edaveindy Comments:
Glendale area, on East 62nd street, about 1 block West of Keystone. On North side of street.

Better than average strip-mall walk-up place. Opened within the last few months. Very clean. Does mostly carry-out business, but clean and tidy enough that I had no problem dining in. Dining area was drafty in cold windy weather, so would advise eating in with coat on if you go to eat-in during winter.

Open later than most places. Hours: Mon-Thurs: 10:30am to 10:30pm. Fri & Sat: 10:30 am - 11:00pm. Sunday, 11:00 am to 10:00 pm.

Lunch Specials are from 10:30 am to 3:30pm, cost $4.25, and include either Pork Fried Rice or white rice, and include one of the following: pork egg roll, can of soda, or choice of soup.

Most of menu items are the Pint-or-Quart of standard fare ($3.95 or $6.95, shrimp items are $8.50), but also standard Combination Plates ($6.25 for all), and "Chef's Special" for the better stuff ($7.75 to $9.95).

Of interesting note on the menu is a fried American food section of fried chicken wings, fried scallops, fried fish, french fries, and crab meat sticks.

Doubly interesting is the Pad Thai section of the menu, with choice of vegetable, roast pork, chicken, beef, shrimp, or "House Special" Pad Thai.

Third interesting things are the salads: Green (American) salad with ginger dressing, Japanese seaweed salad, chicken salad, seafood salad. Not usually found at strip-mall walk-up Chinese places.

I tried some Chicken Pad Thai, which was served in a very generous portion for the price. It had a real kick in terms of being spicey-hot. I liked it, but it was not quite up to what you get at a _good_ Thai restaurant. Acceptable, but not good enough to make me do cartwheels.

One time I had Moo Goo Gai Pan, and that dish was better than the average strip-mall walk-up joint.

The green salad was acceptable, and the dressing was very gingery, but something was awkward, with the pieces of tomato and lettuce cut too large. Most Chinese restaurants, even buffets, just don't get the salads quite right.

There was a steady stream of take-out customers both times I was there. Dine-in customers get served on take-out containers. Utensils were cheap plastic if my memory is correct.

I'm being just a little generous in my rating of Food Quality and Service, but I'm comparing it to other strip-mall walk-up places, and it does exceed what I was expecting. Cleanliness and Perceived Value here are a solid 4.0 compared to any type of restaurant.

edaveindy Comments:
I had the chicken "Lunch Fajitas". (I know, chicken don't have "fajitas", but that's what they call it.) Excellent dish. Very good refried beans, salad, and guacamole.

Generous portion of chips and salsa served with the meal.

The men's room was clean where it needed to be, sink, commode, and floor, but could have used detailed cleaning, and remodelling (it looked like it was painted by grade-school kids). And the passage-way there had grungy walls.

Overall decor in the dining area could have been really nice, but the baseboards and trim were grungy. If I could, I'd give a 2.5 on both cleanliness and ambience, but will give a 2 and 3 so it averages out.

This place is worth going out of your way for, for the food, if you're a fan of Mexican cuisine. And with a little fixing up, it could be a really nice dining experience. For now, I'd have to describe it: "hole in the wall with great food."

Waitress was good, and knew to bring the check to the table.

There are two main dining areas. One is in view of the bar, with lots of beer signage, and the other is more family friendly.

edaveindy Comments:
WOW! Wow, wow, wow. Yes, I know I'm easily impressed. But this place blew me away.

The food here was equal to the top-tier Chinese buffets in town.

Fresh sushi, and it impressed me for a buffet. About 4 varieties of rolled sushi, and a couple types of raw-fish-sitting-on-a-clump-of-rice kind too.

Extensive salad bar with a good assortment of toppings, and creamy pasta dishes. Extensive desserts. Several cold seafood items. A dessert cooler/refridgerator thing for the cake. A soft serve ice cream (frozen custard?) machine.

A really great Mongolian grill with fresh ingredients, and about 10 seasoning sauces.

Some very tender beef ribs were on the steam tables.

I just didn't have room to try the crab legs, but the other seafood I had was very fresh. I was impressed with the variety of shrimp dishes. Even shrimp on a stick. A buttery shrimp with noodles blew me away.

There were some dim-sum items, but I only tried a bean cake, and wasn't overly impressed by it.

I got there about the beginning of the dinner hour, about 6pm, so the food was really fresh.

$11.88 for the dinner buffet, plus $1.49 drink, plus tax.

The decor/ambience didn't quite match up to the high quality of the food, but was still nice and way better than the average buffet in Indy.

The men's room was clean but could have used a little remodeling to bring it up to the quality of the dining area. Nothing negative though.

I'm a big fan of Asian food, and it was refreshing to find a buffet with some high quality unique items, or unique takes on standard items.

Lunch buffet was $5.95 plus drink. Senior citizens special, about $5, between 1pm and 3pm.

edaveindy Comments:
This is on the North side of 82nd Street, in front of the Castleton Square mall. It's on the back (North) side of a little out-lot, so you can't see it from 82nd street. You can see "Casual Male" from the street, and Kabob Korner is directly behind it, on the other side of that building.

Look for the National City Bank, and turn North there, as if you're going into the mall. Then go right (East), and it's just past Long John Silver's.

They close from 2:00pm to 5:00pm, so remember that when you visit.

You walk up to the counter to place your order and pay. They bring your food out to your table on a tray and plastic plates. You get your own plastic utensils, napkins, and water from the counter.

Menu is limited, and posted on a board behind the counter. Kabobs come in sirloin beef, lamb, ground beef, and chicken, and then there are three other entrees. Entrees come with side of long grain rice (basmati I think) and small dinner salad. I really liked the dressing on the salad.

Drinks include ice water (self serve), and bottled water/soda/tea, and hot coffee.

Prices are good and food quality is worth going out of your way for. It's kind of set up on a fast-food arrangement, so the overall "dining experience" isn't impressive, but the food does impress.

The owner works as the cashier, cook, and waiter, and is very personable.

Dining area and men's room were very clean.

edaveindy Comments:
This restaurant is like most strip-mall walk-up Chinese places, but is in its own free-standing building on the North side of Pendleton Pike.

I'm glad I went back to give this place another chance. They've remodeled and cleaned up the place. Men's room was good. New wall coverings, wall-paper, and new ceiling tiles. And the wood paneling that looks like it remained from before is noticeably cleaner than what I remember from my last time there.

In the remodel they also rearranged the kitchen and back area to give more room to the front dining area.

I used to have lunch there occasionally (before I gave up on it) when I lived in the area, but tonight I had a dinner. MUCH better food, with noticeably better fried rice. I don't remember the cook from back then, but based on the food, I'd say there was a new cook.

I would have rated the Food Quality as "Exceeded" except they used canned mushrooms instead of fresh, and the egg drop soup seemed a little thick and old.

There's a flat-panel TV in the dining area now, too.

Oh, and the combo prices are ridiculously low. $3-something plus drink for lunch, and $4.75 plus drink for supper. 12 ounce canned soda for $.50.

Still, this isn't a place I'd go much out of my way for. But if you're in the area, and don't want to go to one of the more expensive Chinese buffets nearby, then this place is now acceptable, and is even a good deal in terms of price.

edaveindy Comments:
I had some curried goat stew, rice, and a loaf of sourdough bread to go. The sourdough bread was very fresh, and a good deal, a loaf for $1.25. Goat stew was $3.75 and the small side of rice was $.60.

