Mid day stop for a few brews, so we didn't eat. Â Very small place, nothing fancy, kind of dark-ish looking place, very casual, that probably picks-up all the drunks on the street. Â The bartender was nice...when she interacted with us. Â Nothing shined in this place, and I probably would stop by again, albeit not anytime soon by choice.
Review Source:I use to come here when this place was called San Locos, the service was great and then the manager Francis quit and this place went to hell in a hand basket.After several years of boycotting this (I hate even using the word restaurant, but i guess thats what we will call it) restaurant, I decided to give it another chance. I should have gone with my instincts and just gone home.
Upon arriving to the restaurant the outside tables were all taken but the inside was bare. There was a table open so we sat at it. There were three servers on, two bartenders, a bar back, and what appeared to be a manager. We sat for about 15 minutes while two of the waitress played "grab ass" with one another. we had asked for some menus and they said they would bring them over, never did. The manager walked past us 4/5 times without a blink of an eye or "hey let me get you menus" or even "your server will be right with you". He did not even ask the servers if we had been helped. Finally we got up and grabbed our own menus, we didn't want to interrupt the play time the servers were having. Finally one of them comes over and takes our order, well some off it. She proceeds to take two of three peoples order and rips the menu out of my friends hands. When I say to her my friend hadn't even ordered, she said that she thought she had. WHAT!? I guess their servers have psychic powers. Ten minutes later the server comes by and delivers an iced tea, One iced tea. Then comes back and starts talking to us about our hair, we politely answered her and asked for the rest of our drinks. Another five minutes later she comes back with my drink from the bar and once again forgets the same third person in our group. We grabbed her once again and just got a water.
At this point we had been there for almost an hour, hungry, and annoyed. The girl comes over and I asked if she could just bag up our food. We really just wanted to get out of there and cut our loses.
Upon arriving home, to eat our food, we find that what we just paid for was completely uneatable. Our tacos were soggy as if they had been submerged in water. I am sorry but if I can get taco bell home and its not soggy, I think something is going on in their kitchen. We began to think that our friend who ordered a salad was the smart one, well that was until about two hours later she started throwing up her dinner.
This place is absolutely the worst place in Fort lauderdale. I would not serve the slop made in their kitchen to prisoners on death row. Avoid this place there is better places to eat at, 7-11 or a dumpster would be finer dinning.
Tuesday is two for one tacos...and that's how much they are worth. I walked in off the street after looking for something other than Tarpon next door. They happy hour before 8 leads with 1/2 price drinks is a good thing. But the food doesn't follow behind that well, at least the tacos, that is. I've had better fish tacos most anywhere except Taco Bell and sated mostly of salad and tomato slice. Duh, I should've known better than expect fresh fish. The carne asada was better but not much. Perhaps the chicken soup or other menu items were worthy of more stars, but I didn't get that far.
Margaritas were okay. But at half price, I guess, it is hard arguing. I just may not make it back to try more.
There was an electronic jukebox and the bartenders were very pleasant.
A little overpriced; "2-4-1 Taco Tuesdays" couldn't even save them.. Â Their food is not at all "evolutionary" as their literature suggests- movie-theater food at best (i.e. don't get the chips & nacho cheese, liquid yellow cheese goop is not natural!!!!! )! Should have gone to Rocco's...
Review Source:Terrible food, worse service. Tofu tacos were gross, tofu chunks were like eating pencil erasers. I asked the waitress if the beans and rice were pinto or black (not indicated on menu) and she said black. Then she brought out pinto. Wanted to order fish tacos but the fish used is tilapia-yuck! Stay away from tilapia as most of it comes from China. This is South Florida where locally caught fish is abundant! My son's avocado tacos were just okay. Â Will not return.
Review Source:I don't normally go out of my way to give negative reviews, but this place was probably the biggest let-down of the year for me. Â I've had lots of Mexican and Tex-Mex food in my lifetime and this is definitely at the bottom of the barrel. Â First, the drinks: Â we ordered Coco Ritas, which were disgustingly, cloyingly sweet, completely masking the taste of the alcohol. Â We then got free shots (for "liking" them on Facebook, and yes, I've since "unliked" them) -- I've never been to a Tex-Mex or Mexican joint that served sweet-tea-flavored shots as a gimmick, and the resultant clash of flavors isn't something I care to relive. Â Third, the food, while not actively bad, was "Restaurant: Impossible"-levels of bland and tasteless. Â I kept on wanting Robert Irvine to swoop in and lecture the chef on the virtues of salting food. Â I had an avocado taco and a re-fried bean taco. Â My avocado taco was basically three slices of avocado on a bed of lettuce, and the re-fried bean taco was cold and the cheese hadn't even fully melted. Â The one positive was the second drink we ordered -- some kind of dirty margarita with jalapeno and pineapple juices. Â It was like if a margarita and a spicy bloody Mary had a baby. Â I would return for that drink, but I can't ever imagining ordering food there ever again.
