El Indio Mexican Restaurant

02/19/11

hospital cafeteria food

by osageo at Citysearch

if you like hospital cafeteria food you'll love this place.

I've eaten many versions of "mexican" food and although not a professional critic, i know what good mexican food is. I ordered the carnitas plate and recieved about 2 tablespoons of overly salty pork meat with some tasteless beans and even more tasteless rice.

They neglected to tell us they were closing and after our food arrived they began slamming the chairs on to the tables around us. Then they placed the trash cans next to our table and made it very clear we were not welcome.

My girlfriend ordered the chicken fajitas and recieved a very small portion of greasy boiled chicken with some burned bell peppers thrown in.

The guacamole was great and well worth the money but the chips we purchased were stale and rubbery. Our meals were around $9.00 per plate....not a lot of money...but i've paid less and had food that was at least edible. We paid a total of $25.00 and had a very difficult time parking.

If you're looking for frozen T.V. dinner food this is the place for you.

05/31/10

Mediocre food that tourists will like

by ellizona at Citysearch

Having grown up in S. Cal in the 60's/70's, I have come to understand that over the years, both Calif and Arizona have "dumbed down" good Mexican food for tourists and residents who have relocated here. Sonoran style is generally the most mild, cheesy and greasy - but there are complexities to good mexican food you aren't going to get at El Indio. Caliornia needs to take a lesson from New Mexico regarding sticking to authentic flavors and spice!

We had seen the review of this restaurant on "Diners, Drive Ins and Dives" and sadly, this happens to be the 3rd restaurant that Guy Fieri has struck out on. I love him, but no longer trust the show's content....given that another restaurant reviewed on that same episode was directly next door - how convenient for the film crew.

The Salsa has no spice to it. The Chili Relleno had been pre-frozen ( a common practice to prevent the cheese from leaking out)...however, the cheese was still cold and had a "Velveeta" consistency. The red sauce lacked flavor and had no smokiness to it at all. With all the really good, family owned restaurants in San Diego county - this is at the bottom of my list!

• Pros: cheap prices, clean restaurant
• Cons: Tasteless, lacking authenticity, over-rated

05/03/09

Tasteless plain Mexican food

by Louli at Citysearch

I don't know why this place has such a good reputation yet the food is left without much taste. The staff is not attentive and rushes you through the line...but most of all, the food is awful. It was a big disappointment to me and my significant other that the food was less than average. We have eaten good mexican food many times but the food here is cheap and very plain.

• Cons: Worst tamales ever eating

07/10/08

Mmmm Mmmm mexican

by janaschreiber8 at Citysearch

My boyfriend and his family have been going here for years and he finally took me this past weekend to this very busy, very tasty mexican joint. The line was long but worth the wait for our beef tacos, bean burrito, fresh beef tamales and of course the delicious, spiced tortilla chips and guacamole. We took our meal to go and ventured towards Downtown where we had a picnic by the bay- the food really made it the perfect lunch.

• Pros: My kind of mexican food- deelish!
• Cons: long line

06/17/08

very disappointed

by jsac at Citysearch

Like the other reviewer, saw it on foodtv and drive with my wife that same day for a little taste. Luckily the line wasnt too bad. We ordered beef tacos, tamales, and rolled tacos and all were a big let down. It may have been one of the worse tasting mexican foods we had. Ingredients seemed fresh enough, but flavor and seasoning were not there in any of the dishes. The tamales, one of my favorite dishes, especially was a big disappointment. It was covered in chilli (tasted like canned chilli).... is that authentic? Not sure. We were both puzzled as to why this is a legendary place.