SANDY -- Twenty years ago, Manuel and Senoria Armenta gambled their livelihoods and a rich trove of well-honed recipes on Mi Ranchito, a venture that is now four restaurants strong, with perhaps more to come.

The most recent link on the wholly owned family "chain" is Mi Ranchito Grill in Sandy, fortuitously across the street from Sandy's Convention Center, where such popular events as home and garden shows have relocated in recent years from downtown Salt Lake City.

In fact, it was midway through one of those events that we made the first of two visits to Mi Ranchito, which seats just shy of 400 but was so busy, the wait was up to 15 minutes.

Who knows whether it was timing or concept that ruined Diamond Lil's at the same location less than a year earlier? Diamond Lil's owners declared bankruptcy and the custom-built building sat vacant for about nine months before one of the Armenta children, daughter Lourdes Sisuentes, saw it as the perfect locale for her second restaurant. Her first, in American Fork, was doing so well she was considering expanding to Pleasant Grove until she found exactly what she was looking for in Sandy.

Though the one-story building is large, its mazelike hallways of river-rock stonework lead customers to smaller dining areas, each partitioned with partial walls that separate the space but maintain a feeling of openness. The sectioned areas are too large to be called intimate, but at least diners don't feel like they are eating in a warehouse. Given its size, however, expect it to be noisy on a busy night.

Once seated for dinner, we were quickly greeted by our server, who delivered warm chips and salsa to munch while we went through the five-page menu. I anticipated some delays in ordering and getting our meals, but our young server, though almost breathless at times, was full of energy and put it to use.

We started with some of Mi Ranchito's blended drinks, which include frozen margaritas, strawberry daiquiris and pi-a coladas, mango coladas and banana coladas, available only without alcohol until the state issues the restaurant the liquor license it has been waiting for since opening four months ago.

The delay is a sore spot for Juanita Escobar, the youngest of the Armenta children, who is managing the Sandy restaurant for her older sister.

"We have a full-size bar ready to go, and more than 25 servers already certified by the state [to serve alcohol]," said Escobar. Not having tequila for margaritas has been greeted with "adios" by more diners than she cares to remember. "You can't have a very successful Mexican restaurant without margaritas," said Escobar. The exception is in Orem, the only one of the family's four restaurants (the fourth is in downtown Salt Lake City) that doesn't plan to serve alcohol.

Serving massive quantities of food also must be considered a prerequisite for success, but that is my major criticism of both meals at Mi Ranchito. It may be an unorthodox complaint, but for dinner and lunch, there was simply too much food -- though most of it was very good.

Enchiladas smothered with mole ($9) were full of moist chicken, and the homemade sauce was delicious, accompanied by terrific refried beans and the usual seasoned rice. Another winner was the plate of huevos rancheros ($8), one of a half-dozen egg dishes on the menu, including a couple of omelets and eggs with chorizo.

The chicken and shrimp fajitas ($16) ordered for dinner came out sizzling hot, with lots of peppers, onions and delicious fresh tomatoes sautéed with the meat. On the side was a basket of fresh, steamed flour tortillas -- made on site -- and another plate of beans, rice and condiments. One order could easily have fed two or even three people generously.

The Pancho Villa plate ($11) is proof you can have too much of a good thing. The meal sounded like a good way to sample several items, including a chile relleno, a smothered burrito and a couple of kinds of tacos. Unfortunately, the burrito and relleno, served together on one large plate, were swimming in sauce and cheese, making them almost indistinguishable. Either served a la carte would have been a better choice.

Smaller combination plates, ranging from $6 to $8, are a more reasonable amount of food. Especially good was the tamale and taco plate, with a delicious homemade tamale and a hard-shell taco filled with shredded beef. The corn shells are the only item not homemade, according to Escobar, who added that they go through such quantities, it would be impossible to keep up with demand.

Mi Ranchito has a child's menu, with 10 plates priced from $2 to $5, and offers the selections for "children under 12 and seniors over 65."

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Nancy Hobbs is The Tribune's restaurant reviewer. The newspaper covers the cost of meals at restaurants reviewed and there is no connection between reviews and restaurant advertising. Hobbs welcomes food and wine news, comments and suggestions at nhobbs@xmission.com

Mi Ranchito Grill