Chuy's Restaurant Review - Cary, NC

1035 Parkside Main Street

Cary, NC  27519

(919) 388-7455

Exterior View

This is a review for a Tex-Mex restaurant called Chuy's located in Cary, North Carolina. It's a franchise that has two locations in the Triangle. We visited the Raleigh location three years ago. While that experience wasn't the best, we decided to give this new location a chance even though the reviews are only three out of five stars. Take exit 66B off NC-540, it's only about a mile off the highway. We arrived at 3 pm on a Saturday and we were immediately greeted and seated at a booth. There weren't many customers at that time.

The friendly waitress took our drink orders and shortly thereafter brought out warm chips and salsa. I asked for the Creamy Jalapeño dip since she didn't bring it out. I remembered really loving the flavor when we visited the Raleigh location. The chips were overly salted and since I'm on a low salt diet, Hubby asked the waitress for some that weren't so salty. I was surprised she came out shortly after the request and bought out freshly made chips that were definitely less salty. Their chips, salsa and Creamy Jalapeño Dip are so crave worthy! The chips are so thin and crisp and are always brought out warm. The salsa is deliciously spicy and chunky. The Creamy Jalapeño Dip tastes like ranch dip with some spices added, it's so yummy! You must ask for some, if the wait staff doesn't bring you some. 

Chips, Creamy Jalapeño Dip & Salsa

I ordered The King's Punch which took seven minutes to arrive. It tasted like it was only made with fruit juice and we doubt it had any alcohol in it. Hubby had a sip since he's better at figuring out if it has any alcohol in it. For almost $10 it was extremely disappointing. Thankfully, they removed it from our bill when we brought it to their attention. It was also quite a small drink for that price tag. It's suppose to have two types of rum, grenadine, pineapple, lime and orange juice. It mostly tasted like pineapple juice and it wasn't the same color as shown on the menu. 

The King's Punch - $9.59

Twenty-three minutes after we ordered our main entrees came out. It seemed like a long wait especially since they had so few customers. During that wait we had a view of the table next to us that hadn't been cleared, shown below. The  customers had left prior to our arrival and yet the staff waited half an hour to finally clean it up. 

Hubby ordered The Elvis Presley Memorial Combo. It comes with one beef Tex-Mex enchilada, one cheese ranchero enchilada, one chicken tomatillo enchilada, one ground sirloin crispy taco and homemade tostada chips dipped in chile  con queso. Hubby wasn't crazy about it and wouldn't recommend ordering it. The chicken was dried out and the flavors were not enjoyable. The two chips dipped in Chile con queso were soggy by the time they arrived at the table. It would be so much better if they served the dip on the side so that you could dip it yourself. Also, it would be more appetizing and that would solve the soggy issue.

The Elvis Presley Memorial Combo - $11.79

The Elvis Presley Ground Sirloin Taco & Chips

I ordered the Chicken Fajitas. The menu says that the chicken is marinated for twenty-four hours, but to me it tasted like the spices were missing. I have a hard time believing it was marinated at all. It was very bland. Thankfully, the vegetables weren't overcooked which is very common in Mexican restaurants. Neither of us liked the flavor of the refried beans. The toppings for my fajitas were fresh and very tasty. 

Chicken Fajitas - $13.99

Fajitas Toppings

I agree with other reviewers that this restaurant deserves only three out of five stars. If only everything tasted as delicious as the chips, dip and salsa, we would visit several times a month. One expects lots of spicy flavors from a Mexican restaurant and for some reason they are missing in many dishes even though the menu indicates that they use lots of spices. It's really disappointing because it's a lovely festive atmosphere with so much potential. If only Chi-Chi's would return, oh how I miss that Mexican franchise! Franchises are so disappointing these days, so many of them were so fantastic prior to the mid 90's. Why have they declined for so long!

What's your favorite Mexican restaurant in the Triangle? Be sure to check out my other restaurant reviews before you go. There is a list of them on my Pinterest Restaurant Reviews Board. I invite you to follow my blog via Pinterest, Twitter, Google +, Bloglovin', or Networked Blogs.

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Have a PEACEful Day!