Cultural Report: Authentic Mexican Restaurant

For my final cultural report, I ate dinner with my family at Gran Ranchero, an authentic Mexican restaurant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was the décor. There were sombreros, maracas, and murals of homes and people in Mexico on the walls on the restaurant. There was also traditional Mexican music being played in the restaurant. Our waiter us gave our greeting in Spanish and then translated it into English. He said “Hola, como estas?” I also noticed that most of the workers seemed to be of Spanish or Mexican descent. I read through the menu and realized that the menu was in Spanish with the English translation directly underneath each item. I ordered a “quesadilla de pollo,” which is a chicken quesadilla. Overall, the restaurant was trying to create an authentic Mexican dining experience. They did this by using traditional Mexican décor, playing authentic music from Mexico, and having workers who spoke Spanish and were of the same nationality as the food they were serving. One obvious difference from the culture I am used to is the different language. Another difference was the music that was playing. The traditional Mexican music did not use much artificial noises or instruments like the music we have in America today. …show more content…
It brought back memories of the three years of Spanish I took in high school, and it reinforced my belief that language barriers are the biggest reason people do not explore other cultures or go to other countries. Although many people are afraid to explore other cultures, I am thankful that there are places like authentic Mexican restaurants where people can get a taste of a different culture in a controlled environment. I felt very happy the entire time I was in the restaurant because of the upbeat music being played. The authentic Mexican food was awesome, and the service was wonderful. I would definitely recommend this experience to