Tequila Joe’s Beach Place

Tequila Joke is more like it. Went during lunch on a Saturday and there is a HUGE sign of lunch specials. The waiter said those are only Mon — Fri but they leave the sign out so people know about it. $ 6 special for rum punch that tasted rumless. Cancelled our order and left.

Quite possibly one of the blandest meals we’ve ever eaten. The chicken tenders we got for our son had zero taste. I’m not exaggerating the lack of taste. I wish I would’ve noticed the automatic 18% gratuity everyone keeps talking about.

We had a girls’ night out, celebrating a bday of a friend. We’d had dinner on Las Olas, but wanted somewhere to dance afterwards. We r Caribbean ladies, so we wanted a mixture of reggae & soca. We were headed towards Fat Tuesdays, since we heard some activity upstairs, but we passed by Teaquila Joe’s & were enticed by the guys outside inviting us in. We were skeptical because they were playing hip hop & there were only a few folks inside– mostly men, dancing. It’s also a bit of a hole in the wall bar, at night. During the day it’s more touristy with tables outside. We were not looking for a pick up joint, so we almost didn’t go in. They promised us they’d play some reggae/​soca, so we headed in. They gave us some free samples of rum punch & started playing some oldies but goodies of soca, reggae, r&b, & hip hop. We had a really good time & stayed for about 2 hours!

I’m going to 1-​star this to throw off the obvious employee or management-​based posts of 4 & 5 stars. We were visitors trying to find some Mexican food on a Florida beach so we didn’t have a lot of options. This place is expensive for what you actually get. Weak margaritas, $ 6 for the most basic chips & salsa, and fairly bland $ 15+ meals.
The place was empty and it’s very clear as to why. We came on a Friday night and there was a wannabe-​rasta DJing and singing karaōke-​style over background audio (that’s what they advertise as LIVE music). He’s there every Friday, so you can see that’s how much management cares that you are actually enjoying yourself here. It was so loud and terrible we almost (and should have) left for that reason alone.
Our bill the night before at Coconuts was the same price as Tequila Joe’s and there we had the most amazing crab cakes and cheesecake I’ve put in my mouth. Tequila Joe’s is teetering the line of being a complete scam. The 18% auto-​gratituity for every bill is a giant red flag regarding their service levels.

This was the worst service and meal — ever, and I’m not exaggerating. We were a party of 8, and the only customers in the restaurant on a rainy Tuesday night, so there is really no excuse for the way we were treated.
— Our server forgot our order and came back 20 minutes after we thought it had been placed to ask us what we wanted, again. — We came in very hungry, so this was a bad start.
— The waiter said the kitchen was slow and said «you guys don’t mid watching each other eat do you?» because he wasn’t going to bring all of our food out at one time. — We told him, yes we did mind and to bring our meals out all together.
— While we are waiting for our food, he casually walked by our table and told us that if anyone else walked into the restaurant to tell them that they’re closed. — Like it’s our job to play host
— 5 people were drinking beers and after it took so long to bring out our food, he comped us 3 beers — we wondered how we should split that up
— My mother and sister both ordered margaritas which we had to ask about because they didn’t bring them right away and when they did come, it was not what they asked for, so they had to be sent back.
— I ordered a medium-​well blacken tuna sandwich, which our server personally sold me on, but when my food came out it was a fish burger. So I sent it back. The revised meal was a medium-​rare tuna sandwich and not blackened. When I told him that I’d eat it this way, however it was not what I had asked for, he brought out a cup of the rubbing spices used to blacken the tuna and said I could «dip my tuna in that» and said «that’s the best he could do».
This obviously infuriated everyone at the table and to top off horrible service, the food was pretty bad and overpriced. Our bill came back around $ 200, but after hearing about our experience, the manager gave us the entire meal for free.
I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone– it wasn’t even worth a free meal!!!

