El Gallito - Cathedral City, CA

Posted By Michael Stern on September 16, 2001 2:38 PM

In and around Palm Springs, there are plenty of swank restaurants, but few simple places that serve real food at reasonable prices. That is why we were thrilled to find a pretty little café named El Gallito by the side of the road in Cathedral City. Serving locals for nearly a quarter century now, El Gallito offers a broad menu of mostly familiar Mexican dishes such as tacos, chilies rellenos, enchiladas, and burritos. In our experience, they are all good, but we are especially fond of such daily specials as carnitas (shredded pork) every Thursday, chicken mole (Friday) and menudo (Saturday).

We also like El Gallito’s chilies. They are California style, meaning not fire-hot, and they are mighty tasty: either chili Colorado, which is bite-size pieces of beef in a peppery red sauce, or chili verde, which is beef cooked with green peppers, onions and shreds of tomato. The “El Gallito Especial” is a half-and-half plate of both kinds of chili – what New Mexico knows as Christmas – green and red, side by side.

El Gallito is outfitted in traditional Mexican-restaurant décor (serapes, sombreros, velvet paintings) and operates according to many rules posted throughout the dining room and written in the menu – some serious, some silly. A placard hanging over the dining room notes: If you have reservations, you are at the wrong place. A sign in the entryway advises: WE ARE NOT A BAR. Beer/wine is only served to those who dine with us. Furthermore, be advised that there is a limit of three drinks per customer, and persons who seem to have been drinking will not be served.

Overall Rating

carnitas

chicken mole

red and green chili

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Posted By michelle on June 28, 2011 1:24 PM

I visited this place solely on the Roadfood recommendation. Terrible! I lived in Houston for 13 years and I know good Mex and Tex-Mex and this was just salty, overcooked food with cheese and salsa. I ordered the side-by-side chile verde and chile colorado. Both tasted exactly the same. No flavor; just salt. The enchiladas were bland. Very disappointed!

Overall Rating

red and green chili

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Posted By Nancy Roberts on March 21, 2011 10:55 PM

We found the food to be quite ordinary, no better than the Mexican food at dozens of local eateries. The tortillas seemed mass-produced.

Overall Rating

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