Location: 2801 Klondike Road West Lafayette, IN  (map it)

Phone: (765) 464-8203

Cuisine: Mexican

Review:  I’m a big fan of eating at hole-in-the-wall places that offer great food at great prices. I had a recommendation from someone to try out La Guadalupana on the west side, so I decided to check it out. It’s way west, on Klondike Road in the strip mall by the Family Express gas station.

First off, you need to be aware that this is actually a Mexican grocery store slash restaurant. There’s a grocery store, and on one side there are three tables with chairs set up. That is the restaurant. So if you are looking for something fancy or something less like eating in a grocery store, go elsewhere. This is not the place. It did appear as though they are working on expanding into the next room of the building, but for now, it’s three tables.

We walked in and were greeted warmly. We picked one of the three tables and sat down. Menus were on the table already. We placed our drink orders and perused the menu. Drinks were served and I was a bit saddened that the water I ordered came in a bottle. Not that I dislike bottled water – quite the contrary – I just wasn’t expecting to pay for water. No fountain drinks either, everything was canned or bottled.

The menu was fairly normal Mexican fare. Tacos, quesadillas, burritos, etc. I ordered two steak tacos, my husband the chorizo tacos. The kids ordered a mini quesadilla and a taco each.

Let me take a minute here before going into detail about the food and say a word or two about ambiance. Now, this is a restaurant in a grocery store. In a strip mall. Attached to a gas station. My expectations were not high. I was there for one reason – the food. There was Mexican music playing which was good, although not as good as having a Mexican soap opera on a TV in a corner. (Don’t ask me why, but I like that.) But for some reason on some of the songs, there was this terrible bass. At first I thought it was a car at the gas station with the bass thumping, but it never really went away. I’m not anti-bass or anything (let’s not get political) but it was really, really annoying.

So anyway, onto the food. It came out one or two plates at a time. And for a grocery store restaurant, the plates were nice. I expected baskets or paper plates, but they were real plates with real silverware. The food was, unfortunately, mostly “meh.” The chips were good. The salsa was very tasty but also very spicy. But the tacos were fairly bland. The beans were thin.

My daughter ordered a quesadilla from the kids menu. The menu said it came with beans and rice, but what we got was one small flour tortilla, with cheese inside, folded in half. It was cooked and the cheese was melted. But it came alone on a plate with nothing else. For the cost of $3.99. I had to ask to get the rice.

My husband liked his chorizo tacos, but was unimpressed with the beans as well.They also had some interesting choices on the menu including beef tongue and tripe.

I would say that I’m not sure I’d go there again, but I might consider having it delivered. Their menu says they deliver to all West Lafayette. It doesn’t say on the menu if they charge for delivery or not, but I’d guess there’s a fee.

As for price, it’s a toss up. The individual tacos were $2.00 each, which is fair. But the kids ‘meal’ which was supposed to come with beans and rice (and didn’t) was $3.99. Without a drink. (For a small tortilla with cheese.) I thought that was a bit excessive. I asked for cheese on my son’s taco was charged extra for it as well. It was clear on the menu that cheese was extra – nothing was a surprise at the end. Still, it seemed unnecessary for a tablespoon of cheese.

Kid friendly: Yes and no. The children’s menu only consists of Mexican food. They also do not offer ground beef as an option.

Downloadable Menu

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Location: 219 Main Street, Lafayette, IN (map it)

Phone: 765-428-VEGG (8344)

Cuisine: Vegan/Vegetarian

Review:  I’ve had several recommendations that I try out Peaceful Greens. And I’ve really meant to on many occasions, but life gets in the way and I just haven’t been able to get there. Sorry! But tonight, I had the chance and I took it.

Peaceful Greens is located downtown right next to Black Sparrow Pub, in the Chase Bank area. It’s actually located where Murky Waters was if you recall that coffee shop. Anyway, it’s just a small cafe type place. I went in and was greeted by a server who offered a table and brought menus. It certainly wasn’t anything fancy, just menus printed out on sheets of paper. It wasn’t very busy, but it wasn’t empty either.

