Los Aztecas Mexican Restaurant: Pretty, average

From outside the new Mexican restaurant, Los Aztecas, the decor makes it look like it would be a nice place to eat with friends or family. The restaurant offers a wide array of authentic Mexican food included in both their lunch and dinner menus.

The service at Los Aztecas, which is located on Blue Grass Road by Biggby Coffee, was average upon walking in the door, but that soon changed. It seemed as if the staff was more interested in standing around talking amongst themselves than meeting the needs of their customers. The dining experience only became more awkward when customers look up from their meal to find the all male staff gawking at them. Tasks such as refilling beverages and chips and salsa was paid no attention.

There is a large dining area that can be seen once walking in the door and on the other side there is a full bar. There’s the option of either dining at a table or booth. The decorations are so vibrant and colorful they cast the feeling of acutally being in Mexico. Even the tables and booths are eveloped in color and decoration.

Los Aztecas has a very extensive dinner menu that ranges anywhere from specialty drinks and appetizers to burritos, quesadillas and chimichangas. Chips and salsa are served with both lunch and dinner. Prices range from $7.75 to $14.50. The lunch menu is very extensive as well and they even offer a lunch special that is served Monday through Friday until 3 p.m. The Tijuana lunch special costs $7.25 and the customer has the choice of two dishes from a list that includes: enchiladas, tacos, chalupas, tostadas, tamales and a burrito.  Each of these dishes are served with rice and refried beans.

Dining in, my entree of choice was the burrito mexicano, which is a flour tortilla stuffed with shredded pork, cooked with grilled tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers.  The burrito is then topped with a cheese sauce, lettuce, sour cream and guacamole. Having looked better on paper, the burrito was saturated in the cheese sauce and the shredded pork was overly greasy. Another dish that didn’t live up to it’s name was the chicken quesadillas. The quesadillas that were on the appetizer menu had nearly no flavor and were soggy. At first taste the fried ice cream seemed to be the only item that met expectations.  After further indulgence, the dessert didn’t live up to the previous assumption. The ice cream itself was decent, but the fried shell tasted way to greasy, just like the burrito.

Los Aztecas offers the option of dining in or taking food to go.  The overall atmosphere made the dining experience a little weird and the food did not live up to expectations.