El Fenix
1620 E. Copeland Road
Arlington, Texas 76011
http://www.elfenix.com

This place bills itself as “the original Tex-Mex,” claiming to have started the so-called Tex-Mex movement back in 1918 and that their style has “been copied, but never duplicated.” Considering this high (self) billing, I was a bit surprised to see that lunch hour on a Sunday — with a home Cowboys game at 3:15 and a home Rangers World Series game that night, mind you — was pretty light. Both of those teams I mentioned play in venues that are within walking distance of the restaurant. I sat right down at the bar but noticed there was no wait for regular seating either. A bad omen, perhaps? Or just a haphazard coincidence? Either was possible. The atmosphere was basically exactly as you’d expect from a Tex-Mex place, and props to them for having three flat screen TVs hanging inside the bar (it was a U-shape, so each side of the bar was provided its own view of an HD NFL game).

What I Got: El Fenix Dinner; $13.99. It has: Guacamole, one cheese enchilada, one meat taco (I went ground beef; a decidedly boring choice, I know, but I like it), one soft cheese taco and two tamales topped with chili con carne. Rice and refried beans come as sides.

The problem most certainly wasn’t the quantity, as that was a pretty big portion of food for that price. It was the quality that was lacking.

Look, it wasn’t horrible. As WIBIA might say, I wasn’t offended by anything. I just…man, for saying it’s never been “duplicated” I felt an awful lot like I’ve had this meal dozens of times in the Indianapolis area. The cheese (queso, basically) that was melted over the enchilada was actually pretty good, but the chili con carne was bland and had no spice. The beef taco was a run-of-the-mill taco and the shell didn’t even have a decent crunch. I could have made it myself, except I’d at the very least actually fill the shell with a decent helping of meat instead of a minuscule spoonful. I feel like the tamales might have been done pretty well, but the chili con carne had already ruined them. Same thing for the soft cheese taco, which was also buried below the lackluster con carne (that taco is at the top of the plate, going horizontally, under the sauce). But, really, what’s the point of having a cheese soft taco unless what covers it makes it worthwhile?

Would I Buy It Again? No, I wouldn’t. As I said above, nothing was offensive or worthy of being sent back, but it was average at best. Considering I’m an Indiana resident saying that about a Tex-Mex place in freaking Texas, that’s pretty bad. I also didn’t care for the non-flexibility of the combinations. A lot of the stuff I wanted was listed on different dishes, and I couldn’t go a la carte. For example, I’m not a huge fan of guacamole, but chose this one because the offerings with sour cream (which I prefer) didn’t have enough items I really wanted. I don’t understand what the point is of having like twenty different combinations if you can’t be sure that all of them will cater to every customer. If I’m a boring Midwesterner who only wants some combination of burritos, enchiladas and tacos with sour cream and not guac, why can’t I do that? I wouldn’t even be picky on the meats in that case. Why not just assign prices to an a la carte menu with all these items? It saves menu space and each customer can happily choose an item. But it’s cool, I won’t have the issue again, because I’m not going back. I should have found it a bit curious that it was the closest Tex-Mex place to my hotel but my concierge — who knew I was going on foot — didn’t say a word about it when I asked for Tex-Mex restaurants (I ended up going anyway because I was pressed for time that day).

-Show

Chile Verde
7369 N Shadeland Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46250

It seems that this city is filled with strip mall Mexican restaurants and Chile Verde is another one of those located on the Northeast side at roughly 75th & Shadeland Avenue.

As with most Mexican restaurants, they start you with unlimited chips and salsa and ordinarily I wouldn’t comment on this, but in this case, I have to because this was good salsa.  The salsa was little runny for my tastes, but outside of that the taste was spot on.  I prefer my salsas to be overpowering and this one had an overpowering taste of onion and cilantro.  If you like mild salsas, you aren’t going to like this one because this one might make your nose run.  Anyway, on with the actual meal…

What I Got:  Pick Four Combo (Chicken Taco, Beef Burrito, Chicken Chalupa, Bean Enchilada) $9.99.

