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Acapulco Joe's
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
10 reviews for Acapulco Joe's
5 stars for being what it is.
This is Indianapolis's first Mexican restaurant. It's food is arguably less authentically "Mexican" than Taco Bell--it sort of reminds me of cafeteria-style Mexican. The interior feels like a throwback to the 1970's, with lots of photos on the walls. They blast God Bless America over the speakers twice a day (the founder was very fond of his adopted country). Good drinks. Good tamales. Good times.
After walking by on numerous walks, my boyfriend and I decided to give this place a try. We were very hungry from a long long walk. What a mistake that was. The food was laughably gross. Read on if you don't get queasy easily....
The chips were stale, hardly salty, and very dry. Since they didn't bring salsa, we decided to use what we thought was hot sauce to moisten the chips. It was not hot. According to other reviews, this thin and practically flavorless concoction was supposed to be salsa. It tasted nothing like any salsa I've ever tried, and was not even as good as store-bought. The only good note is that they serve Negro Modelo, a great dark beer. You really need it to choke down what comes later.
We ordered some chile rellenos as an appetizer. I LOVE chile rellenos, and generally at authentic or non-authentic places, they are good, if not awesome. What came out looked like large hush puppies, served with what is supposed to be con queso and lettuce and tomato. Over-fried, meat was lower grade than Taco Bell, and I need a whole new paragraph on the queso sauce.
"It tastes like the color gray!" my boyfriend exclaimed, though I highly doubt the color gray has a texture like cream of wheat. Isn't queso supposed to be smooth? It also had a lackluster color and lackluster flavor. There was very little chile and a whole lot of fried coating and the nasty meat. We started to get nervous about the main course.
I decided on the "Mexican" Dinner, which has an enchilada, taco, spanish rice, and refried beans. It's very hard to go wrong with any of those, right? Well, Acapulco Joe's is just short-bus enough to get it completely foul. First off, I have never seen soupy spanish rice from a packet, authentic, inauthentic, homemade, or even a frozen meal. This was practically a stew, and tasted like it was bathed in the crap they call salsa. The beans were insulting. I tried mixing them together to combat the tastes, but it still sucked. The taco shell was stale, the cheese was still very cold, it was pretty much all lettuce and tomato, and they had slopped the enchilada sauce all over the side, making it even harder to eat properly. The enchilada sauce was not good, and I have had better ones from a freezer aisle.
Normally, I would finish even a large plate at a mexican restaurant, but after only a few bites, I was done. We laughed and made fun of how bad it was all the way home. I even considered smoking a cigarette to get the taste out of my mouth.
Well, it had the last laugh. One of us woke up at 3 am with numerous bouts of diarrhea and the other has a stomach ache all day. I'll leave it up to you to figure out who was who.
If anyone wants to go to Acapulco Joe's with you, or even claims to like their food, call an asylum or slap them in the face. They need one or the other.
Do not EVER go here! I am a grad student and I decided to try it one day with my girlfriend for lunch. Needless to say, I have numerous complaints. #1 It was FILTHY! I am not usually picky, but it made my stomach turn. I caught a glimpse of some of the people working in the kitchen and they looked like they crawled out from under a rock. The stale chips they gave us while we waited almost 20 min for someone to take our order were not enough to keep us waiting. After waiting nearly another 30 minutes, in a near empty restaurant, to be served very basic foods, we walked out. I won't be back.
After living Indianapolis for five years, we decided to give the place a try. We ordered the chicken flauta's and were underwhelmed by the food. the chips were store old, funky, and stale. The 'salsa' was like watered-down ketchup with a few spices thrown in. The source ream was ok, but the guacamole looked old and seemed flat in taste. The service was ok.
While I suspect that they would punt with you, there were no vegetarian items listed, and the "chili gravy" that accompanied everything seemed a mystery to us. As several others have noted the place is nowhere near authentic--it is more akin to truck-stop Mexican.
We can check this off the places to try out in Indy.
10 yrs ago, this was the place to go after working Night Shift, we Loved the Spicy Sausage & Biscuits for breakfast
recently we went there, it seems dirty & the food was cold, it's lost it's ambiance
& they didn't want me to play God Bless America by Kate Smith???????
Joe's gone now too (probably rolling in his grave)
I don't think that people go to this place to be overwhelmed by the quality of the food. This is definitely not authentic Mexican food--it's "Tex-Mex." Acapulco Joe's is authentic Indianapolis. It is a landmark. The chips and salsa (out of a squeeze bottle) are excellent. I'm usually too full off of them to eat my meal.
Fun environment with good cheap eats. It's not really anything special but it is an Indianapolis institution. I highly recommend the tamales and the chips and salsa to start the meal are always delicious!
Sucks. The mexican food was like Chili's, and the margaritas were nothing special. No thanks.
I was not too impressed. The chips are like taco shells, the salsa is taco sauce in a ketchup bottle. I'm still searching for a good place to get fresh salsa in Indianapolis!
Acapulco Joe's was an ok experience but it's right next to Le Peep, which I've heard *much* better things about. I will try it before going back to AJ.
I went for lunch so I didn't drink, but they advertised a lot of drink specials. They were good for groups - they accomodated our large group with no advance notice, and there was another big group that had brought in their own birthday cake.