Azteca Mexican Grill

Azteca is your standard Mexican restaurant, but a little pricier & slightly better quality. Their guacamole was super fresh & their fajits were great. Granted, fajitas are almost always a win.
Now, I typically don’t comment on décor, but this place was fantastic. A great amount of color without being overwhelming. Pretty comfortable spot. The wait staff was a little hands-​off & the pricing is a bit high, but the kitchen loads you up for one heck of a meal. You’ll always take something home!

Found this place when looking for a Mexican joint in Columbus! Looks like they have just rebranded with a grand opening coming up soon (thank God for a $ 10 coupon we got for that which makes this experience a little better).
It was a late lunch/​early dinner and we were one of only a few in the restaurant. With that being said, the service was good up front but by the end we had to shout across the restaurant to get our servers attention. Good, standard mexican food with decent portions, strong drinks, but terrible service. Hopefully better next time.

I gotta say, I have had TONS of Mexican around our fair city, and had never tried this place. I only did because we were craving Mexican and they were listed on «Skip the dishes» (delivery service website.) I was kind of expecting it to be sloppy, cold and a big mess (like other things I have had delivered) but man… HUGELY stuffed, compact, hot and crispy chimichangas, the BEST tamale I have ever had (again, firm, dense, full of taste), a wonderful, huge chicken burrito… the taste was amazing for EVERYTHING, everything was huge, and piping hot! I was so pleasantly surprised, I can only imagine what it would be like hot from the kitchen. Would say it’s the best Mexican I have had!

I’ve suggested this place to out of town friends. Good Food, completely Great service.
A Favorite.
Bright and Colorful with personal a peal

A very mediocre run. Of the mill Mexican restaurant. As another reviewer wrote, I could get the basic ingredients and make better at home. The tacos were filled with tasteless ground beef, the rice was bland as were the canned retried beans. Will not be stopping again.
Also beware of the entry, there is a step up, the a doorway which is also a step up and easy to miss. Hazardous!

We live close, and I love authentic food, so I have been wanting to try this one.
Their daily specials were fantastic. Plenty of food, included the drink, and extremely reasonable price!
We had the occasion to order one meal off the kids menu, and the applesauce had turned. It was fermented. It’s something that you don’t know until you taste it. They were very apologetic and offered to take the kids meal off of the bill.
Chips and salsa or standard as with most Mexican restaurants. Very fresh chips, great salsa.
We will definitely be back!

I enjoy their food! They are also one of the only Mexican restaurants that sells aguas mexicanas which is wonderful

This is my absolute favorite place ever, I’ve become a regular I guess! Weekly if not twice a week usually after work with some coworkers. The food literally takes just minutes to make and it comes out hot and fresh. Also as soon as you sit down they bring you FREE hot chips and salsa! I always get a margarita to go with dinner and the chips they have the best and in jumbo size! It looks sorta shady on the outside but inside it’s perfectly decorated and staffed with nice servers. I love it here, I’ll be a regular forever!

Not a bad Mexican restaurant, but the flavor seemed to be rather bland. I was surprised that only salt and pepper were at the tables opposed to several hot sauces to add some flavor. The food was not bad, and was prompt, but nothing spectacular.

It took me a few days to write this review. I struggled as i recounted our visit to find a positive note, but I can’t. As the rave reviews on this plaza build up I can’t help but feel duped.
I love local Mexican, especially cuco’s and the more gourmet chile verde down the road. I was looking forward to a new restaurant. Unfortunately it’s the same old story. If the chips started fresh they were the only thing to do so, though our batch was quite stale. As was the second order we had them replaced with. The queso was ok, very gooey and seemingly microwaved to the point of stringiness, the stale chips not doing it any favors.
Our large group ordered a myriad of different things, my food loving self opting for the typical gringo platter, their largest combination of different things.
I can’t compliment any of it. The rice was over cooked, the meats were dry and everything was from a can including the beans. Anytime a group of 8 has food come out in less than 10 minutes, it’s a bad sign. There’s a chance it was just an off day considering the entire staff was obviously concerned with what was going on in the kitchen. Many hootings and hollerings emanating from back there while we ate.
The restaurant was empty, save for maybe 3 other smaller tables, so hopefully that made it easier for them to spend their time in the kitchen.
And for the kicker, for the first time in some time I was physically ill from eating their food. After checking with my group mates, none of them were vomiting as I was, but every one else had stomach pains and the typical syndrome normally associated with Taco Bell. You may want to stop and check out the brightly painted yellow building on Sawmill, but don’t. Keep driving. If you’re heading south, you’re almost to Chile Verde.

Not as good as tacos Guachos or Cuco’s a few blocks south.
This food tastes generic, straight out of a can.

No. I read some reviews about this place. Just so you know this is not authentic Mexican by any means. It isn’t even good fake Mexican. You could go to the store, buy tortillas, canned beans, and some unseasoned meat and shred it. .. And there go. That’s this place in a nutshell. The first sign it isn’t Mexican besides the canned salsa? The «Mexiskins» which is potatoes skins with jalapeño added to it. The star is there because our server was wonderful. But the food was just so disappointing we didn’t even finish our plates. In all fairness we are from the West Coast, and nothing in Ohio compares to the real Mexican food you would eat here near the border. But this has been the absolute worst none fast food Mexican we’ve had yet, and we’ve tried many.

Azteca is a great place to eat. The food is much better than your alternative in the area (El Vaquero) and the prices are great!

