El Azteco Restaurant Reviews

Nice. Would have liked a few more healthy options. Fish tacos, seafood no cream sauce, but was good. Definitely busy after game day!

It is what it is. Fantastic food but I feel emotionally connected to her since I've been living at this restaurant since I was a toddler. The service is hit or miss but it can like the server doing the giant favor of bringing you the food. But it Elaz. It would've been really awesome if they hadn't colossally screwed up the dinner after my grandmother's funeral. 3 & a half hours later we were submitting our credit cards while still waiting for my uncle's meals to come in it to-go box. The manager made it as right as he could with half off. But the server had no people skills to deal with such a screwup and it always feels crappy to have a server with the personality of a plastic spoon. But, it's Elaz- so I'll be back.

Ordered, and paid for a full topopo salad to go. Received a half order, in-between two paper plates. Mmmm... how about my full order, and a to go box?

I love El Azteco, usually. This particular time the service was slow, slow, slow. We were on the rooftop patio, which was busy but not full. The downstairs, indoor, dining area had very few diners in it. So, I don't really understand what took so long.

Great food and margaritas everyone wearing a mask and social distancing. Thank you

Good margaritas. Food is average, as well as service.

Consistently great quality food. The chips and salsa is made in house. Get the cheese dip to go with it, it's so good!

This place has its good days and its bad. I have gone here since the late 80's with my dad and uncle while he was going to State. I still remember when it was in the basement. The quality of the food is good but the portions have been getting smaller. The service has also suffered over the years but you really shouldn't expect much from a downtown college hangout. Its still good to eat at every so often.

The food was good & reasonably priced, but they were crazy busy (MSU home game) & our waitress, or at least her brain, was not with us! Only 2 of our 4 orders came out together, the other 2 individually at separate times. They don't have hotsauce on the table (never seen that in a mexican restaurant), so everything was a wait & very uncoordinated! :)-~

Tapopo salad is my go to choice great for parties of 4 or more we come here pretty much once a year if not more. Great place especially service, and patio seating

You can find higher quality Mexican food at the Taco Bell 5 minutes away

I travel to El Az about 1x a year although I live over an hour away. The food never disappoints. Service was a little sloppy but the food made up for it.

The rooftop dining is spectacular. And the wait staff was very friendly. I'd go there again without hesitation.

Topopo salad is not what it used to be haven't had a good salad for 2 years. This salad was wonderful once... new management ? Something is wrong . Less lettuce ,less peas ,no vinegar and oil dressing and the size is a joke . Been coming for 20 years
Please bring back the original salad . 14.50$ is half the size it used to be.

El Azteco is a great place for families. In the summer you can sit on the rooftop and eat your meal. It has great food.

I had one of their signature blue corn enchiladas, it was very cheesy and satisfying. Good for food that's filling and tasty; the wait was long but service was quick.

The best crappy mexican food to be had in East Lansing. My family eats here whenever they're in town.

It's not bad I always get the chimmichanga and it's decent and a large portion.

A la carte chicken burrito ok but nothing special. Plenty of meat but very little salsa and a little dry.

The two-for-one fajita special was more than two can eat, and it was quite tasty. El Az has been around for a long time.

The Lansing and East Lansing staple for great Tex-Mex food.

Cheap college town Mexican food. Good quality for the money, good service.

Great rooftop seating for enjoying a meal outside on a beautiful, sunny day.

Good bluecorn enchiladas (they are on sale on Wednesdays)

Always like this place. Good New Mexican-style food in the Midwest.

El Azteco gets its second star by having good service and a decent margarita on a cool rooftop setting, but the food is awful. The "guacamole" is more of an avocado puree, and I could about swear that the "queso" is cottage cheese. Stop in for a drink, but eat somewhere else.

I wish Art still owned the biz. I really do. Now it's like a gun without a firing pin.

Horribly overrated with mediocre food. There are better places to go.

The o.g. Mexican joint!! Party all day! Party all night! Don't get in a guacamole fight!!!

Great rooftop atmosphere, worst Mexican food ever. Went here for the rooftop dining. Nice area upstairs for outdoor dining which is why we went. Should have taken the reviews more seriously. Guacamole tasted like they forgot the salt, and was $7.50 for a tiny bowl. The enchiladas, quesadillas and tacos were so bland my college son could have done better. The margarita and cheese dip was good. If you want a drink and cheese dip/chips, it would be fun. Save the dinner for another place. Was disappointed and my expectations weren't that high.

Unlike many college favorite places that have closed or changed, El Az still is El Az. True its not in the basement of a sketchy building any more, nor do you have to wait in a probably-less-than-safe stairwell to be seated - but things are at least cleaner and more spacious. Either way, the menu hasn't changed much since at least the 80's. A Chile Colorado Burrito is still my go to, although the nachos or the topopo salad are classics worth a mention too.

