Mi Rancho The Woodlands/Gosling

This new, custom built Mi Rancho location is now open in our neighborhood. The official name is Mi Rancho--Woodlands, but it's a bit south of there bordering the Northampton neighborhood.

For an appetizer we got the corn ribs, a new item since the last time we've been to a Mi Rancho. These are absolutely amazing, a must try if you like corn at all. They take an ear of corn and split it four ways so the corn is still on the cob. It's then fried and dipped in butter sauce and garnished with Cotija cheese, and served with tajin mayo. I ate way too many. I also ate too many chips with the salsa, which is served warm. I think it's now one of the better salsas around, nice big chunks of onion and tomato.

For our entrees we got the chile relleno with beef fajita meat and the El Valiente combo plate with chicken. The El Valiente is a stuffed and fried avocado and a cheese enchilada. The avocado was great--the coating was crisp and tasty, adding a nice texture to the creamy avocado, cheese and chicken inside. The chile relleno was very good--the fajita meat was flavorful and tender. The green bell pepper was a bit firm, didn't cut with my fork too well, but was very tasty. The rice was also very good, nice flavor. Beans were fine.

I chased my food with a jamaica agua fresca. Theirs is nice and strong. The server brought an extra glass of ice so I could cut it, which was very helpful. We wanted to get the tres leches cake for dessert, but they unfortunately were out so we ended up passing on dessert.

Our server was friendly and fun. Our drink server deserves special mention. She was very attentive and observant. We were next to a baby at the stage where they throw things on the floor, including a china plate. She was on it very quickly with a cleanup team.

The setting is very attractive. Bright, appetizing colors and high ceilings set the mood. It's less noisy than their Spring location, still pretty loud on a busy evening but overall very nice. The bathrooms were clean and ready, one soap dispenser was out but not bad for a very busy evening. 

My Yelp Review