El Azteca

Fort Wayne, United States

3.2

Closed now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 260-482-2172
Website:
www.elaztecarestaurant.com
Address:
535 E State Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN, 46805
Categories:
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
No
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Lunch
Parking
Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
Full Bar
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
Free
Has TV
Yes
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
Yes

Today

Today 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Fort Wayne) 5:20 AM Saturday, June 21, 2025

Business hours

Monday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Tuesday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Thursday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Friday 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm

Description

Specialties

el Azteca offers over 100 specialty tequila’s and is home to the «Tequila Wall of Fame». We host many tequila tasting’s throughout the year. el Azteca is famous for our fideo soup, which is angel hair pasta in a beef based broth. We make everything from scratch on site. There are many vegetarian items available on our menu. We offer drop-​off to full-​service catering.

History

Established in 1973.

el Azteca was founded by Michael and Juanita Ray and John and Paula Rodriguez in November of 1973. The business has stayed family-​owned by the Ray’s. Michael passed away in 2008 and since then his wife, Juanita and daughter, Cristina currently run the business. el Azteca was voted Best Mexican Restaurant in Ft. Wayne in 2009.

Meet the Manager

Cristina R.

Manager

My current position with el Azteca is General Manager. I am pleased to be involved with my family-​owned business.

El Azteca also recommends

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Cristina R. says,

«I have worked with Club Soda for Birthday celebrations and they accommodated us very well.»

Casa Ristoranti Italiano

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Italian

Cristina R. says,

«I am very much about supporting locally-​owned restaurants and this is one of my favorites.»

Ziffle’s Rib Bar

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reviews

Barbeque

Cristina R. says,

«Great Ribs and a friendly atmosphere.»

Cork’n Cleaver Restaurant

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reviews

Steakhouses

Cristina R. says,

«One of my all time favorite Ft. Wayne restaurants. Their salad bar is excellent and so is their staff.»

Baker Street Steakhouse

102

reviews

Steakhouses

,

Beer, Wine & Spirits

,

Seafood

Cristina R. says,

«The bar is an excellent place to enjoy drinks and their bar menu is great.»