The stew wasn't too spicy. I liked the flavor, and I used the rice and bread to sop up every last drop.

The goat meat was very tender. Most morsels were boneless, and only two pieces with rib bones.

There was a line of people there to pick up food on the way home from work.

The customer area could be spiffed up and detailed a little better, but it doesn't seem to matter much in comparison to the good food and low prices.

The menu is very simple: spiced meat patties, curried chicken, curried goat, and sides like rice, cole slaw, and potato salad. There is a large variety of canned soda and fruit punch in the coolers in front.

I was really impressed by the bread.

edaveindy Comments:
This seems to be a popular little walk-up strip-mall Chinese restaurant. Eat-in, carry-out, and delivery.

The one unisex restroom had a sign "Out of Order", but when I asked about it, the cashier said it worked, and the sign was just to keep out non-customers. (Maybe that was the strategy back at Number One over on Crawfordsville Rd?)

I wanted to rate this "Exceeded" on ambience because they have real china plates and stainless steel utensils, and because the lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling were nicer than the standard recessed flourescents. But most of the light bulbs were burned out, or deliberately turned off, so the dining area wasn't lit well.

They have a tiny foyer thing (I forget what you call it, it's like an "air-lock" with inner/outer door) with an inner screen door that I haven't seen before at this type of restaurant. The outer door was open, and the night air cool and fresh, so the air in the restaurant was fresher than at similar restaurants.

This restaurant won't impress, but if you're in the area, or passing by, it's better than average, and worth getting something to eat-in or carry-out.

They are located on East 96th, only a couple blocks west of Fall Creek Road.

This restaurant, and China Wok at 116th and Brooks School are the two closest Chinese restaurants to the Geist Marina that I've found so far.

edaveindy Comments:
Typical strip-mall Chinese restaurant. Eat-in, carry-out, and delivery. Unisex restroom. Restroom and dining area were sufficiently clean. Owners are from southern China, the province next to Hong Kong, so the cuisine is Cantonese recipe.

Probably not worth going out of your way for, but acceptable to eat at, including dining in.

(Note: others may consider my ratings generous, since I rate based on what I expect, not a 1-star to 5-star system.)

edaveindy Comments:
My ratings for this restaurant are a touch on the generous side as I'm comparing this to what I expect at the average walk-up Chinese restaurant in strip malls.

I arrived at the beginning of the dinner hour, and it got rather busy with a constant flow of carry-out customers, and a few dine-in customers.

This is in Hamilton County, so the dining area is noticeably newer/cleaner/spiffier than the average for this type of restaurant in Marion county.

Men's room was cleaner than average.

This place would not be worth going much out of your way for, but is very acceptable for lunch or supper if you're in the area, or if you want to pick up something on the way home.

Hours: Mon - Sat: 10:30 am - 10:00pm. Sunday: 11:00 am - 9:30 pm.

Location is on the NE quadrant of the intersection of 116th and Brooks School.

edaveindy Comments:
Service was good, but there weren't many customers, at 6:45pm. Only 3 other tables besides my own, and 2 carry-out customers.

Restroom was cleaner than most Asian restaurants, and ambience was slightly better than most strip-mall restaurants.

The bun with chicken (Bun Ga something), #58, was great. Chicken was cooked just right, not underdone, nor overdone. Definitely not bland, spicey enough that I didn't need to add any sauces. I thought it was equal to the best I've had at other local Vietnamese restaurants.

Chopsticks and the big flat-bottomed spoon thing were on the table in addition to the stainless steel western-style utensils.

Good assortment of sauces were on the tables in a carboard six-pack (beer) carton: hot sauce, Hoisin sauce, fish sauce, "Maggi Seasoning" sauce, salt shaker, pepper shaker.

The bar area (beer/wine bottles and upside down glasses) is visible from the rest of the room, but it's not a bar where you sit at. That and the 6-pack beer cartons at every table may nix the place for families who don't want the kids exposed to alcohol.

I'll definitely be going back.

edaveindy Comments:
They know how to cook, but not how to clean, or repair the restrooms. Men's room was actually closed, as in "out of order." But there was no soap, no TP, no paper towels, nor air-dryer in the working restroom. Ugh.

edaveindy Comments:
I discovered this restaurant via the "Most Recent Added" link under the "Top 10 Restaurant Stuff" sub-menu of the "Restaurants" pull-down, here on IndyEthnicFood.com

This place recently opened. The operators are no amateurs. The decor, service, and food all indicate they've done this before and know what they're doing.

The decor was nice. A blend of what you'd expect in a nice upscale strip-mall restaurant in Carmel, but also enough that told you it was Thai or at least Asian. A frame of photos of previous Thai kings (or presidents), and one that is likely the current first family of Thailand.

Just about everything seems new. They have cloth tablecloths, folded cloth napkins in the long-stemmed crystal water glasses, stainless steel utensils sitting on a hand-folded paper napkin. Every table had plastic flowers and a yellow porcelain pepper holder in the shape of a chicken.

The dining area has 8 tables-for-two, 3 tables-for-four, and 2 tables-for-six. The latter could probably squeeze in 8 diners each.

I didn't realize when I ordered, but the dinner came with one appetizer included. I had a steamed type of spring or vegetable roll. It came with two excellent sauces. The presentation was nice, it was not just thrown on a plate.

I had the chicken and vegetables. Excellent. The rice is served in a convered stainless steel serving dish, and the entree came on a separate china serving plate. This facilitates diners sharing and trying each others' meals.

I could tell from the happy banter I heard from the kitchen that the chef enjoys his job, and the food shows it. It was great. All three employees seemed to be speaking Thai, so it seems genuine. My meal was equal to the best I've had other Thai restaurants.

The choice of spiciness here is 3 levels: mild, medium, and hot. At other Thai places they usually served one level higher than what I had ordered. But here, "mild" was indeed "mild". So I will ask for "medium" next time.

The waitress and the hostess knew what they were doing, and were very polite and sweet, and did a great job. They know how to make the customers feel important.

There were only two other tables occupied while I was there. But there were several customers there for take-out, so the locals are already zeroing in on this place.

The hostess suggested the Fried Banana and Ice Cream for dessert. Everything else was great, so I ordered it. However, I was sort of expecting it to be mushy and overly sweet like Central/South American fried plantains. That was not the case. The fried banana was much lighter than expected, lightly crisp on the outside, and not mushy or overly sweet. So if you can afford the caloric intake, go for it.

If you're allergic to peanuts, beware. Not everything that has peanuts says so in the menu, such as the sauces for the spring roll appetizers.

Hours: Monday - Friday 11am to 3pm, and 5pm to 9pm. Saturday and Sunday: Noon to 9pm.

Location: SE corner of 126th Street and Range Line Road, in the very corner of the strip mall. Due to trees, you won't be able to see their sign until you pull into the parking lot.

edaveindy Comments:
Location is on the SE corner of Franklin Road and East 38th Street. They are in the very corner of the strip mall.

The first thing that hit me was that it didn't smell fresh. There is a bar off to the side, separate from the dining area, and as soon as I entered, I could smell the combination of stale cigarette smoke, stale alcohol, and bathroom cleaning chemicals.

Even with my overly sensitive sense of smell, it was not enough to cause me to leave, and I stopped noticing it quickly. But if you're allergic to even a hint of cigarette smoke, you might want to avoid this place.

