Casa Margarita — Restaurant in Chicago

After picking out coupons for restaurants we have not been to yet, we landed on casa margarita. It was a short walk considering where we were walking from but there is plenty of parking all around this location. We were taken to a seat quickly but they were not busy. The restaurant is small and kind of dark and has no windows but plenty of tv's on the wall. The menu is a little pricey compared to others locally but could be because of its location close to navy pier. We were brought hot tortilla chips and a warm salsa that was quite tasty. We decided on the margarita flight which gives you 5 8oz margaritas. They were brought out in a nice carrier/holder. The margaritas were very well made and I could see myself enjoying these more frequently. We ordered the ceviche which was dryer than what I am used to and did lack some heat and saltiness. It was still ok but I will probably not order it again. We decided to order the combo fajitas which gives you shrimp, steak and chicken. The fajitas were not bad but the steak appeared a bit tough to chew. The shrimp still had the tail on so make sure you pull tails off first. I am more accustomed to seeing the tails removed for fajitas but it's their choice. Warm tortillas and fajitas were definitely filling. We decided to order the fried ice cream as well. This took quite some time to get but was worth the wait. I suggest you order dessert before you are done to give them adequate time. All in all the meal was worth going and we will be back. Total time at restaurant was 2 hours so make sure you have time. Some times good food can't be rushed. I recommend this restaurant to all locals and those visiting who wish so good...

We stopped here for a quick bite to eat on the way to Navy Pier. First of all the salsa was hot. And if you read the other reviews and assumed like I did that it’s just a bit spicy, you would be wrong. It is physically hot. Warm salsa. Probably one of the most vile things I’ve ever eaten. It tasted like I was dipping stale (yes, STALE) chips in fricken pizza sauce or something. Then we got queso as our snack, which was actually pretty decent and a good size, but we ran out of chips and were looking around for a HALF HOUR for our waiter. It got to the point where we were trying to ask the other waiters for some help, but it felt like they were all making a point not to look at us. Honestly, my boyfriend and I were just laughing at how bad the service was. It felt like you had to consciously TRY to be that bad. Also worth mentioning, we went at 3 so there were only about 3 other tables in the restaurant. Finally, we managed to flag down our waiter and get our check. And sure enough, there is the NON-NEGOTIABLE 18% surcharge that they put in big bold letters on their menu. So luckily we weren’t surprised by this, but we are convinced the only reason that surcharge is there is because no one tips here. We certainly didn’t. Needless to say, you would be far better off just grabbing something at navy pier to avoid spending an hour of your day just to get some stale chips and queso. TRUST...

I would recommend this place, just not now. The day I went, you could clearly tell that the restaurant was understaffed which made the experience an unpleasant one for the most part. Upon arrival I was told to wait 15 minutes, because they had to clean the tables. Those 15 minutes later became 40 minutes and then we were finally given a table. The only two waiters available were jumping around between serving, the register, and cleaning other tables. Therefore our waitress did not really provide great service to us, because she was so overwhelmed. We waited 15-20 minutes to finally get a glass of water, were never given updates on our orders, and were never checked up on to make sure everything was ok. After ordering, it took another 35 minutes to finally get our food, which at that point we were ready to just leave. We received our drinks (the frozen margaritas special), but it wasn't frozen anymore. It was quite liquidy, as if it had been left sitting at the bar for some time. One good thing about the place is the food and portion sizes. The food was tasty and big and that helped me see that Casa margarita wasn't so bad. The place was recommended to my and I believe it was for a good reason, however I don't think that the restaurant is operating at it's best right now. I hope that they can manage to have enough staff members so everyone's experience can be a more...