El Charro

Best authentic Mexican food in Wausau. Family owed and run. Good food, good selection of specials, good service. This is our «go to» in the area.

After reading all of the reviews we were excited to stop and eat here. Unfortunately we were less than overwhelmed. The food was decent, but nothing extraordinary. I wouldn’t compare it to «authentic» mexican as it really is the same as many Mexican resturants in the Midwest. Staff was friendly, service decent, resturant was clean, drinks were good, food mediocre. Chips appeared package quality. Salsa was decent, but not mind blowing. We love hot, so we asked for «hot» salsa, which had a nice kick, but the taste was bad. We we’re really hopeful, but left disappointed.

Fantastic! My boyfriend and I are huge Mexican food fanatics, and we both agree, hands down, the food is flavored with a passion from someone who enjoys cooking, and loved the flavored of Mexico! Delicious! Always! We will be back! (Ps. Margaritas are the best in town)

I agree with everyone about the salsa-​good!
Entrée and Margareta were very good. Great service. Will tell all my coworkers when in town come here!

We love this place, food is always fresh and yummy! My husband grew up eating Mexican food in the Los Angeles area, he feels this is best Mexican food he’s had in years. We highly recommend El Charro!

Great chips and salsa! We stopped on our drive up to Door county for a quick bite. Not too far off the highway, in a small strip mall; very clean and friendly! Definitely will stop here again!

Extremely good Mexican food. I’ve been in Wisconsin for a few days and was doubting that I was going to find good Mexican like we have in Georgia. I tried the El Pastor tacos and they were AMAZING. Do yourself a favor — if you’re in the mood for Mexican, give this place a try. You won’t be disappointed!

We are transplanted from Phoenix, where there is a good Mexican restaurant on every corner (and bad ones, too) The first sign of a quality Mexican restaurant is the salsa and chips. El Charro’s salsa is one of the best I have ever had. A nice balance between spicy and cilantro. The entrees were equally as excellent! We did carry out but I even called the restaurant back to tell them how wonderful the food was. I run a business and will use El Charro’s as a preferred eatery to get lunch for lunch meetings.

I had the steak fajita and mango margarita. It was excellent! This was my first time here and the service was great! Salsa and the side dishes were great as well. I would definitely come back!

Wow!!! I haven’t given a five star review in a long time. Over the years I’ve become more particular when writing reviews. I travel and eat on the road a lot and I’m partial to Mexican food and I have to say this place really impressed me. Starting with the full and deep flavored salsa. They should be selling it at the stores to the masses. I followed that with enchiladas suizas with steak filling «not on the menus» but my favorite. It was one of the best plates I have ever tried. I can’t believe this place is not packed though it is a Tuesday evening. Seriously worth trying. I will definitely be back if I’m in the area.

Yes the name has changed to El Charro! The absolute best Mexican Restaurant in the Wausau area! Waiting staff is attentive and knowledgeable about the food items. Everything that I have ever eaten here has been delicious, and served hot. Chips and salsa (made fresh) is addictive! I love this place! Also the margaritas are delish!

I tried this place under the recommendation of a friend. First off, it is now called El Charro. The service was very fast and friendly.
The salsa is a picante style salsa, made in house with a medium-​hot spice. One of the best restaurant salsas I’ve ever eaten.
I often judge a Mexican restaurant by my favorite dish, chile rellenos, and it was to die for here. A larger than average poblano pepper with a mild red sauce over the top. The breeding was crunchy and not greasy.
Included with the dish was a beef chimichanga. Had this part of the dish had a little more flavor I would have given 5 stars as it is my only complaint. Left full with extras for another meal.

The food was good and fresh, it came out fast.
The service was slow because the only waiter was overwhelmed seating customers, bartending, taking and serving orders. Perhaps he did not expect so much business on the Sunday before Memorial Day.
I ordered a bean chimichanga, but received a bean burrito, regardless — it was good and I did not point out the error.