Visually, the bar is completely separate from the dining area, but there does seem to be some cross-over ventilation. So those who need to avoid bars may also feel out of place even in the dining area.

The decor was grand and elegant in its day, back in the 70's and 80's. Walking in was like going through a time-warp. But it's now in need of remodeling, new ceiling tiles, etc.

There were five other tables of customers in addition to me at about 6:00pm. But the dining area was much bigger, so it was still relatively empty. Throughout the time I was there, there was just about always someone waiting in front for take-out.

The menu specializes in Cantonese cuisine. I ordered my standard Moo Goo Gai Pan. The recipe was indeed Cantonese (South China, or Hong Kong) as opposed to the usual Mandarin preparation at most strip-mall Chinese restaurants and buffets.

My very experienced waitress, a lady who appeared to be in her 60's, did a great job. She had a wonderful combination of confidence and being at ease at her job, combined with politeness and attentiveness. She's sort of a Chinese version of the 60-something life-long professional waitress you might meet at a diner or Waffle House who instantly makes you feel at home.

My dinner plate seemed like real China, and appeared to be hand-painted. Utensils were stainless steel. I was not offered chopsticks. Ice water was served in a glass tumbler.

The food is served in those stainless steel bowls with stainless steel lids. The portions are huge. One order is enough for 2 people, or 1.5 at least. You then spoon from the steel serving bowl to your plate. Great for sharing and sampling each others' meals.

The food is a good deal in terms of portion size, but it's also GREAT! I haven't had a Chinese entree this good in a long time. Whoever was in the kitchen was a true chef, who knows Chinese/Cantonese food!

I can't recommend this place for the ambience or the cleanliness, it's not going to impress in that regard. But I can recommend it for the quality and quantity of food. If you're a lover of Cantonese food, then this is worth going out of your way for.

edaveindy Comments:
I've been to some other Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants around town, but not Greek, so I can't speak to the authenticity of the cuisine here. I was not dissatisfied, but I wasn't blown away either.

But I have to say that the cleanliness, service, and ambience here noticeably exceeded what I was expecting, and was above average in comparison to other restaurants in this price range.

I was there about 6pm, still a little early for the dinner hour, but there was at least one other dine-in couple, and several carry-out customers.

I'll be in this area on almost a weekly basis, and I plan on going back to sample more.

I don't know if the food was good enough to impress somoene who knows Greek food, but the cleanliness/service/ambience was good enough to make this a suitable place for spouse/boss/etc.

edaveindy Comments:
The cross-street is Westfield Blvd. It's on the NW quadrant of that intersection with 86th, in the same strip mall as Marsh, just a couple doors East.

There was a steady stream of take-out customers, including those who had phoned in orders. The menu indicates delivery with a $10 minimum. But it was obvious why I was the only dine-in customer.

The place wasn't just grimey, it was old grime. The tables had been damp wiped, but there was a film on my table that mere wet wiping wasn't going to clean off. The walls and ceiling had a tinge of grey that was just depressing. Everything, top to bottom, just needed a good scrubbing or layer of paint to overcome what appeared to be years of inattention.

If you need to use the men's room, turn the doornob counter-clockwise, otherwise it will appear locked.

It's probably safe to eat their food, hygienically speaking, and the cashier/waitress was super nice, but I can't recommend dining in.

edaveindy Comments:
This restaurant is located in the little shopping center on the North-East corner of East 21st and Franklin.

Pretty much standard strip-mall type Chinese restaurant, with the ubiquitous back-lit pictures and standardized menu. They offer delivery within a limited area.

Our meals were served in disposable aluminum trays (the carry out kind, but without the plastic top), and with the cheap plastic utensils.

My Moo Goo Gai pan was made with fresh mushrooms, not canned. The chicken was just slightly underdone, not enough to be a health concern, it was sufficiently cooked in terms of hygiene, but the texture wasn't to the point where you could pull it apart and see the grain of the meat.

The egg roll was cooked slightly too much, indicated by the too-dark hue of the wrapper.

There were 4 or 5 tables-for-four. The unisex restroom and the dining area were sufficiently clean that I have no problem eating here. Though some occasional detail cleaning of the restroom could make a good improvement.

I'm resurrecting my "Linus' Sincere Pumpkin Patch" award for the owners.

edaveindy Comments:
Very popular carry-out place. There was a steady stream of customers around meal-time. I wouldn't recommend eating in, but for carry-out, it's pretty much what you'd expect at a strip mall Chinese restaurant. A suitable Chinese restuarant to actually sit down and eat in this neighborhood is just down the street and around the corner, Chow Express, at 4558 N Shadeland.

edaveindy Comments:
This store/restaurant is on West 37th Street, just a few feet West of Moller Road. It faces South, so if you're driving South on Moller, you'll miss it, so look for the little row of offices/stores on West 37th, just North of the apartment complex.

This taqueria is in the back of a Mexican grocery store. It's just a lunch counter basically. Pretty cramped and noisy with the TV blaring and employees working busily, etc. But I kind of like the adventure. When I get bored of plain-white-bread Indianapolis, this kind of place takes me to another world, even if I don't buy anything, but just go in to browse and breath in the exotic spices and aromas. The hustle-and-bustle of immigrant-owned and immigrant-patronized places like this reminds me of one of the lines in the sonnet on the Statue of Liberty: "your huddled masses yearning to be free."

This restaurant caters to a Spanish-speaking clientele, so they might have to call someone over from another part of the store to translate if you don't speak Spanish.

It's a pretty standard menu, painted on a banner sign on the wall, the exact same banner sign I've seen at another restaurant that is not part of this store chain.

They cook to order here, but some things are made in big batches.

I liked the blackened chicken "pollo al carbón" the first time I was here. It had the juices seared in. But this time, it had perhaps sat too long in the warmer before being finished on the grill and put on a plate. It was served with lime wedges, lettuce, tomato slices, and soft corn tortillas.

You help yourself to your own beverage from the cooler behind you and the cook/server adds it to your tab. And you need to request the check ("la cuenta") when you are ready to pay.

As usual on these kinds of places, my rating is perhaps a point or 1/2 point high, because I adjust my expectations before going in. So this isn't a 1 to 5 star rating system. But for this restaurant, I'd actually rate this 3.5 on Food Quality and Service if I could.

Eating at places like this is more exploration and adventure than the actual dining experience.

In many Mexican stores and restaurants, those employees who don't speak English may feel self-conscious or a bit nervous around a gringo customer. So don't feel bad if the first employee you meet ignores you to summon another employee to serve you, it's likely because that other employee speaks better English. Just smile a lot and remember to say "gracias" a lot. They're glad that gringos patronize their establishment, and spend money there, it's just that many are shy and embarrassed about their lack of English.

edaveindy Comments:
This restaurant just opened in July 2007. Their stand-alone building has seen many incarnations of various restaurants over the years. But it seems like a major remodeling job, and everything is shiny clean and seems new.

I was the only gringo there for supper. The owners/staff are all Mexican, and speak enough English to get by. Papa-san is very fluent in English.

The specialty here is seafood, seafood, and more seafood.

The home-made chips were unique, being double-layered, which made them a little on the heavy side. Two kinds of salsa was served. The first was a light and thin green salsa that was hot enough to make flames come out your ears, and had a long-lasting after-bite. Yeah baby! WOO-HOO! Have that glass of ice-water at the ready. Hottest of anything I've ever had at a Mexican restaurant. But I kept occassionally dipping chips into it. 1/4 teaspoon per chip is plenty.