Review Source:Ok, fine, so basically I ate here because of all the hate. Â Seeing this many angry reviews just made me want to find out what horrible things they do to customers. Â HUGE LET DOWN THERE. Â Turns out it was actually pretty tasty. I think you could do pretty well here if you keep a few things in mind-
1. Â T-Mex is not a Mexican restaurant. Â Not sure how this is confusing since the name basically explains that it is Tex-mex, but based on the negative reviews here it seems worth clarifying. Â T-mex is also not: Japanese, Italian, British, Jamaican, or Swiss. Â No. Â Still Tex-Mex.*
2. Â The shrimp tacos I got were NYC portions at NYC prices. Â So it was definitely quality over quantity with surprisingly fresh ingredients and flavors. Â I was satisfied for lunch.
3. Â The hot sauces aren't great or particularly hot. Â Get the hotest and the second hotest, combine them, and it ends up pretty decent.
4. Â Lunch service was slow because we were basically the only ones there.
Finally, and here is the killer-
5. Â Probably not the best drunk food. Â With my food they went easy on the salt, delicate on the flavors**, and leaned more towards balance than punching you in the face with simple tastes (like you would want when drunk).
So, T-Mex is actually pretty great for the area... they are just not really managing expectations.
*Besides, calling food "Mexican" is like calling Sichuan food "asian" or Belgian food "european".
** Really didn't expect to find anything remotely delicate here.
First things first, do not eat here. Â I mean it- DO NOT EAT HERE. If you are going to eat something the only acceptable items in my opinion are the chips & salsa and tacos. Â Everything else is no bueno.
What T-Mex lacks in the kitchen they make up for at the bar. Â I love the drinks here. Â They've got good margaritas, Bloody Marys and a decent selection of tequila. Â They have 1/2 price (aka 2-4-1) happy hour from 4-8 on Mondays-Fridays. Â It's a great place to go after work to meet with friends. Â You can sit outside, people watch and enjoy the scenery.
This place blows. Do NOT order food here. We have eaten here a couple of times, and it is always a terrible experience - a total waste of money. Last night we met up with some friends  here for drinks. Despite having told myself that I would never eat there again, we ordered some food. To sum up our dining experience here last night: my husband's grande burrito was cold, the meat looked nasty. Our friend's chicken tacos looked like chicken from the can. My quesadilla was soggy, the sour cream warm & rotten. The food here makes Taco Bell look like gourmet Mexican food, if there's such a thing. We could only eat a couple bites and then left and grabbed pizza across the street. Don't let the outside seating & downtown atmosphere fool you - this place will just rip you off. It's a shame because they are in a good location and this place could be so much better.
Review Source:Since moving to FL from TX, I've been so disappointed with Tex-Mex options, which causes me to binge on it every time I visit home. Â A friend introduced me to this place, which they had been going to for a long time, and I just fell in love with it. Â Soft tacos are awesome - I love the beef and fish but I've had the chicken too and it's soo good. Service is always pleasant -- they're not the sugar coated, fake nice type - they're just real down to earth people, and they're genuinely nice. Â Great happy hours, great location. Â It quickly became my favorite bar downtown, and I take everybody there.
Review Source:This is my first time coming here, and although the food was pretty good, I thought the price was extremely disproportionate to the portion sizes. If I was an anorexic this might be considered filling, but being a full-grown male made this very dissatisfying portion-wise. I dont know about all the dishes, (We had the chimichangas and tacos) but I feel its safe to assume that they weren't great either based on the plates me and my friends received.
I would recommend it if you like smaller portions of decent quality Mexican food and dont mind paying a little more. If you're hungry though, probably not. The burger place next door looked pretty good..
There is a reason why this place has such low ratings! Â We decided to come here because Tarpon Bend (where we usual go) was busy and we wanted to sit outside. Â The service was mediocre and the nachos were ok as well, but DO NOT get the fish taco! Â I lived in Los Angeles for 6 years and had experienced the best fish tacos and was expecting some fresh ones here in Florida. Â WRONG. Â First, the taco was super dry! There was no sauce or anything on it. Â Second, the fish was very over-fried and it was like it was a chew toy. Â Then, when we told the waitress she did a 2-for-1 taco special, but she still charged us for the fish taco which was more expensive. Â All in all I would say I would not come back to this place. Â Save yourself the money and go to Tarpon Bend next door!
