Restaurant Review: Tijuana Flats

Recently my husband and I decided to throw a little competition amongst friends to see who could go the longest without drinking anything after eating a super-spicy hot sauce. We thought it would be easy to find a restaurant with taste-bud-burning dishes (since we DO live in South Florida), but it was a lot harder than you would think. Apparently restaurants aren't exactly too excited to have their patrons screaming and hopping about as they desperately beg for milk. Because of this, we had to opt for buying a hot sauce of our own, which we hope to try on some tacos at The Treasure Trove in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow night.

Short on time, we started to browse the internet to see where we could have a super-hot sauce overnighted from, when we realized that there was a restaurant selling some dangerously heated sauces just a few miles from us.

The restaurant, called Tijuana Flats, turned out to be a strange cross between a Panera Bread and a Chipotle. And when I say strange, I mean that it reminds me of being in a high-schooler's bedroom - if that highschooler is into demons and black-light paint that is. The decor was more than a little off-putting when I first came into the restaurant, but I was quickly greeted by a nice hostess who showed me how their ordering process worked and gave me the details on their "hot bar" where several sauces were available for patrons to put on their food.

I decided to place an order after all, especially given the fact that I had my son with me, and he was convinced that being at a restaurant meant we were going to eat. Plus it was Wednesday, which is apparently their "Kids Eat Free" night, although I found myself wondering if this was the type of place I would ever usually take my kids. Be warned if you do decide to go with your children, there are some pretty vividly drawn demonic figures throughout the restaurant, and the names of the hot sauces on the hot bar (which could easily be read by anyone sitting nearby) have phrases like "Chicken Sh*t" and "Slap My *ss" on them - not something I'd care for my kids to see. Luckily, my son can't read most words yet, so I didn't have to worry about any surprise repeats or questions later.

I got something called a Bangin' Chicken burrito, which was amazingly good despite the quickie-food appearance at the restaurant. I was expecting something slightly better than Taco Bell, but this turned out to be one of the best burritos I'd ever had! I was disappointed in my son's meal, which was chicken tenders. The nuggets were sad-looking, not very juicy, and came with ketchup packets for dipping sauce. Both meals came with chips on the side, which were the average restaurant chips, but there was nothing to dip them in. They were a bit too bland and dry to eat on their own, so we passed on them. If you're going to eat here and plan on having chips & dip, you'll have to buy the dip off the menu.

In the end, this is a place I wouldn't mind eating at again, but I would certainly make sure that I didn't have my kids with me. Although I saw kids in the restaurant, it didn't seem too kid-friendly. The Hot Bar even has warnings posted that children are not allowed up at the bar, most likely because some of the sauces there are hot enough that they could do damage to a child's fragile stomach. This does seem like an awesome place to go with friends though, and my meal was delicious. So if I return it will be for the wonderfully tasty burrito, and to impress my friends with my find. Who ever said that you stopped being cool after you had kids?

For locations, please visit Tijuana Flats' website at www.tijuanaflats.com.