The other "salsa" they bring out for your chips is the first time I've seen this, and I really liked it. It's a cross between a chutney and a seafood salad. Not as watery as a chutney, and not as creamy as a seafood salad. But it had as much seafood in it as vegetable stuff. Goes very well with a seafood dinner and the seafood theme of the restaurant.

I'm not very familiar with Mexican seafood so I don't know how to compare/rate the "Soup of 7 Seas" that I had. There was plenty of peeled and cooked shrimp in it, that you could eat right out of the bowl, that gave it good flavor. There were slices of octopus, and other chunks of fish. And two big shrimp that were cooked whole, such that you had to pull off the head/legs and peel it, but they were delicious. There were two mussels in it too, but I don't know how to rate those.

I don't know how the prices compare to other seafood places. This entree was $13.99 including tax, and seemed a good deal. There were about 20 to 25 seafood entrees on the menu.

Service was attentive, but the waitress and cashier didn't know to bring the check to the table for a gringo, or ask if I was ready for the check. So be prepared to ask for the check, or just go to the cashier station.

They seemed to pick up customers quickly since opening. There was a table of a family, some guys who just got off work, and a couple of couples. There were 4 large flat screen TV's in the corners of the main dining area, tuned to a Spanish satellite channel, but the Mexican music being played didn't correspond to the TV channel.

One interesting thing is that the men's room didn't have a sink. The sink to wash hands is in a semi-public area outside of the men's and ladies' rooms. Diners can see it from the dining area. I suppose it's so that you can verify that the employees wash their hands before going back to the kitchen, but it felt odd to wash my hands in public like that. (I didn't check to see if the ladies room had a sink inside. ;-)

edaveindy Comments:
Recently opened in July 2007. Very nice upscale Mexican restaurant, aimed at gringos. The interior is much better than the strip mall exterior would lead one to believe, but this is in the Geist area after all. Everything is brand spankin' new.

They went the extra mile on the interior decoration. There is a water fountain as the centerpiece of the dining area. They built the slanted tile roofs over the booths along either side. There are plenty of very nice looking chandeliers. They also built some adobe looking column-like things around center section.

The only two drawbacks to the ambience were a) the bar is visible from the entire dining area, and b) even though they're painted black, the steel girders and metal roof are visible, which takes away from what they're working for with the fancy chandeliers, wood and tile side roofs, nice tile floor, and adobe column things.

My entree came on a sizzling hot plate. The grilled (asado) chicken was excellent, as was the rice. The beans were not the refried variety, but came in a soup like dish. Hot flour tortillas were served wrapped in aluminum foil. And the waitress knew to bring the check to the table.

Very nice, worth going out of your way for. And sufficient to impress the boss/wife/girlfriend/inlaws.

edaveindy Comments:
Upscale Mexican restaurant aimed at Gringos. This place reminds me of the hey-day of Chi Chi's and El Torito. The decor and ambience are much better than the strip mall exterior would lead you to believe. There is a bar in back, but the way it is partitioned, there are plenty of seating arrangements if you don't want to sit in view of the bar. So this is a family-friendly place. You could definitely take the boss/inlaws/wife/girlfriend here to impress.

Chips were home-made and warm, not greasy, not overly salted. Salsa was the second best I've ever had in town, perfectly flavored with cilantro. My idea of perfect salsa would be a little chunkier than this, but taste-wise this was excellent.

The dollop of guacamole on the lettuce was a nice touch. The saffron rice was good, and the refried beans with white cheese over them were perfect. The chicken in the dish was over-cooked a tad, but the grilled veggies were perfect, and the sauce was perfect. Warm tortillas were served wrapped in aluminum foil.

This restaurant is worth driving out of your way for if you're in the mood for good mexican food. It may not be "authentic" as in the hole-in-the-wall places, but it's high quality.

edaveindy Comments:
This restaurant is associated with the Mexican grocery next door, with an interior access between the two. It's a standard strip-mall Mexican joint. I've been here twice for lunch, and on one of those occasions was the only North American (gringo or "guero") there.

On both occasions there was a good number of Spanish-speaking white-collar customers. This seems to be a favorite of nearby Hispanic office-workers. I think there were an equal number of dine-in and carry-out customers too.

Service was confusing to me at first. You place your order at the cash register, there's no waitress. But the sign over the cash register that says "Order Here" can't be seen from the dining area, you can't see it until you go to the cash register.

So you go towards the back, where the cash register is, place your order, the cook brings it out to your table, and then after eating you go back to the cash register to pay. As in most Mexican restaurants that are aimed at an hispanic clientele, they don't bring your check to your table, they keep it at the cash register, and wait for you.

The dining area was clean. The unisex restroom was acceptable, but could have used some attention. Flat screen TV on the wall tuned to a Spanish satellite channel.

Both times I had my standard chicken burrito, and it was excellent. Their style is to put the "sides" (lettuce, etc) inside the burrito.

I wouldn't go far out of my way to eat here, but if you're in the vicinity, this is better than your average taqueria.

edaveindy Comments:
Brand new restaurant with brand new fixtures in a brand new building. Very shiny and new. They are located on the EAST side of SR-37 (Binford Blvd), just south of 71st St. They are in the strip mall that's behind the new CVS. It's just North of where Graham Road intersects SR-37.

I had supper here, around 8:30pm, and the food on the steam tables was very fresh. Everything done right, just about all the standards. This is not in the very top tier of Chinese buffets in town, but it's still way way better than the average Chinese buffet, in terms of selection, food quality, price, and cleanliness.

Very decent salad bar with sufficient fixin's, and a seafood salad item. Also had fresh fruit (cantelope, honeydew melon, and fresh bananas in a sweet red sauce) in the dessert section in addition to the standard (and boring) canned peach slices, canned pineapple chunks, jello, and sugar cookies.

Price was good too, supper was just $8.07 including drink and tax. Lunch price was $5-something plus drink and tax.

Very clean restroom, with motion-activated (no handle) faucet.

I didn't try them, but there's a fresh-brew coffee machine, and an iced-tea machine next to the self-serve soda fountain.

Large dining area with tables-for-4, and tables-for-8.

This place ought to be a popular lunch spot for all those office-warehouse complexes along Binford from 65th up through 75th. It's worth the drive to this place from Shadeland Ave, too.

edaveindy Comments:
Located on East 71st Street, 1/2 block East of Keystone. Right next to Sakura Mart grocery.

I've just had their lunch buffet so far, though they do have menu service. I think the buffet is just for lunch, and supper is menu service only.

Their modus-operandi is a small number of buffet items done very well. They apparently don't feel obligated to have all the Chinese buffet "standards" so they can focus on doing their core dishes just right, and keeping them fresh.

They are pretty busy during the lunch rush, so there is good turnover of the items on the steam table.

There is no salad bar, but there is a modest fruit (watermelon and cantelope) and dessert bar.

By not having all the steam trays full of stuff that hardly anybody eats, they save on costs, and pass that along with a low price for the lunch buffet.

Decor is the old grand style, and has been kept up and clean. Men's room was clean.

Center of dining area has a couple of those big round tables for 8 or 10 people, and there is a side dining room for large groups.

The items on the lunch buffet impressed me enough that I'm planning on going back for an evening meal.