Azteca is pretty much on par with Los Mariachis. They even have the same brightly painted décor.
I’ve been here a few times and the food has been hit or miss. The enchiladas are good but sometimes dry, the fajitas are fantastic, the rellenos are okay; I actually prefer the rellenos as Los Mariachis.
For the price, this is a good lunch option. If you’re looking for a nice Mexican dinner, I’d look elsewhere. This is more of a cheap alternative.

Ugh. May be one of the worst Mexican we’ve had. We had a variety of entrées and all of us agreed that it just wasn’t good. Even the kids were disappointed. Hate paying for food that we could have easily made better.
The service was slow despite us being only one of three parties in the restaurant and what seemed like a 1:1 ratio of staff to customers. Several of the staff were just hanging out at the bar. To top it all off the cost was ridiculous for such a terrible dining experience. Next time we’re driving up the street to Chili Verde. 100x better
Will NOT be coming back here

Good authentic Mexican restaurant.
Salsa is pretty standard with standard chips to compliment.
I ordered the super burrito, yet there wasn’t much super about it. Really just a standard chicken burrito.
The food was good, but I’ve had better in Columbus.
Ambiance is pretty cool, very colorful.

Good Mexican for Columbus. Fun atmosphere and good service. The food is good for the area (but just okay compared to Mexican I’ve had in the south and west).
We got here after they were serving lunch, but the lunch specials looked very affordable. The restaurant has ample seating and colorful décor. I got enchiladas verdes… I’ve had better, I’ve had worse, but this is the best Mexican I’ve had in the area. Some nights they have a mariachi bad which is a fun touch.

This is Mexican comfort food. If you’re looking for authentic food, go elsewhere, e.g., the recent Mexican trucks that have opened up in the Columbus area. However, if you’re in the mood for fajitas, burritos, enchiladas, etc., made in typical TexMex fare this place delivers, but no more. (My son likes this place quite a bit than my 3 stars suggests).
Generally, we’ve been very happy with the servers, who are friendly and efficient. The food is plentiful, as is typical of most of these types of restaurants. The food is also quite economically priced.
The fajitas were pretty good, but the chicken mole did not measure up. The fried plantains are a specialty here and usually very good. The tortilla chips appear to be made in house, and are quite good. Ask for the hot salsa as the standard fare is decent but not great.

tl;dr
Don’t go here.
Greasy. Overcooked. Low quality. Over priced.
My roommate wanted to check out Azteca, to see what sort of restaurant moved into the space vacated by the Iacono’s which she worked at in high school. The one which was shut down for excessive and persistant health code violations.
We went as a party of three, and without high expectations. Honestly, I was anticipating something similar to Cazuelas, if you’re familiar with campus-​area dining.
The décor is. .. colorful. Actually, we enjoyed it. And joked that we’d come back for the chairs when the place inevitably shut down.
Our waiter pushed us towards the jumbo margaritas. 20 ounces. As the driver, I declined, in favor of the 4.5 ounce option.
The chips and salsa were pretty good. Mild, but still flavorful, and thick enough without being chunky.
After struggling through a lengthy and disorganized menu, we placed our orders. Our friend ordered the «Fajita Style Quesadilla» with steak from the appetizer menu, and I ordered the «Fajita Quesadilla» from the «Azteca» portion. The difference in price is $ 5. So imagine our surprise when we received the exact same thing. As he says, the addition of rice and beans TOTALLY makes up for the up-​charge he received.
My roommate got something with chicken, steak, and shrimp, which came in a burning-​hot iron cauldron. For some reason.
Her veggies and whatnot were on a Planet Hollywood plate.
The rice and beans were clearly microwaved. Whatever. I don’t expect wonders when it comes to refried beans. There was something in the rice that tasted weirdly bad. A single bite with some unidentifiable flavor, which our tastebuds rejected out of instinctual self-​preservation.
The steak was terrible. I couldn’t chew it. The quesadilla was horribly greasy. My friend ate more than I did. He had the Jumbo margarita, after all. I sent mine back and asked for something with no meat. Guess what! Just as greasy. But the veggies are at least not over or under cooked. I still couldn’t eat more than a bite or two.
The chicken in the death-​cauldron-​thing was more edible than the steak. It was chewable, and covered in taco sauce and cheese.
But we decided not to touch the shrimp.
The Jumbo margaritas were clearly meant to make us so drunk we didn’t care about the terrible quality of food. So, my dining partners aren’t sure if they’re sweating was from the warm room and the booze, or from the beginnings of reacting to their food.
We’re pretty sure that the margaritas weren’t made with tequila. Which isn’t good, since my roommate has a gluten allergy.
The one redeeming quality? At least they didn’t charge me for my food.
Just my $ 4.80 happy hour margarita.
For us, it was not a happy hour.

S-​U-​C-​K-​E-​R.
Yes, I too was suckered into the prettily painted building off of Sawmill. It looks so inviting, friendly, and is NEW, so it couldn’t be all that bad, right?
I feel like this place may be a good place to come have some appetizers, and throw back some margaritas, but other than that, the food was not very good.
Bland, bland, bland.
We ordered some chorizo as an appetizer and it was burned… I mean, REAL BAD. At that point they should have labeled it BBQ. The queso wasn’t anything remarkable, either.
For those star gazed at how amazingly fast this place dishes out food… it’s called mass preparation AKA taco bell.
For God Sakes, people! Watch some Kitchen Nightmare’s with Gordon Ramsey!
Be scared when a place can send out your food in less than five minutes and the waiters exclaim «Hot plates!» EVEN when you didn’t order a skillet fajita.
Service was nice, but damn, I cannot say I would ever come back, because my hopes for the food ended up in sheer disappointment.
I would gladly come back if someone could prove me wrong and that I just went on a bad «off» day.
Pass er’ on by.