Rise of the Aztecs

The intersection of Robb and Mae Anne is becoming a hot spot for neighborhood restaurants—good ones, too. What a great answer to the screaming demand of hungry northwest Reno residents. For many years, my friends and family who live in the quadrant have always had to burn fuel looking for good eats. Not anymore. A wave of new family-owned, ethnic and American restaurants are providing locals a wide variety of delicious food, from breakfast at Peg’s to Bangkok Express, Peony Chinese and most recently, Aztecas Mexican Grill & Cantina.

The first thing I noticed about Aztecas was its hours, open all day (10 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 9 a.m.-close Sunday)—no siesta between lunch and dinner! I like that because when I am busy running errands, I always wait until I am starving to eat. By then, it is usually after 2 p.m., and all the lunch spots are closed, and the dinner spots aren’t open yet.

My girlfriend, Cherie, and I were shopping all day, and neither of us was hungry until 2:30 p.m. We were a little stumped at where to go until we saw the open sign at Aztecas.

Only two other parties were eating. I think maybe nobody realizes it’s open yet.

We were escorted to a table in a sunny, indoor-patio style dining room with a beautiful fountain in the middle, plants circling around it.

We looked out on an awesome view of the mountains above Reno. I was amazed at how big the Biggest Little City has become. There’s probably room for about 200 people around the separate dining rooms and bar.

Take-out food was flying out of the place. Aztecas is completely capable of sending bag-loads of food out the door for those who don’t have time to sit down and relax.

Cherie and I scanned the menu. She liked the chicken avocado salad ($10.50), and I chose the Macho Burrito ($12.25). While our food was being prepared, we munched on homemade chips and two types of salsa: a chunky salsa verde and a red, smooth hot sauce. Both salsas were medium heat and packed with flavor, but we decided that the green was best. Our food arrived, and the portions were huge. We shouldn’t have eaten so many chips and salsa! I could have easily turned my burrito into two meals, and Cherie’s salad was equally big.

Cherie said the mango salsa on the salad was a little too spicy for her, but the chunks of chicken and avocado were big and juicy. My burrito had large chunks of steak and tons of beans and rice. It’s impossible to go hungry here.

The server and busperson weren’t pushy or obtrusive, yet they made sure we had everything we needed and were there when we wanted them.

The ambience of the room was quite pleasant. Overall, I would have to say two big thumbs up on this one.