Los 3 Garcia

Los 3 Garcia is closed!

The restaurant in this location is called Rensselaer Restaurant. It is a Greek pancake house type restaurant, but it's Mexican-owned (info from waitress--not the "3 Garcia" people). As such, the menu is pretty diverse and has Greek food, Mexican food, Italian food, and midwest country fare (liver and onions, sandwiches, chicken-fried steak). The exterior is kinda run-down looking...the vacant lot next door and the fact that it was winter didn't help. The entrance is a bit dark, but the dining room was bright and clean, despite the dated decor. Large and small booths and tables are available.

I went at 2pm on a Tuesday, and there were 4-5 other tables. The waitress was newer, but she gave really great service with a smile. She refilled my water twice and stopped by 3 additional times to check to see if everything was ok.

I ordered Spanakopita (spinach and cheese pie in phyllo) and it was awesome! Huge too. It had plenty of flavor, and the spinach-egg-cheese filling was really tasty. It had been prepared on a grill I believe and the crust was pleasantly crisp. I gobbled up the whole thing. It came with 2 side dishes-I got cottage cheese and a cup of chicken & dumpling soup, which was very good as well. I know it was Sysco soup, but that's fine because it's good.

I overheard the people around me talking too, about their food. A much older man was there with his date-they talked mainly about bowling and their relatives, and he gave her a box of chocolate-covered cherries. I distinctly heard the phrase "sweets for my sweet". One of them ordered pancakes and the other got chicken fried steak. They were raving about their food and passed their dishes back and forth to share (so cute!). I also heard "This pancake stack is huge!". They seem to have been satisfied. Another table came in for salads and had spectacularly complex orders (chicken ceasar salad with regular lettuce, no x,y,z substitute ranch dressing)...I was impressed that the waitress and kitchen got it right, and they were too. As I was leaving they were halfway through the enormous salads. The lady across from me ate breakfast and I overheard her post-meal phone call "...at Rensselaer Restaurant...breakfast...it was really good and I'm so stuffed!...we will have to come here sometime soon..."

This place was recommended to me by the Holiday Inn staff, and I'm really glad I stopped by before leaving town. It beat the pants off the fast food options nearby.

Talk about an episode of the Twilight zone. "Picture yourself in a Mexican restaurant in the middle of Bum F#$k Indiana eating a Ham and Cheese Omelet"  I could not have made this up if I tried.
My Hash Browns were like Charred Asphalt, and my Omelet tasted like warm Play-Dough. I don't want to gross you out with the rest of the details.
The worst thing about this place (other than being in Indiana) is that the coffee and water that was served with the meal was from some crappy well.  If you have never drank shitty coffee made with even shittier egg water, give this place a try, it's something that you will never forget.
This is one more reason that I say "the best way to experience Indiana is passing through"  But after this experience, I don't even want to fly over Indiana Air space.

Indiana sucks for many reasons, but the main one is that there is virtually nothing off of I-65 to stop and eat except for fast food joints.  It is especially difficult when you are traveling between the hours of 6am and 9am.  I had ignored my rule about eating first before making the 5 hour drive through the state and was now paying for it in the form of lightheadness and irritability.

We were traveling north and by the time we hit Rensselaer I couldn't stand it any longer.  We pulled off the road and saw a diner.

What used to be a basic diner has now been transformed into the Los 3 Garcia restaurant.  Everything about the diner has remained the same, the booths with the floral patterned vinyl, the rose coloured walls, the fake plants in oak veneer planters, the brass chandeliers. Except now we have the addition of  some serapes and hats hanging on the wall, Mexican music echoing out from the kitchen and the owner's penchant for hand drawn signs on bright construction paper.  Half the lights were out and I had this weird feeling that I had suddenly been shipped off to the Twilight Zone.  We would attempt to leave here and instead of our car and the parking lot we would be on some alien planet with a green sky and plants that talked to you.  It was truly odd all around.

The service was rather quiet and polite and we were served speedily.  I had ordered Huevos Rancheros and all it consisted of was 2 rubbery eggs on a tortilla along with bland rice and canned refried beans.  Hot sauce helped, but not much.  I told myself that if I made it home with my stomach contents intact I would give this place an extra star.  

And so here we are.  2 stars for escaping the Twilight Zone and Indiana (some would say there isnt a big difference between the two).  Los 3 Garcia, please step up your game.  You seem new and I was trying to be sympathetic, but the food speaks for itself.