First things first, this was A LOT of food, as you can see.  In the lower plate are the taco and the chalupa.  The upper plate includes the burrito, enchilada, rice and refried beans (rice and refried beans are served with all combo meals).  As with most of these strip center Mexican places, my food was served in about fourteen seconds.  I don’t know how they do it, but that always makes me laugh.

Taste-wise, the chicken taco and chicken chalupa were outstanding and that is because the chicken was outstanding.  The chicken was freshly cooked, large and tender.  In my experience, that doesn’t happen a lot and when it does, it is truly appreciated.  I also appreciated that they used traditional queso fresco on all the dishes as opposed to the cheddar cheese that you see on most “Americanized” Mexican dishes.

The burrito and enchilada on the other hand were just boring.  They weren’t bad, but they also weren’t anything to write home about.  The beef was greasy, mushy and seemed like it had just been sitting in a warmer box for hours even though the restaurant had just opened for lunch.  Not an encouraging sign.  The beans in my enchilada seemed like they were poured straight out of a can and really were no different than the bean mix that you would get in a bean burrito at Taco Bell.  If I’m paying “premium” prices, I’d like my beans to be a little better than that which I could get at Taco Bell.

The rice and beans were just rice and beans.  Again, the beans were the same thing used in the burrito, so they weren’t all that wonderful.  The rice, while tasty, seemed like it had also been sitting in the warmer box for a while as well and that was disappointing.

Would I Buy It Again?  Perhaps I’m a glutton for punishment, but yes, I would buy this again.  In the future, I wouldn’t mess around with the beans or the beef though and I would go straight for the chicken.  I’ve certainly had better Mexican food than this and I’ve definitely had worse, but for $9.99 (I also had a $1.00 off coupon from coupons4indy.com), you are getting a very filling meal that really isn’t going to cost you all that much and has a halfway decent taste.

-IndianapolisEater

El Taco Torro
79th and Michigan
Indianapolis, IN

My first review/visit was a mixed bag.  I liked the burrito, but some of the tacos were filled with low quality meat.  At the end of the review, I didn’t think that I could give it a wibia-yes or no.  I decided to give it another try thinking that a second visit would help me make up my mind.

The chips and salsa are still pretty bad.  They give you a red salsa and a green salsa and cold chips.  At Mexican restaurants, I commonly eat so many chips that I don’t have room for my entree.  Here, I just push them aside, not worth the calories.

I ordered two chicken tacos, an al pastor taco and a carne asada burrito.   The tacos are served with cheese, lettuce and sour cream…not an authentic preparation of just cilantro and onions.  However, I liked the chicken more than the al pastor and I would say that both meats were of average quality.  They use a full-fat sour cream and it makes the tacos a little too rich for my taste.  With the sour cream and cheese, I tasted more dairy than I did meat.

Mirrored from my last visit, the burrito was slightly above average.  This version had a lot more pinto beans.  The shell was warm and there was a good meat ratio to the beans and rice.  They throw a little lettuce in for crunch.   I wouldn’t say that it is significantly better than surrounding taquerias, but for $4.99, it is a great value.

Would I Buy I Again?  I hate to say it…Yes and No.  Overall, I would give this meal a 6/10…slightly above average.

Yes: A solid burrito alternative (to Chipotle and Qdoba) on the NW Side.  Cheap.

No: All the meats are average.  I prefer neighboring El Pastorcito for tacos (directly across the street).  Chips and salsa are horrible.

I wouldn’t have any reservations visiting El Taco Torro, but at the same time, it is not my go-to taqueria in the area.

-wibia

[Editor's Note:  Please note the date of this review.  This is when this product item was under development and being sold in the Indianapolis area test market.]

What I Got:  Taco Bell Shrimp Tacos $2.49

You can probably tell how this is going to go by looking at the pic. I saw the commercial yesterday and decided to stop by.  I love fish tacos, but had huge reservations about Taco Bell’s interpretation of any seafood in tacos.

Six marinated shrimp, lettuce, pico and a ranch based sauce.  First impression, where are the shrimp?  I had to dig for them through the over-sauced taco.  I pulled out three and set them next to a hot sauce packet so you can see the size.   Wow, really small.

