Editor's Note (11/09): I recently stopped at El Maguey and was thoroughly disappointed in the quality of the food. Maybe it was a fluke, but the original post is no longer accurate. The title of this post is supposed to reflect the experience at el Maguey - simple and straightforward.
I've stopped at el Maguey on N. Dixie many a time over the past few years. For the most part, delicious. One or two things I've tried there, were a little eh, but I felt comfortable enough telling them and they either fixed it or offered something else.
I decided to review it because this was my first stop now that they're under new management and changed up the menu a bit.
It remained the most authentic and tasty Mexican food I've had outside of Downriver and Detroit. But understand, it's not fancy.
I stopped in the other day for lunch. A lunch combo with rice, beans, salsa and whatever you choose as the main entree is about $5-7 and completely worth it. There are also different ala carte menu items that are fairly cheap so you can cobble together your own combo pretty reasonably.
Anyway, on to the food. I got a burrito combo that came with three burritos and rice and beans. I got two filled with chicken and one with chunky beef.
The chicken burritos were perfectly seasoned, a little moist, and the perfect size - like an extra fat cigar, or roughly the size of a popsicle. The chunky beef burrito, yum! Perfectly tender and tasty in a light gravy. I like mine with cheese and jalapenos - the perfect blend.
The refried beans were refried beans. Good flavor, a little liquidy though. The rice, well, could use a little work; it's a little bland, but when I mix in the side of salsa - perfect.
On my next visit, I plan on sampling one of the tortas - Mexican sandwich (one of my weaknesses) - since they recently added them to the menu.
Summary: Flavor: Good, simple Mexican food. Lots of cheese. Similar to comfort food. Prices: Reasonable. Check the back of the menu for the lunch specials or the daily specials. It costs about $4-7 per person when taking away and about $6-10 per person when eating in. Ambiance/service: Wow. In a thought: yellow counter tops. Not sure how to describe it, but you can entertain yourself with the pictures that show something like an old bandito with dancing Aztecs inside of the picture that you really have to stare at to notice (like optical illusions). Location: 1096 N. Dixie Hwy. in Monroe (right off of exit 15 on I-75)
Website: None that I could find.
