Carlos O'kelly's

To call this place Mexican is an insult to Mexico. Seriously. Our chicken fajitas were sweet. SWEET. Margaritas were 99% sugar syrup and a drop of tequila (maybe). No sense in going into further detail. We won't be back. I was a fool to think there would be good Mexican food in the central Iowa.

Very mediocre Tex-Mex restaurant.

I came here because I purchased a Groupon deal where I could get $20 worth of food for $10. I got the fish tacos and my little sister got the Sancho Burrito. I found the food to be just okay. I liked the tilapia in my fish taco to be good but i still found the taco overall to be a little bland. I also ordered the Cheesy mashed potatoes and Cilantro-Lime rice as my two sides. The mashed potatoes sounded delicious on the menu, but I found them to be a bit too mushy and salty for my tastes. I did love the rice! I recommend that as a side. What really detracted from my experience is the fact that there seems to be an abundance of onions in all the dishes. I got the feeling the chefs put a lot of onions in their dishes to give the illusion of volume or either they're onion-crazy. I even told the waitress I didn't like onions and there were a ton on my plate. The pico de gallo is all onion pretty much. It seems they have some decent margarita deals on certain days of the week so i'll be willing to come back for drinks. However, I think more local places like El Rodeo and El Aquila are better and my authentic in my opinion.

Sometimes there are questions that we ponder about, but there is never an answer. Like which came first, the chicken or the egg? Or how the hell is Carlos O'Kelley's still in business?

They serve bland, Americanized junk. I understand fully that it's Tex-Mex, so Americanization is expected. I just didn't think it would be solely ground beef, tortillas, and melted cheese. That's pretty much the extent of the ingredients. They'll be put together in a different ways to justify calling it a different name on the menu, but at the end of the day, it's just brown meat, tortilla, cheese.

There are other places (a lot of other places) around town that serve Tex-Mex at a lower price and in more imaginitive ways. Go south on Merle Hay, take a right on Douglas, and keep going til you hit El Rodeo. Or go south on Beaver and turn right, into the lot of El Aguila Real. There. Two much better places within 3-5 minutes of this horrible place called Carlos O'Kelley's.