Acapulco Joe's

I apologize upfront, I know this place is an institution in Indianapolis, but it surely isn't for the food. Frankly, it was borderline terrible. We went there the other day for lunch with our kids. I was excited to go, because I remember my parents going when I was a kid and it was the only Mexican restaurant in town. And I think at one point it had another location on the Northeast side and maybe I ate there once or twice.

Anyway, you start with the weird salsa in a squeeze bottle. Is that their way of conserving salsa (because I assume you have to dump a lot of salsa out when served in bowls on the table). The chips were decent, but the salsa was weird. It was sweet--almost like it was made with ketchup. I wasn't a big fan of it just with chips, but thought maybe it would be better on the food, assuming it was spicy. Well, not only was the food not spicy, it was borderline flavorless. I had the Mexican Pizza which is basically like a crisp flour tortilla with olives, beans, meat, mushrooms and cheese. It was probably the best thing on our table, but not memorable at all. Hubby had some flautas which looked like they were stuffed with, well, Alpo. They were so un-appetizing, I didn't even try them. The kids had quesadillas which were not good either (and they like bland food). But the cheese wasn't even melted inside the quesadilla. The worst thing was the guacamole. It looked good, with some nice chunks of avocado. Somehow, they managed to make that even flavorless. It was like eating mayo that was dyed green with chunks of boiled potato.

The people working there were probably the bright part of the restaurant--they were quite friendly and accomodating to giving us a table where our young kids wouldn't disturb others, which always makes a meal more bearable for the parents.

The margaritas were drinkable, but not outstanding. I am telling you, if you want a good margarita, check out the Texas margaritas at La Hacienda. They are alone, a good reason to go there, in my opinion. The food at Hacienda isn't bad either, so if you want some good basic Mexican with a really good Margarita, I say skip Acapulco Joes's at hit La Hacienda (there are several locations throughout Indianapolis).

Acapulco Joe's
365 N. Illinois
Indy, 46204
317/637-5160