El Indio Kitchen

I was loving El Indio– especially after the remodel! It is permanently closed now!!! I was so shocked to find this out– anyone know what happened?

Noooooo! I heard this place closed. Too bad for the neighborhood. I hope someone can come along and save it /​resurrect it.

I went to get lunch today at El Indio and found out it had CLOSED !!! I’m so sad ! This restaurant had been there for at least 40 years and now it’s closed ! It’s just so disappointing that so many «long time» places in the Torrance/​Redondo Beach area are closing.

So I’ve been to El Indio before and after the ownership change. I was not a huge fan of the place before, the food was nothing special, but it was alright when you needed that Mexican food fix.
Now? So. Much. Better.
Dined in for breakfast and have ordered delivery and both times have been ahh-​mazing!
When I dined in with my husband and mom, I ordered the chilaquiles, loved the tartness of the green sauce and the portions were huuuge! My mom ordered the huevos rancheros and you know you’re doing something right when you got my mom saying it tastes just like home (she was born and raised in Guadalajara). My husband ordered the breakfast burrito, also delicious.
When I ordered delivery I got the papas locas and corn in a cup. Corn in a cup is legit. I was afraid it would be canned or frozen corn but nope! Cut off from the cob! Soo delish! Papas locas had an awesome flavor, loved the sweetness of the candied jalapeños when paired with the chipotle crema!
Good prices, good food, good god!
I will be back.

First and last time here, if you are looking for authentic Mexican food this is not the place, I specifically told lady first time here to get recommendations she seemed a tad bit annoyed. and I ordered Albondigas (meatball soup) I asked her how it was and lady said it very big etc so my daughter and I decided to share… It was Full of juice only which taste like tomato juice and baby meatballs) No veggies at all meaning no carrots see picture to follow … I also ordered. One Cheese enchilada omg it taste like canned sauce… My husband ordered a burrito street burrito nothing special he was hungry and ate it. The 2 servers where nice and attentive so I give it a 2. I tried small stuff to get a feel and see how food is, Thank God I did because if I would of ordered something else I would be so upset. Well there you go, don’t say I didn’t warn you

Just no. Salsa was meh. The beer selection was semi okay. And the baja beers were awful. Next time I’m going to blue salt grille. Better service there.

The food here was ok. I was not trilled but I wasn’t let down either. I dined which was cool becus I normally don’t stay to eat. The dinning area is a pretty good size with a good amount seating. The staff attitudes were ok but could’ve been way better and a little more helpful. They do have a small private parking which is great. All in all this place is whatever.

I like the old el Indio better. The salsa is not as good as the old one & the rice wasn’t even cooked all the way

We usually pickup takeout orders from here but randomly decided to do a sit-​down dinner recently. You walk in and order at the counter then they deliver to the table via number system. All of the surfaces in the dining area were sticky/​slimy. Like they had been wiped down but not fully cleaned. The restroom is an unmarked door along one of the walls. There is a random TV that isn’t turned on, facing the dining area. The food is just OK, your typical «pick up for takeout on a Wednesday» but nothing to write home about. Definitely won’t be eating in any more… even my feet kinda slid along the floor.

First off, I should mention that I used to work here… 8 years ago when it was El Indio Restaurant. My best friend’s family owned the place! I loved El Indio then. And with this new ownership, and remodel, I love it even more.
I think the remodeling thats been does looks amazing. Everything looks more up to date, organized, and revamped! The menu is slightly different, seems to have more of a variety.
The food is also yummy! I see a lot of people on here complaining about the taste of the food not being the same as it used to, and my opinion would be that its just as good. I do miss the rice and enchilada sauce from the old El Indio, but still can’t complain because the food is great.
And last but not least I want to comment on their customer service. Patty is absolutely amazing. She’s been there for years, and she always takes such good care of everyone. She’s very prompt, knows the menu from top to bottom, always has good recommendations, and comes to check on you to see if you need anything else. So 5 star on the service as well!

I can’t believe some people miss the OLD El Indio with it’s canned salsa, ‘one sauce on everything’ dishes, and boring menu.
This new iteration is so superior that maybe they should have changed the name because their kitchen is straight out of an pricey West Side bistro.
One of my favorite dishes is their chiliquiles with a few modifications that they’re totally cool with. I replace the default pollo with carnitas, green sauce with red, fried eggs with scrambled, and ask for a little extra cebolla and queso. Their red mole sauce is fantastic making for the best chiliquiles I’ve ever had… and they serve breakfast all day!
The restaurant’s «Kitchen Club» keeps you in touch with updates and specials like ‘free churros’ and Easter’s ‘churro pancakes’ which were disappointing but showed they’re always trying something new.
Aside from a talented kitchen staff, the new El Indio has great prices and still has Patty; the hardest-​working, friendliest, most knowledgeable, and cutest maître d’/server/cashier ever.
Not much on atmosphere but it’s still evolving, right?