I didn't see the menu, but the style of the lunch items makes me think they specialize in Southern Chinese cuisine.

edaveindy Comments:
Better than the average strip-mall Chinese restaurant.

They specialize in Szechuan/Cantonese style, and my standard Moo Goo Gai Pan had that Cantonese bent to it, especially the fried rice, that you don't see in food prepared by folks from other parts of China. Another reason it gets thumbs up is that the mushrooms were fresh, not canned. Another plus is that the egg roll that came with the dinner combination was noticeably good.

Noticeably cleaner than most strip-mall Chinese restaurants in Marion County. Technically this is in Fishers/Hamilton county as it is on the North side of 96th St. Ambience is better than average.

Food is served on a styrofoam plate, and you get your own thin plastic eating utensils, napkins and sauces from the counter.

I was the only dine-in customer at 8:15 pm, though there were other carry-out customers.

Located in front of (South of) the Wal-Mart, and right next to Yats.

edaveindy Comments:
These are the same folks who had the Mark Pi's Express at 7508 E Washington St, just down the road, and later renamed it "Maxim Place."

The sign on the front of the restaurant here says "Maxim Place", but the phone listing is still in the name of "Mark Pi's Express".

The new current location is the same as the previous "Pho Queen" and later "Pho 999". The place has been remodeled since the previous owners.

The food and prices are excellent. The menu is not quite as extensive as other Vietnamese restaurants in town. I don't recall seeing any chicken dishes on the menu. I've been there twice for dinner so far and have enjoyed the Bun dishes and the spring rolls.

The decor is not quite as upscale as the more famous Vietnamese restaurants on the West side of town.

Food is served in reusable/washable plastic bowls/plates. Plastic chopsticks, stainless steel silverware, and plastic soup spoons available at tables. Paper napkins. Large flat screen TV tuned to Vietnamese satellite channel.

Location is behind (South of) the Marathon gas station at the corner of Franklin and E. Washington. From East Washington, turn South on Franklin, or turn South into the shopping center at the next entrance East. The restaurant faces EAST in a building that is at right angles to Washington Street. So if you're Eastbound, you might miss it. So look for the Marathon station, or Divers Supply.

edaveindy Comments:
Had lunch there. Very professional and efficient waitress who waited on a lot of tables during the lunch rush all by herself.

Elegant and upscale dining area, tastefully decorated. Cloth tablecloths under glass on the tables. Paper place mat, China plates, stainless steel utensils, glass drinking glasses. Not cloth napkins, but noticeably upscale paper. They do serve alcohol.

I would have given the cleanliness ratings a 4 or 5 based on the dining area, but the men's room was used for storage, and there were carts of dirty dishes in the hallway leading to the restrooms.

The spicy scale is mild/medium/hot. I like it medium, but based on experience at other restaurants, I ordered mild, and got the medium-level that I wanted.

I had the #8 off the lunch menu, and really liked it. I forget the name, but it was based on chicken and rice.

The salad that comes with the lunch special is a small serving of cole slaw with finely shredded carrot on top.

Many Thai dishes have ground peanuts in them, so watch out if you're allergic to them. Check with your server, because not all the dishes that have peanuts say so in the description on the menu.

They are located on the south side of 96th Street, and the cross street is N Gray Road. Turn South on Gray Road to enter their strip mall.

edaveindy Comments:
Kind of a limited buffet, but for $5.20 (includes drink, but not tax) for lunch, it's a heck of a deal. No salad bar, but they did have jello, a couple different canned fruits (pineapple and fruit cocktail), and orange wedges. And the hot items that they had on the steam trays were more than acceptable; and I'd even say very good, considering the price.

I got there shortly after the lunch rush, and just had the buffet, but the food wasn't old. And people kept coming in for carry-out.

The limited buffet, with it's low-low price, makes it mainly a fill-up-cheap place. But, ordering off the menu gets you more variety and quality. Their extended hours are good if you are in the neighborhood, until 10pm weeknights, and 11pm Fri/Sat.

Their red and green colored menu has a lot more items than standard walk-up Chinese restaurants. Lots of Szechuan style stuff on the menu.

Monday through Thursday: 10:30 am to 10:00pm. Friday and Saturday: 10:30 am to 11:00pm. Sunday: 12:00 noon to 10:00pm.

I'm going to back to order off the menu.

edaveindy Comments:
This is a brand spankin' new restaurant. Everything is very clean, new, upscale, and tastefully decorated. The dinner hour wasn't crowded, but I was impressed that it looked like they already had established a carry-out clientele who knew what they wanted.

Located on the South side of Pendleton Pike, next to BW3. You might not see their sign from the road. So if you're going NE on Pendleton Pike, turn right into the strip mall where you see the "DEALS" store or BW3. If you pass Wal-mart, you've gone too far.

This is one of the fancier Vietnamese restaurants in town. Very nice china plates. Cloth napkins. Stainless steel eating utensils. Fancy menu with spiral binding.

I had the poultry rolls appetizer, and liked it. It's like a spring roll with chicken instead of shrimp and pork.

I also had the Bun Bo Xao, cool rice noodles with beef, and it was excellent.

The staff is very friendly.

This is a good place to take someone to impress them. Much better than what you would expect in a strip mall.

edaveindy Comments:
This is what strip-mall Chinese restaurants should be. They have both a good buffet, and a menu that you can order from. Very clean, and tastefully decorated restaurant. Buffet price: $6.25 lunch, $8.25 supper. Includes drink, but not tax. Drinks include coffee and hot tea, and not just the ubiquitous soda fountain.

Good salad bar has vegetables in addition to just lettuce and cucumber. Dessert selections are sparce, but they do have fruit, and soft-serve ice cream. Steam trays have all the basics, done right, and were very good, very presentable, fresh, looked nice, tasted great.

Batter fried shrimp (Shrimp Tempura?) were good.

Not top tier like some of the fancy mega-buffets, but what they do, they do right.

Located on the North-West quadrant of the intersection of Allisonville Road and 116th Street. (That is, on the North side of 116th Street, and the West side of Allisonville.) In the same group of shops as the Kroger grocery.

edaveindy Comments:
A better-than-average strip-mall Chinese restaurant. Located just South of the Big Lots store. They offer dine-in, carry-out, and delivery. Dining area has 8 tables-for-four and 4 tables-for-two.

Cleanliness of dining area is impeccable, and noticeably much better than the average strip-mall Chinese restaurant. The cleanliness of the men's room didn't match the impeccable cleanliness of the dining area, but was still cleaner than average, and surp[expletive!]ed my own standards.

The owners are from Hong Kong so the food has a Cantonese bent to it, slightly different than the standard fare you find at restaurants owned by those from Mainland China. My Moo Goo Gai Pan dinner was served with all fresh vegetables including the mushrooms.

I was the only dine-in customer from 8:00pm to 8:15pm, but there were two carry-out customers.

My dine-in meal was served on a real china plate, with stainless steel eating utensils, and the waitress/cashier refilled my soda as soon as it was empty.

According to the menu and business card, you can fax your orders to 317-872-3689.

edaveindy Comments:
Location is on the West side of Franklin Road, next to the Marsh Supermarket, and across the street from the Lawrence City park. Franklin Road is a N/S street in between I-465 and Post Road. This place is easy to get to from I-465 if you take the East 56th Street Exit off I-465, go East to Franklin Road, then go South on Franklin.

