Mex fare, nothing fancy, but I kinda think that's what I love about it so much, its simplicity. The food really hasn't changed much in the decade or so since I first ate there, and I'm actually pleasantly pleased by that. If I'm craving Mexican food, it's definitely where I am going (or calling in an order to bring home).

Jacob Shaw

Best Mexican food in ALVARADO. Been a long time since I came here and I was glad to know they are still the best. Food is good and still cheap. Free beer with your meal. We will definitely be back.

+1

Thomas Moore

I love this place the food is wonderful and there are chips of Plenty to go along with it. This is chile relleno and flautas. Went again. And so good!

Maritza Rincon

The food was great and the service was good! Fajitas are our new thing! The more you get the cheaper it is! Bring a friend, bring the family or bring a party! You won't regret it!🍤🥩🍗🍖🥑🥬🍅🍽️🥤

I ordered 2 meals, One of my orders was wrong. But despite that, the food was absolutely delicious!! Food prices were 42aso able.. I will check my order next time.

Great food at good prices. They are friendly and pretty quick. The shop I work at buy lunch from them every Saturday, at the very least rice, beans, tortillas and toriadas. Can't feed a shop full of Hispanic guys with out rice and beans. The hot sauce is good and there is always plenty of food.

Not a lot to eat in Alvarado, but this place is good for a quick cheap lunch. Service is always good, too.

Don Chanos was very good. They have a rather extensive menu and prices are extremely reasonable. They bring chips and a large "jug" of salsa so you can manage your own little bowl. Everyone at the table gets their own bowl. Food was great, portion size was normal size. Food came out very fast after ordering. Staff was very attentive and friendly. Definitely will stop again next time thru Alvarado.

Inside was very humble. I was a little hesitant because there were no other customers in the place. Service was a tad slow, but the food was great, and the prices were quite reasonable. Disappointed they didn't serve frozen margaritas. I would definitely go there again.

First off, you can tell a lot about a Mexican restaurant by the salsa they serve. The salsa here left a lot to be desired lacking cilantro and flavor was very tomato flavored and bland. The food was surprisingly very tasty. Fajitas Monterrey were awesome and were enough to feed two people and for a special price of $7. My wife ordered the Pozole and it was so flavorful and authentic. Definitely worth the trip. All in all it was a good experience. Worth checking out of you haven't already

The pork chop special is so good. Comes with rice, charro beans, potatoes, poblanos, jalapenos tomatoes, onions, cheese, sm salad, two thin yummy pork chops.

Food was decent, service definitely wasn't the best. We'll go back and try it again.

This place is a nice little hole in the wall. The chicken enchiladas were good along with the rice and beans. Don't let the appearance fool you. I wouldn't take my first date here.... but maybe the 3rd. 😀

The food is good, atmosphere is calming and family oriented. I take my son who has autism and he feels comfortable everytime. The fajitas, quesadillas, tacos, the rice is always soft. I recommend

Food was great and the service good during lunch hour. Definitely a repeat.

W B

This was our first time at Don Chanos, and we decided to give this little place a try — it didn’t disappoint. I ordered the #9 combination plate with a cheese enchilada with chili, a soft cheese taco, a crispy beef taco, rice, and beans. Everything was really good, flavorful, and very filling. The salsa had a nice little kick, too. The prices were very reasonable (my plate was under $10), the service was quick, and we didn’t have to wait long for our food. We really enjoyed it and will definitely be back.

Jonathan Bartlow

Decent food. Good service. Great prices.

+1

Kenny Melton

Sour cream enchiladas were ok. Just sour cream on top. #1 combo plate was all pretty good. Chops and salsa are really good and spicy. Good prices.

merry kirkland

Don Chanos has been in Alvarado a long time and the food and service are still really good. I am sure Football Friday nights are still really busy. Love that we get our own mini pitcher of salsa. Booths and chairs need some updating but the food and service are worth the visit.

bonita knappenberger

My Son who lives in Alvarado invited me to come visit at his place. He has a favorite Mexican place he always enjoys. He was right for sure! The place had the aroma of home made food! The chips and salsa were very tasty! My cheese enchilada with chili sauce, along with my favorite, acheese taco were delicious I also had a crispy beef taco which I really enjoyed. It came with refried beans and rice. They were average,nothing to spectacular. The prices were astoundingly very inexpensive! I could not believe it compared to all the other Mexican restaurants I've been to! I definitely recommend Don Chano's for the food, and the prices!

