Review Villa Del Sol - Merrillville

Pros: good (borderline great) food, priced perfectly, great hostess and waitstaff. Cons: at this time the outside seating area appearance is quite rough. Easy fixes but greatly dampers experience to look at. Might not be a diamond in the rough, but emerald definitely. We ordered the Sol Maya Combination and 3 meat Fajita Dinner. Once set in front of us, the smell was great and the plate setting was appealing. Opting to sit outside was great. The inside was a bit too dark for afternoon eating. Outside is almost a perfect balance of scattered tables like a social event. The one downfall is the different little tables messing up the scene. Some landscape and cosmetic changes are needed as well. For this, I give it 3.7 out of 5. Next time I hope to bump it to a 4.5.

Great food nice decor great service overall

Delicious food and great atmosphere on the patio

Wow! So much food for a very reasonable price. I had the skirt steak with shrimp and made the mistake of eating it all when I could have saved enough for another meal. Awesome drinks, delicious food and friendly service makes for a happy gringo.

Great Mexican food. The staff is super friendly and decor is cozy. We have had the chicken fajitas, tacos and flauntus and they have all been delicious. Prices are not bad. The outdoor patio is very cute.... wonderful on summer nights. I would definitely recommend this place.

I love the atmosphere and awesome patio at this place. Drinks are wonderful and the food is excellent. They have changed hands a couple times over the last few years, but overall it has remained very good and it is our go to sit down Mexican restaurant in the area.

What a wonderful place, stopped by after a Christening. Our service was the best, Brook took great care of us. She was very informative about the restaurant and the menu. Made many good suggestions. Food was excellent. Brook informed us of the reward system and made sure we checked out the patio. Very beautiful patio and looks like a lot of fun. Will share with others and be back for sure.

First time coming. I went in to get carry out and waited in the front for a while before I decided to go and FIND an employee to help me. The bartender sent over a server who knew NOTHING about the prices or menu and she seems a little intoxicated. Nonchalant attitude and all. I may give them another chance simply because I know restaurants have bad days like people. I also haven’t tried my meal yet, but customer service sucks!

One of my favorite places, love the out door garden. Good food and a great place to stop if just for drinks. I wish you offered delivery!  (We work long hours and not allowed to leave to pick up)

Food is ok, service is sub par. Circuses were interesting. Music was loud and we're sitting as far away as possible. I was hoping for Latin music in a Mexican restaurant. <br/>

The food is delicious EVERY TIME!!! The wait staff is super friendly and fast. Everyone is always smiling and the environment is great. They have great fajitas!

The Villa Del Sol Restaurant Pros and Cons. Great outdoor patio experience that will make you feel as though you're on an island. Great entertainment with Habu as a star attraction, he should be in Hollywood. Improvements should be (1):getting food delivered in a more timely manner. (2): Please work on getting larger restrooms especially for the women. One toilet for that size of a restaurant is uncalled for. You have a class-act when it comes to appearances so why not expand on the restrooms - both men and women's. Please work on those two deficiencies and you will have an "A" rating as far as restaurants go.

Had an absolute blast. This place has the best patio in the area. This place is a must try especially on a Friday. There was a live band and even a raffle. The carna asada was the best I have ever had. Specitacular.. It doesn't disappoint.

Dinner to go. $14.00 for pork dinner. Asked for no rice ...got rice. Bit into avocado seed when eating guac...asked for sour cream. Didn't get it. No napkins no silver wear. Called to talk to manager ..waited for a while then phone disconnected ...called back 3 times and it went to voicemail box that is full. Finally got through to the supposed owner who hesitated to give her name. She told me to calm down then said she was sorry I didn't get silver wear. REALLY!!! Very poor service and small portion for $14. Rip off. I will never eat there again. Go to me mos in highland in port plaza on 45th just west of indianapolis blvd...Excellent food and great service ...authentic. Oh yes and one more thing. When I was telling the "owner" my concern she was interrupting me telling other customers goodnight. I would have been better off with a $1.00 hamburger from McDonald. I will find out who the owner is and whether or not there's a partner. I'm sure they would be interested to know about my experience!

Like a vacation. My wife and I ate there yesterday in the patio area. WOW! it was iike being at a resort. The service was excellent, very attentive and fast. Food was also great. Will return and will enjoy the patio again,

Need for improvment. Wait staff need to be more aware of the specails of the day, we were charged regular price for the Margarita's when the billboard outside advertised a lower price!<br/>Food was good, salsa had alot to be desired....no flavor,no heat but looked great! Homemade chips were fresh but not enough & had to ask for more.<br/>Clean environment,however the ladies restroom was out of service....a sign on the dr. advised us to use the men's facility but to knock before entering. Bad News for a new restaurant!!!!!

