3 Margaritas Mexican Restaurants, Longmont, Colorado

Note: This is a review that was typed and prepped for posting in June, 2015, but never got published. 

The first thing you notice walking into 3 Margaritas Family Mexican restaurant  is the vibrant and colorful decor. The chairs are bright orange, yellow, blue, or green, and each has its own colorful carving -- toucans, the sun, a fruit basket. It's a festive setting that right away makes me think I've made the right choice in coming here, and it sets my expectations a little higher for what's to come. 

The menu is extensive and eye-opening; to get a real sample of 3 Margaritas' range would require four or five visits. I'm only passing through, so I would need to choose carefully my one dish on which to write a review for lunch, and another for dinner. This menu is well beyond the numbered entree combinations of many Mexican restaurants. There is even an entire cooked fish on the menu. Depending on how this goes, I might be willing to re-route back for another meal here on my trip through the mountain west. 

Almost as soon as I sat down, I had the requisite Chips and salsa in front of me. The salsa is thinner thank the chunkier variety I'm used to, but it's flavorful and also spicier than I'm used to-- which is a pleasant surprise. The chips are warm and undersalted, but that's OK. Less salt on the chips serves to focus the flavor of the salsa. 

For the entree, I settled on an old favorite: the chicken chimichanga. The first thing I always try on a plate of Mexican food are the sides. The Spanish rice has a light and fluffy texture but it's a little dry; the refried beans are a bit runny. Together, though, the rice and beans make for a nicely balanced bite.  

There is also a small scoop of cole slaw, which was likely cold at one point but by the time I had my first bite the hot plate had turned it warm. It's flavorful and a touch acidic, and in my memory, it's the first time I've ever had slaw with Mexican. It feels a bit out of place, like someone in the kitchen was prepping for a 4th of July cookout and mixed the plate of BBQ short ribs with the Chimi lunch special. But like that old Reese's TV commercial (you got peanut butter on my chocolate!) this flavor works with the rest of the dish. 

There was a splash of  fresh guacamole and a thick slice of perfect tomato-- the home-grown perfect variety that tastes like a tomato, not the supermarket variety grown in a greenhouse and tasting of a blend of styrofoam and tomato-scented Febreeze. Not that I'm a connoisseur of either. But I can most certainly come back for more of this fantastic Mexican when I'm traveling through Colorado many times in the future.

I stopped at a second restaurant and tried a sample platter; steak, chicken, shrimp, plus beans and rice, plus flautas for dessert. It doesn't photograph well, but the taste was fantastic. This is definitely a local restaurant chain I will plan to eat at anytime I'm in the area. 

www.The3margaritas.com