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Vicinity

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20 reviews of El Azteca

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Ellabell, GA
Best Tex-​Mex around! The stewed burritos are my go-​to. The nacho crispies are a great twist on nachos with 8+ toppings. Their unique fideo soup is very nice on cold winter days, and the black bean soup is also top notch. Great service. More tequilas than any other bar in town. Tasty frozen margs. We’ve been fans since they’ve opened.
Place rating: 5
Fort Wayne, IN
Love the salsa, the food, the fideo soup, the margaritas, & the fast & friendly service. We have been coming here for years. Great place!
Place rating: 4
Fort Wayne, IN
Ate lunch here with friends, no idea why so many bad reviews, the margaritas were strong, the food was hot, had flavor, was edible. Margaritas were strong and delicious. Black licorice for desert. Friendly staff. Bartender actually came out to our table. Waitress was courteous and switched regular glasses for margarita glasses on request. (super pet peave of mine) will I eat here again? Yeah, the interaction of the staff has shown me that they love their jobs and do a great job.
Place rating: 2
Fort Wayne, IN
I don’t understand how this could be the best place in Fort Wayne. It definitely is NOT!
Went there last night (Tues) for my first time… We had a party of 7, I was the first one there, I walked into the bar… The only women bartender seemed very stressed and busy… she told me «I will be with you when I get a minute» I just asked her where I should give them my name… she pointed to a girl in a blue shirt.
I gave my name to the hostess who had no personality and told me it would be at least a 25min wait, I told her I would be in the bar, again the stressed out bartender told me «I’ll be with you when I can»…10 mins later I ordered a margarita which was great.
Well after 25 mins we were seated… Long story short… our waitress was great but again let us know she was there all day and wanted to go home, she was exhausted…
The food was just average, I agree with the others that said the salsa tastes like tomatoes from a can… it does have a metallic taste to it. The only good thing was the margaritas. I dont see myself going back here, I would much rather eat a casa grande with fresh guac made at the table and great margaritas as well with a staff that has personality and doesnt seem to mind that you are there.
There is a first and last for everything!
Place rating: 5
Fort Wayne, IN
We have used El Azteca for several corporate board meetings. We usually have the Fajita Buffet, as it makes everyone happy and the board members always rave about the food. The service is wonderful, always on time with warm food, organized and able to set up in whatever situation we have been in at the time. El Azteca has helped us out with short notice luncheons and they are always professional. We order from many different venues and this is one of the few that has not messed up our order. We will use them in the future!
Place rating: 1
Fort Wayne, IN
Christina (owner), I’m not here to argue with you, or am I willing to change my mind about the horrible dish I was served, twice. But I felt compelled to respond to your latest post.
First, what «chain» restaurants are you talking about? Last time I checked all of Fort Wayne’s Mexican restaurants are locally owned. Or do you prefer to stack yourself against the likes of Applebee’s or Chili’s?
Second, I find it funny you mention the 7 chips, sorry if I was off by a couple but I just remember them all being SOGGY. It was funny, the only way you or staff could remedy the situation was to remove the chips all together. Not make a crisp topped nacho, but instead remove the chips and dump ingredients in bowl and rush me out a fresh bowl of chips.
Poor you little small business owner though, boo-​hoo. Guess who had to shoulder the cost of my bad meal? Thats right, me.
A REAL BUSINESS OWNER LOOKS AT THE BARELY TOUCHED REMADE DISH AND COMPS THAT DISH. YOUR BUSINESS MODEL SUCKS, ENOUGH SAID.
Place rating: 2
Fort Wayne, IN
I shall preface this with that normally I love El Azteca. Everytime I have gone in to have dinner there, the food is delicious for what it is, Mexican-​American cuisine. But today, we had a pick up order and the service, food and overall experience was horrendous. The lady who took our order was very rude, though she did a good job. They made us pay for salsa and chips, though our order was over 100 dollars and the food was not done at the specified time they gave us. The food was bland and not cooked to the best quality. I understand having off days, but I feel a restaurant is only as good as their off day. If you are understaffed, the experience should still be easy and wonderful for the customers.
We won’t be doing large orders from them ever again. We will also, probably, not frequent this place on a regular basis.
Place rating: 5
Hollywood, FL
If you want great Tex-​mex in a friendly trendy setting then this is the place for you! Every time I’m back in town I stop here. The Black Bean soup is the stuff dreams are made of. I’ve lived in Texas 10 + years and tried 100’s of Mexican food places and this always remains in my top 5 places to go for Tex-​mex.
The BBQ enchiladas are another treat that most places don’t serve either.
The chips and Salsa are delicious too, I recommend the 50⁄50 split between red and green salsas.
The only sad thing is that I was not able to take any Salsa home with me.
Place rating: 4
New Haven, IN