Just a heads up: This is no longer Hector’s restaurant. The new name is El Charro. The waitress said it was the same cook and that nothing has changed. I had my usual 2 taco lunch and the food was excellent. The plates so hot you couldn’t touch them. Hubby had the Playo Mexicano and he enjoyed every bite. This is still the one of the best places for good food and service.

Finally. A lovely and delicious chile relleno! The tacos, enchiladas are all quite nice as well, but I was craving chile relleno — a good one — and this one did not disappoint. The guacamole and beans and rice are top notch as well.
The reviews are truly spot on for this lovely little place! We had an excellent time meal here and I can’t wait to go back. The food was piping hot and delicious. Service was quick and sweet. The menu is quite extensive — we really need to get our rears in gear and head back over and enjoy more at Hector’s.

Having already had a bad expirence at what Wisconsin considers «good Mexican» food, I was leary when I walked into Hectors. As soon as I smelled the inside I started getting hopeful. I got the #8 fast lunch special, one enchilada, one taco and rice (it comes with beans too but I dont like beans so they left it off) The taco shell was obviously fresh made and perfectly crunchy, the beef was not greesey and had wonderful flavorings. The Cheese sauce we got for our warm chips was flavored and chuncky, unlike the last place that was plain melted cheese. The salsa had veggies in it, and didnt look like «old el paso» I am so happy to have found this tiny little hole in the wall that actually tastes like mexican food. I cant wait to go back and eat there again!

I’ve eaten at a thousand mexican restaurants — most in the us but many in mexico too. Hector has it going on.
Chips come out warm which I don’t understand why everyone does not do this.
The red salsa is great — smooth and not chunky. Serrano’s not jalapeño’s like it is supposed to be.
The salsa Verde was good too. I asked for this to get a taste.
The plate was quite warm although it can never be too hot.
The beans were very good. The rice was perfect.
I had a cheese enchilada was good.
I asked if they could do a hard shell flour taco. Hector said they don’t do that. So I opted for the hard shell corn taco. I know hard shell tacos are so gringo, but I can’t resist.
Well Hector made me a hard shell flour taco. If you’ve never had one, you are missing out on one of the best things in life. I don’t understand why more restaurants don’t do this. I suggested he make this a special for a while and charge a bit more since I think it would fly.
I’m not a big dessert guy but I tried the flan. It was quite good. Not as sweet as a crème brûlée but close.
Hector also has another location that is more of a bar I think, but I’ve not been there yet.
And plus, Hector is a nice guy.
Clean and nicely decorated. A good place to take the family too.

I’m a garlic lover. So when my wife and I tried out Hector’s this evening I look for dishes with garlic. Since mojo de ajo means sauce of garlic I zeroed in on dishes with mojo de ajo in the name.
I chose camarones mojo de ajo. It was spiced just perfectly and the sauce had many pieces of garlic. Their black beans are very good. Their Mexican rice is fluffy and quite tasty.
I tried my wife’s shrimp tacos. Very good to excellent.
A couple of Unilocalers mentioned that their salsa is very good.
In so many Mexican restaurants the décor can be over the top. That was not the case with Hector’s.
I definitely will go back again. Trying something without garlic will be difficult but their menu is very extensive.
Our bill was about $ 31.

I was open to this Mexican restaurant as it was listed on Unilocal as Vegetarian. When we arrived I was hopefully as the menu had a Vege-​Mex section. When I ordered Hector let me know they were out of black beans and the beans that I ordered did have bacon in them.
Hopefully, my bad vegetarian experience is limited as the food seemed good other than this. The chips felt like they were out of a bag and but the salsa made up for that. The plates are typical Tex-​Mex, filled to the brim with oozing & melted cheese to over everything, style. I’d rather trade some of the quantity for a bit more quality or authenticity.

Good value. Great service. Complimentary salsa was awesome! Adequate vegetarian options. Ambience was fine, but could use some updates. Mixed reviews on food, but the price was right. Will definitely come back!