Review Source:I usually don't give places 1star, but seriously my experience here sucked! I love Mexican food and this was NOT Mexican food.
Decided to grab some Mexican food after a failed attempt at a pub place. When we arrived I realized I was way over dressed for this place and it was basically a hole in the wall. The music from the juke box was blasting so don't plan on having any sort of conversation. Looking at the menu I noticed you have to buy chips and salsa, how lame is that?! We ordered that and a side of guac to start. They show up and theirs a million chips and barely any salsa. The salsa was more like pico de gallo, super chunky and chopped. We put in our orders for dinner, I got a steak burrito and my date got a tostada loca. While we waited for our food we tried to have a conversation. Sadly I don't know sign language or have a bullhorn with me so it was a fail. While we waited a guy with a dog kept walking in and out of the restaurant, that is always something you want to see in a restaurant. Anyways, our food comes out soon after and so did more disappointment. The burrito I ordered completely sucked! It was all cheese and barely any steak. I have to scoop out the cheese and grab a flash light to search for steak. It was by far the worst burrito I have ever eaten. It came with a side of some really weird tasting cole slaw. That too was pretty horrible. My date completely hated her meal. The tostada ended up being all cheese and barely any other stuff. She barely even ate it cause there was so much cheese. By the end of the meal I ended up paying almost 40$ for the worst Mexican food I have ever eaten. I would have paid not to eat that food. There is a lot of places to eat downtown and I would never try this mediocre place again.
On a side note: Our service was good and attentive.
With a plethora of taco and Mexican joints to choose from, imho there are much better choices than this "cantina".
Charging for chips, is a pet peeve of mine. Although the justification is for the fresh salsa, which is pretty good and the only reason I gave it two stars instead of one, this is something which should be gratis when you are at a sit down Tex-Mex place. Â Ordered the tacos, which were almost edible, but not so crunchy and rather bland Â
However the kicker was when I saw a six legged friend, the size of a cigarette, crawl it's way thru the restaurant. At that moment I was ready to leave or fear being carried away by the darn thing.
Don't think I will return here, unless it is with a can of Raid.
Not an authentic Mexican place and nothing's going to blow you away, but the prices are reasonable and the staff are usually very nice. I mainly go here if I'm in downtown FTL having a few drinks, because it's a quick place to stop off and grab a bite if you don't want pizza. Best thing to get is the soft tacos (chicken or beef, $2.95) with the "serious sauce", which is just hot enough without being uncomfortable, and wash it down with a Modelo or Tecate.
Review Source:The Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas with Sour Cream and Rice were wonderful. The portion was not huge but that meant I had a few more chips which were okay. The 2 for 1 Happy Hour upped my rating to a 4.
The best place to park is the garage. If you park at the meters, make sure you feed them.
I used to go to this place weekly because I live down the street and I love the outdoor seating. Â The food is hit or miss. Â I have talked to a few ex-employees and the owner is notoriously cheap. Â I always ordered the Carne Asada platter. Â The menu states it comes with green and red peppers (I think he finally removed that from the menu) and tortilla chips. Â I have NEVER received my chips or green and red peppers. Â I always had to ask the waitress for my peppers and they would gladly bring them out a few minutes later. Â The staff is great and it is not their fault. Â I have now completely quit going to this place. Â If an owner does not care about food quality and his customer's experience, then I will not reward that. Â It's a shame too, because the place has such great potential. Â I think if the owner were to re-evaluate place and take the time to ensure customer satisfaction, then he could truly do much more business. Â He would get my business back.
Review Source:We keep trying to find a good Mexican place in Ft Lauderdale - this was not the place.  I would've given it 1 star except the place was very clean, service very attentive.  But the food - FAIL.  Chips were bad and they came w/out salsa.  The "nacho cheese" was just like the plastic stuff served in a movie theater - zero flavor.  The shrimp tacos were okay - very little flavor - and served with odd weird cheddar cheese.  Tacos could've been better if served with some cilantro and a cojilla cheese.  My husband had enchiladas and he said the verde sauce was okay.  I thought it was odd they served his enchiladas, rice, beans on a quite small plate - all the food was crammed togegther and verde sauce ran over the rim  b/c it had nowhere to go.
