Classic Margarita - PBR Rock Bar - Las Vegas

Journeying down the strip looking for dinner we came across the PBR Rock Bar.  It sounded interesting and didn't have a wait, so we decided to check it out.  Of course the first order of business was to order a margarita... imagine that! 

The menu described the classic margarita this way: Sauza 3 Generation Plata Tequila, Triple Sec and fresh pressed lime with a salted rim.  It sounded interesting so we hoped for the best.  The power of hope - one minute you are up, the next you are not.  And so it was with this particular margarita. 

On a positive note, I will say that it was pretty neat getting the drink served in a mason jar, but beyond that the experience was kind of lackluster.

The taste of the margarita just wasn't there.  Not acrid, not weak, not too sweet, but just kind of blah.  Such is life.  Chalk it up to another lesson learned.  And who knows, maybe it was just an off-night for the bartender.

We give the margarita at the PBR Rock bar a 2 limer rating.

Uno Waborita - Cabo Wabo Cantina - Las Vegas

How much would you pay for a great margarita?  $67.00??  I did.  Ok, I ordered it and someone else actually paid for it, but why sweat the details.  We were back on the strip in Las Vegas and made another stop at Cabo Wabo Cantina where we met a fantastic waitress named Emily.  We got a round of Waboritas and then I popped the question... do you have Cabo Wabo Uno?  Actually it was kind of a stupid question, because this was the home of Cabo Wabo Tequila, but since so few bars carry that particular version I figured it was prudent to ask.  (You know what they say about ASSUME.)

So long story short, Emily delivered me one of the best Margaritas of my entire life - a waborita made with uno.  I know you think I'm crazy, and believe me I don't normally spend that kind of money on a drink, but Uno is in such a  world of its own, that it really made a difference to the drink. 

On the outside it looked like any other margarita, but on the inside it was a totally different experience.  From the first sip, there was a noticeable difference in how smooth the tequila was as it trickled down my throat and literally washed waves of warmth over my body.  Wow!

For sure this was a drink made for sipping, and with that price tag it needed to last a couple of days!  In my case I probably stretched it for 30 minutes and then sadly it was gone.  And then it was time for another one... one of those 99 cent ones back on Fremont Street.  After all, nothing else was going to come close for the rest of the night, so it made sense to just focus on price in order to let the wallet settle out a bit.

The Uno Waborita at Cabo Wabo Cantina was a 10 on the limer scale, but since we only go up to five that's what the official rating will, though a five doesn't really convey just how good it was!

99 Cent Margarita - Fremont Street Casino - Las Vegas

Ok, for just $0.99 you gotta try it!  Fremont Street Casino in Old Las Vegas is home of a an el-cheapo frozen margarita that totally got my attention simply for the price.  When you consider that I paid $12.95 for a typical drink back on the strip - and was sorely disappointed in sooo many cases, what could possibly go wrong with this drink???  What the heck, even if it was bad, there was nothing to lose with such an incredible price tag.  And if it turned out to be decent, I could get 13 of them for the same price as one so-so one back in the uptown region.

Now keep in mind, that it's a stripped down frozen concoction that comes straight out of the slushy machine, but as I'm starting to learn, in Vegas this ranks pretty highly in terms of quality as there are no screw ups in the mix department.  And as luck would have it, it turned out to be a really good margarita. 

The really cool thing with this particular location, is that no one else in my group had found the bar yet, as they were busy discussing gaming options.  Thus, they had no clue as to the super discounted price.  Using this to my advantage, I quickly volunteered to buy a round of margaritas for everyone else, which means I got stuck with the $4.00 bill...

It was a great scam!  I kept buying drinks and everyone else was impressed by my generosity, which I think totaled something like $20.00 for the night.

All pricing aside, the frozen margarita at Fremont Street Casino actually ranked a 3!

Margarita On The Rocks - Golden Gate Casino - Las Vegas

Two of the rally cool thing about Las Vegas are the bars on the street and the fact that you can drink on the street - or at least the sidewalks.  We had moved down to Fremont Street to take a break from the strip and took full advantage of both of these opportunities.  The first street bar we targeted was right in front of the Golden Gate Casino.  The bartender was busy putting on a show by tossing a couple of shakers in the air from behind his back, and then juggling them around a bit.  He was pretty good and we hoped his skill translated to what he was going to put in those shakers.