El Indio has been rejuvenated, I believe also by new ownership and an aesthetic facelift.
We tried it before (original) and after (new), and it’s of the same reliable quality in food for a neighborhood restaurant.
You can sit down and dine in or take out. You order at the counter.
We tried the burrito, tamale and fish & chips.
The free tortilla chips and salsa is always a good thing with a Mexican restaurant that doesn’t try to upsell you on these staple items (much like when a Chinese restaurant charges for rice and/​or tea; or if an American restaurant started charging for the bread/​rolls they put out). It’s a good way to kick start a meal while you wait.
They were open on Easter Sunday where a few of their peers opted to close, so that was nice to have dining available on a holiday.
They had a promotion that day of free Churros, ‘tho it was actually pointed out to us and offered to us graciously, they oddly didn’t follow through and deliver the churros before, during or after our meal, so we never got ‘em to try, a bit of a disappointment, yet the meal was filling enough for us to not get inspired by hunger to inquire about the freebie offered. That’s probably the one element that keeps this as an «A-​OK» good * * * rating from a «Yay! I’m a Fan» * * * * four star rating, but in my book three stars are solid, reliable, positive and an indicator I’d recommend the place and also come back, it’s on par with average expectations, which in my world is fine.
The fish & chips were good, solid 3 pieces of fresh battered fried fish and chips (french fries). My friend really enjoyed his carne asada burrito, and we also had the pork tamale with red sauce.
The parking lot is small, but there’s a lot of parking in the adjacent neighborhood residential area streets that’s walking distance.

I ordered delivery tonight for my dad and I. Unfortunately it took over an hour to get a bean and cheese burrito and a salad delivered. We also ordered an Horchata and Churro which we did not get… however, when I called back they had the same delivery guy bring it right away. Except, still no churro. I called back once more and the girl on the phone gladly gave us a refund for the item we did not receive. It’s nice to know that they are very understanding. Next time, I hope the delivery doesn’t take FOREVER for 2 small items. As for the food, the bean and cheese is like any other, and the chopped salad with ranch is just like any other salad. But the ranch is very tasty.
I’ll definitely be ordering more authentic food next time from El Indio.

Seriously, what the heck happened to this place? The food is not nearly as good as it once was. I feel like no love goes into the food like it used to. The «crunchy» tacos are always soft, the salsa is bland, and the menu is misleading.
Also, NEVER order delivery from this place. I have twice and both times they have missed numerous items from my order. This most recent time they missed the sour cream, a soft drink, and a side of rice (all of which you pay for!). They also forgot the chips and salsa. I was going to call the restaurant about this after we finished eating but of course, they were already calling me. This is the second time they mysteriously «didn’t know» that my card had been charged prior to delivery via their online ordering system. I can never even eat the food because I’m constantly on the phone with these people heckling me about whether I have paid for my food. Who orders delivery assuming they could get away without paying? Fool me once, fool me twice kinda thing I guess. I was to fed up to deal with getting the money back from my missing items.
I only gave an extra star because the sweet delivery girl drove all the way back just to deliver my drink (which of course had been forgotten).

