El Azteca Mexican Restaurant

El Azteca has been in my crosshairs for some time, but it never seemed to percolate to the top of the list when we headed out to dine.Today, we were all home at lunchtime, and we opted to make the short hop to Claremore and give the place a shot.I'd heard good things about El Azteca from various friends and family, so I was fairly comfortable in recommending we try it out.Parking lot was pretty full at 12:30, so that reinforced my decision somewhat. We were seated immediately, and the price is surprisingly big. Much bigger than it appears from the outside. Nicely lit, plenty of bright colors and enough room so you feel you're not shoved into a tight space.The menu is a little different than your normal tex-mex fare, with only a few variations of enchiladas and burritos. The bulk of the menu us broken up into general sections: Fajitas, Seafood, Chicken, Steak and Pork. There's a page of lunch specials as well that are pretty routine, albeit with a couple of unique looking choices.We started with a bowl of queso for myself, The Wife and The Kid.The Wife had lunch beef fajitas, The Kid had the lunch beef taco salad, and I, of course, opted for...... wait for it...... pork chile verde.Because I *am* a foregone conclusion, sometimes.The queso was very good. Perfect consistency, with a nice subtly spicy undertone. In short, it was awesome.The Wife's fajitas were good, but they were of the 'all on one plate, not sizzling on a cast iron pan' variety. The flavor was all there, though, and the few bites I had were quite good.The Kid's taco salad was a well done take on a basic favorite. Not a lot of complexity to the dish at all, but for a lunchtime taco salad, it filled the bill nicely.My chile verde was exceptional. If you've read my reviews on tex-mex joints, you know I loves me some pork chile verde.This was some of the best. The pork was tender as mama's love, juicy and well seasoned. The sauce had the proper proportions of tomatillos, chilis and acid. By itself it would have made a great salsa. My only comment on the pork, and it's *just* a comment, not at all a criticism... is that I would have liked to see the pork with a little sear on it. Pretty sure the cook just plopped it in the pan and braised it until it fell apart... and there's not one thing wrong with that. It's just been my experience that a little pre-braise sear adds that extra depth of flavor to the dish.Again.... I'm not complaining at ALL. I cleaned my plate, and would have licked it clean had not decorum (and The Wife) got the better of me and stopped me.If I have any criticism to make, it's that the service seemed a bit off. It took quite a while to get drinks refilled, even in a nearly empty room (by this time, the lunch crowd was largely gone). That said, I've had far worse. This experience in no way will prevent me from returning again.For a short 10 minute drive from home, El Azteca is well worth it in my book.

Dead water bug under table next to us and flies everywhere. Food on floor. Big owner should put down his phone and grab a mop.Plain salsa, dry beans, average rice. Tamales old and reheated. High prices.Too many better options to settle.

Excellent food and drinks. Great enchiladas and I highly recommend the Burrito Cho Cho! Drinks are not watered down at all - alcohol strong!

EXCELLENT food .. great service .. average price for Mexican food . Portions are reasonably generous for the price . Great atmosphere. Overall very pleased !!

On the poor side of average Mexican food.This Mexican food is the no spice and no heat kind. The salsa is very mild; it's not much more than tomato sauce. The hot salsa has some heat to it, but very little spice. It was a little sour for my liking either from too much lime juice or tomatillo.We tried the Aztecas Burrito and the Tacos de Carne Asada.Two things really made these meals disappointing. One, the food did not seem to be fresh and two; it was only barely warm when served. When I opened the foil on the Tacos de Carne Asada, the beef did not smell freshly cooked. It had a hint being reheated or the smell of old grease from a flat top grill. The only seasoning in the beef was from the onions and a little cilantro that was cooked with it. The pico de gallo looked like it had been made several days ago. It was not fresh at all. The beef in the Aztecas Burrito had even less flavor. And both plates of food were only warm.On the positive side both the burrito and the tacos were packed with beef. They were not at all stingy with the meat. We had a great server and the food came out with in a few minutes after we ordered it.It was Sunday at noon and obviously from the packed parking lot, folks must really like this place. For me, I have found much better Mexican food in Clarmore.

I have remembered some pretty decent meals here. Today's lunch was just so-so.I was afraid salsa was going to get slopped on us as it was poured out of beer pitcher. Our server seemed super rough and was borderline gruff. I ordered the #1 lunch special, a chile relleno with a taco and guac. Guac was good (better than average). Relleno was just average. Beans were just OK. Taco was just a taco. The good thing is it's fast and we were able to sit at one table (six of us). I think I like El Banquette better.

The food was okay. But I did not like the salsa because it was missing spice and cilantro. The salsa tasted like tomato's and black pepper. If you do not like spicy food or cilantro this might be the Mexican restaurant for you.

The worst Mexican food I have ever been served. Red sauce was just tomato sauce. Their idea of a burrito was plain ground meet in a corn tortilla covered in tomato sauce. Just awful. No spices used in any of the food. What a shame.

The Hispanic lady that took my to go order was very rude and did not follow instructions about my order(s). She screamed "BYE" throwing her hand up and strutted away with attitude and start singing loudly in spanish after she roughly removed items from the bag. I feel she was being rude in her own language so that I could not understand. BUT right before she took my order she helped this caucasian couple and was up most respectful to them, they even got a goodbye smile.

I made the mistake of not checking my take out order before I left. I noticed they got my order wrong, and when I called for a refund they just hung up on me.