We ordered a couple of margaritas on the rocks and were pleasantly surprised when he asked what kind of tequila we wanted.  After having spend several days in bars who slapped together a mediocre drink without any consultation with the client,and then charged a hefty price tag, it was nice to have some interface and options.  We told him to choose whatever he thought was best and go from there, just to see how that worked out, as we were beginning to think we had stumbled on a real bartender who took pride in mixing up a decent drink even in a budget atmosphere.

As it turns out he did a great job, delivering an impressive margarita that ranked a solid 3, potentially a 3.5+.  And the price was just as impressive - $6.50 - for a decent sized cup (no glass on the street).

So, off we went, down Fremont Street sipping on some decent drinks and checking out the sites including a great live band, on stage just a block from the Golden Gate Casino street bar.  Fremont Street is worth the visit!

The margarita from the Golden Gate Casino ranked an impressive 3 on the Limer Scale.

House Margarita - Tony Roma's - Las Vegas

The Fremont Street area of Las Vegas has some of the best deals in town, so we ventured away from the strip to take advantage of plenty of budget-friendly opportunities.  One of them was Tony Roma's, where we lured in by the $8.95 prime rib special.  Naturally, we weren't the only ones, so there was a bit of a wait, which meant one thing - margaritas at the bar!

The House Margarita (on the rocks) was pretty decent in taste and price.  Smooth and balanced in taste with just the proper hint of tequila.  So we had several of them... why not.  Once we finally got seated we continued with the margaritas and enjoyed a pretty decent meal as well.  It sure beat a lot of places we visited back on the main strip.

By the way, Tony Roma's is located in the Fremont Street Casino, so its right in the middle of the action of "old" Las Vegas.

As an added note, we finished the food and drink, then headed to the ZIP LINE that goes shoots down (and over) part of Fremont Street.  It's just a block away and a really cool ride, though they wouldn't let us take our margaritas with us...

We give the house margarita at Tony Roma's on Fremont Street in Las Vegas a solid 3.

Frozen Margarita - Bills Gambling Hall - Las Vegas

Sometimes you just want a basic margarita super cheap.  Nothing special, but by the same token, nothing nasty either.  Especially in a City like Las Vegas, where the average margarita (in more ways than one) starts at $12.95 and goes upward from there , it's nice to be able to find some budget drinks.  In fact, I quickly found that you rarely get what you paid for in terms of a quality margarita in Las Vegas.  There is definitely not a direct correllation between cost and taste in most of the bars and restuaurants.

Welcome to Bill's Gamblin Hall which is right on the strip, in front of the Flamingo.  It was here that we found $2.00 frozen margaritas, any time of the day.  And you even have some options - red or green, or should I say strawberry or lime.   Though made in one of those "slushie" type machines, but amazingly they are pretty decent in taste and we actually detected tequila in the concoction. 

It should be noted, that the cups are pretty small, but for the price, you just can't go wrong.  I was tempted to buy a super-size drink at a Fast Food Restaurant (just down the street), pour out the soda and refill it with multiple frozen margaritas to keep me supplied for the rest of the evening.

By the way, not everything at the bar is so cheap, so you might want to ask how much before you order.  On one particular night, bottled beer was running $7.50 each, though the frozen margaritas were still $2.00.

The bar is located next to a stage that features Karaoke Sunday - Thursday, that was pretty decent on most of the nights we dropped in on Bill's - which I think was EVERY night.

Surprisingly, the taste of the frozen margarita at Bill's Gamblin Hall in Las Vegas ranks at a 3 and based on the price, it could potentially qualify for a 4.

House Margarita - Gonzalez - NY NY Casino - Las Vegas

So I have this theory.  If a bar/restaurant offers a decent margarita at a reasonable rate at Happy Hour, then a customer would feel compelled to try some of the better drinks afterwards and maybe even stay for dinner.  On the other hand, if the Happy Hour beverage really stinks, then in all likelihood the customer would move on in search of better things.  Okay, so this is my thought process, though sadly many establishments make no effort to impress me (or anyone else) with their Happy Hour drinks, instead choosing to push out really watered down stuff to keep the costs down.  I can appreciate the cost factor and don't expect 5 Lime drinks at Happy Hour, but I do look for something that entices me to sample the good stuff.