El Indio’s been here forever, and I’ve been eating here since before I even lived in the neighborhood. Even back then, it wasn’t the GREATEST food around, but they had the best deals on fresh homemade tortillas and tamale masa. I always thought their salsa was too runny, but loved the sauce they put on their rice and their tamales, that was definitely an original taste.
So now El Indio goes through a transformation from «Tortilla Factory» to «Kitchen», AND even starts offering delivery. I found that out by coming across one of their typo-​riddled take-​home menus that someone left on a table at the Post Office. I picked it up and thought «I’ll keep this, and order some delivery later!»
Our first attempt at ordering delivery was not that bad, the food was here in about 45 minutes, everything was warm, fresh, different from the OG El Indio, but still good nonetheless.
Second attempt at ordering from the «new and improved» El Indio was not so great. They gave us an estimated delivery time of 30 – 45 minutes. So after an hour goes by we call to see whats up, the girl says «Oh the guy just left about 15 minutes ago» ok… so after another 30 minutes we call back again and the girl says «He should be there any minute».
We tell them that it’s been over an hour and a half now, and ask what’s gonna happen if when our food gets here, it’s cold? Because if the guy left «15 minutes ago» which you told us about 30 minutes ago, not to mention we LITERALLY live 0.4 miles from the place, that would lead me to believe our food’s just been sitting somewhere for the last half hour… well she tells us «If it’s cold when it arrives, call us back and we’ll take care of it.» Ok…
Food arrives shortly after that phone call, and the food is so cold that you can FEEL the cold just from the foil containers. So we open, inspect, and yep it’s ridiculously cold, is obvious that it’s been sitting for who knows how long and is just visually unappealing. So we call back… no answer. We call back again, no answer. So I tell my girlfriend use my phone this time, they answer immediately (lol).
My girlfriend tells them the issue, requests they fix this however possible (after getting the half-​assed excuse of «Sorry, but there were 3 deliveries before yours») and they offer to replace the meal. By this time it’s past 9 pm… we’re not gonna wait another 90 minutes for the replacement. We request a credit, they give it to us.
Sooooo we try again… we call them tonight, request our «free replacement meal» and they have no idea what we’re talking about… after a few put-​on-​holds, and a couple back and forths, they finally agree to provide the replacement meal… BUT they would have to charge us a delivery fee. We tell them absolutely not, we want what we paid for LAST time, now. So they agree… tell us estimated delivery is 30 – 45 minutes.
So the food finally arrives, shortly after an hour. The fact that this replacement meal, this «second chance» so to speak, STILL took them over an hour to deliver less than half a mile away (literally 6 blocks, through the neighborhood), was not a good sign.
Aaaaaand sure enough, food’s just as cold as last time… and maybe even MORE unappealing to look at. (Pics included) Not only was food cold this time, the tamales were «rare» with uncooked masa throughout, yet filled with dry meat. And the worst part about the cold food is you can’t just throw it in the microwave real quick, they’re all in foil containers!
So, instead of wasting any more life trying to call and complain to deaf ears, I decided to Unilocal… which I almost only do when a place has seriously pissed me off.
El Indio, this was your chance to fix what you had messed up before, and secure a steady customer… and good God you failed miserably, lol. The fact that you don’t even notice the typos on the front of your newly-​designed menu, explains how you wouldn’t (or couldn’t) pay attention to other critical details. (like delivering warm, edible food)
If you’re not cut out for the Mexican Food delivery game (like La Paz clearly is) don’t play. It’s just a waste of both of our times and leads to Unilocal reviews like this one. And speaking of, I don’t believe half of these 5-​star reviews, and the ones riddled with typos and misspellings leads me to suspect your graphic designer is the one leaving them, lol.

I love the nicer feel to fast food El Indio gives. The food was done within 10 minutes of ordering and it tasted as good as a full service restaurant if not better. We did get the El Indio (crispy) taco with our meals and it was very good and very crunchy. Mine was with the carne asada and that’s the best I’ve ever had in a taco. Cooked and seasoned very well!
We were pleasantly surprised by the chips and salsa at the beginning as well as the waitress being extremely kind and helpful.
We’ll be back for breakfast this week!

I never made it in to the old El Indio before it was sold, so I have nothing to compare it to but the food here is pretty good. I ordered the Wet Carne Asada Burrito and the meat was delicious and tender, not dry like some establishments. The Burrito was also a very nice size and very filling. The only thing that was a little different to me was the red sauce, which was really thin and slightly bland, but not enough to kill the overall taste of the Burrito.
Service here was also good and I was offered free chips and salsa while I waited for my To-​Go order. I will most likely be back.

Food 4 stars
Service 5 stars
4.5 Stars
(This is a good place to grab a quick, no fuss meal with your family)
My son’s preschool teacher mentioned this restaurant to me. My family had a delightful meal here last night. The service was excellent, and I can tell that the new owner or manager is eager to please.
We started with the chips and salsa, which were good. 4.25÷5 I ordered 2 shrimp tacos and 1 cheese enchilada. My food was tasty. ⁴⁄₅ The shrimp was flavorful and moist. My enchilada was extra cheesy, just the way I like it.
My son seemed very pleased with his quesadilla. He had a few pieces of it, so that bodes well. My hubby said he liked his Cali Burrito enough, but preferred both my items.
I was surprised to see hand cut fries on the menu. You can tell they cut the potato in the kitchen and fried it right up. I found it hard to stop eating the fries. They are thick cut and not very crispy. They are not the best fries around, but they are enjoyable. ⁴⁄₅ I felt a wee bit unhealthy eating both fries and chips.
Bottom Line: I would give this place a try and maybe stick with the shrimp and enchiladas. We plan on eating here again in the future.

My hubby and I love food and he’s been asking to go to El Indio for years to which I promptly always said no. Well tonight he hit the lottery because we tried El Indio, and now I might need a 12 step because the nachos have me addicted to this joint. SO GOOD! We ordered my new favorite meal to go and the ladies even brought us chips and salsa while we waited. Great service, good food, newly renovated gorgeous space… yep, count me in!

If you are looking for the old El Indio Tortilla Factory this is not it, but it’s still good.
When El Indio reopened I tried many of my old favorites. While they were good they were not them same and that’s okay.
The new menu is bigger and has lots a fresh options. It’s still has old favorites but there are many tasting new favorites.
I recently had the shrimp tacos with black beans and rice and they were delicious.
Staff is great and the owner is very nice. I will definitely be going back again and again.