So being an Austinite and having the original Chuys down there as one of my FAVORITE tex mex spots, I was absoluely amazed to find one in Indiana of all places. Seeing the festive neoen lights and craving a taste of some decent tex mex up here in the midwest we decided to have dinner here.
Although this is far from Texas and it's roots, this Chuy's definately did not disappoint. From the New Mexican Martini's to the beef fajitas, this place did a great job and satisfied my hunger for tex mex. They also had the salsa and chips I have craved, and to top it all of the jalepeno/cilantro ranch that complements their entire menu.
One of my wishes has come true, which is finding a decent Tex Mex spot in the midwest, next is to move this further north to Chicago where I live now!!
Everything was good. Â The store was clean, the waitress was polite, the food was good. Â My complaint is that our appetizer was brought out in a good amount of time, but our meal was brought out almost immediately after. Â The table ended up being horribly cluttered because of all the dishes and we felt rushed. Â The kitchen needs to better stagger the timing, otherwise it is left up to the customer to time their meal.
Review Source:I guess I have experienced places that others would refer to as "lil' Mexico," & that's what I kinda thought this 1 was with their taco shaped door handles, but alas I was mistaken. I like those places. Their food tends to be better than the chain resturants. But, the only hispanic people I saw were bus boys. *shaking finger*
Their food - I've had better. I'm not sure if they really "make everything fresh" as our server kept saying, but if they do...Idk. I'm not really impressed.The place was EXTREMEly LOUD. Louder than the movie - in order to hear people you definately had to be EXTREMEly CLOSE! :-p lol. Â
I think what left the really bad taste in my mouth was the service, though. I had gotten a phone call and was on my cell probably about 5 mins after ordering & about 15 mins after our food came - rude I'm sure. My daughter's used to it though. :-/ Â However, the server took full advantage. Â
My daughter was asking about their Chimi - which came with a specific sauce. We told her we were 1st time customers, the menu was like greek or well far from mexican - things like "Elvis Presley Memorial Combo." Â So, she offered to bring us "samples of the sauces. Â No problem. The server picked 1, my daughter picked 1. She brought us a whole bowl of the 1 she picked & a spoonful of the 1 my daughter picked. Â
We asked questions that were never a problem at prior mexican resturants like we'd experienced in Louisville even when they didn't speak fluent English (as I've read other Yelpers complain about), like "how much is a beef taco ala carte?" Â "How much are your sodas?" Things that sometimes will factor in whether we order them or not - I mean I am not averse to ording water with lemon if the price of an unlimited soda & I'm only going to get thru 1-1 1/2 is 2.59 or $3! That could mean an extra 6 bucks on our bill for what? Flavored water, right? And so...with these questions we get our service & our food & our answers pretty vague but reasonable as they would be comparable to what we'd pay at a Louisville resturant. That is until we get the bill. Â But then there's another catch.
While I was on the phone, the server brought our food, now I had the fajitas. Shrimp - I had asked if they were more expensive but, she said no and they were great, the serving size was huge. Ok. Â No problem. Â Now, back to when I was on the phone, sorry for the digression...She tells my daughter if I need anymore cheese and lettiuce for my fajitas to "just let her know." Ok. No problem. I even looked up from my phone, smiled and thanked her. Â
Now let me add that flagging down this woman for anything that obviously didn't have a price tag was short of a bull horn. Â We went thru nearly our entire meal with 2 napkins. Of course the place was as loud as a strip club on a Sat. night (not that I'd know, ahem...just guessing. :p lol). But for extra lettuce and cheese - no problem, more sour cream (hey how much does that cost *insert vague answer*- no problem).
Now to the sticker shock. She charged us for the "sample sauces," even the spoon size my daughter wanted to try, but more importantly, the 1 she offered. She charged us extra for the shrimp fajitas, which I knew were going to be extra, she said weren't. But there was 1 charge on the bill that I actually asked her about, "mixed" & then some code, but I was also giving a chance at some sort of redemption here. She said, "oh that's your mixed bowl of cheeses and lettuce." I was confused.She hadn't made it clear that it was extra to keep asking her for more.
When confronted with the charge, she said she'd "talk to her manager about removing it." Never apologzing for the confusion. Nothing. I even said, I know I was on my phone and I am sorry, but I clearly remember that conversation." She said, again, no problem.
