Zona Fresca — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

I don't end up at Zona Fresca very often, there aren't too many around. There is this location on Federal Hwy and another one in Coral Springs on University. I was in the area at lunch time and decided to pay a visit today. My favorite menu item is the Cali-Wrap: chicken, melted jack and cheddar cheese, avocado, tomato, onion cilantro and lettuce in their lemony dressing all stuffed into a burrito for $7.95. You can get steak for a buck more.

In addition to burritos they have street tacos, regular tacos, quesadillas, nachos, and salads. You can pick vegetarian bean, shrimp, pork, steak, and chicken for your protein. For a fast food place they have a have decent sized menu.

After you order your food you can slide on up to the salsa bar and pick from pico de gallo, pickled vegetables, salsa, lime wedges, and my favorite tomatillo. You get a little bag of chips with the burrito so I like to pack up the salsa to go while waiting for my food.

The restaurant is decorated very nicely for this price point of food. There are colorful posters on the wall in the dining room and pretty glass pendant lamps over the tables. This seemed like a popular location for this chain with many people coming and going during my visit. Even so my food was delivered quickly. It was a nice change up from my usual lunch of a sandwich...

Ok let me start by saying that I'm a 12 year experienced line cook. I've worked for Chilis, Flanigans, Bennigan's, Outback, Twin Peaks, Dennys and the list goes on. As I would hope anyone would assume I know what good food tastes like. My girl ordered me lunch today from Zona and honestly I was excited since I have never had it before and heard good things. To say the least I was sorely dissatisfied. She ordered me a salad that came in a almost chalupa style bowl. Although the salad inside was decent excluding the overly ripened tomatoes that were soft and mushy, the bowl its self was truly terrible. It was over fried and even worse was fried in old oil, which left a smoky/burned flavor which was worsened by it being overcooked. It was greasy, and overly crunchy. The chips and salsa that she ordered me as well were not any better. The chips had the same experience with added dash of too much salt, and sadly the "salsa" was bland and flavorless. It was absent of any cilantro,onion, salt, and pepper flavor. Just tasted of again overly ripe crushed tomato. This place really needs to step up the frequency of their quality checks. Doubt that I'll order...

If you're looking for traditional Mexican food this is not the place it's definitely 100% American version of Mexican food. However, it's still one of my go to spots for a delicious, quick meal. It's located right across from Jared's off Federal. There's covered outside seating, in door dining, bathrooms.are always clean and parking is ok at it can get super busy. The service is good and food is consistent which is what.i like so you get the quality for your money. Now let's talk portion size. Had the Cali wrap wt steak (an extra.$1) had ample.steak in my wrap and other fillings of avacado, tomatoes etc. The shocker was my all time favorite the Baja fish taco like all restaurants the cut backs are obvious. The fish was bite size not the nice big piece of beer battered, crunchy piece I'm used to. However, it did taste.good. The street corn was delicious it'sa new addition..Had the Mexican wedding cookies and it was good. I do recommend this location but I'll stay away from.the Baja...