When I stopped by Tequila Joe’s I knew what I was getting into, being high priced tourist trap and in doing a quick read of its Unilocal on I could easily discern that the 4 and 5 Star votes, especially the one urging you to tip Sarah generously because she’s a good looking babe even though an 18% gratuity is already included as being mere sham endorsements induced by management. However, what I didn’t expect was the extent to which Tequila Joe’s takes tourist gouging, such as $ 12 for a simple plastic cup margarita. I could go on and detail more, but I think this should suffice in order for one to get the picture of what this place is about.

This place is crap!!! The drinks are over priced, servers and bartenders and not very great to look at. Service is horrible!!! I sat for 10 minutes with out someone coming to me and witnessed 2 other tables of 6 people get up and leave. I dont know how these people are making any money. I ordered beef nachos and didnt get beef, they decided to give me chicken instead. I ordered a Patron margarita, the drink took exactly 17 minutes to come to me and the bartender at the tiki bar was not even busy… I also watched her pour WELL TEQUILA INSTEAD OF PATRON!!! I got charged for patron when all I got was WELL TEQUILA! I confronted the manager and she was rude and unhelpful. I will never come back to this craphole ever again waste of money. the only reason my friends and I stopped and sat there bc they had a live dj. oh and I ended up getting food poisoning… HORRID PLACE!!!

Where to start with this place. It’s VERY expensive for a mexican restaurant. The first thing we realized when we sat down this past weekend was that chips and salsa were not complimentary. We paid the $ 5.95 for chips and salsa. I asked the waitress to clarify on the tacos as to whether they were all prepared the same with pinapple and rice as the menu suggested. She told us yes and that the only choice on the tacos was what type of meat. When the tacos arrived (which are around $ 13 – 14), it was unmarinated chicken inside flour tortillas with a small serving of lettuce, tomato and sour cream. When we suggested to the server that this wasn’t what we ordered, we were told the kitchen decided the pineapple and rice was not popular and that this menu item had been changed. It probably would have been the right time to tell us this when we were ASKING about the dish and what was included. She did go back and bring out a side of rice and beans and some cheese to make these tacos less plain than what had originally been brought out. When the check arrived, we put a couple credit cards in as well as our parking tickets as the sign out front said «complimentary parking validation». Our waitress came out and told us that they were out of parking coupons and that they would not be able to offer us this. When we asked to talk to a manager we were told there were no managers there. I find it hard to believe that a restaurant is running with not a single manager there. We also asked that since they were out of tickets and the sign offered this free validation, they just remove that value off our bill, which the server was unwilling to do.
In fairness to the restaurant, after they brought the additional sides for the tacos, our food wasn’t terrible. My other guests ordered the philly cheesesteak and said it was not too bad. It was mediocre at best, but better than some of the surrounding restaurants.
This is yet another prime example of a business built around screwing tourists. I, however, am a local in Fort Lauderdale that will never return to this restaurant. And while I know very few of the restaurants in this area seem to care about any type of customer service, I’d definitely give one of the others a try before this place.

$$$$ this is not a cheap establishment. Receipts do not show this when you hand them your credit card, 18% gratuity is added to your bill, sorry this isn’t Miami, auto-​tipping is not acceptable around here. $ 10 for a frozen margarita in a plastic cup, while tasty it is priced out of this neighborhood, $ 11.80 is robbery in these parts (forgot the auto-​tip?)
On to the food, no complementary chips and salsa (add another $ 5.95 +tip), loses a star for this alone. Salsa was unique, not too spicy, tasted OK. Chicken fajita was good, abundant wraps provided.
1 margarita + 1 beer + chips/​salsa + chip fajita = $ 45 (includes 18% auto-​tip)
Forgot to mention they had a DJ playing techno, not pleasant, kind of gave me a headache on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Normally would have given 3 – 4 stars loses points for techno, no complementary chips/​salsa, high prices, and most importantly: auto-​tip.

Sarah is the shining star of beach place and worth a stop, heads up: she’s a knock out, blonde and beautiful, inside and out… So don’t droll if you bring the misses… And TIP her well… She deserves it. As for the grub and drinks it’s Ft. Lauderdale, beach side, will music that’s eclectic and makes you feel good. isn’t that the point?!?