taquitos.net > travel guide > Las Vegas > Restaurants > Border Grill at Mandalay Bay

Border Grill at Mandalay Bay (Las Vegas)

More Las Vegas Restaurants

Location: Mandalay Bay, between convention center and hotel

Our thoughts: The Border Grill aims to "present the bold, authentic foods of Mexico" to patrons at the Mandalay Bay. Situated between the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and the main hotel, it appears to want to cater to the conventioneers who are looking for something to eat besides the quick-hit places closer to the convention center.

Diners can chose to eat inside or outside on the patio, although the patio isn't truly outside as there's an overhang and some palm trees to protect you from the desert heat. We chose to dine on the patio and found it nice on a warm, yet not overbearing, spring day.

The tortilla chips they bring out for you to nosh on while you're either waiting for appetizers or drinks are outstanding -- yellow corn chips with a lot of salt on them to keep you eating or grab for your drink. The chips come with three "sauces," mainly two salsa-related dips and a green one that we didn't try. We asked the waiter for some queso cheese sauce to dip the chips into and were given a blank look. When we prodded, he said they didn't have any.

The menu also doesn't have any fajitas, which is what we usually order when we do Mexican. The menu choices are what you'd expect at a higher-end Mexican restaurant, which means things like tacos, enchiladas and other dishes are dressed up with fancier toppings and names. In the end we decided to get the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad.

The salad was basically two halves of a giant romaine lettuce plant, with Caesar dressing, parmesan cheese bits and croutons sprinkled on top. Basically in order to represent a Caesar salad you had to cut up the lettuce yourself with a knife and fork. The grilled chicken was spicy but not too hot. Overall it was a good lunch meal, not too filling but not so small that you'd want to order something else.

The atmosphere was your typical lunchtime business crowd, lots of conversation and business going on, and we felt comfortable with our business casual attire. The service was generally good, I was halfway finished with my Diet Pepsi (the Mandalay Bay resorts do not serve Diet Coke) when another one showed up.

I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there on future trips, but if I was stuck at another convention and someone was paying for lunch, it's worth a second stop.

Tip: Ask whether the brownie on the brownie sundae has nuts before you order it.