Huarache Azteca — Restaurant in Dunedin

Highly recommend El Huarche if you are interested in authentic Mexican Cuisine & the perfect place to enjoy friendly faces & great food. To start the staff is friendly and helped to make sure I understand the menu so I was ordering the correct food and not just pointing to a pretty picture. It was a blessing to find great food, taste, near home plus it was a perfect match for me when the atmosphere felt welcomed & full of smiles. I can confirm being Mexican American originally from Merida Yucatan Mexico and born & raised in San Diego mexican food must be authentic and close to my Grandmother's cooking for it to be considered Mexican Food and not Tex Mex or a bunch of sour cream and topping thrown together with dry meat in a cold tortilla everything but taste and spices make me question authentic Mexican food or Mexican Cuisine. My Nana found El Huarache about 5 years ago and familiarized the restaurant with the Aguilar family. If you are looking for the complete Mexican restaurant you must try El Huarache. It has everything that reminds me of home cooked Mexican food just like my home town style & quality Mexican Food made in San Diego Ca. El Huarache concentrate on cooking quality yet amazing homemade mexican food combined with great mexican spices and they have a perfect location near the shops that I frequent daily. Since they're located mins from Clearwater, Palm Harbor Florida in Pinellas County I don't have to worry about driving to Tampa wasting time on gas or commute when I want great tasting Mexican food like I always had to before finding this restaurant about 5-6 yrs ago. My grandmother always taught me how to cook mexican original dishes which they do take time and a lot of preparation for perfect taste but most of all they were made with love & tons of flavor isnt something I always had time or energy to make so I learned to live without. My family close to Mexico we orininated from San Diego CA over 20 years ago where almost every corner was a great taco shop or mexican restaurant but here in FL it was like finding gold or impossible to find anything close to mexican food and most likely taco bell or just another Tex Mex Americanized Restaurant claiming to make everything but actual Mexican Food. I missed the convenience of home I even tried to tell my Nana that she should open up her own restaurant in FL and people would be lining up for blocks and blocks to try authentic food it would be a brilliant idea & also take money and time she rather move to FL to retire she always told me its too much work & Florida people don't care for Mexican. I used to Drive to Tampa for anything close to mexican besides Celito Lindo in Tarpon Springs FL they're a small taco shop that comes close to El Huarche's. Everything is salted correctly & tastes perfect. Once I asked for something not on menu & they went above & beyond when my waitress she had the chef make me something similar to my request they didn't make to accommodate the dish like my Nana makes at home for me. I wanted picked purple onions with vinegar with my pork tacos to complement just the right amount of cilantro & lime. The waitress said they don't have however I couldn't believe they were able to make the effort and my request instead of just saying no that they didn't have it. After moving to Florida from CA I thought I wouldn't ever find authentic Mexican restaurant & atmosphere in driving distance that could come close to my Grandmother's Mexican Food. But I can honestly recommend this place and hope you get the chance to experience taste, quality, friendly authentic Mexican Food that deserves a full 5 rating where it counts. Anything close to my 'Nana's cooking without having to cook it myself is El Huarache. Usually its impossible to find anything close to home cooked or home made until my grandmother found El Huarache Azteca. It's near Michigan on Alternate 19 PH. Passed Bayshore if you're going towards Downtown Dunedin is El Huarache. Even finding anything close to authentic was almost impossible until I found this...

Wow, let this be a PSA for the world!! Really, I should’ve known being that there were absolutely no cars in the parking lot during happy hour. Decided to stop in on our 20 mile bike ride to a Dunedin brewery and back. The waitress said she would give us a “strong margarita” and although I knew it wasn’t a happy hour special (happy hour specials are the cheap margarita mixes full of sugar), I simply asked her to have it made with “less sugar than normal”. Well, she must’ve misunderstood me because it came without any hint of alcohol whatsoever. My husband didn’t dare touch it after tasting it because he was disgusted. I finished the lime water and just wanted to get outta there. I sorta figured at that point that she would charge me $14 for it since that was the top-shelf pricing….but no, I was charged $15 for a “skinny” margarita. Lol. Okaaaay….on my receipt is a “service charge” for $1.80 for no apparent reason. And the fajitas my husband ordered, which was chicken (as we were going with the cheapest options at this place when we figured out it was a scam restaurant). Well, there are TWO prices for chicken fajitas. One normal, which we ordered $14.99. And another of SIZZLING for $18.99. Well, we never uttered the words sizzling because we certainly didn’t want to pay extra just to hear that sound. However, we ended up PAYING for sizzling despite us never ordering it. This place is a pure joke or a tourist trap or whatever you may call it but please do not allow this place to stay in business. They need to learn to play by the rules and not try with all their might to rip off each and every person who enters their doors. Since my husband and I are calm, quiet people we prefer to just pay our bill but never to return. I’ve made it my life mission to let everyone who reads this review know that if they enter this establishment, they will be deceived and screwed! Seriously, go...

There was an odor when we first walked in, like they needed to change their mop head or unclog a drain behind the bar. The place could use redecorating. Chairs, tables, flooring worn through, ceiling should be painted black, and low walls need to come down. It feels like you are boxed in. Some of the menus had dried and/or wet food on them. One of our glasses had a crack in the rim. I got the feeling they have little if any oversight here. The Carne Asada was unlike any I had ever seen. Instead of sliced steak, it was 3 pieces of flattened, dry, unseasoned shoe leather served with a cactus leaf, which was not good. The [pork Colorado dish] was so hot it was inedible. I was told by other guests that it has never been that spicy in the past. The refried beans were basic and unseasoned. The rice was similar. They could use more flavor. IMHO the plates had too much beans and rice. The fried ice cream was good, although inconsistent from person to person. Some had a crispy, sweet tortilla cup and some didn't. The churros were good. The service was friendly and accurate, but a little absent. (I think they had trouble seeing us behind the half-walls)

Had I not been with family that was excited to eat here, I would have walked back out after the smell and seeing the state of the menus.

I would go again, but: I'd walk right out if I smelled that same smell. I'd try more common dishes such as burritos or enchiladas. I'd sit along the windows or near the bar instead of the interior dungeon. I'd be sure to inspect my glasses. I'd bring a wipe to...