Fiesta Jalisco — Restaurant in Indian Harbour Beach

Passion, tradition, and distinction. These are the qualities of great Mexican cuisine. These are not found at Fiesta Jalisco.

As someone from Texas, I’ve had a fair share of authentic Mexican and Tex-Mex. I am so sorry for the Northerners who come here and think this is good. Please direct your taste buds elsewhere.

The first red flag was the salsa. It’s watery and bland. It was worse than Tostitos mild salsa, and that’s a 2/10 salsa in my book.

Let’s move to the drinks. I had a jalapeño margarita, kind of difficult to mess up. However, watering the drink down, and chopping the jalapeños so they could be sucked up the straw are poor choices. Margaritas are supposed to have actual juice, and dance with the flavor of the tequila. This was just poorly infused jalapeño water. Friends in my party got other margaritas, and the only halfway decent one was the frozen, which definitely came pre-mixed (a hint for what’s to come).

Next we tried to order beef and shrimp fajitas. They are not technically on the menu, there’s a trio option, and a beef & chicken one. This is a common request at most Mexican places, just a simple meat substitution. Our waiter said this was impossible. He said the fajitas came pre-packed (red flag!!!) and they would take the chicken off the trio. This means they do not have any fresh shrimp available. At a restaurant where you can see the ocean. We got the trio. As you can see from the pictures other people have posted, it looks a little suspect. The huge, inedible veggies are a dead giveaway. Either the chef thinks “julienne” is a person, or this is something premade and reheated.

The fixings for the fajitas weren’t better. The refried beans were a gray-brown paste, the pico rubbery, the rice made rice-a-roni look gourmet, and the cheese was definitely in a freezer at some point. But the worst offender were the tortillas. Straight out of the bag, warmed up in a microwave tortillas. Tortillas that made Mission tortillas seem edible. Most authentic Mexican places will make all of this in house, including the tortillas. We did run out of tortillas (four between two people), and Fiesta Jalisco has the gall to CHARGE for more tortillas. For you northerners, this is like Olive Garden charging for more breadsticks, or charging for your New York style pizza to be sliced. You would get run out of town for blasphemy like this in Texas. They don’t even MAKE the tortillas, it costs them like 2¢ a tortilla.

My other friend ordered a chicken quesadilla, and it had BONES in it. This was a first, and honestly the most shocking thing. I’m speechless, and bewildered. How on earth can you think that’s a good idea? The chicken is inside a tortilla, you can’t see it, and no one is expecting bones in a quesadilla. It’s a health hazard and I bet someone will choke on a chicken bone one day.

Mexican food is supposed to melt in your mouth, and take you on a flavor dream. This was a nightmare that you cannot...

These people do not have a clue what "real" Mexican food is like. The great reviews you see are what people "think" real Mexican food is. As an Airline Pilot who spent much time in Mexico, I know what it is, what it should taste like and what it should look like. This is not even close. The owner, Francisco, should know, but doesn't. It comes from a can.

Several weeks ago, my fiance and I decided to try this place after passing by several times. It looked nice on the outside and was typical on the inside, but so is an apple; looks good on the outside, but could be rotten on the inside. It was rotten!!

After my fiance ordered the Vegan Poblano she began feeling sick about an hour after, but didn't give it to much thought. Several hours later she was doubled over with stomach pain. I had the Chili Rellenos as it has always been my favorite in the past, but also felt a little sick after a few hours. On Friday I took my fiance to the hospital and was diagnosed with bacterial colitis. As she is allergic to 99.9% of antibiotics with one exception, Invanz at $4,000 a dose, once daily for 7 days, She was in for the long haul. The Pablano peppers were not blanched or roasted to take the outer skin off and the veggies were obviously contaminated and confirmed by the hospital.

Long story short, Fiesta Jalisco has over 40 Florida Health violations that the owner has refused to correct, with several being food preparation and handling. The Health Department was contacted and they sent an Inspector, found violation as above that had not been corrected from 3 months ago. They have now to this date 9/4/2016 still have not made the corrections, and this week will be the 4th Inspection in 10 days . We are still waiting for the bill from Holmes Regional Hospital.

For those that say "Yum" and "Best Mexican food we've found beachside", I hope that you have a big wallet, better yet go back and look in the kitchen! As a side note the wait staff knew and were the worst that I have ever seen and I have seen many!

Before going to this Restaurant look up Health Inspections report and it will certainly change your mind NOT TO EAT at this restaurant....Wake up people before you get sick.

STAY AWAY, DO YOURSELF A BIG...

This review is being written in 2017 just a week past Hurricane Irma which impacted the entire state of Florida ; many businesses in my area are still without power, so stress levels all around are pretty high although things are starting to settle down. I tried to take a picture of everything that I pointed out in this review; hopefully the pictures make the descriptions and my opinion on them more useful to everyone who reads this. They serve you salsa and chips when you are seated, or very soon thereafter. The chips don't seem to be made in house, but they also don't seem to the cheapo bulk serve chips I've gotten some other places; they're crispy, sufficiently thick and not bad tasting on their own. The salsa is a little thin for my taste - but as you'll see through my review I like thick quesos, salsas, etc ... this salsa is tasty and chock full of solid pieces, so I would say it's a good salsa overall. I ordered a Jalisco's Favorite Margarita Grande, pictures included. In fact by the time I wrote this review I had ordered a couple of those - they were good and although the first one had a lot of ice in it, the subsequent ones had just enough to keep them cold. Nice. Following the drink order, I ordered the Queso Blanco. It had decent flavor (could have some seasoning sprinkles on the top or some solid chopped onions/garlic/tomatoes/anything in it to make it more interesting from a texture perspective. Next I ordered the Tostada salad, with chicken. The Tostada salad here is not like the taco salads some places where it's in a huge tostada bowl; there is just a single flat tostada at the bottom of the salad, and it's easy to eat everything but the tostada if you're trying to avoid carbs. It was good, and had great flavors and textures when everything was mixed together on the fork.

Overall, good meal, friendly service, free wifi and all only 1 week after Hurricane Irma ravaged this part of the Florida east coast. I'll be back, and will try some different items next time to expand my take...