Disclaimer - husband and I are both Texans used to really excellent Mexican food. Â If you are Western transplant to Ft Lauderdale, skip the T-Mex in your search for good Mexican food!
Everybody knows about T-Mex's Taco Tuesday. Â 2 for 1 tacos on Tuesday draw quite the crowd. Â I always get the chicken soft taco, or two, the chicken is poached, so it's actually rather healthy. Â Make sure to get some hot sauce, awesome flavor and just the right kick. Â
I also love the avocado salad, you get a whole avocado sliced up with salsa and romaine lettuce with their delicious cilantro vinaigrette.
The Sopa Loca, a spicy lime chicken soup, is my favorite. Â The tortilla chips on the side are great if you want to scoop up the shredded chicken and melted cheddar goodness. Â The soup also comes with a side salad with their cilantro vinaigrette. Â sooooo good
The servers and bartenders are always friendly and it's just a cool place to hang out.
Service was poor. The cilantro dressing on the avacado salad was nice. Mediocre grilled chicken. All the tacos I saw were just sad looking meat and lettuce in a dry tortilla. I dunno... I've had way better Tex-Mex in NY, and that's saying a lot since you can't find decent Tex-Mex there. I guess there's not much around the area though, and it functions as the only place with chips and salsa? I don't get it.
Review Source:I'm sure if I was there just to drink this would be a 4 star place. But they need to not be allowed to make food. With the exception of nachos, they do nachos well. But tacos and burritos... no. Not so much. The meat is where they need serious help, the chicken in the crispy taco tasted like nothing, and since the taco only comes with lettuce (lots and lots of lettuce), bland cheese, and a bit of chopped up tomatoes. None of these things have any flavor. Making for a very unenjoyable meal. The burrito was any better, just packed full of unseasoned ground beef, with dollops of sour cream stuck on the ends.
Oh, and it was LOUD. I think they had the music turned up so you can hear it clearly on the sidewalk, but it was unbearable to sit inside.
Three stars is about right for this place. Â The food and atmosphere are good and there's plenty of seating on the sidewalk out front if you prefer to sit outside. Â Since this restaurant is near the Broward Center, River Walk and this area can get busy in the evenings, it's a great spot for people watching.
Where they fell down on the night we ate here was when they only had 3 kinds of draft beer when we arrived, and while we were here they ran out of Blue Moon and one other. Â Because of this, two of the people in our party had to switch to a different beer for our second round. Â Also, while their drink and appetizer prices were reasonable, some entrees were a touch on the pricey side for what this place is.
Their positioning slogan is "Evolutionary Tex-Mex", but to be honest, the menu seemed fairly standard: Enchiladas, burritos, chimichangas, quesadillas, tacos, etc.
In all, if passing through the area with someone who wanted to stop here I'd come again. Otherwise, there are lots of other nearby restaurants I'd be more eager to try next time.
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Quickie #1
Delicious chimichanga (deep-fried burrito), generous tacos. Â Liked their 2 in 1 - a hard and a soft taco with guacamole in between. Â
Two for one Taco Tuesday, with $4.00 Sailor Jerry cocktails all day. Â Delicious Coco Rita - a Margarita made with coconut, tequila and Cointreau for $7.00. Â
If you want to feel sea-sick - check out their website.
I had to comment on this place! I went there after walking through the Riverfront and came across this little place that makes tacos. Now, keep in mind, I've only been eating tacos and nachos for about 4 years, and I've eaten at a lot of different joints, but now compare to the taste you get from TMex. First off, the drinks are very well served with alcohol considering you don't pay much, and any taco you get from this place will become an instant love affair. They have a few different sauces that they put on their menu, but I definitely will take on what they call 'Stupid'. The place has a jukebox which if you're like me, you like listening to Pink Floyd and other classic rock artists while you are drinking. The only thing that you have to consider is that you have to find parking. Remember, Americas Backyard is across the street and it's a very popular area. This place is definitely worth the trip if you got at least $10 for yourself for a good drink and some awesome tacos!
Review Source:So T-Mex calls itself an "evolutionary" Mexican restaurant. I can't comment too much on this, since we only ordered nachos and margaritas from their selection of several dozen kinds. Otherwise the menu seemed fairly standard, so go figure. However, the margaritas were delicious. We must have been there during happy hour, because they were half price.
As a biologist, I'm a sucker for dinosaur-themed establishments. I don't know how long this place has been around, but I hope they don't go extinct. Â (groan)