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The short-lived El Chilito on Congress Avenue recently closed for renovations, and has now reemerged as a full-fledged El Chile restaurant, like its counterparts in North Austin and Manor Road. Best of all, they're offering free beer and wine while they wait for their new liquor license to be officially granted.
The downtown branch of El Chile Cafe y Cantina is located at 918 Congress, next door to Little City. They're open Monday-Thursday from 11-9 p.m., Friday 11-10 p.m., Saturday 5-10 p.m., and closed on Sundays.
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Firstly, I love El Chile. However, this switch was a huge mistake. El Chilito filled a void that few other downtown eateries did: High quality, delicious food, coupled with the convenience of a lunch-counter type establishment, and all at a respectable price.
Having to be waited on, paying higher prices, and the lack of BREAKFAST TACOS absolutely KILL this place for me. I don't have the time or money to make this a daytime option for me.
My office feels the same way. I'm sure many others do.
Here's to what was.
Damn it! This sucks. I agree with everything Chris S said and they should have left El Chilito as it was. So much for that.
Well, it must not have been working for them, right? I've worked at restaurants before and no one closes down when business is good.
Not necessarily. There was always a line there so there was demand for sure. They probably wanted to change the format to be more profitable.
it sounds like two different eateries are being mixed together. El Chile and El Chilito are different places that are very near in location to each other and owned by the same person. They took the El Chile format and opened a second location on Congress near the capitol to complement the original location on Manor
El Chilito is ok, but it's not a real contender on the merits of what Chris S has laid out. Two egg, bacon, and cheese breakfast tacos and a soft drink at El Chilito will set you back about $7.00. And the bacon isn't crispy, it'll be chunks of uncooked pork fat.
If you order the same at Tamale House on Airport Blvd., it'll cost you $3.50 and the bacon will be crispy and lean. Sadly, Tamale House doesn't have a location downtown.
Seth
I would assume its an effort to make a lot more money selling liquor to downtowners after work (or maybe during). I have no idea what their rent is, but I know that the rent in the building that Starlite was/is in is 10k/mo. I don't see how you can make that kind of money without operating a bar.
My guess is that they get no business just like all the other places after 5pm and on weekends. If it's a lunch spot, it's not getting business in that location after work hours or on weekends. That's why all the other lunch places close with early evening hours and are not open at all on the weekends (not even Chipotle and Subway). If it's an actual eatery people may be more inclined to trek up Congress that far on evenings and weekends.
As El Chilito, it was already closing early, like the other lunch spots on Congress. The big chains have an advantage - they use lower quality ingredients, and whether or not those specific locations are high-volume, they get a lot of those ingredients at a rate in line with the company's national sales volume.
I hope El Chile succeeds there, but why not incorporate both worlds? Have the restaurant be, essentially, "El Chilito" at lunch - with a to-go taco line, and then a sit-down, drink-3-margaritas place after 5pm. Do they think that's a confusing system? There are plenty of successful, quirkier places in town...
That's exactly what my wife said when I told her about the change. Run it as El Chilito at lunch and move to a mare traditional set up after 5pm. Maybe they'll work it in, either way it's good for the area and the food is great.
Hi to all- My name is Maribel and I work for the restaurant group, El Chile, El Chilito, and the Red House Pizzeria. Thank you for all your comments and interest in the change. If I had a prize to give I would give it to panchosbuffet. Although, El Chilito was well received and doing okay, alcohol in any restaurant is the bread winner to pay the bills and to keep employees employed! Why not keep El Chilito & El Chile you ask? We thought about it but in the long run costs for training our staff to learn both menues might have created a nightmare to age the owner from 30 something into 50 something. Other concepts were thought out, but in the end our passion went back to the first baby, El Chile Cafe. We hope to do it better than ever complete with service, tasty entrees, and stellar drinks. Sign up for our up to date postings on possible anniversary parties, and news in general maribel@elchilecafe.com