Thursday, April 19, 2012

Mexican Cuisine – Lenoir City Tennessee

Once a month for the past 3 months, a group from our neighborhood has descended on a local restaurant…and I’ve published reviews based on everyone’s feedback.  The 1st restaurant we visited was Classico Italian Pizza & Pasta, (Loudon TN), which scored 4.9 out of 10 points.  The 2nd restaurant was American House of Pancakes, (Loudon TN), which scored 5.2 points.  Eight of us participated in these first 2 visits…

In this most recent visit, there were only six of us.  We decided to try a local Mexican Restaurant.

This is Ayala’s Mexican Restaurant in Lenoir City Tennessee. They bill themselves as “The Place for Authentic Mexican Food!”  Laurie and I, as well as one of the other couples, had eaten here before.


Ayala’s Restaurant is quite large.  This is only one side of the dining area. 


Of course, as in most Mexican Restaurants, chips and salsa preceded the meal.  The chips were OK but the Salsa was different than most.  It was blended…and everyone thought that it was very good…if a little spicy for some. (Dennis and I liked it so well that we used it with our entrees!) You might be able to detect the fact that we were well into both baskets of chips and salsa before we got around to taking a photo…

OK…Now I may have mixed up the photos of the food as they were taken when the entrees were served…and the order of service jumped around the table.  Also, Laurie thinks that she might have missed the photo of her entrée…

Laurie ordered the Enchiladas Supremas. ($7.50) This entrée included one chicken, one bean, one cheese and one beef enchilada.  She really liked her dinner, rating it a 9.0 out of 10 possible points.   
This is part of the 'other' Dave’s dinner…Laurie’s looked a lot like this but this plate is missing two additional Enchiladas which were part of her dinner.
I ordered the Chori Pollo. ($10.45) This consists of grilled pieces of chicken breast topped with chorizo and cheese.  It came with rice, beans and a chicken enchilada.  The grilled chicken with chorizo and cheese worked really well together!  I gave my dinner a 9.0 out of 10 possible points...and I'm not normally into Mexican food.


Barb ordered the Arroz con Mariscos. ($10.95) This dish consisted of grilled shrimp and scallops on a bed of rice, topped with nacho cheese and special ranchero sauce.  She reported that the shrimp and scallops were very good indeed and, despite the food being a little spicier than she is used to, she rated her dinner a 10 out of 10!


This is part of the meal ordered by Edera.  Here we have the rice, beans, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo.


Edera’s main plate contained her Vegetarian Fajitas. ($8.50) Corn tortillas were also served on the side.  She was very happy with her entrée, giving it a rating of 9.0.


Dennis ordered a Combination/Create Your Own Dinner. ($7.99) It consisted of a beef enchilada, a beef taco and a beef filled chili relleno, served with rice and beans.  He described his meal as good…and he gave it 7.0 out of 10 possible points.


The ‘other’ Dave in our group ordered the Rodeo’s Special.  ($8.75) As described, it included ‘a little of everything’.  There was a chalupa, a chile relleno, a beef taco, an enchilada and a burrito…accompanied by rice and beans!  It is quite a deal for the price…and he ended up with a take home box…


This was part of Dave’s 'Rodeo' dinner as well…
Our waiter Ryan, was very attentive, ensuring that we had lots of water, bringing us extra corn chips and salsa, etc.  He was a pleasant young man…
OK… Compared to our previous group dining adventures, our visit to Ayala’s Mexican Restaurant was a home run!  Our rating, based on our usual 10.0 scale, averaged out to 8.9!!  Better yet, each couple was able to use our local ‘Lifestyle’ card, deducting one entrée from everyones dinner bill…nice!  We will return…repeatedly!
Ayala’s Mexican Restaurant is located just off of and is visible from US 321 in Lenoir City Tennessee.  The actual address is 131 Kelsey Lane, Suite 106.  Phone: 865-988-0069.  Ayala’s apparently doesn’t have a website, but for those who are interested, they are on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AyalasLenoirCity.
Just click on any photo to enlarge it…
Thanks for stopping by and sharing another dining experience with us!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

2 comments:

  1. Looks like lot's of good food and some good company as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I knew I shouldn't come here, I'm drooling now. It all looks great!

    ReplyDelete