I have lived in Round Rock since 1984, and give every new restaurant a shot because I believe in supporting local businesses. Campo Azul's location has had some trouble (difficult access, poor visibility) ever since La Margarita moved (in the 90's). At least three other restaurants have failed (unfairly, IMO), so I decided yesterday to take the whole family there and give them a shot.
Our experience did not start well. Our waitress was friendly but was uninformed. I asked if the green sauce was tomatillo, and she said she didn't know, but that people liked it. Staff should know the basics of the menu, especially the base ingredients of Mexican standards like green sauce. I ordered it anyway... I love tomatillo sauce.
We got our chips right away, and were pleased with the salsa (not the best, but good enough to come back for). However, Campo Azul has decided to toast (or bake) their chips, much like Waterloo, which I think is awful. The chips smell burned, with a natural gas smell. Some chips only had a mild 'toasted' flavor, but most were very bitter and left a strong aftertaste. I do not know who first invented this 'style' of serving chips, but it must stop. I think restaurants do it to make their chips seem homemade, or fresh, but it does not work.
Our queso was brought out, and the first taste was okay... a bit pasty (I think they use flour mixed in with the cheese... a big no-no) but not bad. However, I noticed that it was very thick, almost like a paste. As the queso cooled, it became very thick. You could not dip a chip in it... the chip would break. One of my favorite things is to mix salsa and queso... I tried this, but the queso was so thick it would not mix... it was like cheese balls mixed with salsa. We only ate about half, and left the rest.
Eating the chips, queso, and salsa was pretty messy. We did not have any napkins or silverware. Our waitress did bring them out after we asked, but it seemed odd that we had to ask.
The food took about 20 minutes to bring out. Which is odd, because we were the only customers in the place. About 15 minutes in, our waitress came by to ask how we were doing (she took good care of us) and apologized for the time it was taking for the food. She said, ""Thins got a bit crazy back there"", meaning in the kitchen (I presume). I can't help but wonder why things were crazy when (again) we were the only customers in the building.
Anyway, the food finally came out, and we were pleasantly surprised. My chicken enchiladas (with verde sauce) were very good... the tomatillo was that perfect mix of tangy and savory, with a good amount of cheese. My only suggestion would be to add a bit more sauce... some of my bites had no sauce, and I like to mix extra sauce with my rice. The refried beans were excellent (the pinto beans are only partially mashed, which is a great style).
My wife and daughter shared the tortilla soup. I was very impressed (I ate several bites). The thin chicken/tomato base had a great flavor, and the chicken pieces were some of the best I've had (not chopped up fajita meat or anything like that... it appeared to be slow roasted chicken, or baked chicken). My eldest son had a barbacoa burrito, which he said was very good. My younger son had a grilled cheese sandwich. One frustrating thing was that the sandwich came out 5 minutes after we got our food, and the fries came out about 10 minutes late. The rest of us were completely done by the time he got his fries.
So overall the food and service was good, but the kitchen needs to work on their timeliness. I will go back and give them another shot, but if they do not fix their queso and chips, I won't go back a third time. In order to succeed here, they are going to have to offer superior food and unique, one-of-a-kind dishes that bring people back (like the boom-boom enchiladas at Chuy's). I did not see anything that stood out as unique, and the food was good, not great.
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