Los Charros: Quincy, Illinois Mexican Food
Los Charros has been around Quincy for a while. It sits on South 16th Street, not far from the highway exit if you are coming through town. The place does not look like much from the outside. It is one of those strip-mall style buildings with a simple sign and a parking lot that gets pretty full at dinner. But the food is genuinely good, and that is why people drive in from the surrounding towns for it. The menu is pretty standard for a Mexican restaurant in the Midwest, but they execute it better than most places I have eaten. The enchiladas are a safe starting point. I usually get the chicken enchiladas with red sauce. The sauce has a real smoky heat to it, not the cloying sweetness you get at a lot of chain spots. It is not overly spicy unless you ask for hot sauce, which they do have on the tables. The burritos are large. I say that as both a compliment and a warning. I once ordered the beef burrito with the intention of splitting it. That was a mistake. It easily feeds two people if you are eating normally. I ended up throwing half in the fridge and eating the other half cold the next day. It was still good cold, which says something.
The tamales are worth trying if they have them that day. They rotate the flavors and sometimes they run out by 7 PM. I learned this the hard way on a Tuesday night when I drove fifteen minutes out of my way and they were sold out. The person at the counter apologized and told me they usually get a fresh batch in the morning. I came back the next day and the pork tamales were solid. Dense, well-seasoned masa with a good amount of meat inside. Nothing fancy, just properly made. One thing most people overlook is the quesadillas. The chicken quesadilla comes with a side of sour cream and guacamole that is actually decent. Not the watery kind you get everywhere. It tastes like they make it in house. I have seen a lot of places claim that and deliver something that looks like it came from a plastic tub.
What Makes It Worth the Drive
The prices are reasonable for what you get. A main course runs somewhere in the twelve to sixteen dollar range depending on what you order. Portions are generous enough that you can usually count on leftovers. The staff moves with a quiet efficiency. It is not slow service, but it is not rushed either. You sit down, you order, you eat, you leave. No drama. I would be honest about the limitations though. The atmosphere is nothing special. It is a casual family restaurant with plastic chairs and checkered tablecloths. If you are planning a date night or something where the setting matters, pick somewhere else. The food will still be good, but you will be eating in a space that feels more like a cafeteria than a restaurant. There are also limited seating options. On Friday and Saturday nights, I have waited twenty minutes for a table even though there was not a huge crowd. The turnover time seems long, maybe because people stay and talk, maybe because the kitchen just needs time between orders. Another issue is the hours. They close at nine PM on most nights. If you are someone who likes to eat late, you are going to be frustrated. I found out on a Sunday when I showed up at eight forty-five and the kitchen had already started winding down. The host said they could still take an order but it would be at least forty minutes. I left and grabbed something closer to home. Not worth the wait in that situation.
Get the Full Details
Payment options are fairly standard. They take cash and cards, but I have heard mixed things about their card machine. Sometimes it is slow to process, sometimes it works fine. Just have a backup method ready if you are in a hurry. One time my card got declined even though I had money in the account. Turned out the machine had glitched and was reading the transaction as pending but not approved. I paid cash and moved on. If you are in Quincy or passing through, Los Charros is a solid option for Mexican food. It is not trying to be anything it is not. It makes good food at fair prices with reasonable portions. That is more than I can say for a lot of places that try harder and deliver less. Go on a weeknight if you can. Avoid weekends if you want to skip the wait. And do not skip the quesadilla.
