El Azteca Mexican Restaurant & Tequila Bar — Restaurant in Fort Wayne

We visit Ft Wayne several times a year and there's always a planned stop at a Mexican eatery. On our most recent trip that Mexican eatery was El Azteca.

I can honestly say that I think we've finally found a Mexican restaurant we can rely on. We've eaten at well over a dozen Mexican places in/around Ft Wayne over the last few years and this is the first one that has not only not let us down, but also has some nifty takes on some old classics.

When we pulled in the parking lot I wasn't really sure what to expect. From the outside it had the look of a building that had been added on to several times and may have originated as a house. At the same time, it had a lot of character.

For a Saturday afternoon we were seated very quickly in the bar and almost immediately had chips in salsa in front of our faces. We were, quite literally, starving so that first basket didn't last long.

Our server was Angie and she was spot-on with everything. She greeted us about midway through our first basket of chips and took our orders. You could tell that Angie enjoyed her work and she was very good at it. Always pleasant, always attentive, and didn't mind slowing down enough to have a brief conversation. Servers do a lot of going-thru-the-motions, but it's when a server stops to engage you in conversation it's a nice touch.

The menu is pretty extensive, but I almost immediately targeted the Nacho Crispies. A bit of a spin on your regular, every day nachos....and it was AWESOME. Food delivery time? From order to eating in less than 10 minutes. IMPRESSIVE

The décor is bright and cheerful and had an authenticity to it, not overdone and cheesy like some Mexican eateries. The bar was brightly but not obnoxiously lit, and the bar was well stocked and chances are it had whatever you were looking for. This bar was massive!

This was a GREAT lunch, and I'm glad we stumbled upon El Azteca. I think we found a Mexican eatery in Fort Wayne that we can rely on. See...

I never leave reviews unless I have a really good experience or a really bad experience. Unfortunately, this was a really bad, if not, terrible experience. Upon arriving, the lobby was packed. We knew immediately that we would be waiting a bit. That’s okay. What wasn’t okay was the hostess being completely overwhelmed and not having silverware, menus, or a single clue as to which tables were open. We witnessed her leave the hostess area every couple of minutes to check which tables were open. Servers would come in to let her know there were 4 or 5 open tables often—I feel like the system is not efficient whatsoever. When we were sat, we received one menu for our 4 top. Our server, Errity, was amazing and apologized many times albeit they were things completely out of her control. Still not having silverware or napkins from a mess our daughter accidentally made, another server informed us that they were behind on a lot of things (implying that there was no clean silverware). Margaritas were great, queso was great, but I can’t say the same for the food. Our 2 kids received their cheese quesadillas about 45 minutes after ordering. After waiting over an hour for our food, my husband’s food and mine finally came out but we just requested a box immediately as our children were falling asleep at the table. I had to scrape my arroz con pollo into the box with a fry from my daughter’s plate as we still never had silverware. Arrived at 5:40 and didn’t leave until 7:30. We noticed the mother at the table next to us also didn’t receive her food (a chicken and cheese quesadilla) until far after her husband and children and also requested a box immediately because they needed to get going. I’m not sure if and when we will be back. Disappointed that this was our experience when the new ownership has many other great...

Was super disappointed to say the least. The environment was nothing special. But I could live with that if the food was good which it wasn't. Sooooo bland! I got chicken and steak fajitas and it seemed like they slapped chicken and steak out of the package, put on the grill to burn, left all the chewy rubbered fat on it, and served as little of portions to you for a high price. So sad when it came out i looked at it and saw 3 little strips of chicken and a small veggie portion i told her this is it? I got a combo with steak and chicken and your barely given me 3 strips of chicken breast, she took it back and redid it. When it came back out no flavor I had to season it with salt and pepper like I was eating at a nursing home with dietary restrictions not an awarding Mexican restaurant that Fort Wayne was proud to flaunt, i remember it use to be so busy you could barely walk through the door! The plate with the toppings, rice and beans -- toppings were little scoops of shredded cheese, plain diced tomato, and lettuce... WHERE IS THE PICO DE GALLO? The rice was so mooshy the only texture in it was the corn had it spit it out cause I don't like it soft like mashed potatoes. It was watered down Mexican food with soupy tomato juice for salsa which was supposed to be their spicy. The passion is gone from this little Mexican restaurant the only thing they have going for them are their expensive margiritas which were pretty standard that you could get at any local restaurant. Honestly save your money not worth the hype it use to have. There are way better options in Fort Wayne than poor El Azteca. Won't be an option for us again. Hopefully this gets to someone that can...