If You Don’t Think Matt’s El Rancho Is The No. 1 Mexican Food Restaurant In Austin You Either Have An Unsophisticated Palate Or You’re Just An Idiot

Austin’s Top 5 Mexican Food Restaurants:

1. Matt’s El Rancho
2. Polvos
3. Fonda San Miguel
4. Maudies
5. Taco Flats

— HouseOfTakes (@HouseOfTakes) January 22, 2020

Yesterday, I put out my list of the Top 5 Mexican Food Restaurants in Austin. I absolutely nailed it too. Just an incredibly accurate list.

Although full disclosure, I did waver for quite some time as to whether to go with Taco Flats or El Chile for the No. 5 spot. But the decision was made and I stand by it. I did however fully expect to receive some backlash for putting Taco Flats in the top 5 being that it is a fairly new spot.

What I did not expect though was the slander Matt’s El Rancho would receive:

Dude, I can take you to a gas station in Laredo that has better food than mattes El rancho

— Michael Blake (@mblake1224) January 22, 2020

I agree, I never understood the hype. Ate there once, never went back. Too many better choices.

— *Not today* (@AustinResists) January 22, 2020

Matt's El rancho is the Salt Lick of Mexican food. Cool/fun place to take people that are from out of town and don't know or care enough about authentic food to know the difference

— Nate Hitchcock (@ThatNateHitch) January 22, 2020

Matt's isn't what it used to be. Y'all need to step a little right outside of Austin and try Dos Salsas or Jardin Corona

— Carlos Alemán (@ThatDudeCLos) January 22, 2020

I was disappointed in the "genericness" of Matt's. Maybe my expectations were too high.

— undergroundunlimited (@undergroundunl1) January 22, 2020

El Alma is better than Matt’s don’t @ me

— Man Up (@ManUpForLSU) January 22, 2020

1. Yuck
2. yuck
3. Yuck
4. Yuck
5. Yuck

Tex-Mex is garbage

— Stevo (@St3v0_24) January 22, 2020

The list. pic.twitter.com/mnTMHm5vHr

— Stephen Anguiano (@ATLhorn) January 22, 2020

Is this satire?

— John-Michael Cortez (@JMVC_ATX) January 22, 2020

What. The. Hell. Do these people not have taste buds?!?

Matt’s El Rancho is one the most lucrative restaurants in all of America for a reason. Just two months ago, Restaurant Business put out their 2019 Top 100 Independents and had El Rancho at No. 85 out of all the restaurants in the ENTIRE COUNTRY:

Bringing in $13 million annually making Mexican food is absolutely insane. That means El Rancho brought in more money than Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott and Deshaun Watson brought in this year….COMBINED. Balling.

Also, if you look at all the other restaurants above El Rancho on the Top 100 list, it’s steakhouses or other fancy restaurants out of New York with average meals reaching over $100. El Rancho though is bringing in $13 milly with an average of just $25 per meal. That’s big time.

El Rancho also served 524,888 meals this past year. Austin’s entire population, 964,254. Meaning Matt’s El Rancho literally may have served over half of Austin in 2019. Numbers don’t like. Austinites LOVE El Rancho.

And with numbers like this, I actually would argue El Rancho is the OVERALL No.1 restaurant in all of Austin. There’s not a single other restaurant, whether it be Italian, Asian, American, Indian, Greek, etc, that can compete with the numbers El Rancho is putting out.

So, bottom line is this — if you don’t like Matt’s El Rancho you’re in the minority and should go see a doctor to make sure your taste buds are working properly.

For those at home wondering my go-to order: 5 dots, 2 Large Bobs and 2 asadero tacos on flour, no onions (although lately I’ve been going steak quesadillas).