Gonzalez Y Gonzalez is located in the NY NY Casino and boasts an authentic tequila bar.  We visited the place during Happy Hour, hoping to get an introduction to what they had to offer.  For sure, we were dealing with discounted drinks and not expecting the best of the best, and that is exactly what we got - NOT the best of the best.  The mix was weird, having a strong citrus taste and a slight amount of fizz.  It just didn't work out for us.  Though the menu looked interesting, and we saw large crowds there in the evenings, we decided to move on in search of something else...

We give their House Margarita (at Happy Hour) a 2.

Margarita - Tacos & Tequila - Luxor - Las Vegas

I was really geared up for a visit to Tacos & Tequila, located inside the Luxor Casino.  With a name like that, I figured the place would have nothing but the best in terms of margaritas... 

As a child growing up, did you ever have one of those Christmas experiences where you were really pumped up about a certain toy, so keyed up that you could barely contain yourself when that morning finally arrived, only to discover that Santa had come up a bit short in the gifts department??  Well thats what I felt like at Tacos & Tequila.  I had rounded up a group of people and headed there pronto as soon as the day's business dealings were done.  We hustled over from Mandalay Bay, just barely sliding into the bar before Happy Hour ended, with me leading the pack in anticipation of a great margarita experience.

The first disappointment was finding out that they didn't even have a margarita special at Happy Hour.  How on earth could a bar with the name of Tacos & Tequila NOT have a Happy Hour margarita?  This didn't bode well and was the first hint at what was to come.  Certainly I didn't expect to find a 5 Lime drink at Happy Hour, but to find nothing at all was quite disturbing.

So we decided on their basic margarita, which at a price of $12.95 should deliver some kind of decent results.  After all, how could we go wrong based on a drink description that said: All of our margaritas are poured with 100% de Agave Tequilas and our fresh homemade margarita mix that contains nothing but hand-squeezed limes and organic agave nectar. Salud! 

Have you ever heard the phrase "don't believe everything you read?"  Enough said.

This margarita was lucky to score a 2!  It was quite bland and I was beside myself with disappointment, having set my expectations way too high.  Listen, I make my own margarita mix and even during the initial experimentation phase where I struggled to get the right balance of ingrdients, I still did better than these guys.   There is only one thing worse than a bad margarita and that is an expensive bad margarita!  If this was a $3 drink, I wouldn't be so critical, but it was $12.95!

So maybe the bartender was having a bad day... I do like to give others the benefit of the doubt, but there is no doubt on my part that I won't be going back to Tacos and Tequila in the Luxor until someone can prove to me that they really can make a decent margarita.

This one ranks a 2 and is lucky to get that.

Cadillac Waborita - Cabo Wabo Cantina - Las Vegas

Our first stop in Vegas was Cabo Wabo Cantina so we could sample one of our consistent favorites - the Waborita.  Though still a solid 5 on our Limer Scale, we added an extra twist - Grand Marnier.  This of course yields a Cadillac version, which is just simply awesome. 

Speaking of twists, the Waborita is now BLUE again in Las Vegas.  On our last couple of visits, the signature blue color had disappeared for whatever reason.  But starting on Monday, January 9th (according to the staff) they went back to BLUE, meaning blue curacao is now an active ingredient again.

During this week long trip to Vegas, we hit Cabo Wabo Cantina several times - its located almost below the big balloon at Paris - and parked ourselves on the patio where we had a great view of the crowd scene as well as the water fountains at Bellagio.  The outside bar is a decent spot to hang out as well, as we got a chance to meet Brit, one of the fabulous staff members at Cabo.  She kept the waboritas flowing and conversation fun.

So if you don't do anything else in Vegas, that's fine, just be sure to drop in on Cabo Wabo Cantina and tell them you read about it at TheUltimateMargarita.com.

Vegas not on your travel schedule?  Try your hand at making a Waborita at home:

1 Oz. of Cabo Wabo Tequila Blanco
1/2 Oz. of Damiana Liquor
1/2 Oz. Orange Liquor
1/2 Oz of fresh squeezed Lime Juice
Splash of blue Curacao
Plenty of Ice!
Pour tequila, Damiana Liquor, Orange Liquor and Lime Juice in shaker with lots of ice, shake it up till ice cold, and serve straight into a salt rimmed glass, and finish it with a
splash of blue Curacao.

The waborita, cadillac version is of course a solid 5!