El Indio Staunton (Mexican Restaurant) — Restaurant in Staunton

We decided on this restaurant due to it being Cinco De Mayo and being from out of town it was the first restaurant we ran across as we came into town. The parking lot was packed and people were parked across the street! Always a great sign! We anticipated a long wait, however, we got in and we're seated within 5 minutes. Great start. We were brought chips and salsa within minutes of seating and our waitress came right away to take our drink order. After receiving our drinks we munched on our chips and salsa which were great. This is were it took a turn. We were seated within eyesight if the kitchen and for the longest time saw no food coming out. By this point we had been there 30 minutes. Then what appeared to be a tables worth of food came out. Then again nothing for another 15 minutes. Long story short, we eventually had waited 2 hours. During this time our waitress was checking on us asking if we were ok and needed anything. At this point you could see other customers getting very agitated. Some people walked out. At the 2 hour and 15 minutes mark the manager could be seen doing "damage control" he arrived at our table, sat down and stated "To be completely honest with you it is going to be another 10-12 minutes for your food, are you ok with that?" "I want them to go faster but I didn't think we would be so busy". we were gracious and said ok. He then said "If you don't have your food in that time, let me know and I will go check" and on he went. 15 later we still did not have our food. At the 2 Hour and 40 minutes mark our food arrived. I will say it was AWESOME! Lots of it and absolutely no complaints with it! It then however took us another 20 minutes after they cleared our table to get our bill. I think they were very overwhelmed, I think it spiralled out of control and I feel that the manager was slightly more concerned with chatting than food issues. Overall, I do believe that this restaurant would be great on a normal night. Better plans should be in place for an unexpected surge...

This is a good place to go if you want a good entrée, but don't care about anything else. My mom complained that her margarita was bland, and my dad's was nowhere near exceptional, as so many others are saying. The artwork definitely could have been better, only the piñatas on the ceilings are artwork looked Mexican. There were no decorated walls or booths, not what I would expect from a highly-rated restaurant. The chips and salsa were very bland and the chips were without flavor. The servers are very hard to understand, and they can't understand you. My mom asked how spicy the salsa was, and the waitress left and brought hot sauce. It was very hard to order drinks and food and when the waiters asked to make sure the meal was correct, they were always wrong. My mom asked the waiter for the best entrée in a section and he left without responding, not understanding the question. I ordered water (I do not drink soda), yet the waiter kept on asking if I wanted more Sprite. The waiter also took half full chip baskets to replace them. Finally, the ketchup that comes with the french fries are packets, not bottles. I would NOT recommend this and...

We're in El Indio frequently, and have been going there since they opened. As a couple, and in groups of up to 10 or so, I don't understand some of these reviews, we have never experienced bad service. Slow on occasion, yes, because the place gets packed and of course things are going to take longer. The food is very good, I have enjoyed most of the menu by this time.. Service is always outstanding, polite and professional. The atmosphere is what you make it.. but to be honest it feels more like most of the restaurants we hit in Mexico rather than the 'fancy' ones you go to here that try to make you feel like some idealistic version of Mexico..

Update 2025: That original review was a couple of years ago. We still go visit regularly, it's on our short list of favorites, and when it comes to Mexican fare, it's the top of the list. This was the last place we went before the world shut down for the Pandemic, and it was the first place we went when things...