Worlds Freshest Margarita - Chilis - Long Beach, CA

First margarita stop on our Long Beach, CA tour was Chilis down by the harbor, which really in truly has a great selection of first rate drinks.  You just can't go wrong with a Chilis margarita!  My favorite is the Presidente Margarita, which we routinely rank as a 5 limer.  BUT to be honest I am a creature of habit and find it hard to break away from something I really like and thus I was ordered to try something different on this particular visit.

What to choose, what to choose...  it was challenging and everytime I tried to retreat to my preferred drink I was slapped by someone at the table.  So after much consternation and bruising of the cheeks, I finally broke the mold and went with something new - The Worlds Freshest Margarita.  (Yeah, that was the name of the drink.)   Composed of Milago Silver Tequila (100% Blue Agave), Milagro Agave Nectar and fresh-squeezed lime juice on the rocks, it was, well... quite fresh... imagine that!

I have to admit I am a bit gun shy of anything that reeks of "handmade" or "fresh-squeezed" due to a bad experience in a different restaurant, but Chilis renwed my faith in the concept with this awesome margarita.

Maybe I should try new things more often...

I believe this one can take 4 limes.

Cruizin LA

So last week the crew rented a party bus - not a school bus or mini-van - a bonafide custom drinking machine on wheels.  Think limo on steroids!  Nice to be able to get up and walk around.  Flat screen TV's on the walls, awesome sound system, bar, leather couches, lighting and a very cool driver named Shawn.  The rolling party came equipped with party supplies, though we had to enhance the inventory with margarita materials.

What a night!  We samples margaritas, toured the LA beaches, hit PV and had a great time.  We were going to rank all the margaritas we consumed, but at some point we began to forget where we had been and what we had savored.  Oh well...  we have a few reviews like Panama Joesin Belmont Shores that happened before the tequila haze moved in.  They will show up shortly.

Next time you do LA, do it right with a Party Bus.  Email us for the name of the company we used.  info@theultimatemargarita.com.

Millionaire's Margarita - Vida Mexican Kitchen y Cantina - Charlotte, NC

Well here we go with a negative review.  I came across this place while doing a Trade Show in Charlotte, NC.  Vida Mexican Kitchen y Cantina is located in the Charlotte Epicentre and from everything I could gather online, it looked like a cool place to eat and get a decent margarita.  Granted the location and atmosphere were excellent and the food wasn't too bad, but my group of three was not happy with the margaritas. 

I started with the Millionaire's Margarita and was totally unimpressed.  The flavor was not that great and it was about as smooth as a bucket of broken glass.  Totally unbalanced between ingredients and tequila.  In fact it seemed almost watered-down. 

Between the three of us, we tried every margarita on the menu and never found one we liked.  Some were so weak that we couldn't even finished them.  We pointed this out to the Waiter who implied that maybe we didn't know what a quality margarita was????  He bragged about their drinks being hand-crafted, rather than made with packaged ingredients like those in chain restaurants.  Well if that was the case, the crafter had no clue what he was doing.

If only one drink had been questionable, then it would be a different story, but all of them were sub-par.  Now I am a nice guy who likes to give others the benefit of the doubt, so maybe it was just an off-night for the restaurant.  But I don't plan on going back anytime soon...

Definitely a one limer experience for my group.

The Original Margarita - Hussongs Cantina - Las Vegas

I stumbled on this place while walking from the Mandalay Bay Convention Center back to my hotel room in the Luxor.  Hussongs Cantina and Taqueria is located in the Mandalay Shops and turned out to be pretty good.  What caught my eye was the Happy Hour sign, which boasted 2 for 1 margaritas (traditional) from 4pm to 6pm.  With it being 5:55pm, I decided it was now or never, so I ducked in to check the place out.

Of course, I didn't have high expectations for a margarita that is offered at a steep discount during happy hour.  All things considered, the traditonal margarita was pretty good, close to a 3 lime award.  It was simple for sure - tequila, sweet & sour mix, and triple sec, but there was nothing disappointing about it, other than the fact that happy hour ended with my drink order.

But after dusting off my two drinks, I decided to see what a real margarita from Hussongs was all about.  Then meny boasted all kinds of interesting concoctions, so I put it to the waiter.  His choice, hands down, was the Original Margarita.  Nothing fancy, just basic ingredients, but at a higher level of sophistication thatn the Traditional Margarita, with the biggest difference being hand squuezed lime juice, rather than sweet and sour mix. 

WOW - what a difference that made!  Small details, but huge results.  Definitely a top notch margarita for those that love the basic margarita flavor and concept.

BTW - the food wasn't bad either.  I only had appetizers, but liked what I tried.

I will rank the Original Margarita from Hussongs as a 4 limer for sure.

Cabo Rita - Rockin Baja - San Diego, CA

We did the Rockin Baja Cantina in the San Diego Gas Lamp District and almost blew the place off before we found out what they were really all about in terms of margaritas.  We dropped in for happy hour and ordered margaritas at a super low price.  And guess what we got?  Cheap @#$ drinks that were icky - and thats being nice.  I was ready to hit the door, but someone else at the table made a comment to the waitress about the lame margaritas.  She wasn't fazed a bit and seemed to enjoy telling us that we "got what we paid for".  Then she asked if we were ready for the real thing.  I countered with "got any cabo?"  That really lit up her face - "now you're talking" she said.

