El Cantarito — Restaurant in Chesterton

Perhaps the staff were somewhat in culture shock, or not anticipating 2 African-American Pastors and one's Wife for Sunday dinner. The waitress came to the table without introducing herself. Maybe make-up a name, and accompany it with a painted on smile, for business sake. But to not at least attempt to start off on a good foot, and not even share specials, or even offer water, recommend items from the menu, make us feel welcome to say the least spoke volumes to me. She never came back to check on us. The other Pastor's Wife kindly called her to ask for a beverage refill. The server took the glass without saying a word, then returned with it full of ice and a little soda, and said, "that good?". We all said simultaneously, "thank you". (She laughed aloud with caucasian guests sitting at nearby tables, sharing warm conversation, and noboby attended to ours for anything after getting our food, except for the bill.) Then at approx.25mins into a table with half full plates, the male manager came to the table with the bill, never asked how are things....and said, "folks here's the bill, can we take care of this right now?" The Elder Pastor at the table said, "Sure Sir", and proceeded to pay, as the gentleman took other plates from the table, straight faced. Let me say that we felt the coolness from entering the establishment, so it didn't shock us that nobody said, "Hi" or behaved like we were "paying, respectable, college educated, Seminary trained, 55-70yr old people coming from church, and chose their restaurant to enjoy a meal", after all we know certain parts of Indiana are known for such activity. Upon getting up from the table to exit, the waitress who we began with, suddenly emerged from the back after staying gone since the one request for refill; peeping out at us never said, "thanks for coming", at least for the nice tip we left, inspite of the unfriendly atmosphere they seemingly purposed to project, with numerous actions saying that projected, don't stop here again. In conclusion, I felt sad for them because they were "brown" and we too were people of color, yet they went to extreme to leave "all" niceties out and wait on fellow minorities with a straight face...particularly 2 African-American Pastors from Indiana that serve on various boards designed to root out this ignorant behavior experienced by all nationalities for decades. Well, Indiana we are often figured amongst the more "blue collared" of America, and let's remember that money is green, brown, silver, and "our" credit cards were "black labeled AMEX, and those stipulated to people with weighty accounts", indicating that business should be "smart" and open with a light of brotherhood, at least for the restaurants pockets sake. I bless this business in Jesus' name, and hope that next time fellow minorities or patrons of "any" race, creed, color, national origin, sexual expression, or form uncommon to them, that they'd consider that those people may perhaps bless their house with their presence, and close the evening with payment and a thank you for the...

I was in the area and wanted to see what this place had to offer. I was attracted by it at first, but I guess I should have let that curiosity stay as one.

My significant other and I were seated fairly fast at a booth. It was comfortable at least, which was good with all the waiting we endured. We were given complementary chips and salsa, luckily. They were okay at best. The chips didn’t seem fresh and the salsa had potential, but to me it seemed to be too much like a liquid. It almost appeared as if it was diluted with water. The next chips and salsa we were given weren’t any better. Even salt and pepper didn’t help either batch we got.

When our server finally got to our table, I ordered a Fountain Diet Pepsi for 3.0. This place didn’t have a menu for alcohol, so that was a bummer. We ended up getting a Cantarito and a margarita. There wasn’t an option for us to get a certain size for either one, but that wasn’t a big deal. The Diet Pepsi was served in a big cup, so that was great. Our server took a long time to get me a refill on it. I was glad that they both tasted decent at least. The Cantarito was alright. It seemed to have a little bit too much tequila in it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to keep the cup like I got to in Mexico. The margarita wasn’t good. It was bland. It needed a good blast of fresh lime juice in my opinion.

We ordered the Guacamole to try. It was 8.5, which was steep. It had Chunky avocado with pico de gallo. It was a decent size and it wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t necessarily call it good, either. I ordered the Burrito El Cantarito. It was 14.0, so I was hoping it was going to be worth the price. It had Grilled chicken, steak, chorizo, beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, smothered with cheese sauce and topped with avocado. This was really big, but bland. There were so many things inside it, so to be that bland, was odd to me. It wasn’t worth the price at all.

The service was bad. It didn’t seem too busy, so I thought we would have swift service. Our server wasn’t attentive. She came off as not wanting to be there.

Overall, this place was a fail. I wouldn’t want to come back here.

Date of...

Something went wrong with this Mexican cuisine place. The atmosphere inside looks like an authentic restaurant. They have a mural painted. Evoking one of the most famous painters in America (the continent), history. Which one may think it could be a nice place to eat. They have also outdoor tables. We picked one of those. The waitress pointed a table for three in seconds flat. At the beginning very attentive and serviceable. The menu. Wow.!! Names and photos that may seduce anyone interested in the variety and creativity. Cons: the outside service may be suffering a certain disadvantage, since once you are sitting there. It seems like they forget about you. After ten minutes waiting, the lady came and took the order. No details. No additional info. They assume you know the plate and content. Chips and salsas in the same container. (?) that is totally unacceptable, since the chips were in contact with the small containers with salsas. After few reasonable minutes, plates just came in. Pictures may be eloquent enough to fall in love with the presentation. Which can be taken as a competitive advantage. Good point.! However, flavor was a total disgrace. I’ve been in hundred of Mexican restaurants and I know the authentic flavor of enchiladas, burritos and fajitas. Unfortunately, flavor it was far away of expectations, not just mine but my two guests. For those who don’t know the real or authentic flavor of these dishes, it may be impressive. But let me tell you, that’s not the flavor.. Absolutely not.! That’s simply sad. Because the indoor atmosphere , location and all the good points goes straight to the floor with those weird flavors. From my point of view, they should take care of flavor. Unless, I repeat, unless they change the whole recipe to create an adaptation to northern flavor. Which is tricky. If that’s the case, you may not advertise the place as an authentic one. Sorry but...