This is a Vegan/Vegetarian restaurant, so most of the items are made without animal products. No meat at all, although there are some egg and cheese dishes on the menu. The menu was pretty big for a Vegetarian restaurant, with options of snacks, salads, soups and sandwiches and more. You can eat breakfast all day.

The waitress came over to take our drink orders and tell us about the specials. There was a quiche special served with potatoes and bread, and I’m a sucker for a special so I ordered that. I give a thumbs up to the potatoes, which were diced and had a hint of rosemary. The bread was the Dakota bread, from Great Harvest, of which I was already a fan. It didn’t come with any type of garnish, so I asked for butter and was given some soy spread. So I guess butter is out (but cheese is in?) Unfortunately, I have to give a thumbs down to the quiche. It must have been made with tofu or an egg substitute, because it looked like a triangle of corn bread and had a spongy texture that was difficult to stomach. It was mostly very bland and everyone in my party tasted it and agreed it was not good.

The rest of the group enjoyed their choices. One friend had a black bean salad with tortilla chips and another friend had the grilled cheese. Both reported their food was just fine. Definitely mixed reviews for the food.

Before going, I had heard several reports that the service was very poor here, but I found the opposite to be true. Our server was friendly and attentive but not overbearing.

Overall, I’d say it’s worth another shot. Definitely read the descriptions thoroughly so you know what you are getting, but there were several other things on the menu I’d like to try. They also offer lunch time delivery to downtown business, which I think is a great idea.

Kid friendly: There didn’t seem to be a children’s menu that I saw, but they do offer grilled cheese on the menu, so I’d say maybe.

No related posts.

Location: 17 Northwestern Ave West Lafayette, IN (map it)

Phone: (765) 269-9980?

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Review:  We decided to head out to eat tonight and decided on Blue Nile in West Lafayette. It’s on Northwestern in that strip where the Subway and Potbelly are, but you have to walk up almost like an alley to find it. We’d never been there, so we wandered around for a while trying to locate it. When we did go in, we were greeted warmly and taken to a seat. I presume it was the owner, but the nice lady who greeted us informed us that their air conditioner was out right now, but gave us a nice spot right next to an open door with fans blowing nearby. We stayed quite cool, but she did check on us later to make sure we were comfortable.

The restaurant isn’t fancy at all, just tables and chairs scattered throughout the long eating area. In fact, I don’t remember much in the way of decor, so there must not have been much to look at. That’s okay, what I really went was for the food. The reviews I’d read online went on and on about the Lentil Soup, so I knew I had to try that. Beyond that, I was open.

After being seated, we were greeted by a server. She brought us water and asked us if we knew what we wanted. We’d been seated for about two minutes, so of course, we didn’t know what we wanted. I asked her if she had any recommendations and she told us that she doesn’t eat the food there. Stop. Wait a minute. What? What kind of ringing endorsement is it when your servers don’t eat your food? I have no idea if it’s because she didn’t like it or what, but that is a huge pet peeve of mine. The servers should know the menu and be able to answer questions and tell you what’s good.

I ordered the Lentil Soup and Chicken Couscous and my husband ordered something that I don’t remember the name (probably I should start taking notepads to these places) but what was more or less ground beef shish kebabs with rice. I ordered the hummus as an appetizer and he got a yogurt salad.

The soup and salad came out and I would say that for all the hype the soup got on the reviews, I was unimpressed. It wasn’t bad, but I was expecting more I suppose. My husband says his yogurt salad was very tasty.

Next came the hummus. I love hummus. I could eat it all day. And again, I was unimpressed. The pita bread was dry and bland, more like the Kangaroo brand you buy at the store to stuff with chicken salad. And the hummus wasn’t really that great.

Finally the main entrees came. My husband reports his beef kebabs were awesome. The chicken couscous was pretty good. I’m not experienced in the ways of couscous, but I thought it had a nice flavor and texture. It had vegetables too (cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, carrots) and a smattering of almonds which were happy surprises in your mouth when you found one on your fork. It was pretty good.

