The Margarita Cafe: Serving Tex Mex in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

At the Margarita Cafe on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida it's all about earth-tones, bright yellow, aqua, Tex-Mex and loud music. Oh. And huge margaritas....

This is a typical beach hot-spot designed to draw the old Spring-Break crowd before they were run outta town. Margarita Cafe's loud music and party atmosphere does not sit unnoticed though even without the original target customer. There's still plenty of young adults cruising to pick up other vacationing young folks so Margarita Cafe still does a pretty brisk business in season.

I stopped in here a few afternoons just as a break from my usual haunts and wasn't disappointed, but I have to say that there is a reason this place isn't frequented by locals as much as the other restaurants along this strand. They have the tables out on the sidewalk so you can enjoy the weather and the ocean scenery like all the restaurants, but they also have some way-high prices and in this case, they really aren't warranted given the food.

The food isn't bad, mind you, just not as good as the prices would lead you to believe. It's all about Tex-Mex with a Florida slant. Let me explain...

Let's start with appetizers. You would expect to find some form of Quesadillas here and you would be right. Their version is Flour tortillas stuffed with melted Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. Served with salsa, jalapenos and sour cream. Now, you can have chicken like most places offer, but since this is Florida, you can also choose to add crab or shrimp. Another starter you don't see everywhere are the Shrimp Jammers - Fresh Gulf shrimp fried golden brown and stuffed with jalapenos, cream cheese and cheddar cheese. (descriptions courtosy of http://www.fortlauderdalebeachrestaurants.com/html/margarita/menu.htm)

See how this works now? Their on-line menu does not list prices, but trust me when I say this was a bit too high for what it is.