Worst service ever. Ordered from here twice and was given the wrong order both times. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for good Mexican food.

I am never disappointed with this place! The food, the drinks, the atmosphere... it's a MUST every single time I'm back in East Lansing! And if you're looking for a rooftop patio, this is one of the best in town!!

My chalupa was decent but my wife and daughter both got enchiladas and they had almost zero filling. Overall it wasn't bad but I wouldn't go back.

Delicious Mexican food, fun atmosphere. Can't go wrong with anything here.

Horribly slow. Took 1.5 hours to get food and when the food finally arrived it was cold and poorly prepared/presented. No discount was given even though our waitress recognized and acknowledged how long we had waited. Nice wait wait staff but overall poor experience.

This is not authentic food, not clean, & customer service was not good either!

I enjoyed the food and the service. And yes I plan to return, TRUE-WORDS King,Poochie

I've been eating at El Azteco since my college days, standing in the long waiting line on the stairs leading to the basement location on MAC (I'm sure the Fire Chief hated it!) The food has always been outstanding with the service being usually excellent. I've had a few lousy servers, but they didn't last long. Service is fast, but they don't rush you out - it has always been a place comfortable to catch up with friends. I try to introduce everyone to El Azteco, both locations.

The food is always amazing, but for answering the phone, they have terrible manners. When it comes to door delivery they are very unprofessional and they gave no napkins or silverware.

Service was Extremely slow dut thank God for good margaritas

Fantastic food and service. Lively atmosphere. College crowd.

Awesome as always! Blue Corn Enchiladas are the thing to get!

The price of the steak fajitas was $2 higher than online, and then they charged me $1.00 for a little bowl of lettuce. The server didn't mention the upcharge when I was ordering and she offered it - I didn't specifically ask for it. And the fajitas really didn't taste that good. Chips and salsa were great, however.

I paid in cash asked for change. The waitress never came back

We love this place! Great food, great service, and great tequilas!

Been going to this place when it was downstairs in a basement on MAC st. It's been just a block north on ANN now for a long time. The Enchiladas de jocoque (with green sauce) has always been my entre there. I cannot remember having anything but. Incredibly delicious. Best enchiladas ever. I do not mind paying a Little extra for the chips and salsa. The chips are homemade and tasty. The salsa is awesome with a nice lusty bite to it. You can take some home with you in containers. And I have. If people do not like their food, they do not like southwestern food period. I always look forward to this place as a special treat a couple of times a year when I am in East Lansing.

The only place I can find to popo salad, and it's so good. The salsa is great too.

Waited an hour an a half for food and got a quesadilla that i could have made in my microwave. Great atmosphere sitting outside but food was very sub par.

My friends and I have been coming to El Azteco in East Lansing since 1986 (when we were in High school). I had not eaten there in over a year. Today, I ordered 2 frijole burritos and one chili Verde burrito. I also ordered extra salsa as it used to be amazing. What I got was oily and bland tasting frijole burritos that were 1/3 the size (basically all burrito shell). The Verde burrito had no creamy verde sauce (dry ground beef) and it was also 1/3 the size. The salsa cups were incredibly small and you could fit a whole cup on one tablespoon. So wrong! $16 lunch that was a total disappointment. After 35 years of memories with great friends.... I will not be returning. Sad to see an East Lansing Landmark for 1/2 a century treat their customers this way.

After going to the establishments many times, I have never felt so disrespected in my entire life. As soon as I sit at a table I began being harassed and yelled at by the manger/(owner) for sitting at the wrong table. After going up to clear confusion the manger began to lay his hands on me and forcefully touch me because I wanted to have a simple conversation.

Amazing Mexican food like nowhere else. Don't judge by the look on the plate!

Cheese dip is unique and sooo delicious with their extra-crunchy chips. Salsa is always hot and chunky. Topopo Salad is huge, great for sharing. Blue Corn Enchiladas are flavorful and filling. Enchiladas de Jococe (sp?) can be super spicy but are oh-so worth it. Margaritas are excellent and cheap (when on special).

In warmer months, eating up on the second story patio is a great place to relax, chat and enjoy excellent food.

Service can sometimes be a bit slow, but usually because they're so busy.

Delicious food - a bit difficult to find close parking.

Just not the El Azteco of old, in the basement, can't relate

Patio is nice
Food is disgusting, not even right to pay for it

Tapopo salad, pitcher of Margarita's, on the patio. Nuff said.

The quality of this place has really diminished. We had a wonderful time and the service was excellent, but the food's just not as good as it used to be. Good margaritas. Love the unique cheese dip. Go for a good time but don't expect to have amazing Mexican food.