Abuelo's

HEY YELP - I'll say again, I wish I could give a half star!

OK, I would give Abuelo's a 3.5 b/c I really do like it. It's a chain and I don't love any chain, so that's about as high as I can go.  I have been here twice for lunch in the last two weeks.  It is near where two of my lunch dates work (my hubby and my old roommate).  They have tight lunch hours, so it's a nice option, b/c they cater to the biz lunch crowd.

Both times I had the carnita tacos which I really enjoy. They are shredded pork with a little cilantro/pico on the side.  It is not a disappointing option.  They come presented in a taco holder. They are not oversized and they have always been fresh.

I also particularly enjoy the green sweet salsa mixed with their regular salsa at the beginning of the meal, which is complimentary.  It is a nice touch that they do not charge for this. I know it's "expected" to get free chips/salsa in a Mexican joint but this is not owned by a Mexican family - it's owned by a corporation.

This would also be why there is a WAIT for food.  I am stating this only b/c someone mentioned that they wondered why it took 20 minutes for their food to come out.  There is a wait b/c everything you order is made FRESH and not sitting in some oversized metal container in the back made in mass quantities the morning of waiting for people to order it and bring it out faster than a McDonald's drive through.  Duh.

Alllllllllll that being said, the servers are pretty busy, especially at lunch and although they are often filling up the drink refills, outside of that, I have never been overwhelming happy with the service.  There sometimes is a long wait between drinks and ordering especially if you "need more time".  My advice - check out the menu before you go.

I don't mind this as a lunch option but it's definitely not "authentic" in my opinion and some of the items are a bit pricey.  However, it's busy lunch days that always make me wonder "what recession?"

Pricey for what you get. I like the atmoshpere and usually the help is courteous but not over the top.

I will start this review by saying that the look of the restaurant was very deceiving. I went in expecting a very good, upscale Mexican meal. We were seated immediately. The ambiance inside was very nice. Very dark, and fairly calm. We sat near the bar, and there were two TVs with the volume turned all the way down and captions on. The server was very nice, and offered her knowledge on the menu. I was very underwhelmed by the menu to start. There were about 5 choices on each page, and nothing sounded exceptional. I chose to get the marinated steak fajitas. The waitress was very attentive, as I was going through Sprites like I hadn't had a drink in a week.

The chips were pretty good, until we got the second batch. The second batch was soggy. The salsa was very good though. I was a little upset that we had to get another basket of chips due to our food taking forever to get out. When i get Mexican, it is usually out very quickly. I believe we waited over 20 minutes from the time we ordered to when it came to the table. The restaurant was not busy either.

The fajitas were very disappointing. The steak was bland, and the fajita fixings were lacking. There was an abundance of onions, and little peppers. This made the entire meal bland. Maybe I just got the wrong item on the menu, but I will not be going back. Granted I live on the east side of Indy, so I have no reason to venture this far for mediocre food again!