It was good and they have a variety but the wait staff seemed overwhelmed. We had a large party and she clearly was stressed. The management should’ve got her help because every time you asked her a question about the menu she seemed irritated.

It's okay. Not great but not bad. The beans and rice were good.

We’re to begin they have some good food. The menudo is the bomb the only bad thing is that they don’t open Sunday no more and they open late I mean 11 to me is late especially if I call and menudo not even ready I’m an early bird and we like to eat early they need to change the opening hour and make menudo early. Trust me I don’t want to eat menudo till 1. Until they make some changes I won’t be coming back here.

If your doctor has suggested you reduce your sodium intake and you are tired of cooking at home, this place is safe for you. If you are, perhaps, from Wisconsin or, say, from England and abhor flavorful, colorful sustenance, you will find your kitchen away from home here. If you prefer sweet salsa, they have that here - the only thing that wasn't bland. Maybe they ran out of salt and spices? The menus are in dire need of cleaning.

It's ok if you just want basic plain Mexican food no seasoning. The chips and hot sauce are good. If you want pico, guacamole, sour cream or anything on the side is extra, it doesn't come with many of the meals. They do offer the special for the day. The prices in my opinion aren't worth what your getting. Atmosphere is good and staff is nice.

Randy Gonzales

Food was okay,server was good but the salsa was tomato sauce and the chips were cold. Don't mean to be rude but way too many items to pick from,my wife had to study the menu for a minute.

marianne greenwood

This Mexican restaurant has authentic food. Local restaurant with many appealing options. The food was good. Service was fine also..

+1

Food was plain. Menudo had no flavor and was very very chewy. Saving grace was the chicken quesadilla. Only thing we ate that had some good flavor to it

Very bland flavors. We tried the sour cream chicken enchiladas, cheese enchiladas with Chile con carne, steak quesadilla, and the chips and Queso. Everything was very bland and lacking flavor. We had to add our own seasonings and hot sauce. The one thing I did like were the charro beans! The lady who took our order was very nice!

It was good the times we came... but the last time we came there was a COCKROACH LEG in our chips.

Don Chanos is a great place to order....if you dont mind them messing it all up. Last 2 visits, they shorted me on tacos. This last visit, they shorted me a whole platter. Hard to understand how you can do two things, take orders and make orders...but can't even get that right. Wont be ordering or dining there again

The food was pretty decent, but the main reason for the low rating was how slooooow the service was the last two times that I've went. It's understandable when there's a huge crowd of people and the servers are trying to get to everyone at once, and may take more time to get to a table because of it. It's a different situation when it's like it was tonight when it's a decent crowd, not too busy, and the waitress that served us took forever to come back to our table and order our drinks, About 12 minutes to get our order afterwards, wait 15-20 minutes to come check on us after our meal was served for refills on drinks and chips, and wait 20-30 minutes of bringing us the check after having to ask for the check 15 minutes into waiting after we finished eating dinner. Bottom line, I do not recommend this restaurant simply for the super slooow service. What's worse is the servers didn't seem in any kind of rush to take our order and were content making us waiting 20+ minutes to come by with the check after already waiting 15-20 minutes to ask for said check

I ordered 2 orders of fajitas and one order had enough for one taco. Both orders were the same, only enough meat for one tortilla. Not going to go back honestly. They did offer to give me some more meat when I called but I didn’t feel like going back up there I have work early. Queso wasn’t good either. That’s what I get for tipping on take out food and not checking it cause I was in a hurry.

The beef tasted like it was boiled in water. They were out of a lot of items on their menu which is disappointing. The rice was fair, not even good. If ur looking for good Mexican food I wouldn't suggest here. I was expecting better bc the reviews

I really like their fajitas but I think that's the only thing on the menu that is actually great. Their customer service is amazing and the atmosphere is about what you would expect from a small town tex mex(ish) establishment. It's really popular in town though so maybe it's just me.

Went there on Friday and the staff was friendly BUT, I asked for cheese tacos and asked 3x if they came with cheese on top and she said yes, well she gave me cheese ench. w/ chili. My friend asked for some signature enchilada plate with chicken and his plate came out with enchiladas stuffed with potatoes. ????? Do not recommend.

food was not good, the cheese bad nachos ,soggy , drink taste like water never come here i would NOT recommend.