GREAT!!!! Delicious food we moved from Chicago almost 2yrs ago and FINALLY found an authentic Mexican restaurant in NWI! Great service and great prices keep up the good work!!!!

Good food but horrible customer service. Was told I could pick up my order in 20 minutes and it took over an hour of me waiting there! I actually saw people come in and out of the dinning room before I even got my food! Thought the $10 they took off my $60 bill was a slap in the face. No apologizes, they just said the kitchen suddenly got busy. Will not be returning!!

Finally, an authentic Mexican restaurant in Merrillville!!. I am from Texas and I know what authentic food is, and trust me this place is authentic!!! the food is amazing, the sangrias are great!!! large plates, and the price are even better.<br/> <br/>Had me some chips and the green salsa, they were delicious. For the meal, I got one of the Sizzling Fajitas with steak, chicken, shrimp that comes with onions, and, bell peppers, served with a side of rice and beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, and tortillas. This is all for $14.00 with every part of the plate sizzling with flavor and amazingness. <br/><br/>Nice atmosphere, love the patio, friendly waitresses<br/><br/>I wish I could have this for dinner every night. Can't wait to be back.

Disappointed. My fiance and I love mexican food so we had been dying to try this place for awhile. Finally one date night we decided to go. What a mistake. We should have known by the lack of customers to run, or possibly when they "cleaned" our table with a dirty, stained sopping wet towel...but we stayed because we had read all of these fabulous reviews stating that the food was delicious. We were given a cup of green verde sauce surrounded by homemade chips. This got my hopes up since I LOVE green sauce and most mexican restaurants in the area serve red. Upon tasting it though I was very disappointed. The chips were stale and the sauce was bland, it had a watery consistency and way too much cilantro. I ordered the steak tacos and my fiance ordered the chicken ones. They arrived in paper which is always a huge mistake on the restaurants part considering the shells stick and are a pain to peel off. Tacos came in a very oily red taco sauce which I don't remember being described on the menu, clumps of chihuahua cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and of course meat. No sour cream or guacamole included which was extremely disappointing. Their refried beans were below average, more than likely out of a can because they were definitely not fresh or home made. Our bill was around $25.00 for the two dinners and my fiance's drink from the bar (she said that her drink was good, but very little actual alcohol). Other things we disliked about this place was the VERY slow service, they are unprofessional and yes like the other review said they act as if they are doing you a favor. Expect to wait atleast 20 minutes for a drink refill (and then expect to be served the wrong kind of drink) The place is dirty, menus are sticky and unoriginal. We will not be dining here again.

Inconsistent but Good. An Honest Review. Been eating here almost since the day they opened. My husband and I are love Mexican food and we have no problem traveling over 100 miles to get it. What a suprise when Villa Del Sol opened up down the street from us. <br/>Guacamole is $7 and use to be served on a plate, a huge portion surrounded by average chips, they cook their own, they're too thick and usually stale. On occassion when they arrive fresh, they're very good.<br/>The Guacamole is very plain, no cilantro, too many tomatoes, no lime and no hot peppers, very boring.<br/><br/>Their salsa is the worst I've eaten at any Mexican restaurant, the green salsa is what they bring you with the chips, you have to ask for the red salsa, which is charred tomatoes with absolutely no flavor or heat, extrememly bland, the green salsa has some raw onion, cilantro, tomatillos, barely a step above the red. Neither one is as good as Rick Bayless jar salsa or even Arribba jar salsa for that matter.<br/><br/>We've eaten several combos, ala cart menu items, some days their fantastic, most times below average.<br/>The wait staff is comprised of mostly family members and girlfriends who have no real experience on how to serve and act as if they are doing you a favor if you ask for something. The worst wait staff in the area for sure.<br/><br/>The patio is truly the biggest and baddest in the area as their sign states, they started out the restaurant very strong and have consistently cheapened it up. They use to serve only Romaine lettuce where the lettuce was nice and green and clean, now they use head lettuce, they use to serve a nice sprinkling of Chiuahua cheese on top of their dishes, now you barely get any. The air conditioning is broken and the has been for several weeks now. They get their game together on a Friday & Saturday night, then coast during the week. The tosadas are fantastic, enchiladas are very good, tamales are good, beans are below average. If this place would be consistent with their food, fire the useless wait staff and re-hire professionals, they might have a better chance at success.<br/><br/>Even Pepes has consistent menu items. Villa Del Sol COULD be the best Mexican Restaurant in the area if they would make necessary changes.

They have the best steak fajitas you will have in your life. The only downfall is that you won't enjoy fajitas anywhere else.

The restaurant has great steak tacos.