As far as taste, it wasn’t horrible, but it was close.  Compared to a real dish fish taco, it was laughable, but I expected it to be worse.   It was difficult to taste the shrimp by themselves because they were small and most of them covered in sauce, but the “marinade” tasted like any run of the mill bottled margarita/southwest flavored marinade.

Would I Buy It Again:  No. For $2.49 and under, there are a lot of choices on the Taco Bell menu and 99% of them are better tasting and a far better value.  If the shrimp were an honest size, it would be a lot better…though I am not sure it would save this taco.

I can’t find any nutrition info online, or any details for that matter.  Wondering if this is a market specific launch?

-wibia

What I Got:  Volcano Taco $1.19

In honor of a the new Volcano Nachos and it has been 8 days from our last review… I thought that I would release this from the archives.

Standard $0.89 taco plus Lava Sauce.  Lava Sauce is not that spicy, but this is coming from a guy that thought that “Wall of Flame” was a good idea.  However, I like the sauce.  A little bit of a burn and a little hotter than their Fire sauce.  There wasn’t a lot of Lava Sauce on the taco, but enough to understand that this has a little kick to it.  The red shells are nothing more than red shells.  No extra flava.

I realized after eating this that salsa, pico or tomatoes are a must on tacos for me.  I like a little sour cream at times as well, but I can’t go without tomatoes.  IMO, Taco Bell needs to turn up the heat on Lava Sauce.  Take a less from Cheetos v. Flaming Hot Cheetos.   They turned up the heat and nailed it.

Would I Buy It Again? No. I am not that big of a fan of the standard taco from Taco Bell and the Lava Sauce wasn’t enough to take it over the top.  However, if you like the $.89 taco, then you will probably like this.  I am more of a supreme guy.  I liked the flavor of lava sauce and would like to see it used in other parts of the menu.

Note to Taco Bell:  Make Volcano Sauce hotter!

-wibia

-WIBIA

Taco Bell Bacon Cheesy Potato Burrito
Price: $2.79

Taco Bell was basically off my radar until I read the about how they opened their test kitchen for WIBIA friends, Epic Portions and Grub Grade. Since then, Taco Bell sounds pretty good…your plan worked Taco Bell….damn you!!

The Bacon Cheesy Potato Burrito was packed full of said ingredients along with some ground beef and sour cream as well.  I was impressed with the size even before I took a bite.  I was relived to see some substance since Taco Bell has the tendency to be skimpy at times.

Right away, you get a nice bacon flavor.  Throughout the burrito, I didn’t taste the sour cream at all.  It was all about the cheese and bacon while the potatoes and the ground beef were more filler than anything else.  My wife asked how it was and she tried a bite…”Hey…that is pretty good!”  She was right.

Would I Buy It Again?  A strong Yes. Bravo Taco Bell, damn fine job.  This is actually now my favorite burrito from Taco Bell and I hope it stays on the menu.  However, I would’ve like to see them incorporate some Lava Sauce in here somehow.  It would’ve benefited from a little kick.

Yum:
Basically a loaded potato skin in a burrito
Packed with ingredients
Filling
My Favorite Taco Bell Burrito

Yuck:
680 Calories, 36g Fat

-wibia

89¢ Value Menu

IndianapolisEater already did a Review on this, but since it was new, I thought that I would give it a try at my closest Taco Bell.  He gave it the thumbs down…

WTF is this?!?!?!  89¢ for a tortilla shell and three small pieces of chicken and a sprinkle of rice, lettuce, cheese and avocado ranch.  I took this picture, nothing removed, Scouts Honor.

Even at 89¢ on the value menu, this is a rip off.  Taco Bell, please stop making this.  It is a bad value abd at 440 calories it is not good for you and tastes horrible.

Would I Buy It Again? No, hell no.  Glen Bell is rolling in his grave.

[Editor's Note: This was posted prior to Glen Bell's death and was an oversight on our part.  Now that Glen actually has passed, he will be sorely missed.]

-WIBIA