Five minutes later we had a round of Cabo Rita's on the table and wow, what a difference from that cheap happy hour stuff. Worth every cent!  Cabo blanco tequila, fresh lime juice, sweet & sour and a bit of triple sec.  All mixed together in the right proportions to ensure a smooth flavorable concoction.  Great stuff! Good thing the waitress was on top of things or we would have been long gone. 

They have a couple of other good-looking margaritas on the menu - I will check them out on future visits to Rockin Baja Cantina.  Several locations in California.

Definitely a 4 lime margarita, very close to a 5.

Presidente Margarita - Chilis - Montgomeryville, PA

The Chili's restaurant chain offers a nice collection of margarita options, all of which (in my experience) are good choices.  However, my favorite on their menu is the Presidente Margarita, which by the way is Trademarked to Chili's.

Served on the rocks, this premium blend is smooth and balanced with excellent flavor and comes to the table in its on shaker, so you actually get a couple of glasses out of one drink.  Its available in every Chili's regardless of location and so far, I have not found any real differences between restaurants.

But its worth noting that the Montgomeryville, PA location is pretty unique in the fact that the restaurant connects with a hotel.  Thus, if one was to over-indulge, once could simply walk out the side door, down the hallway and into the lobby of the Courtyard By Marriott hotel and book a room for the night.  No need for a designated driver when you have a designated hotel room!

Checkout the recipe for the Presidente Margarita.

The Presidente Margarita is top notch and gets a 4 lime rating.

Strawberry Margarita - Los Amigos - Atlantic City, NJ

A margarita doesn't have to be sophisticated to taste great.  In fact, some of the simplest concoctions have been the best.  Los Amigos proves this with their frozen Strawberry Margarita.

Who would have thought you could find a decent Mexican Cantina in Atlantic City, NJ?  My friend Lora Carbonara turned me on to this place several years ago.  First of all, the building itself will turn your head, that is if you don't miss it altogether, tiny as it is.  Poised in the shadow of the hospital, Los Amigos is a quaint two-story Victorian affair, that looks totally out of place. And its so narrow you feel like you can touch both sidewalls if you fully stretch out your arms.  But trust me, when it comes to the food and margaritas, this is a place that you can't judge by the cover.  It's definitely worth a visit. 

It should be noted that they offer plenty of margarita options, I just never quite made it past the frozen strawberry model.  As I like to say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".  Though its not a level 5 drink, I order it on every trip to Los Amigos and never regret it.

Hubcap Margarita - Tengo Sed Cantina - Kansas City, KS

Tengo Sed Cantina is located in Kansas City's Power & Light District which is a pretty cool place to experience the night life, with plenty of restaurants and bars.  It has a back patio that features gas fire pits surrounded by couches and chairs, great for hanging out and enjoying a good margarita.

Tengo Sed Cantina features a margarita served in a real hubcap, which is a pretty cool concept, at least for the novelty side of things.  Unfortunately, the presentation is the best part, as the drink itself is not so great.  If you love a good margarita you will be disappointed in this one, but if you like taking pictures of neat things, the hubcap margarita provides plenty of photo ops.

I'm actually ranking this one as a 3 limer, simple because it is quite memorable, but don't expect to be overwhelmed with the flavor.  Looking at other online reviews of the place, I see that I'm not the only one with that opinion.  But overall, Tengo Sed Cantina is still a decent place to visit if you are in downtown Kansas City and I'm sure I will be there again. 

Prickly Pear Margarita - Cinco Mexican Cantina - Atlanta, GA

Their slogan is "Mexican Food With An Attitude".  True the food is great, but I sure got turned on to a new margarita concoction when I was there.

I went in with a group to the location on Akers Mill Road and started out with a basic margarita, which was pretty good.  Then someone ordered a Prickly Pear Margarita, which sounded pretty awful to me.  I just couldn't fathom how that was going to work out taste-wise.  To begin with, I don't have much fondness for pears in general, then the prickly aspect just seemed to reinforce my initial reaction that this was one to avoid.  Oh yeah, and the color was somewhere between pink, burgundy and purple, which gave it a decidely girly look.

At some point during the meal someone challenged me to taste it. And believe it or not, I actually did, though I'm not sure how that was accomplished... in fact I am still shaking my head on that one. 

Shocker!!!! - The prickly pear margarita at Cinco, was not just good, it was awesome and I mean really awesome as in 5 lime rating!  I could not believe it and in retrospect I need to thank the person that shamed me into trying the darn thing, cause I surely would have missed out on a special margarita moment otherwise.

Let me tell you, the impact of that creation has stayed with me.  Everywhere I go now, I ask for one, but sadly I haven't found many (if any) restaurants that offer the Prickly Pear Margarita and for the handful that did, they were no where close to the one I had at Cinco.  If you are in the Atlanta area you have to visit a Cinco and order that drink.  The website says they have 4 locations.