Verde Flavors of Mexico Carmel — Restaurant in Carmel

I was only in town for one day for a job interview, and picked Verde randomly while scrolling the list of nearby restaurants on Google maps. Not sure whether it's dumb luck or not but I hit the jackpot because this place was amazing.

Very nice ambiance, would definitely be a place that you could dress up for a nice date, but also would not at all feel intimidated to sit at the bar dressed super casual. Right in that sweet spot.

Drink selection was everything you could want and more from a Mexican restaurant. I love tequila, and they have plenty of it, their selection is one of the best I've seen. And even more than tequila, I like mezcal, and while I drink mine on the rocks I was very impressed to see they had a page of their drinks list dedicated to mezcal cocktails.

The food menu was equally impressive, love to see authentic and diverse Mexican dishes on a menu, and this menu delivers. I started with octopus ceviche, and it's probably the best version of it I've ever had. The presentation on the plate was like artwork, i felt bad disassembling to eat it. That is until i took a bite, then all bad feelings went away. The tenderness they were able to deliver on the octopus in their ceviche took me by surprise. It made me regret not ordering their octopus entree I was on the fence about, but alas I ordered both courses at once. For entree I had their quesobirria tacos. If I go to a Mexican restaurant and they have some form of birria tacos, I often have a hard time ordering anything else, because they're always so good, and the ones I got here did not disappoint. Presentation was as good as you can go with tacos, in fairness it's pretty hard to jazz that up. Their plates were cool too. If I had to give one criticism in my review it would be that the portion of rice they give with the tacos is kind of tiny. I'm trying to reduce carbs so I didn't mind personally, but I could see someone wanting more, or just leave it off all together and I wouldn't have even thought about it.

Prices definitely a bit higher than your average Mexican restaurant, but everything you get is above average as well, I felt as though what I paid was a completely appropriate for what I got. It's my first time ever being in this state, and this is the only restaurant I've been to in this state, so I can confidently say it's the best restaurant I've been to in Indiana. But I'll also give it top 10 including anywhere...

Verde has been on our list of places to try for about a year. We decided to drop in for lunch and we’re very underwhelmed.

The atmosphere is great with the decor, bar, outdoor seating, lots of TVs with multiple sports, music, etc. The menu presents an upscale, but traditional Mexican menu with every option you have come to love about the cuisine.

The issue we found was with the food and service. I would venture to say the restaurant was about 1/3 full between the indoor seating and outdoor seating. We received chips and salsa quickly after being sat, soft drinks fast after ordering and waited about 15 minutes on the food to be delivered. However, we ate our entire meal without refills of drinks (including the pitcher of water you receive upon being sat). The waitress did not make it back for 20+ minutes while we ate and we had to ask someone else for our check. I would expect that somewhat if it were slammed, but I did not get that feeling when scanning the capacity of the restaurant and number of available servers walking around the place.

The biggest issue was the food. It comes down to being bland. We did the Pick 2 and mixed and matched to get a variety of options (which we thought would be nice in the event we come back).

The enchilada tortilla was floppy and undercooked - which overtook any of the flavor the unseasoned ground beef could have had. The tostada was a highlight with the crispy tortilla, but the chicken could have legitimately come from a can. It was unseasoned and dry. Likewise, my chicken quesadilla was sized from the kids menu and dry even with the Papa John’s stuffed crust cheese flavored cheese all compacted in the crease of the tortilla. Finally, the burrito had one single onion sliver in it (not sure if it even supposed to have onions), the beans tasted like blended turkey from Thanksgiving, and the rice was unseasoned as well.

All in all, not worth the $40-ish price tag of a...

I ate here on Sept 29th 2021 at 5:30p local. First visit. I arrived at 5:30p and was promptly seated where I asked to be. A gentleman brought chips and salsa (both really good). My date was running a few minutes late so when the waitress asked if I wanted to get something I ordered a texas margarita. Her perfume was so overwhelming that it stuck around at least 2 minutes after she left to get my drink. I am unsure of how any Resturant Manager would not have picked up on this even if just passing by this employee once. The margarita (texas rocks and salt) was good, not great. Texas margaritas should have a pretty deliberate orange flavor that this one lacked. My date arrived and we both ordered entrees, and got a bowl of queso. Meanwhile the music was so loud and reverberated off of every hard surface in the building we could barely speak. The queso was creamy but incredibly bland. Even my gf who is not into spicy food of any kind even in tiny measure was shocked at how little flavor the queso had. It was all roux and no seasoning. And though my tacos (arrachera) were really good, every visit by the waitress made it impossible to enjoy them any time she passed by us, as the scent of her perfume invaded the table for 2 minutes per trip. Towards the end of the meal after learning that I was not going to take a second margarita our waitress ignored us for quite awhile. In her defense she had a large group to take care of as well, but she passed by us multiple times when we were very clearly done eating and just waiting for a box and to pay. I finally flagged her down and she quickly brought back the receipt and to go box. My suggestions: Talk to staff about how much perfume is acceptable (not very much in a restaurant), and tone down the music. I don't know if I will give them another shot. There are better margaritas and as good a mexican food in Carmel...