El Charrito - Wickliffe Mexican

It is with some regret that I write this review of El Charrito Mexican Restaurant. El Charrito has been around for quite a long time and while never my favorite Mexican restaurant it has been a place I could count on to get good food when I was in the area. Now I am not so sure. Located in a small rather nondescript building at 30560 Euclid Avenue in Wickliffe, Ohio, El Charrito has a small parking lot infront that at times could offer a challenge to find a place to park. Once through the doors you find a small but friendly restaurant. A little bit dark, but in a comforting way, the dining room is clean and tight. The menu contains most of the usual items, but the chips and salsa give you a clue right from the start that things are a little different here. The chips are a white corn chip with a spice dusting, lighter and a bit more flavorful then the chips at most places. The salsa is a very mild red sauce with some flavor and crunch from the celery pieces in it. Although very mild, it is good if a little different then most Mexican Restaurants. El Charrito has updated its menu since the last time I was there and prices have gone up, still not too expensive, but more then I remember. There were also Leten seafood specials and here is where I made a real mistake. I was going to go with the fish tacos, until I found out that the fish was the same fried fish in the all you can eat fish fry; so I decided to go with the fish fry. They happily substitued rice and beans for the fries and coleslaw and I figured it was worth trying; I was wrong. The fish was a mild white fish which they were batter dipping and frying; points for using fresh fish and preparing it in house, unfortunately the batter was coming out a bit heavy and seemed overcooked, with a dark brown color and extra crisp exterior. While not bad, if you cann't get the fish right you need to take it off the menu. If it was just the fish I might have put this up to just an off night or a bad choice, but I found the refried beans and spanish rice to be bland and flavorless. About the only thing that I got that was flavorful and spicey was the side of the red hot sauce to put on the meal; this was nicely chuncky, fresh and just the right amount of heat, if only the rest of the food could have been somewhere close to this. It seems that El Charrito is not doing well, I was there early on a Friday night and the small place was only sparcely filled when I left after 7:00pm. Service was ok, although the one waitress seemed a bit behind, despite the low number of customers. It seems that El Charrito may have lost its way a bit. They need to concentrate on making the food better and more flavorful. Here's hoping they realize the problem and can address it.