Ok, I went to Adobo shortly after moving to Indy when it was still on 82nd street and wasn’t overly impressed. But since it has moved, and because several readers have recently recommended it, I decided to give it another chance and write it up this time. Plus, hubby had never been.
This is what I want to know from everyone who likes this place (seriously, please write a comment and let me know)—what is it that you are ordering? Because everything I had except the guacamole and margaritas (and more on those later) was not very good.
Hubby and I wanted to try as much as possible, so we went the tapas route and ordered 4 appetizers to share, as well as the guac. Now the guac maker came out and mixed up a great bowl of the dip and the margaritas are tasty. But here is my pet peeve about the margaritas at this place. They serve them “up” in a martini glass which I guess is a way to make a margarita seem more sophisticated. They taste good, but when I eat Mexican, I want to drink margaritas with the entire meal. You can finish these in a few drinks and then, if you kept ordering more throughout the whole meal, you’d be wasted by the end of it. So I had one, enjoyed it, and then switched to wine. Do they serve them just low brow style with ice and all? I didn’t ask, but they weren’t on the menu (although they have LOTS of different kinds of tequila).
Ok, so we ordered the Taquitos Yucatecos, the Empanadas Nortenas, the Torta Ahogoda “Sliders” and the Shrimp Ceviche. The Taquitos came out first, and were very underwhelming. They were described as Achiote marinated chicken with black beans, tomato salsa, pickled onions, and sour cream. I don’t know what to say other than there wasn’t much of any distinct flavor there. The inside was quite dry and the only thing I liked was the pickled onions. They were the only thing on the plate that had any real flavor.
Next came the shrimp ceviche—it wasn’t bad, and the further down into the marinade you got (it was served in an ice cream sundae type dish), they better and more flavorful it became. There were some hunks of avocado and tomato mixed in. It was probably the best thing we had next to the guacamole. I am pretty sure the shrimp was actually cooked before being “cooked” in the marinade (which is what the menu seemed to say) but the waitress said it was just cooked in the marinade. Seemed a little more cooked than that though.
The last two things were brought out at the same time our friends’ (who were visiting from out of town) entrees were served. Well sort of. We got our last two plates and one of our friends got his entrée. Our other friend didn’t get her entrée for several more minutes which was a little annoying. Speaking of service, while our service was generally pretty friendly, you should have seen the death look/eye roll I got from the hostess when I asked to be sat at a table that wasn’t right on top of another party in a restaurant that was still not even half full.
But back to the food, the empanadas were described as “corn masa turnovers stuffed with beef picadillo, corn and Chihuahua cheese in a creamy tomatilla salsa.” Ok, the crust was tasty but even though the ingredients were totally different from the taquitos, why did they seem so similar? I guess the blandness seemed to meld together..and “creamy” tomatillo salsa? It was tomatillo salsa…not sure what the creamy part was. The salsa was pretty good though—hubby enjoyed it particularly.
Finally, and probably my least favorite were the torta ahogoda “sliders.” They were described as “mini pork carnitas sandwiches with refried beans and avocado drowned in chile de arbol salsa.” What they tasted like was a mini barbequed pork sandwich with way too much sauce. There were a couple little slivers of avocado on each on that you couldn’t even taste for the sweet sauce. I don’t know, I really really disliked these.
We did have the chocolate masa cake for dessert with vanilla ice cream. It was pretty tasty—very chocolatey.
All in all though, I have heard people say the only thing good at Adobo is the guacamole and margaritas (actually, I said that after the first time I went) and I think it might be true. But hey, maybe I am just really ordering wrong. People? Give me some help on this one.
Adobo Grill
110 East Washington Street
Indy, 46204
317-822-9990
www.adobogrill.com
This is what I want to know from everyone who likes this place (seriously, please write a comment and let me know)—what is it that you are ordering? Because everything I had except the guacamole and margaritas (and more on those later) was not very good.
Hubby and I wanted to try as much as possible, so we went the tapas route and ordered 4 appetizers to share, as well as the guac. Now the guac maker came out and mixed up a great bowl of the dip and the margaritas are tasty. But here is my pet peeve about the margaritas at this place. They serve them “up” in a martini glass which I guess is a way to make a margarita seem more sophisticated. They taste good, but when I eat Mexican, I want to drink margaritas with the entire meal. You can finish these in a few drinks and then, if you kept ordering more throughout the whole meal, you’d be wasted by the end of it. So I had one, enjoyed it, and then switched to wine. Do they serve them just low brow style with ice and all? I didn’t ask, but they weren’t on the menu (although they have LOTS of different kinds of tequila).
Ok, so we ordered the Taquitos Yucatecos, the Empanadas Nortenas, the Torta Ahogoda “Sliders” and the Shrimp Ceviche. The Taquitos came out first, and were very underwhelming. They were described as Achiote marinated chicken with black beans, tomato salsa, pickled onions, and sour cream. I don’t know what to say other than there wasn’t much of any distinct flavor there. The inside was quite dry and the only thing I liked was the pickled onions. They were the only thing on the plate that had any real flavor.
Next came the shrimp ceviche—it wasn’t bad, and the further down into the marinade you got (it was served in an ice cream sundae type dish), they better and more flavorful it became. There were some hunks of avocado and tomato mixed in. It was probably the best thing we had next to the guacamole. I am pretty sure the shrimp was actually cooked before being “cooked” in the marinade (which is what the menu seemed to say) but the waitress said it was just cooked in the marinade. Seemed a little more cooked than that though.
The last two things were brought out at the same time our friends’ (who were visiting from out of town) entrees were served. Well sort of. We got our last two plates and one of our friends got his entrée. Our other friend didn’t get her entrée for several more minutes which was a little annoying. Speaking of service, while our service was generally pretty friendly, you should have seen the death look/eye roll I got from the hostess when I asked to be sat at a table that wasn’t right on top of another party in a restaurant that was still not even half full.
But back to the food, the empanadas were described as “corn masa turnovers stuffed with beef picadillo, corn and Chihuahua cheese in a creamy tomatilla salsa.” Ok, the crust was tasty but even though the ingredients were totally different from the taquitos, why did they seem so similar? I guess the blandness seemed to meld together..and “creamy” tomatillo salsa? It was tomatillo salsa…not sure what the creamy part was. The salsa was pretty good though—hubby enjoyed it particularly.
Finally, and probably my least favorite were the torta ahogoda “sliders.” They were described as “mini pork carnitas sandwiches with refried beans and avocado drowned in chile de arbol salsa.” What they tasted like was a mini barbequed pork sandwich with way too much sauce. There were a couple little slivers of avocado on each on that you couldn’t even taste for the sweet sauce. I don’t know, I really really disliked these.
We did have the chocolate masa cake for dessert with vanilla ice cream. It was pretty tasty—very chocolatey.
All in all though, I have heard people say the only thing good at Adobo is the guacamole and margaritas (actually, I said that after the first time I went) and I think it might be true. But hey, maybe I am just really ordering wrong. People? Give me some help on this one.
Adobo Grill
110 East Washington Street
Indy, 46204
317-822-9990
www.adobogrill.com
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