This is one of the better franchises of the "Super China Buffet" chain. I had an early supper here and the total was $8.09 with drink and tax. I used to go here quite often a few years ago, and having moved back to the East side, I now have the chance to patronize this place more often.

I got there about 4:45 pm, and the food in the buffet trays was fresh, containing most of the Chinese buffet standards, and some unique combinations of the standards, and some totally unique items.

The salad bar was better than average with a seafood salad in addition to the commonplace lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. They also had hard-boiled eggs and shredded cheese. They also had something you don't see at most Chinese buffets, chilled peel-and-eat shrimp. In fact there were also several good-looking and tasty shrimp dishes in the steam trays.

I was also impressed by the fried chicken chunks of white meat, which was whole chicken-breast, not the chopped-and-formed chicken meat. The chicken for the sweet-and-sour chicken was noticeably better than average, as was a peppered-chicken dish.

Both the men's room and the dining area was noticeably clean.

Though perhaps short staffed, the employees really work hard here and are service-minded.

They do have a "Mongolian grill", where you make your own plate of meat (chicken, beef, seafood), veggies, garnish, sauce/spice/toppings, and they grill it right there for you. I didn't have it today, but have had it in the past.

Interesting items: frog legs, though I didn't try them. What they call "tacos" aren't really tacos, but it's spiced ground meat wrapped in a pastry-style wrapper. It's good, as long as you're not expecting a taco. Also was something labeled as "Spring Roll", about twice as long as a normal spring roll, and filled with something I couldn't make out. It tasted good, and was interesting, but wasn't a Spring Roll. Oh well, I'm a seeker of adventure, and new things excite me, so I don't really care what they call it.

If I could, I'd probably give a 4.5 out of 5 rating. So please know that I'm not being over-generous or inflating the "Exceeded" rating here on this one. If you've been disappointed at some other franchises of "Super China Buffet", I think you'll like this one.

This place _is_ worth going out of your way for, at least a little, if you're anywhere near Fort Ben or Lawrence Central.

edaveindy Comments:
We had supper here. The greek salad was superb, with very fresh feta cheese. The lamb kebab was great. The kebabs came with an enormous portion of basmati rice. The baba-ganooj and hummus appetizer was among the best I've had. The pita bread was light. The ground-beef kebab (kabouleh?) was also excellent.

I plan on going back to try the lunch buffet.

edaveindy Comments:
Recently had the shrimp-with-lobster-sauce for lunch. There was a sizeable crowd for lunch, plus people coming in for carry-out, but the staff handled it very well.

Decor is old style Chinese restaurant sit-down with service. Though the decor seems like it's from the late 70's or early 80's, with its chandeliers and wall sconces with red tassles, molded ceiling tiles, and 3D or relief-style wall decorations. This is defintely not a strip-mall hole-in-the-wall. The men's room was clean, but could use remodeling.

Cloth tablecloths, with real plate glass over them, not plexiglass. An interesting touch was the old-style Chinese Zodiac paper placemats under the glass. Real silverware (or stainless steel that is), and real china plates and soup bowls. Styrofoam and tinfoil clamshells are only used for carry out.

Alcohol was not on the lunch menu, but I saw the liquor supply just inside the kitchen, so they likely serve beer/wine/liquor for dinner. My Diet Coke was served in a high-ball glass, and the waitress was quick to refill.

The waitress and the papa-san/owner were real professionals and provided excellent service, especially when considering the number of customers.

The shrimp-with-lobster sauce was near perfect, the shrimp was very fresh, and must have been cooked just for my order. Refreshing after eating at so many buffets. The fried rice had just the right amount of vegetables in it, was flavorful, and served molded in a ball/hemisphere. The only thing negative was the canned mushrooms instead of fresh.

Papa-san is an older gentleman, late 50's or early 60's, and is old school Taiwanese or Korean. I'm not sure if he's ethnic Korean raised in Taiwan, or ethnic Taiwanese raised in Korea. But the cuisine (and the decor) is definitely old-school, not like the cookie-cutter strip-mall/carry-out joints run by the younger generation from mainland China. So I have to agree with the "gold standard" and "real deal" comments from the previous two reviews.

Refreshing. Worth going out of your way for.

edaveindy Comments:
We had the lunch buffet here. The decor is upscale, kind of a subdued elegant. The tables have white tablecloths, but are also covered in plexiglass over the tablecloth. The employees wear uniforms and are very attentive to fill your water glass.

At lunch, you are first asked if you want plain or garlic naan bread. And you are brought some freshly made. Their naan is much lighter and fresher than what I've had at other Indian restaurants.

The buffet selection wasn't as extensive as others, such as India Palace on Lafeyette Road, but there was sufficient variety that if you sample a little of everything, it would still be enough to fill you up.

I was pleasantly surprised that the salad selection was more than just lettuce and cucumbers. There were also broccoli, baby carrots, and cherry tomatoes, along with several types of chutney for toppings.

I liked the mango fruit salad for dessert.

Price was higher than other local Indian buffets, but this is in Carmel, and the restaurant is a bit fancy.

Amber Indian is worth going out of your way for, and it's suitable for making a good impression on boss/client/wife/girlfriend.

edaveindy Comments:
They are located sort of on 116th Street, 1/2 block West of Allisonville Road, on the South side of 116th. Look for the Gas America gas station, and they are behind (south of) that in the strip mall.

Pretty much standard Japanese steakhouse layout. You can sit at one of the grills with 8 seats each, or at tables (for 2 or for 4), or at one of the 5 seats at the sushi bar.

I went in for a quick Sushi/Sashimi fix. The least expensive Sashimi sampler is $19.95, and comes with a salad, so I settled for the slightly lesser expensive Sushi combination "B" (E4).

If I had had a dinner companion, I would have ordered the 18 piece Combination Sashimi for $19.95 and split it, while ordering a separate entree.

The ambience/decor was good. The men's room was decorated, and kept up well. The staff was all Asian, and very attentive and friendly.

The prices are on the high side, but are in line with other Japanese steakhouses in town.

This place is worth going out of your way for. It's also nice enough to take the boss/wife/girlfriend for a good impression.

For those who don't know, "Sushi" has rice as part of it, and may or may not contain fish, and the fish may or may not be cooked, but it's usually raw. Some sushi is vegetarian. "Sashimi" is raw fish with no rice. Some sushi comes in a "roll" and is sliced by the chef into sections. Other sushi consists of a thumb size clump of rice covered with a slice of fish or shrimp.

edaveindy Comments:
We had the buffet lunch here. It was $5.50 for the buffet plus $1.00 for a soft drink with unlimited refills. Plates were removed quickly, and the waitress/hostess was prompt to refill soft drinks.

The buffet fare was better than average. Standard chicken, beef, and seafood. There was chilled peel-and-eat shrimp, and at least one other hot shrimp dish, which you don't normally see at buffets this inexpensive.

The only shortcoming was a limited salad bar. Just plain lettuce and two dressings. The dessert items were sufficient to make it worthwhile.

This restaurant has been around at least 8 years. Since last I was there, it has expanded to include the space next door. If you haven't been there since it was a tiny place with only two small buffet tables, it's worth a trip again.

We got there about 12:20pm, right before the lunch rush hour. The quality of the buffet items was great, cooked and presented just right.

