Consumers will put up with a lot for the sake of convenience. After all, how many times have you settled for a so-so meal just because a restaurant was close to home?

In settling, diners eventually adapt and develop a sort of regional palate. That’s why I’m leery of phone calls and emails from people telling me about a “great restaurant” out in the ’burbs. There have been many times I’ve headed outside of metro Ho-nolulu on an optimistic note and been disappointed by subpar meals that aren’t worth a spot of ink.

There’s been a recent spate of new Mexican restaurants opening all around Oahu, and with my tight schedule, it was crucial that I pick one worth writing about. Taqueria El Rancho seemed the most promising because of its proximity to Wahiawa’s Mexican demographic. So off I went and ended up relieved to find a restaurant worth the drive.

If you’re planning a summer day trip, just be aware there’s no guarantee you’ll get a table. The casual restaurant seats only about 36, and during prime dining hours, you’ll probably encounter a line. While there for dinner at 6 p.m., the line never let up until 8:30. Service is accordingly slow as dishes are cooked to order. But I found it worth the wait.

While waiting, help yourself to pico de gallo with the brightness of lime, and two salsas, one milder than the other, with the tartness of tomatillos. Tasting these, with a balance of tomato, cilantro, onion and spice, I knew I was in the right place. My dining companion remarked, “I don’t feel like I’m in Hawaii anymore.”

For as long as I have been writing about restaurants, people have been saying that Mexican restaurants in Hawaii “suck,” but perhaps we’ve reached a turning point. According to Migration Policy Institute research dating to 2013, Hawaii’s Mexican population has increased 165 percent, from 14,600 in 1990 to nearly 40,000, and that has to be some good news for our culinary scene. I would think that someone arriving from the motherland would not tolerate bad Mexican cuisine any more than I could stomach bastardized Chinese cuisine.

Yet, even with Mexican hands at work in the kitchen, there is no going back to a pre-Tex Mex- and Cali-Mex-style kitchen, now that most people perceive such American inventions as nachos, burritos, fajitas and wheat flour tortillas to be Mexican in origin. Omitting these dishes would spark outrage. Burritos are well represented here, but you’ll never find me ordering one.

Standing in line, you have a long time to study the chalkboard menus before reaching the order-taking cashier. I was craving the street-style, open-face tacos that start at $2 for one choice of meat with cilantro and onions. A $4 grande version is enhanced with beans, cheese and sour cream. The meat options are carnitas (fried pork), grilled chicken, carne asada (grilled steak), al pastor (marinated grilled pork), housemade chorizo and lengua (beef tongue), the latter with the stink of tongue but a texture that suggested it was part of a mixture including regular minced roast beef.

Pork also ruled the day in a plate of chile verde ($10), one of seven “combo” plates that would be better described as full meals involving rice, beans and two soft tortillas. Here, “combo” doesn’t mean combining entree meats as it would at a Korean or local plate-lunch restaurant.

Whether topping a plate or a taco, I loved the thin slices of carne asada, with crispy charred bits from sitting on the grill, and the carnitas is a perfect match for both tacos and nachos. For $7, nachos come with a choice of meat, black or refried beans, plus jalapeno, avocado and pico de gallo. For $2 more, a grande version adds sour cream.

I also enjoyed the seafood tacos of grilled tilapia ($4). If tilapia is not your thing, you can opt for shrimp. Another way to enjoy fish is with an order of ceviche ($5), served tostada style, striding a double layer of soft and crisped tortillas to hold up to the moisture of the lime-marinated fish. Adding to the fresh flavors, the tostada was layered with three thick slices of avocado, a wonderful bonus. I rarely see this much fresh avocado in local Mexican restaurants, where guacamole tends to be hapa-mole, half mayonnaise.

Chicken and pork tamales ($3 each) are on the menu, but alas, they were sold out by dinner time. The runner-up choice was a quesadilla ($7) filled with ground chorizo, the mild housemade sausage accented with cinnamon. It was not interesting enough to order again.

The next time I return it would probably be to check out a Saturday or Sunday breakfast of pozole (pork soup, $9), pork rinds in salsa ($7), or huevos con chorizo ($8), but mostly the champurrado ($4), a thick, spiced hot chocolate drink that has survived since the Aztec empire.

Dessert flan ($3) was one of the flattest and driest I’ve encountered. Liquid refreshment in the form of aguas frescas ($2 to $3), fresh fruit juices, is preferable. Jarritos Mexican sodas and beer are also available.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.