By: Dan I. Cook
That line from The Who song “Don’t Get Fooled Again” ran through my mind when I walked in to Salsa Fiesta’s newest location in Coral Springs.
If you remember, before Elevation Burger, Baja Fresh was in this same space. This joint reminds me of Baja Fresh, which I liked, but Salsa Fiesta has a much cooler paint scheme. The salsa bar is also in the same place and the seating is similar. So it looks like pretty much the same concept using fresh ingredients.
Cool artwork in Salsa Fiesta
Compared to Chipotle, Salsa Fiesta has a pretty extensive menu By the way, Chipotle is my measuring stick for a concept like this. I’m a big fan of Chipotle so they rank high for me, but that’s another review.
I ordered the Spicy Hot Tamale Chicken Burrito with chips and guacamole. This burrito is described as: chipotle beans, jalapeños, poblano rajas (no clue what that is), rice, lettuce with their famous Hot Tamale Sauce. Not sure why it’s famous because I’ve never heard of it.
So after I finished ordering, I gave the cashier my American Express, because I don’t leave home without it. She pointed to the little iPad screen and said, “It will ask you if you want to leave a tip.”
My response was, “Tip for what?”
“We bring out your food and take your plates away,” she said.
I didn’t like that. For heaven’s sake, just call my name and I’ll pick up my own food. I’ll even clean my own mess. But I didn’t want to look cheap, so I reluctantly placed a dollar in the tip cup. I will go on the record and say they need to change that procedure. She then gave me a square pager that lets the server locate you in this small restaurant.
Spicy Hot Tamale Chicken Burrito with chips and guacamole.
My food came out quickly and it looked pretty good. I went to the salsa bar and loaded up on some hot stuff. Everything on the salsa bar looked fresh and clean. I cut the burrito in half and it looked great. It’s not as big as Chipotle, but I’m cool with that.
Since I wasn’t sure how spicy this thing was, I waited to to add extra hot salsa. I took a bite and to me, it wasn’t spicy at all. So I added my hot salsa mix right down the middle of this puppy. I’ll admit, this burrito had a good smoky flavor and I really enjoyed it. The guacamole was nice and creamy with nice chunks of avocado. The way it should be. The chips were not hot or even warm. Not sure if they are supposed to be hot, but they should be.
Overall not bad.
Robert, a Coral Springs Charter School graduate who now a attends FAU works at Salsa Fiesta
Now for the idiot readers out there that think I may be too gracious with my ratings, here is why I don’t beat up places: when I walked in, one of my son’s former teammates from Coral Springs Charter Football approached me and said hello. His name is Robert and he works at Salsa Fiesta. This young man is a solid kid and his family is super nice. I commend him for having a job, while my son Hunter was sitting at home playing his PS4. I took a picture of Robert working, and sent it to my son with the text, “At least someone has a job.” Hunter wasn’t thrilled, but me and Robert had a good chuckle out of it.
Reason for the story: places like this employ our kids, the friends of our kids, and other residents here. We need places like this to stay open because it’s good for the community. Now if the service and food suck and the place is filthy, then all bets are off. I have no sympathy for you.
As for the tip situation here, I found out that the servers bringing the food out and cleaning up basically work for tips. If I knew that beforehand I wouldn’t have been so standoffish when asked if I wanted to leave a tip. So, when I got up to leave, I threw more tip money on the table.
Oh yeah, they have beer in the bottle here too. I love that!
This place gets 3 beers. Remember to tell them Dan and Coral Springs Talk sent you and Stay Hungry!
Salsa Fiesta Coral Springs
2908 N University Dr at The Walk
Coral Springs FL 33065
(954) 227-3033
Open 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday; 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Friday through Saturday.
Author Profile
- A native of Broward, Half-Samoan Half-Irish or Afa Tasi, Food Warrior, Beer Ninja, United States Marine, owner/talent of danicookeatdrink.com. Retired Oakland Park Police Department/BSO Sergeant, DLE.
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6 comments
I have a problem understanding Mexican places. I either sit down at La Bamba, or take out. And I’ve never even tried Chipotle, but I guess I will–as well as this place.
But have you ever taken out from Chini’s Burrito, near the new Nick’s pizza that I think you’ve reviewed?
A real family business (3 people working tops?), and although the portions used to be huge back when, it’s still okay.
Maybe I’m wrong, haven’t been there in awhile, but thought I would ask.
Here is my review on Yelp. I wrote it in 2009 so I need to update it. I’m a fan of this place because of the reasons you stated, 3 people working it etc. http://m.yelp.com/biz/chinis-burritos-coral-springs
Since the workers apparently ‘ work for tips ‘ then the price of your food should have been much cheaper since they are paying below minimum wage (hence the working for tips) But if they make minimum or above then you should NOT have to tip , do you tip at Burger King or McDonald’s ? Now these maybe low paying starter jobs and if you want to fling them an extra buck thats fine but I seriously doubt this is a tip based restaurant like Big Bear or BJ’s or AleHouse….. this is just a starbucks style tip you know the ‘ guilt tip ‘ . Glad to see the owner employing teens but the day will come when some parent calls the EOC or Dept of labor because of some under 18 violation that will end fast…. teens require a documented break every 4 hours and its a royal pain to comply and there always is a fired employee waiting to nail the owner on it….
Yeah I get everything you said, Robert is not a kid he is an adult. He graduated from Coral Springs Charter with my son.
@Ira you are correct Chinis is still very good, they have not gone down on any level with me.
Thanks for the praise brother. As for the Nicks I really like that place. But a business should give you the correct change back and not make you feel guilty in the process. I bet the managers don’t know that is happening. If they do it again I would complain to the manager or post something on their Facebook page. Don’t even feel bad doing it either because like you so said, somebody is making a extra chunk of $$. Stay Hungry my friend!
This place is awesome, best quality texmex in town. Chipotle was already on the way out for me after the quality of there chicken started to plummet. After finding Salsa Fiesta, Chipotle is dead to me.