LATEST RANT: That new burger spot on Coliseum — overpriced, underseasoned, overhyped  ★  BREAKING: Local pizza chain still using 1987 recipe. We checked.  ★  VERDICT: The best taco truck in Fort Wayne costs $3. The worst restaurant costs $35. Do the math.  ★  WARNING: Do not order the "Chef's Special" unless you enjoy disappointment  ★  LATEST RANT: That new burger spot on Coliseum — overpriced, underseasoned, overhyped  ★  BREAKING: Local pizza chain still using 1987 recipe. We checked.  ★  VERDICT: The best taco truck in Fort Wayne costs $3. The worst restaurant costs $35. Do the math.  ★  WARNING: Do not order the "Chef's Special" unless you enjoy disappointment  ★ 
24 Restaurants Rated
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3 Condemned
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0 Stars Given — We Use Numbers
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0 Comped Meals
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0 Sponsors
This Week's Main Rant
Mexican food
Fort Wayne finally has a Mexican restaurant that knows what it is doing.

8
★★★★☆
Out of 10 · Mexican · Fort Wayne

Mercado Raised the Bar So High
Everything Else Has To Answer For Itself.

By The Rant Desk | May 2022 | Fort Wayne, IN

We thought we had found the ceiling with Tequila out southwest. Then Mercado showed up and the ceiling moved. The flavor here is sharper, more intentional, and more complex than anything else Fort Wayne's Mexican food scene has produced. You are going to pay more. You are also going to eat food that tastes like someone in the kitchen actually cared about the outcome. That is rarer than it should be in this city.

Read all rants →
The Verdict
"The best Mexican restaurant in Fort Wayne. Full stop."

If you have been sleeping on Mercado because of the price point, stop doing that. Go once, eat well, and recalibrate your expectations for what Mexican food in Fort Wayne can actually be.

8
out of 10
Must Visit
Also This Week
8
Old Gas House
American · Fort Wayne · Never a Bad Night
8
Black Canyon
Steakhouse · Fort Wayne · They Know Medium Rare
2
Trolley Steaks
Steakhouse · Fort Wayne · Dirty Glass. No Return.
6
Hall's Drive In
American · Fort Wayne · Dice Roll Every Time
Fort Wayne Food Truth

The best meal in this city comes from a place with no Instagram presence. The worst comes from somewhere with a QR code menu and exposed Edison bulbs. We will find both and report back.

Recent Rantings

Fine dining
8
Italian · Fort Wayne
Salvatori's Could Put Casa Grande Out of Business. We Said It.

Everything was delicious and cooked to perfection. The bread is made fresh, comes with the meal, and will ruin you for lesser bread. Bar area seating is the right call.

Must Visit Apr 2022
Pizza
8
Pizza · Fort Wayne
Clara's Pizza King: If You Grew Up Here and Haven't Been, I Feel Bad For You.

The crust is right. The sauce is right. The ratios are right. Clara's has never felt the need to reinvent itself for people who discovered pizza last year. Good.

Must Visit May 2024
Restaurant
2
Steakhouse · Fort Wayne
Trolley Steaks: Dirty Glass Before I Even Ordered. Last Visit.

The serving dishes were dirty. My Old Fashioned glass was dirty. Six people all ordered different things and all walked away disappointed. That is not bad luck.

A Crime Mar 2022
Tonight's Verdict
Trolley Steaks and Seafood
Steakhouse · Fort Wayne, IN · A Crime
2

Reader Rants

Cuisine
Neighborhood
Verdict
Nothing matches that combination.
EVEN WE HAVE STANDARDS. TRY A DIFFERENT FILTER.

The Food Rantings Scale

How we score · No curve · No mercy · No asterisks

1–2
A Crime
Active failure. We will name names and we will not apologize for it.
3–4
Bad
You tried. The effort was noted. The result was not.
5–6
Meh
Solid. Won't change your life. Won't ruin your night.
7–8
Must Visit
Legitimately good. Tell your friends. Go twice.
9–10
Legend
Reserved. Rarely awarded. Standards are standards.

We Say What
Yelp Won't.

Yelp is a protection racket disguised as a review site. Google reviews are written by people who give 5 stars because the waiter said "enjoy your meal." We are neither of those things.

Food Rantings is Fort Wayne's honest food publication. We pay for our own meals. We have no sponsors. We have no advertisers shaping our opinions. We just have opinions — and the willingness to share them.

Starting in Fort Wayne. Going national. One rant at a time.

We always pay for our own food. No comped meals. No PR dinners. No "invited tastings."
No advertisers. No sponsored content. No restaurant can buy a better review.
Fort Wayne first — but we're coming to your city. Watch this space.
Real opinions from real people who eat real food. Novel concept, we know.

Got a Rant?
We Want It.

Had a meal so bad you need to warn people? Found a hidden gem the city is sleeping on? Submit your rant and we'll review it for publication. Best submissions get featured.

What makes a good rant

Be specific. "The food was bad" is not a rant. "The pasta tasted like it was cooked in dishwater and seasoned with regret" is a rant.
Be honest. Don't submit a rant because an employee was rude to you personally. We're reviewing food, not people's days.
Be fair. If you have a complaint, you should also be able to say one thing they did right. Even if it's just "the parking was free."
No fake reviews. We will check. Fort Wayne is not that big.
1–2Crime
3–4Bad
5–6Meh
7–8Must Visit
9–10Legend
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