The Nopal — Restaurant in New Palestine

There are exactly 4 restaurants to avail yourself of a meal in New Palestine. That would be Subway/Mama Nita, McDonald's, Round the Corner Pub, and El Jaripeo. El Jaripeo occupies the space that used to be called Cafe 52, which was a family style restaurant known for its Friday night fried chicken specials. So now we have a good Mexican restaurant in town and I started going there several years ago when they first opened. I can tell you that on average there are more people in the place now on any given day of the week then there ever was in its previous life as a family style restaurant. I have had many of the different entrees including the little entree meals and everything I have eaten there has been very good to excellent. The decor is largely the same as the previous restaurant in it, but there are some appropriate Mexican accents throughout. And thank God they play Latino music instead of pumping up the sound levels with contemporary pop! The staff is always attentive and very polite almost to a fault, and the service is generally quick. I just had a Saturday dinner there not 30 minutes ago and I will say that I had my meal served to me within 10 minutes. Tonight it was Pollo Monterey and a tamale on the side. I finished off the meal with an order of flan, which the menu states is made fresh every day at the restaurant. It too was very good. I enjoy eating out several times throughout the month and don't mind going some distance for a nice dining experience. But it's nice to know that there is a cozy and satisfying Mexican restaurant "right in my own backyard",...

Hit or Miss Food & service were really good after the new owners took over. Since then, not sure what we will get. We had fajita nachos on our previous visit. The portion was smaller than usual and the cheese was not even warmed enough to melt it over the nachos. Our most recent visit gave me a good meal. HOWEVER, my wife's food arrived cold. She took one bite and told me it was cold. She checked the other part of her meal and found it was only warm at best. She reported the cold food to the waiter, he took the food away. He returned shortly and slid the plate in front of her. He turned and walked away without saying a word. The rice was warmer but not hot and the rest of her food was only slightly warm at best. He never asked if we wanted drink refills. I gave my wife a portion of my meal and we took her meal home to heat it ourselves. The food and service used to be really good here. Now we don't know what we'll get in terms of food quality and service. So frustrating, don't know if we...

This location is okay, I have eaten here several times. The food tastes pretty good, but average for an authentic Mexican restaurant. But being the only Mexican place in town, it's this or drive. The service seems to always be slow here, as it takes them a while to refill empty drinks, that I know they have to see sitting there, as the place is also small inside. They have several tables and booths, but it can get crowded and very noisy during peak times.

If in town and not wanting to drive they are fine to eat at, but if craving better food and service then east side Indy or south side Greenfield, both maybe 10 miles away, ha.

The place also seems like it takes them a while to bus tables and get them cleaned, and the staff sometimes seem like they are a bit lost. Better training would really help this place a lot, but having the monopoly on Mexican food in town does not give them much reason to improve I...