Been dining here since I was a small boy, and I love it. Say what you want about whether it’s «authentic» or not, but it’s fantastic food. The chips are perfect, the refried beans are the best I’ve found in Fort Wayne, the queso in the edible bowl is smooth and creamy, and the fideo soup is delicious! I’m a personal fan of the Steak Ranchero burritos and the Almond Chicken Enchiladas. Throw in a big glass of Dos Equis Ambar, and I’m set for the night!
Place rating: 3
Fort Wayne, IN
Ok. So I just moved from Chicago. I am biased by eating some of the best Mexican food in the world. I’m not kidding.
I would describe this restaurant as very good Mexican/​American food. My go-​to is tacos. I tried to substitute lettuce and tomato for onion and cilantro. It didn’t work. Just get them with lettuce and tomato. Neither the green or red salsa was great.
My margarita was great. The chips are very good. The preparation of my tacos was great (I had all four options). The tacos were baked and the corn tortillas were perfect. Flavor was very good. They were good.
I feel that if you want American/​Mexican food then you’ll be happy. Or if you do not know what authentic Mexican tastes like, you’ll like this place. I do like authentic though and this is not it. I’ll still come back though, just with different expectations.
Place rating: 3
Fort Wayne, IN
Very disappointed in a restaurant I have used and recommended in the past. As a part of my order, I ordered two tacos ala carte. The menu price indicated that they were priced at $ 2.99 each or two for $ 4.99. However, when I got my bill I was charged $ 2.99 for each taco and they explained that since I had ordered on beef and one chicken that they are priced the single price. I requested to see the menu and it certainly did not say that when I read it. Soon, the manager showed up to tell me I was wrong and did not change the charge. I felt that I was steam rolled and discounted. The dissatisfaction of a customer over $ 1.00 seems like a very poor business decision to me. There are far too many other very fine Mexican restaurants in Fort Wayne.
Subsequent to my review, the owner contacted me and did a wonderful follow up on my situation from the night before. I was pleased with the tenor of the response and an honest and sincere effort to make things right. While a gift certificate was offered I declined since I was not looking for something free. I do appreciate the apology and the efforts to correct the situation. Based on the fast response, apology and an honest effort to make things right, I am willing to give them another chance. Thanks Christina.
Place rating: 1
Fort Wayne, IN
They have TERRIBLE customer service. The waitress acted like we bothered her when we asked questions about the menu and was rude when she did respond. We waited an hour for food and then received food that a dog probably would not eat! 2 men in our party who eat almost anything tried to eat the chicken nachos. Both thought they were awful so we told our waitress. The waitress said that’s how they are suppose to taste. The Manger then came and said they were exactly how the waitress described them so all she could do was give him a different kind of chicken or box it up. We had already waited an hour… what? Wait another hour? We will NEVER eat there again!
Place rating: 1
Fort Wayne, IN
Horrible. Waited an hour for food and then dessert was brought out first. Orders were wrong or forgotten altogether.
Place rating: 1
Fort Wayne, IN
I don’t know… we have yet to find decent Mexican food since moving from Chicago to Ft. Wayne. We pulled into the lot and I was about to look this place up on Unilocal and my phone died, I thought I should live on the edge and try a place without looking it up on Unilocal — boy was I sorry!
First of all, the entrance to this place is weird. It was unclear where to go in and it took a minute for them to realize we were waiting for table. We agreed to sit in the noisy bar area for dinner. I should have left when I saw they were pouring salsa out of plastic jugs they carry around everywhere.
The salsa tastes like tomato sauce and the food and service left a lot to be desired.
Place rating: 5
Indianapolis, IN
The food is a unique type of Mexican food that I have only found here. I have been going to Azteca for 20 years and enjoy each and every time I dine there. They have an extensive food menu and an even more expansive tequila menu. It’s a great local one of kind place.
Place rating: 1
Fort Wayne, IN
The salsa tastes like tomato paste, and for some reason the water tasted off as well. Our waitress was quirky and a bit weird, but nice enough and attentive. The food was mediocre at best. I would hardly call it food worth going out and paying for. Service was good, food was not.
Place rating: 1
Fort Wayne, IN
This place is terrible. Salsa is horrid. Food is way overpriced and the dining experience is lacking at best.
Place rating: 5
Fort Wayne, IN
I am a huge fan of El Azetca. Friendly service every time I go. Have gone for over a decade.
When they ask what kind of salsa you want, ask for half and half — half red and half green. What a great flavor combination.
Trust me, whether it is a margarita or an enchilada you crave you will find this to be the place to get them.
It is a very clean restaurant, too!
Place rating: 5
Orlando, FL
Azteca has consistently for over 40 years proven to be the best Mexican food in Ft. Wayne!
The Azteca Squeeze Margarita is second to none!!! The Tequila selection is the best in the city and the service rocks!!!
Family owned and operated you get the royal treatment by the Ray/​Durnell family every time.
Treat yourself to a great Margarita, order the Azteca Squeeze!!!
They even stock my favorite Tequila (El Tesoro) and keep it stashed away just for me!!!
Here is to 40 more years!!!
Place rating: 4
San Antonio, TX
It was good… the salsa was unique, not my choice the space was unique but tight… I had the stewee benji burrito between my friend and I we voted 3.5