I gotta be honest and say that this chain had some really mediocre Mexican food; it used to annoy me that people in Ohio actually though that that was a good restaurant back in the early 90s when I was in school there.
BUT…looks like they could be on the way back!
I don’t think I ever ate at one that I can remember. Not sure I know anyone who ate at one either.
Ate at one after my sister’s wedding in Wichita. It’s as bland as Furr’s Cafeteria.
Edit: It was bland. Past tense, and soon-to-be present.
I would frequent the one on Westhiemer when in high school. With my friends. A fun date place. I would drive by and recognize it like a repurposed Pizza Hut. They just tore it down and now a sushi place is there. Fun memories. I had an undeveloped palate in high school so it was pretty good to me. Heck I thought los Tios was good.
I’d never seen one until we moved to the Kansas City suburbs. Our cousins, who live in the Rio Grande valley area, visited us one year and we went to ChiChi’s. They’d never heard of ChiChi’s restaurant before either…but they’d heard of “chichi’s” and thought it was hilarious that was the name.
(It’s Mexican slang for boobs)
Many years ago my parents and I went to the Chi Chis on Westheimer.
It was quite bad and closed.
Years later I saw it again in Cleveland, and sad as it is to say, up there, THAT was considered “good” Mexican food.
Grew up in West Virginia. I loved Chi-Chi’s!
I didn’t know what real Tex-Mex was yet, so I’m sure it would find it terrible now, but I still remember that what set them apart was tomatoes on their tacos…and FRIED ICE CREAM!!!
Delicious.
They might be able to “relaunch” in the Midwest or whatever, but there’s no way those recipes are going to carry a restaurant in Texas.
Even the mediocre chains we have now are way better than that stuff was.
Does Houston still have El Torito locations?
Probably not.
I’m bummed that they closed all of the Texas DelTaco locations. Liked them more than Taco Bell!
Del Taco, another place I used to frequent back in high school, there was one by our campus. Its a banh mi sandwich place now but the structure is the same.
You’re right, unless they’ve massively upgraded their menu, they can’t compete in Houston. Although Los Tios is still in business, so I guess nostalgia accounts for something.
Yea I was excited to eat Del Taco again when I lived in Tucson. Then it came back to Houston sometime in the years before the pandemic but didn’t last.
didnt they have fried ice cream?
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