La Parada — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Edited, for the results of our last visit:

I understand that the price of food has gone up because of inflation. It leaves restaurant owners with the unfortunate choice of raising prices to match the cost of food, or keeping prices the same and using lesser-quality ingredients. I get that.

This WAS our "go-to" place for Mexican food in Indy. The food at our last visit was very mediocre. The queso had an unpleasant, "waxy" texture -- as though Velveeta had been used. The Margarita was weak and unpleasant to drink. (Interestingly, after we bought the drink, a woman came up to us and advised us that the drinks are non-refundable (!).)

Our suggestion: raise prices if you have to, but don't skimp on the quality of your food. You worked very hard over many years to get a reputation for the impeccable quality of your food. If quality ingredients cost more, then charge more. If good liquor costs more, then charge more. We were profoundly disappointed with the quality of our food on our last visit, so much so that I'm not sure if we're going come back.

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I’m from Texas, and I’m a Mexican food snob. When I eat at a Mexican restaurant, I’m going to be comparing to really outstanding Mexican restaurants like Habanero and El Chile in Austin, TX; Buccanero in northern San Antonio and the great Mexican restaurants in El Paso.

I ate here out of curiosity; and it is astonishingly like Habanero’s. It is rated highly among Mexican restaurants in Indy, and rightly so. Their chiles rellenos are the stuff of legend (get the authentic version stuffed with cheese). Their caldo de res takes the chill out of Indy’s nasty early February weather. (Texas has par-broiled, steam-baked summers from Hell which can last five months. Indy has only six weeks of truly nasty winter when you need a good caldo to take the edge off the chill.)

Skip the house Margaritas, which are rather harsh; and splurge on their top-shelf Margaritas. You’ll be happy you did.

The food is very reasonably priced, and the staff couldn’t be nicer.

Ask for the green salsa to go with your chips. I’m from Texas, and I like the “kick” of the Serrano pepper in the green salsa. If you’re not used to hot food, stick with the milder red salsa, though I think the green is worth the extra heat.

We have yet to have anything we haven’t absolutely loved...

IMPRESSED by everything! We were genuinely greeted upon arrival at 11:30ish for lunch and seated immediately. It was soon following that the place was full. Waiting for our food to arrive while stuffing the warm chips and awesome salsa in our face, we noticed many plates with a whole fish go by us that looked delicious. We want to go back to try that (besides a number of other dishes). Also while waiting and observing, we saw a sign that they have birria tacos. I've heard so much about them, that we plan on going back to try those. Can hardly wait. Another thing, we both have never found a molé sauce that we like or would eat. We have asked to taste the molé sauce where ever we have been, even Mexico in the past with no luck. We asked for a taste here and finished the whole sample they gave us. It was so good. Again, another dish we plan on going back for soon. Meanwhile, we got our food very promptly. Our server was very good and attentive. Our food was beautifully presented. I ordered the Shrimp Fajitas asking that the vegetables be cooked longer than normal, which they did just that. It were so flavorful and the shrimp were very flavorful, plentiful, juicy and cooked perfectly (not muchy or chewy at all). The salad plate provided plenty of delicious Pico, lettuce, flavorful guacamole and sour cream. Rice and beans were plentiful and flavorful. The tortillas were toasted, thick and warm. Very, very happy with my choice. Hubby got Chicken Enchiladas Verde and was very pleased. Portions are very healthy! The whole time, our server constantly checked back and always asked if everything was okay and kept our drinks full. We both brought home some serious leftovers. I would like to add that the whole time we were there, the lady that was cashier, handling to go orders and helping out in general was cleaning the restaurant every second. Being in prior management, this REALLY impressed me. You just don't see this practice much any more. I also saw many employees hit the hand sanitizer more than once out front as well. Kudos to owner, management and employees. Please keep up the good work. You have a huge fan in my husband and I!

BTW...There is plenty of free on...

We thought we would try a new Mexican restaurant and picked La Parada based on other reviews we had read. Our experience was not good. It is an extremely small restaurant. According to our receipt I believe our server's name was Kevin. The cashier was Edgar. Our server was awful. He ruined our experience. The food was extremely average tasting. The margarita tasted terrible like the cheapest sweet and sour mix. I tasted absolutely no tequila. The chips that we got were really thick and cold and they tasted like they've been in a bag for a very long time. I ordered the seafood chimichanga. And when it arrived it was really big. When I cut it open it was filled with rice and beans and a little bit of shrimp. I figured they would put a little bit more fish in it for $17. And it didn't say anything on the menu that there was rice and beans in it. To wrap this up, let me just say our server was not present. He came by once to get our order, someone else delivered our food. He never came back to check on us. And we finally flagged him down to get our bill and he just wandered off and didn't return. Finally I got up I went to the register area and he was just standing there talking to his co-workers. I told him we wanted our bill. So he went to the register to ring it up. And then he told me he'd bring it to our table. And like another 10 minutes went by and I saw him dancing around by the kitchen door playing with his co-workers. Completely forgot that we asked for our bill. So finally a woman walked by and asked if we were doing okay and we said no and we explained. She yelled at Kevin to get us our bill. He finally wanders over and he is apologizing. It's like...really dude, this restaurant is so small and you had like a very few tables. Not hard to wait on a couple tables. Obviously you wanted to spend more time talking to your friends. We will not ever return there. There are so many Mexican restaurants out there to try. This one's not special in any way. The only thing they really have going for them is the large variety of...