We frequent El Rodeo often enough and have never had a bad experience. The staff is always friendly and willing to accomodate. Even manners are important, which is great for my kids. They love to try and order in spanish and the staff helps them with their words. We had a magic trick performance the latest time we were there, which everyone turned around to watch. The food is always excellent and comes out quickly. Other restaurants we consume too much chips and salsa, but there isn't time for that here - food is served promptly!
Review Source:This review is going to be mostly about the service.
My wife and I have been regular customers at El Rodeo for at least 5 years now. The food is hit or miss, sometimes being very fresh and tasty, and other times tasting as though it was leftovers from the previous day. The service is sometimes non-existent as the wait staff likes to flirt with the girl up front as often as possible. With all that said, though, we still ate there at least once a month because for all the bad, there was some good. A couple of the waiters go out of their way to make you feel welcome and are very attentive. This review, however, was not one of those times.
This evening (7/19/12) my wife and I ate there. She had a steak and cheese burrito that was mostly burrito and lacking in both the steak and cheese departments, and I have the fajitas rodeo (which consists of steak, chicken, pulled pork, and chorizo) of which the pork and chorizo were pretty good, and the steak and chicken very bland and dry.
Halfway done with my meal, I ran out of tortillas and asked for some more. 15 minutes later I went up to the front to request the manager when my server miraculously reappears. I asked him for the manager since the girl at the register was busy and he told me to talk to her. Ok, I said. I then explained to her that I'd requested additional tortillas to finish my meal with, now, 20 minutes ago and never received them, nor had I even seen our waiter until just then. I explained that half my meal was now stone cold, and I wasn't going to be finishing it, with or without tortillas. Instead of trying to make it right in any way, I was informed that the fajitas come with three tortillas, and additional would cost extra. I explained to her that would have been fine, but I didn't feel I should pay full price for half a meal. I then asked if she was the manager, and she informed me that she was not. I asked for the manager (again) and was told he wasn't there. I was also informed that our wonderful waiter was the one in charge, which smelled as truthful as a $3 bill. Undeterred in my quest for a person in charge, someone who would make at least some attempt at salvaging my evening (and my temper) I asked if she could call him and was told flatly "No". "Ok", say I, "when will he be in?". She looks at me with those same darting eyes and says "I don't know" At this point I'd had more than enough, and told her I thought she was lying to me, and the look on her face just confirmed it. Throughout this encounter she and the waiter kept repeating that the entree came with only 3 tortillas, and that it was my fault for not finishing my meal. I gave up, and paid the bill, which I'll be disputing with the bank shortly after wrapping up this review
The short, tl;dr version: I had a complaint, and they did not seem to care, nor was there anyone with any authority to make anything right.
Moral of the story: This place is mediocre to ok depending on the time of day you eat and how much was leftover from the previous dinner service. If you have any issues, however, don't expect any recompense. Losing $30 - $100+ a month in business was less important than the $12.99 my meal cost to them.
I'm pretty sure that El Rodeo and El Jaripeo are owned by the same people. The menu's exactly the same. And I love them both.
The service is hit or miss. It's pretty laid back and if you need something you often have to make an effort to get their attention. But the servers are friendly and I love that my family is always greeted with "Hola amigos, what can I get you?"
The food....mmmm...the food. This is hands-down my favorite Mexican restaurant. The portions are generous and everything is delicious. The steak and cheese burrito is really good. Nothing fancy, just steak and cheese served with really good rice and black beans. My favorite dish is Nachos al Carbon. It's technically an appetizer but I've gotten it as my meal on several occasions. It's got steak, chicken, and shrimp. And it's SO good. I usually have enough left for lunch the next day.
The chips and salsa are addictive.
This has got to be the closest thing to authentic Mexican food Indy has. Don Pablo's and On the Border have got nothing on El Rodeo.
I'm not sure why we keep eating here. Â For what it is, the food is good. Â But the service is definitely lackluster. Â I'm not sure whether the servers are just too busy or are just inattentive. Â I've just learned that I need to ask for our receipt about 5 minutes before we actually want to leave or else they tend to forget to come back.
Review Source:El Rodeo is pretty good, but it's the typical semi-authentic mexican food you get in the midwest.
They have one of my favorites, which they call Pollo Toluca. It's a grilled chicken breast topped with chorizo and cheese. I like the chicken and chorizo together. If you want to try something beyond the chimichanga, this is a safe bet. cut up the chicken and load a bit of everything into  a tortilla. Don't forget to mop the plate.
On my recent visit they had a top shelf margarita on special for $6, a 27 oz margarita on the rocks made with Cuervo 1800. Good stuff. Drink specials vary daily.
This place rivals my favorite mexican restaurant, Little Mexico, from my hometown. The first thing I noticed was their regular table salsa that they served with fresh tortilla chips. The best I've ever had! The salsa had just the right amount of spice, and you could taste the fresh cilantro. After that I was convinced I had to go all out so I went for El Combo, which at $10.99 is pretty good deal for 2 decent plates of food. Maybe its not the best Mexican place around but they make some pretty tasty food. Full of Mexican flavor and satisfaction, I left El Rodeo with a smile and plenty of leftovers.
Review Source:
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