Their location is tucked into a corner next to the Omalia's at the corner of East 56th Street and East Fall Creek Parkway North Dr. Or, the corner of East 56th and Emerson (Way). If you can find the CVS at the corner of East 56th and Emerson Way, go to the shopping center which contains Omalia's just south of CVS. The drive that loops around the pond and the shopping center is East Fall Creek Parkway North Drive.

Once you're in Omalia's parking lot, looking at Omalia's front door, look to your left a bit, and the restaurant is there.

We could tell by the banter between the hostess and some of the customers, that they have a loyal following of regular lunch customers.

edaveindy Comments:
This is a small coffee shop catering to the many East Africans who live and work on the West side of Indianapolis.

It's also a cyber cafe, but for now the only access is via wireless with your own laptop that you take in.

They serve fruit smoothies that they make themselves, bottled water, soft drinks, coffee, espresso, and sambusas. Sambusas are a triangle pastry stuffed with spiced ground beef and chopped onions. Delicious.

There are a handfull of tables-for-two in the customer area. When I was there, the TV was tuned to a soccer match in which United Manchester was playing. The clients seemed to be mostly taxi drivers. Very friendly.

edaveindy Comments:
This is another unique mom-and-pop ethno-pizza combination along the lines of Brownsburg's Adriatic Pizza, but close by on West 38th street, just west of Georgetown Rd. His business model is similar to Eduardo's "Charlie Biggs Chicken with Filipino-on-the-side," i.e., cater to American tastes to pay the bills, but also share your own speciality on the side.

In short: Indian/Pakistani Halal-Zabihah* Pizza !

The owner, from either Pakistan or India, wants the restaurant to be known as _American_ cuisine, specifically California style pizza. Their signature pizza crust is crispy on the bottom, and soft and delicate on the top. I loved the crust on the pizza I had, it was not heavy and chewy "industrial dough" like most of the big chains.

The menu includes standard American pizza shop fare, cheese sticks, wings, potato wedges, curley fries, onion rings, garlic bread, green salad, Philly steak sub, New York steak sandwich, cheeseburgers, California style cheese pizzas with your selection of the standard toppings (but no pork products), oven baked chicken, and fried chicken pieces.

However, the attraction for us ethnic food lovers are the Pakistani items, and the Indian style pizza with ginger.

They offer chicken burgers, chappli burgers and chappli kabab, based on Pakistani recipes. Chappli is minced beef with spices.

They also have a "Chicken Tikka Pizza," and an Indian style vegetarian pizza with _ginger_.

Their other speciality pizza is a Chicken of Beef combo, with Halal-Zabihah* meat of course. (All meat served in the restaurant is Halal-Zabihah.) The Chicken or Beef combo Pizza comes with either a Red Pizza Sauce, or a Creamy Garlic Sauce.

I had the Indian style vegetarian pizza with ginger. They ask you what level of ginger spice you want. I requested "medium", but that was still enough for the ginger to have a noticeable after-bite, and lingering after-taste. But that's what I like about ginger. The toppings (mushrooms, olives, green peppers, onions, tomatoes) were cut in small pieces, but were generously applied.

I'm going back to try the chicken burger and the chappli kabab.

But even as a "pizza only" place, it's worth going there just for the pizza.

They don't deliver at present, but do have carry out. The dining area is very large, with a large screen TV. They invite you to hold your party there, with free room rental when you order the food from them. Hours are 11am to 10pm.

The dining area was clean and orderly, but without decorations. The men's room was cleaner than I expected.

-----------------

* "Halal" means "permitted/allowed" [meat] (sort of "kosher") to a Muslim, and "zabihah" means it was slaughtered according to Islamic regulations.

edaveindy Comments:
This is a standard strip-mall Chinese restaurant, like many others. They do mainly carry-out, but there are more than a few tables for eating in. I was the only sit-down customer for a late (after 2:30pm) lunch, though there were still a few carry-out customers who had phoned in their orders for pickup.

I'm being a little generous with my ratings on this, because it does exceed my expectations for a strip-mall Chinese restaurant. In my opinion, this restaurant scores better than average in all five categories, _compared to other strip-mall Chinese restaurants_. I had the Moo Goo Gai Pan, and it was with fresh vegetables, including mushrooms. Of note was some yellow squash in it, which I haven't seen with Chinese vegetables in a long while. The men's room was cleaner than average. Employees were friendly and cheerful when bringing food to the table. Ambience was nice with wall-papered walls, nice light fixtures, and some posters or art-work that I haven't seen elsewhere.

My lunch was served on a reusable/washable plastic plate, not a disposable. And the egg roll was served on a china plate. Though the fork was still the cheap plastic kind.

Their location is on Fall Creek Road, just south of the 79th Street intersection. They are located in an out-lot in a smaller building in front of the main strip mall which houses Kroger.

I would also give this place my "Linus' Sincere Pumpkin Patch" award, as the young couple who runs it is humble and sweet. There's just something heartwarming I like about clean restaurants, good food, and staff that makes you feel important.

edaveindy Comments:
This is on the north side of Raymond, between Keystone and Churchman. Look for the Burger King, and it's in between Burger King and Keystone Ave.

The signs do indeed say "Charlie Biggs", but there is an "Eduardo's" sign in plain text on the front door.

It pretty much looks like an inner-city fried chicken joint, but it is very clean, including the unisex bathroom. The staples or main offerings are fried chicken and fried fish, but... the big "secret" is their Filipino cuisine.

Tonight (Friday) I had a fried-chicken (american style) combo dinner, with deep fried potato wedges and a cole-slaw side, and it was excellent for a fried-chicken place; crisp on the outside, and tender and juicy, cooked-just-right, on the inside.

Last night (Thursday) I had a sample platter of the "menudo" (which is not at all like Mexican or Hispanic menudo, and some "adobo", served over white rice. EXCELLENT! Both of those are pork dishes, I was told. I then had some "Lumpia" small Filipino egg rolls, stuffed with pork. That, and the barbecued pork-on-a-stick are about all the Filipino food they serve during the week.

The lady said they have more Filipino cuisine on the weekends.

Eduardo's is the main caterer for the Filipino Association (Barangay club) booth at the International Festival. So if you like their food there, you ought to like it at Eduardo's on the weekends.

Tonight (Friday), they were serving more Filipino cuisine than the adobo/menudo, but it was a special order for a group of Filipinos celebrating someone's birthday. So apparently if you have a group of 7 or more, and arrange with them in advance, they can cater it for dine-in or take out. Otherwise, wait for the weekend. Our group sat next to the birthday group, and we were constantly stealing glances, envying their food.

The dining area gets chilly when the exhaust fans are running in the kitchen, and it pulls in the cold air. So dress warmly if you eat in during cold weather.

The dining area consists of four tables-for-4, and a counter which seats 3 people. Tonight and last night there was a steady stream of take-out customers for the chicken. Though tonight there was one caucasian gentleman who also asked for the Filipino cuisine for take-out.

I think this family is doing it right: Their bread-and-butter business is what the working-class neighborhood wants, fried chicken and fish, which pays the bills. But what they love, and enjoy sharing is the Filipino cuisine. (The party of seven tonight celebrating someone's birthday were professional folks who obviously had connections to the owners.) But there is probably not enough demand for a 100% Filipino restaurant to stay in business.

edaveindy Comments:
This is a better-than-average strip mall Chinese restaurant. Pretty much the standard menu and standard back-lit pictures. Cleanliness is noticeably better than average, especially the unisex restroom. Staff is very friendly and smiley.