I sat a minute and looked at the bill. And I was a bit shocked. She literally padded my bill. Reason for shock: I was trained as a server at a resturant I won't mention out of "respect" for the servers, in "upselling" a techinque in getting the customer to buy top shelf items. For ex.,if the meal comes with a house salad, offer a ceaser, or if they are buying a drink with their meal offer top shelf liquor. but always say, "we have this but it's x $$ extra.". It pads the bill while adding more to your tip & more in the pocket of the company. I was horrible at this and thereby don't work for this co. anymore, because although it wasn't as ethical than what this woman was doing - I still found it unethical. Â
In a few brief secs I realized this server had upselled us without our knowledge, without confirming prices, & without our consent. I took it to a manager. I discussed with him my feelings on the ticket. He said, "Don't worry about this, I'm going to take care of this for you. He never apologized, just he would take care of the problem. He turned around went to the computer, took off all the upselliing and handed me our "real bill."
So - my review of Chuy's - watch your bill! :(
Let me preface this by saying we were on the road and randomly picked this spot. So, our expectations were food and fast.
We sat in the bar area (at the bar specifically). The service here could not have been faster or more professional. For that, I give the spot five stars.
The food here is OK at best. They definitely don't refrain on the salt. Mmmmm, salt lick! We had a taco salad and tacos with rice and beans. Not that the ingredients weren't fresh; I just was a bit overwhelmed by the premanufactured taste of everything.
We did enjoy one Margarita with and extra shot ($1 special). It did look like they must have taken some premium liquors off the shelf for the special. It seem about 2/3 full.
The atmosphere is fun and a bit crazy. Fish hanging from the ceiling (artistic fish that is) and Chihuahua heads on all sorts of crazy beings. They also sell their lot of play-off-of-other-brands t-shirts. These are realy fun if you are into that sort of thing.
Although our expectations were met, I just didn't feel satiated with the chow. Overall, they experience was good, but the food lacked uniqueness.
i think Chuy's is absolutely fabulosooo!
Chuy's has become my faaave since it's come to southern indiana.
it's not authentic Mexican- it's TexMex
first off, the chips and salsa - ahhMaZiNG!
chips are light fresh warm and salty. salsa freshly made with tons of flavor. if they don't bring u the creamy jalepeño sauce, get it. and make sure u order queso as well. it's out of this world.
second, their menu loves spice. heat. kick.
the sauces are what changes it up, there's about ten to choose from.
the Chicken burrito with boom boom sauce - great-
enchiladas blancas - great-
chicken fajitas - yummmm Â
dulce de leche - fabulous
the food I've had has been great on every occasion and u could definitely consider me and my boyfriend regulars there.
I can't complain really.
I usually sit in the bar area, so there's no wait on a booth. TVs to watch. staff is very friendly. cool t shirts to buy. good music to listen to. fun decor.
love it!
We are transplants from Houston to Chicago and felt like a day trip, so we drove to our "favourite" restaurant as an excuse to get out.
Just like the Chuy's in Houston, the chips and salsa were great, and the customer service was fantastic!
We're not down-ranking for this, but there were a few missing items from our Houston experience:
No red table sauce/salsa. Â Bring it up from Texas!
The 911 Hot Plate I ordered came with Hatch Green Chile sauce when it should have come with regular Green Chile sauce. Â I ordered this off-menu (it has long been off all the Chuy's menus, but I can still order it) and since this Chuy's is so new, I might have been the first at this location. Â I like the Hatch Green Chile sauce, so the oversight was acceptable/understandable because the enchiladas were awesome anyway.
My wife had her regular #9 combo and loved it. Â Reminds us of Houston!
Anyways, we love the food, the value, and the service all the Chuy's provide and this was no different. Â
Hopefully they keep growing north to Chicago!
VERY GOOD. The chips are so thin and crispy it's amazing. The queso and salsa are delicious. The fajitas are very good as well. Have had the southwestern a couple times and absolutely love it ( don't let the egg scare you...) lol. Only disappointment (slight but still) is there is no beer on tap :(
Review Source:I know I'm going to be in the minority here, but I didn't care for it much......any of it. Â Bummer that I chose that place on Mother's Day, my day, and then the food sucked. Â But oh, well. Â It's kind of a cool place, but my food was definitely not tasty. Â There are other texmex places I would choose over this.
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