Rey Azteca in Monroeville

A few weeks back, I had to do a few errands in Monroeville. Growing up I always thought Monroeville had a food scene. What I considered good food at the time was Outback Steakhouse, Bob Evans, Applebee's, you pretty much get the picture. But having tried many different restaurants over the years in different neighborhoods, Monroeville ranks in the bottom of my list of places to go to find good food. As I was driving through Monroeville, I realized that there was a new Mexican restaurant in the area called Rey Azteca, which is a local regional chain. I was hoping that Rey Azteca would somewhat "save" the restaurant scene in Monroeville, but it didn't quite to do that.




The inside of Rey Azteca was fairly plain and nothing special. Normally I don't make a big fuss with this kind of stuff, but the place didn't seem very lively even if there were was a good amount of customers at the time. If they spruced the placed up a more, I would have been more comfortable.



One of the best parts about going to any Mexican restaurant is the potential to get complimentary chips and salsa and Rey Azteca was certainly no different. The salsa was fresh, but it could have been a little bit more spicier for my taste. The chips were good and crunchy. I've had better chips and salsa at other places, but Rey Azteca's take on it wasn't too bad.



The entree that I ordered was the Camarones Al Mojo de Ajo(Grilled shrimp marinated with Mexican garlic sauce served with lettuce, guacamole dip, tomato, shredded cheese, rice and 3 flour tortillas on the side). The ingredients went well together(I like the fact that they didn't put a whole lot of cheese), but the biggest knock on the dish was a lack of flavor. I thought the garlic sauce tasted bland which hindered the overall flavor of the dish. Overall not the best Mexican dish I ever ate.



To sum it up, Rey Azteca didn't really help improve the food scene of Monroeville. But despite that, I would give the restaurant a second chance because I only tried one dish, and maybe all their other dishes are better. Next time I will definitely ask for a spicier salsa ;).

I would give perfect directions, but they don't have a website thus I don't have their street address. However, I can roughly tell you it's towards the end of William Penn Hwy in Monroeville on the way to Pittsburgh. It's in the same building as my other "favorite" restaurant Applebee's.