They do mainly take-out. But there are 4 tables for eating in: 2 tables for 4, and 2 tables for 2.

My Moo Goo Gai pan was exactly how I like it, and with fresh mushrooms. The fried rice was noticeably good, and had a little fennel taste to it, which I liked.

Lunch prices are good. Dinner prices are slightly higher than average, but are good when you consider the quality. They have frequent diner cards if you plan on being a regular.

If your evening commute takes you past 62nd and Allisonville (or 62nd and Binford/SR-37, which is just 3 blocks away) during the dinner hour, this is a wonderful place to eat, or carry-out something to take home.

You can call in your order, or fax it to them at 253-8433.

They are located on the NE quadrant of the 62nd and Allisonville intersection, next to Big Lots.

edaveindy Comments:
There are four Vietnamese restaurants on the West side of Indy: Sizzling Wok Hai, King Wok, Saigon, and this one, Sizzling Wok Thien Huong. They are all worthy of patronage.

I had the Bun with beef and a couple Goi rolls, and my dinner companion had the Pho with beef. Both were good, and at good prices.

We were there from about 6:15 to 7:00pm, and I was hoping it would have been busier. Only two other tables were occupied while we were there, and one take-out customer.

Our waitress was Vietnamese, and I assume the kitchen staff was too.

This is definitely on my list for a return visit.

edaveindy Comments:
I got there at 5:00pm before the dinner crowd. Most of the items had been sitting out for a while. The green beans had been sitting out too long, and were wilted and shriveled. The chicken on a stick was hard and dry.

Unlike other buffets, they have the same price all day, $4.99 all you can eat, plus $.99 drink, plus tax, for a total of $6.46. An acceptable price for lunch, and a great price for dinner. However, it's a case of you get what you pay for. It's great if you want to fill up cheap. It's not if you want quality food.

Go during the middle of the meal hour to get fresh food.

This was my second time here, and I have the same conclusion: slightly less than good food, but at a better than good price.

It's located on the south end of the Wal-Mart plaza on North Keystone, 7200 block.

edaveindy Comments:
This place serves both Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. The cashier/waitress was Vietnamese.

I had Com Ga (#59) with chicken. It was excellent. It seemed to be stir fried chicken and onions, and was served over steamed rice. It was served on a reusable (not disposable) plate, with real metal utensils, and the cashier/waitress brought it to my table.

The decor/ambience was noticeably old and tired. Not really a place to impress someone, unless they really wanted good Vietnamese cuisine. But the dining area was clean, and neatly kept.

At approximately 7:00pm, on a Thursday, there was only one other table of two diners, and myself. So this place probably relies on the lunch crowd from the surrounding office/industrial businesses to stay afloat.

I'm definitely going back for more Vietnamese cuisine. Good prices. The entree was only $6.50.

The only negative as far as I'm concerned was that the Diet Pepsi tasted way past its "use by" date. Aspartame (the sweetener in diet soft drinks) breaks down over time, and you get a funky taste. That's why there's an expiration date on diet soft drinks.

I've been to another combination Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant where I loved the Vietnamese cuisine, but the Chinese dishes just weren't done right, in my opinion. I'm going to go back here for lunch and try the standard Chinese Moo Goo Gai Pan, and see if they do it like other Chinese restaurants, or if it's the Vietnamese version.

edaveindy Comments:
I had the dinner buffet. $7.45 with tax and drink. There was a constant stream of customers for carry-out menu-service, so their carry-out must have something going for it. But as for dine-in, there were only 3 other tables occupied besides mine.

I'll probably go back and try their menu-service, but not the buffet. I'm being a little generous with the 3.0 ("Met") ratings above. If I could, I'd have rated everything at 2.5.

I got there around 7:00pm, and most of the buffet items were rather tired and unappetizing. The salad bar section was very sparce: lettuce, cucumber slices, two types of salad dressing, and two trays of canned fruit (peach slices and pineapple chunks.)

The handles on almost all the food tongs and ladles were greasy. I wanted to go wash my hands after touching them. The carpet was dirty. The men's room was barely acceptable.

The equipment (steam tables, counters, soda machines, tables and chairs) look exactly like the ones from the now-closed Best Taste buffet that was at 8214 Rockville Road. And the food was pretty much identical. This is probably the same operation, just moved.

If you're a student stuck in the nearby housing, and don't have transportation, this may be a viable option to fill up cheap.

edaveindy Comments:
They are located on the East side of Franklin Road, just North of Pendleton Pike. This is an adjunct to the Canasta Mexican market next door with a connecting doorway.

I was there from 5:15 pm to 5:45 pm and was the only patron except for someone who came for carry-out.

This restaurant is very simple and un-assuming, intended for an Hispanic/Mexican clientele. I had the Chicken Fajita dinner that came with chicken/pepper/tomato/onion, a side of refried beans, a side of rice, two sides of salsa (red and green) and soft warm corn tortillas.

The decorations were sparse. A few black-and-white pictures on the walls of village life in Mexico were interesting. The restaurant was clean, the service was attentive, and both the employees spoke English.

I live not too far away, and plan on returning. But this is not someplace I'd go out of my way for. There didn't seem to be that magic or special-ness. But if you're like me, and like the adventure of trying new places, and "collecting" ethnic restaurants, you shouldn't be disappointed.

I also recommend both stores on either side. Immediately to the South is the Mexican store "La Canasta" with all the standard grocery items, produce, and meat you expect to find at that type of store. Immediately to the North is the bakery/panaderia "Las Americas", which _is_ worth a trip, and was crowded with customers.

edaveindy Comments:
I finally ate dinner here due to all the previous good comments. Yeah, what they said. Yumm!

I had the Bun Ga (cool noodles with chicken) with egg roll (#85), and I LOVED it! It was only $6.50.

It came with crushed peanuts on it, which was good. But I don't remember seeing peanuts mentioned as part of the ingredients in the description. So if you're allergic to anything, be sure to ask the waiter if it's in the dish you're considering. The menu was not written so as to mention common allergy items.

I really like bun dishes. They come with fresh bean sprouts, some green leafy stuff, mint, and (I think) lemongrass. The cool bun noodles are not refrigerator cold, but are more cool than warm. There is a small cup of soup broth served on the side. After I eat the meat part of the dish, I put the soup broth in the big bowl with the other ingredients and mix everything up. I don't know if that's the traditional way of eating it, but it's what I like.

Our Vietnamese waiter appeared to speak fluent English.

There's a big flat screen TV in the dining area. Tonight I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing other patrons root for the Colts in Vietnamese.

They also have carry-out, and we saw some people carry out large orders.

I'd have to rate this place at least equal (or better) than King Wok Nha Hang Co Do, and equal to Sizzling Wok Hai.

edaveindy Comments:
Standard strip-mall Chinese restaurant with the back-lit pictures. Cleaner than most. Their menu claims some Szechuan and Hunan specialties, but I just had my standard Moo Goo Gai Pan. They used fresh mushrooms, not canned. The fried rice was better than average with some bits of scrambled egg in it, and some vegetables.

The dining area was small, only 4 tables-for-four. So they mostly do carry-out and delivery. Free delivery with a $10 minimum.

They are located on the South side of 86th Street, just East of Keystone Crossing Dr.

Lunch specials are only $4.25. Cans of soda $.75, and 20 ounce bottles of soda $1.25.