mexico city grill | Would I Buy It Again?

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Mexico City Grill
11653 Fishers Station Drive
Fishers, IN 46038
http://www.mexicocitygrill.com

Saturday night brought me to a restaurant location that EatHSE has reviewed on this blog before, Mexico City Grill. I have been to this restaurant several times before and always ordered the same thing, so I figured I would mix it up a bit this time and order something different and do a review. I reiterate the chips and salsa part of his review, so I’ll just stick to what I got as my entree and here we go…

What I Got: Pollo Loco; ~$9.50 (can’t remember the exact price and the menu is not posted online for me to verify).

My outstanding three years of Spanish in high school tells me that Pollo Loco loosely translates in English to “crazy chicken” so I was handed a seasoned and grilled chicken breast served with Mexican rice, lettuce, two avocado slices and pico de gallo. Served on the side were three warm flour tortillas (not in the photo). If you can’t tell in the picture, this chicken breast was pounded thin and when I say thin, I mean extremely thin. Frankly, it was so thin that it was borderline comical and I’ve got to say that I was disappointed in how absurd it was. I guess the thinness of this chicken breast was the loco part because no one in their right mind should pound a chicken breast that thin unless they are telling a joke.

I was disappointed in the flavor as well because while the seasoning was nice, the chicken breast was pounded so thin that it probably took about 7.3 seconds to grill and that was about 2.5 seconds too long because they dried this one out quickly. When I was able to mix the chicken with the rest of the plate in a flour tortilla it was palatable, but once I ran out of tortillas and had to start eating just the chicken breast, I was pretty disappointed because not only was it dry, but it was also tough. What a major, hardcore disappointment.

The remainder of the dish was pretty much standard stuff. The avocado slices were nice and I always appreciate that and the rice, while fluffy did taste as if it was made in a big batch and then kept in a warmer tray for a long period of time. Thankfully, it hadn’t dried out yet and was still flavorful with a bit of spice too it, but it was nothing to write home about. The pico de gallo had a slight tang, but again, nothing to write home about. All of this stuff wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either. It just existed.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes to Mexico City Grill, but no specifically to the Pollo Loco dish. I have had good meals at Mexico City Grill (the dish with seasoned pork chunks is my go-to dish, but I can’t remember the name and the lack of menu stops me from looking it up), so I’ll just stick to the stuff that I know well and like and not venture out again next time. I know that there is a large seafood tortilla that my mom and her husband swear by too, so they do have good dishes here. Unfortunately, I chose one of the dishes that is not one of those good ones. Oh well, you live and learn.

-IndianapolisEater

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24 Jan 2012

Revisit: Mexico City Grill

Author: indianapoliseater | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Fishers, IN

Tags: avocado, Chicken, Food, mexican, mexico city grill, pico de gallo, pollo loco, rice, tortilla

Mexico City Grill
11653 Fishers Station Dr.
Fishers, IN 46038
http://www.mexicocitygrill.com (same menu as Fishers location)

Mexico City Grill recently opened its newest location in the recently renovated Fishers Station Plaza at 116^th St. and Allisonville Road. Fishers has several other Mexican restaurants within a mile of this location makingthe long term success of Mexico City Grill dependent on setting higher standard than its competition. Since I work nearby, I inquired about whether they plan to offer delivery at lunch and it is not currently part of their plan.

This location was previously a Mexican restaurant and the layout inside has change little from the previous owners. The décor is bright and busy in an attempt to create a festive environment but over the top for my taste. Having just opened, it was not very busy and the large staff provided quick service to the point I was asked if everything was okay about every five minutes. It will be interesting to see how the staff handles a full dining room and if the service remains top notch.

What I Got:

Chips/Salsa(free) and Guacamole ($4.99). You can usually tell a lot about a place by these three staples. The golden colored chips were freshly made and were some of the best I have had anywhere. The salsa was very runny to the point you could see water separating from the rest of the salsa making it a huge disappointment. The guacamole can be ordered for $4.99 or you can have it freshly made table side for $8.00. For $5.00, I was disappointed in the serving size, but the guacamole was the right mix of avocado chunks to its creaminess and is some of the best I have had anywhere.

Burrito del Campo ($9.50). A fresh flour tortilla wrapped around a combination of steak, chicken, shrimp, cheese sauce and rice. Topped with your choice of a green sauce or cheese sauce and fresh diced tomatoes. The steak and chicken were marinated and tender and the burrito included six large shrimp that were just a bit overcooked. I chose the green sauce and the combination of everything worked well together. The beans on the plate were standard fare but the rice was very dry and overdone. Overall, I enjoyed this burrito enough that I would order it again.

Enchiladas Con Crema ($8.99). With this choice, you get two enchiladas and my wife got one with chicken and the other with ground beef. They came topped with sour cream sauce and cheese, and were served with refried beans, rice, lettuce, avocado slices and sour cream. The sauce was make or break, and in this case, my wife was disappointed. Although I liked the seasoning combination in the sauce better than her, it did not work at all on the enchilada with ground beef but came off better with the chicken. Between the sour cream sauce and all of the other sour cream, it was a gloppy mess and both my wife and I would pass on this menu item in the future.

Kids Chicken Chimichanga ($4.99). The server forgot to put this in with the original order but had it out to use within a couple of minutes of us receiving our meal. The kid’s meal was large enough to feed both my three and four year old and came with a chimichanga that my wife liked more than her meal, beans and rice. The seasoning was simple for kids but overall good value. The kids menu had many other good options making Mexico City Grill a good family destination.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes. The service was excellent and the food was above average. Whenever I visit a restaurant in its first couple of days after being opened, I am always interested in seeing if the quality of food and service changes as they get busier or slower depending on first impressions. Overall, if I am choosing between Mexico City Grill based on my first impression and the nearby Riviera Maya in the downtown area of Fishers on 116^th Street that I reviewed in May of 2010, Riviera Maya has a better environment inside, a full bar, equally good service, a better range of menu items and higher quality food with better flavor that make it the better choice of two Mexican Restaurants with similar menus and prices.

-EatHSE