You seat yourself here.. been here many times .. so I found a seat and the owner lady asked if I wanted to-go?????... I was confused and asked for a seat that had a plug to charge my phone.. she showed me unreachable plugs on the wall...and asked me again if I wanted to-go... I looked at her weird and said no ..she looked at me and repeated no??... I said no again .. she had menus in her hand and walked away...no menu no drink!!!!...really???? Took the table that came in after me..seriously??... I sat there and sat there...she got another waitress and said that's your table .. that waitress came over and said what's wrong .. I looked at her funny and said nothing... She took my drink order gave me a menu... I ordered menudo it was good as usual not greasy very tender... The waitress I got was perfect and kind... The owner could learn a few things from her.. take some notes on how to treat people.. .

Service was so slow. We had to go find our waitress for napkins and silverware, had to find her again for water, again for to go container, again to pay and then she left the card laying there and we had to get the other waitress to check us out. They were not that busy. Several tables came in and ate and left. We just sat there waiting. The table next to us was dirty when we arrived and still was dirty when we left. The food was not what I remembered from several years ago, must be new owner. I won't be back!

I ordered shrimp cocktail, it had baby shrimps and the avocado was so hard you could even eat it, the service was not so good. The only thing that was good was the free margarita.

Service was not good. Staff was nice but very very slow. Waited almost 20 minutes for someone to talk to us, took almost 10 minutes just to get drinks took almost 35 minutes to take our order and get our food. The “steak” was a big chunk of fajita meat and it was cold and not seasoned. Rice was way undercooked. Waitress didn’t bring the check after almost 30 minutes of waiting. We had to chase her down to pay. Overall not a very good experience. Would not eat here again!!

Use to be a great place to eat. The service is absolutely horrible. If you want napkins, silverware, or a second glass of tea you have to get it yourself. They constantly mess up your order without trying to fix it. And the food has gotten to the point of less than acceptable. A shame i have been a good customer for many years bringing my employees for lunch and many family members for lunch and dinner. I doubt very seriously i will ever go back.

My food was not any good. It was cold and the young girl who took my order was not listening. I told her no beans extra rice 2x. And I still got beans. Won't be going back.

Was not impressed at all. The salsa tastes like it was made from canned tomato sauce. i made it better by adding onion, cilantro and diced jalapenos meant for my caldo de res. The caldo wasnt good either. the meat was really rubbery and chewy and the broth was very bland. lastly, the staff. seemed only interested in visiting with their friends in the restaurant. they were helpful, but not friendly. It was a very disappointing experience.

Horrible service! We waited 10 minutes for anyone to talk to us, another 10 for drinks, then chips were empty until after our food was brought. We got our food in a decent time, then had no silverware. No plates ever cleared from the table, here over an hour and we are still waiting for a check. Short staffed maybe, just speak to us and apologize, saying nothing and running off, does not make us want to come back. Its like he was mad that we were here. Worst experience at a restaurant in a long time.

I dont know what everyone is ordering to leave the review that anything is authentic. I had the taco plate, it was super flavorless the salsa was also not worth mentioning. But hey the lunch special is only $5.25 also came with 2 free beers you get what you pay for. The place was super clean and the waitress was excellent.

The pork in the is extremely dry hard and unedible and there are so much in it ... Taste like dry overcooked lean pork chops .. The pork chop special is also very dry and hard... I asked for no peppers in the special and they're all over $36 later and I still don't have anything edible

Unfortunately every time I have came here I have waited and waited for someone to even notice that I'm there. Most of the time I come in they are very slow maybe 1 person sometimes none eating there. I can clearly hear them in the back talking and laughing but the music is so loud they never even know you're there. I just walked out today after sitting there for 15 minutes. The last time I came in I literally walked to the back kitchen to let them know they had a customer. Good food but very poor service.

chicken Fajita Nachos ??? I would have done better at Taco Bell for 8 bux ! try cubed chicken with refried beans and cheddar cheese ! unbelievable !

Cicely McFatridge

The children's food was still cold ans or frozen in the middle. The service was terrible. We will not be back. It used to be good food saddly its gone down hill

Elaine Goodson

Food was ok. Our waitress disappeared the last 15 minutes we were there and we had to have another one help us to pay because she was no where to be found. Worst part was watching 2 of their servers grab chips out of the bin with their bare hands to bring to the new tables. My husband called the 2nd one out and she just said ... And....right after she took our cash to pay the bill. Never again.