The service wasn’t great. The server, as noted, didn’t know much about the food and mostly just ignored us aside from taking our order and bringing our food. I’m not sure if they were having an off night, but the food was kind of hit and miss as well. I think this one may take another trip or two before I can make a final decision on whether I would recommend it to others or not.

Kid friendly: Not really.

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Location: 135 South Chauncey Avenue, West Lafayette, IN (map it)

Phone: (765) 743-6468?

Menu

Cuisine: Sandwiches/Subs

Review:

Located at the Chauncey Hill Mall, Lenny’s is probably my favorite sub shop in town, edging out Pot Belly Sandwich Works. Lenny’s is a little bit pricey for sandwiches, but they’re awfully good. Their thing is that they cut the meat for you after you order your sandwich. The Turkey Sub is my favorite. Their “regular” sub is pretty darn big, so I’m not really sure who is ordering the “large.” The fixings are not elaborate, but I think they’re sufficient: lettuce, onion, tomatoes, oil, salt, pepper, oregano, pickles, hot pepper relish, mayo, and mustard.

The ambiance is nothing special. Kind of a standard strip mall environment with bench seats and tables; you order at the counter and pay at the register. But, hey, it’s a sub shop. The staff is friendly and the operation seems to move right along. It’s a good place to grab lunch.

Kid Friendly: Yes, assuming your kids will eat sandwiches and chips. They offer kids sandwiches and hot dogs.

Related posts:

1. Potbelly Sandwich Works

Location: 3000 South 9th Street Lafayette, IN (map it)

Phone: (765) 474-9527

Cuisine: American, Pub Grub

Review:  I’ve had to go to the Other Pub twice in the past few weeks to get this review, because I keep forgetting to write it. But finally, here it is!

The Other Pub is located at the corner of Twyckenham Boulevard and 9th Street. It’s in the strip right next to the Big Apple Bagels. In fact, I believe the two owned and operated by the same people. They are connected so servers can go back and forth between the two.

The Other Pub has the look and feel of a regular American bar and grill. It has a very “Cheers” type feel to it. Wood tables, wood chairs, lots of browns. It’s pretty clean and the servers, in the pub area, are usually quite good.

The menu has some range, with lots of appetizers including Southwest Egg Rolls, loaded potato skins, and some kind of fried bread dough that’s a little overwhelming. They have sandwiches, burgers, salads, and wraps – pretty much something for everyone.

I’ve eaten in both the pub side and the bagel side and this time in particular I was with my family so I sat in the bagel side. I think, and I wouldn’t quote me on this, that families have to sit in the bagel side so that the pub can workaround the smoking ban.

We sat down in the bagel half and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally a waitress appeared and gave us some menus and then shuffled off to take the orders of another table, people who had also been waiting. She came back to get our drink orders and then took off, to places unknown. We didn’t see her again for a while.

She did finally come back and took our order. I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Salad. This salad was just iceberg lettuce, shredded cheese, tomatoes, onion, and chicken. The chicken was really not very good. It had some kind of weird breading that I didn’t care for. I wound up pushing it aside and just eating the greens. While I was eating it, I got a sort of déjà vu. I finally realized I had ordered this salad once before, and also didn’t like it.

I can say that the time before that I ordered a wrap and found it quite tasty, so it could just be that this particular salad isn’t good. My husband liked his French dip sandwich. They have a pretty good kids’ menu, including spaghetti, pizza, corn dogs, and more. And if you are going to take your family there, definitely go on Tuesday, because kids eat free.

The food was hit or miss. The service, this time, was pretty awful. The server had to go back and forth between the pub half and the bagel half, and my guess is she kept forgetting there were people on our side. Once we got our order in, the food didn’t really take long, but it just took forever to even get our orders placed.

My recommendation is to stop in for drinks and appetizers, but get your dinner somewhere else.

Kid friendly: Yes, but families have to sit in the bagel shop area.

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