Azul

Finally, another respectable Mexican restaurant (the other one being the new El Rodeo on Meridian St.).for the downtown crowd.
Azul has a nice mix of authentic and Americanized Mexican dishes which should satisfy any group. The menu is small which is a plus as the chef doesn’t try to create every combination of tortilla, beef/​chicken/​pork/​shrimp, cheese, beans, and rice known to man as most Mexican restaurants are wont to do. Everything I’ve tried there is very flavorful and entrees are reasonably priced ($ 8-​$ 12 range for most items).
The dining room is tastefully done (no sombreros or bull skulls hanging on the walls) and is a bit of a carryover (which is a good thing) from when the space was The Bar at The Ambassador.
An added bonus is the nightly beer special (hint: the bar stays open until 1 AM most nights).
There’s plenty of street (metered) parking on Pennsylvania and Ohio St. so suburbanites need not fear a trip to the big city for some good Mexican food.

Low quality Mexican food. The slowest service I have received in recent memory. I won’t be back.

Very average Mexican. Great environment. Neighborhood location. Service was good. Great prices. Unfortunately food was average and very bland. Rice was cold and tasted like it was out of a box. It has great potential so I am not ruling it out just yet. They simply need better food.

After reading the other reviews, I’m not sure we ate at the same place. Tonight was our second visit here and we truly enjoyed the FRESH food, good margaritas, and excellent service. We took friends tonight who also enjoyed everything. We will be back soon.

I went to Azul with my wife, aunt and uncle last night for dinner. We’re all hardcore Mexican food aficionados. Despite a couple high points, we won’t be going back.
High points:
1) $ 2 domestic beer
2) Great (if non-​traditional) queso fundido.
3) GREAT mole sauce
Low points:
1) Our server messed up our order. One member of our party ordered a couple of ala carte items, and received an entrée with ala carte items. Management fixed the bill.
2) My wife ordered an enchilada dish that appeared to come with a number of different meats. When she received a plate of chicken enchiladas, we were told that the list of meats should have had an «or» instead of an «and» in it. OK, so why weren’t we asked which kind of meat we’d like? They did remake the enchiladas with steak and took 20% off of everything.
3) Several dishes were seriously lacking in salt. I’m no salt-​head, but a number of items (like the salsa, and the sauce on my burrito) were just too bland.
4) The restaurant was pretty cold considering the temperature was only in the low 30s. I’d hate to go there if it was seriously cold.

When I first decided to try Azul a few weeks ago, I was a bit nervous. Azul is the recent creation in the location that was formerly The Bar (or The Bar at Ambassador). But for all who’ve followed what I have reviewed so far, you might remember that I mentioned Mexican food among my favorite types of ethnic food (as much as any Mexican food in the midwest is truly ethnic). Together, this combination of potential love of the food mixed with fear of service and prices made for a potentially harrowing meal experience
For my first visit, I was pleasantly surprised. Save the fact that they were out of two beers on tap and mispronounced «Flat 12» (a must-​not for any server in the city), their food was tasty, flavorful and fresh. The tortilla chips seemed fresh made, were crunchy and tasty, and the guacamole was to die for. Their margaritas were strong. And the neat ambiance so well made by The Bar was preserved nicely (albeit a strange combination with Mexican food). Overall, I was very happy that I The Bar had made a move in the right direction: a huge menu, fantastic food, good drinks.
I was so pleased with my experience that I decided to throw a surprise birthday party there a few weeks later. I think the trouble was that, not only was it a surprise for the birthday boy, but it was a surprise for Azul. That being said, it was a Tuesday night, just like it had been on my first visit. I figured everyone who came together would be pleasantly surprised, just like I was.
Unfortunately, I was SO wrong. Apparently, earlier in the day, there had been some sort of buffet, so that by the time my friends and I sat down: they were out of chips, they were out of chicken, they were out of beef… I’m sorry, what? Three of the five most crucial ingredients in Mexican food (the others being cheese and beans) are OUT?
This turned into a trainwreck of a meal: we ordered guacamole (my favorite part of my first meal) when we walked in, but it never came. When I ordered it again, they were out of chips, and the server offered to bring it anyway. But the question becomes, what do I eat it on??? So we scrapped that idea When one end of the table ordered, the server didn’t tell anyone they were out of some things, so the people who ordered were just brought SOMETHING, not what they ordered, and told it was on the house. Then they brought out a steak burrito on the house to share for the rest of the table as we scrambled to order different food from what we had planned. Then, when the food came, some of the people who had ordered one thing got chicken instead. I thought they were out of chicken? Seriously, I was EMBARRASSED to have brought my friends to this restaurant.
What’s really frustrating is that I was an occasional patron of The Bar because it was close and easy to pop in to. I was often disappointed. I had one great experience at Azul and took a risk bringing a group and was even MORE disappointed. I don’t care that there was a midday buffet: if you know it’s coming, you order extra ingredients. There should NEVER be a night of the week when you run out of tortilla chips. And if you say you’re out of chicken, you’d better be out of chicken, because otherwise I wonder if the food you’re making is fresh or if you’re just taking frozen food and you’re not really sure what’s in it.
I can’t begin to express how ashamed I am that I had faith in Azul changing. I do not blame the servers or the cooks, I have a problem with the restaurant management. It’s the people responsible for oversight who are supposed to make sure mistakes like running out of food don’t happen. I know that most people reading this will see it as a one-​time-​bad-​experience, and hopefully it was. But I will not be going back. There are just certain things you can’t recover from, and a loss of face among a dozen people is a pretty hard one to come by, especially when one is a local neighborhood patron.

Finally, Azul might just be another Indianapolis Downtown success story, or at least it is for me.
As Rachel N. said, the joint has definitely kept its charm and opted out of tacky, tasteless décor. In some ways it’s a little unbecoming because most, I’d think, patronize Mexican restaurants for the perceived ‘fun’. None of this matter though as the food and drinks are the stars.
Mexican is a living, breathing cuisine, and the chefs at Azul have certainly captured that. I ordered enchiladas filled with pastor (seasoned, spit roasted pork) and smothered in mole. The sides were refried beans, seasoned rice and a little salad of lettuce, pico de gallo and sour cream.
Firstly, the mole is brilliant, dark, fragrant and richly scented with chocolate undertones. The flavor is smooth and spicy with a slightly bitter edge. The generous pork filling was nicely seasoned and had just the right chewiness to compliment the tender, corn wrappers in which it was entombed.
The sides were also good. The refried beans were light with enjoyable chunks of pintos left unmashed and the rice was nicely seasoned with good texture.
I ordered a a tequila sunrise and a classic margharita. Both drinks were very good, and neither too sweet. In fact, if you like sweet drinks, you may want to ask the bartender to up the sugar content of the margharita, as it’s very tart, which I loved. She told me they squeeze fresh their own limes to make it. Awesome.
So go for this place and enjoy. I hope they keep up the quality and service. I think it has all the makings of a great, downtown place to hang, eat and drink. They’re not afraid to spice up the food, so those with sensitivity to peppers ask before you order! Otherwise, happy dining and keep Unilocaling. I wanna know about the other dishes and drinks!
Cheers!

Had the chance to try out the homemade salsa, and wow! Yum! Love the non-​technocolor atmosphere of a typical mexican place. It’s kept the lounge-​like feel like it was as The Bar. I’m excited to try more of the food this Friday at their official opening.