Margaritas Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Dover

(Note: I write these reviews in part for my own nationwide business clients, for travel inspiration! I’m a financial planner - CFP®️practitioner - with a focus on retirement wealth strategies, primarily serving business women and LGBTQ individuals. #VirtualPlanningCraftedWithCare)

I had high hopes for this place because of great reviews, but for me it was only OK.

I’ll start by saying the the staff was great. We got seated promptly and our server was attentive and friendly. (Robin). There was also plenty of parking and the whole place is pretty accessible for anyone with extra mobility needs.

The ambiance was why I give this place a 4 vs a 3. The decor and artwork is interesting and lots of it looks authentic in the sense that it’s handmade. The place is colorful and enjoyable. (And clean! Which is big for me.)

The food is what I found disappointing and makes this not a choice for me in the future. I’ll admit it could be because my family has specific dietary needs. One of us has a gluten allergy and the menu isn’t marked. This is hard with Mexican because lots of things are tossed in flour or have contaminated spices. But I’m grateful that our server marked the meal with an allergy and I saw it on my recipe, so that’s a plus! Still doesn’t help with the ordering. If you are GF, do your homework in advance.

Next, we ordered fajitas and it was not as expected. First, they were severed sizzling to the point of inedible for over 10 mins. I’ve ordered fajitas dozens of times and I expect them to be hot and served on a skillet, but this was too much. I would also normally expect a medley of peppers but this was all green peppers and onion. Just not my thing.

Lastly, every single meal that came to the table was overpowered with SALT. I could barely taste the protein. None of us have a salt restriction so we didn’t think to request low salt, but I’ve never had food this overwhelming salty. If you have this dietary restriction, eat a salad.

For my clients, I believe this establishment to be family and LGBTQ-friendly. I noticed tables of all sizes to accommodate different groups. And lastly, the prices were pretty good for a family night out....

If I could give zero stars I would. As a former bartender I was shocked at the treatment my group received from the staff here. We were staying nearby for work (and by nearby I mean adjacent) and of the entire table all but myself was at 2 drinks spread across more than 3 hours. The waitress had been dismissive and unavailable and even went as far as printing our receipts and giving them to each of us as we attempted to acquire further service. When she (slowly and inaccurately) continued to serve us she'd immediately reprint a new receipt and place it in front of us. Finally she told us we couldn't have anything else. When we asked her for what reason we could possibly be getting cut off under our circumstances, another server got in front of her as though we were combative (we most certainly were not) and told us we could get out. Both of these girls appeared to be fresh from high-school and seemed too immature to handle the situation properly. The manager came by and claimed to be the one who cut us off based on "the amount of alcohol that went around the table". He claimed 3oz was the alcohol content of each margarita and that "one would put you over the limit". Again, as a prior bartender and, as such, one who has gone to alcohol server's class, an actual shot is 1.5 oz of alcohol and 2 would be the customary limit. Your average body can process 1.5 oz per hour beyond that. 1 oz is called a pony and establishments that serve that as a "shot" are generally miserly. To put the icing on the cake, yet another server told us "don't come back" as we walked out. You'd think this would be the treatment of a group of people who were falling from their seats and getting into fist fights or something. Overall it was a pompous, unprofessional and unpleasant environment. Needless to say, I'm thoroughly disgusted. I don't know how a bar like this manages...

The WORST possible place to go for a meal!! The girl who sat us last night (2/16/24 around 9 pm) was the only one who was personable, the waitress we had was AWFUL to the point we left after ordering our sodas. She was RUDE and shouldn't be in that line of work period. I'm pretty sure she had no name tag on but the pissed off look on her face and her inability to finish listening to what we wanted to drink before walking off was enough for us to leave and go to Applebee's instead where our waiter there got her $21 tip instead. She was an older woman with blonde hair shoulder length. There was a large drunk group who were just obnoxiously waisted they sat us next to (not even on the bar side) and so loud we couldn't even hear one another at my table talking. Mind u at Applebee's we sat right next to the bar and it wasn't even half as loud as that one table was making and Applebee's was pretty full too... They were waiting to pay their bill the hole time we were there. it wasn't busy and having waited a good almost 10 mins before the waitress came to take our drink order she immediately took another tables order and they had literally just sat down so after that I just asked for the check because it was obvious she didn't want to wait on our table and she absolutely wasn't in any way personable. Waitresses like her will make other ppl not want to come back either. So much for a nice birthday dinner for my daughter thanks to that horrible waitress here at margaritas and a HUGE shout out to our very personable and awesome waiter just down the street at Applebee's.. And he didn't even do anything special and still got a $21 tip on a $55 slip. This is the 2nd bad experience at this place and I'm all set with a 3rd. If I could of just left a review without a star I would of because last night's experience doesn't deserve even...