Zona Fresca

I want to start off by saying that I am half Mexican. I’ve had my fare share of authentic Mexican food. So far in broward this is the most authentic Mexican I’ve had. You can tell everything is made from scratch and is fresh. Over all I would definitely recommend.

Hidden in the back of Publix (the old Albertson’s) plaza…
You will find an amazing little place to grab a quick bite! My daughter has a tie to chipotle and my husband loves Lime, but my personal preference is this little GEM!
Walking in I noticed a very nice CLEAN open space. The music was beautiful & the volume was perfect! Unlike the other two places I mentioned where it’s always so loud I find it hard to carry on a conversation. The art around the room was nice as well.
Food was warm, plated nice & delicious! I ordered a platter which had rice, beans, corn, tomatoes & salad with a side of guacamole & a flour tortilla. Who cares what my family ate because mine was amazing!
I’ve had a lot of salsa in my time and I even make my own, but this mild salsa (will share a pic) was THE BEST EVER! I will make this my weekly stop to run in and grab salsa to go! It’s full of flavor, fresh, and so absolutely perfect. Trust me when I try to describe how wonderful this truly is.
While we were eating the manager was walking around wiping down the salsa bar, the soda fountain, pushing in chairs, & making sure his restaurant was in order.
Staff was friendly & I will be returning!

It’s a counter style restaurant and I always prefer seated. The people behind the counter, at the salsa bar and cearing the tables were fast and curtious
They do have a very large selection of different Mexican — American food and the quality is high. I also found the bathrooms to be extremely clean during a lunch rush.
I would go back :-)

Great spot for quick Mexican food! Very authentic — quesadilla with added veggies was the perfect amount of food and the shrimp burrito was delicious and apparently the best burrito my boyfriend has ever had. And all of the salsas are delicious and very fresh. Definitely recommend!

Two Star because the salsa chips, the chips and the music was the best of all, and the place looked clean and well decorated. Now, I have tried many Mexican, and his is not authentic, not even close. If you are American you will love this place, since is a fusion but otherwise don’t bother. We order the pork tacos combo and steak taquitos, the flavor was blah! Who would though that pork could be tasteless, and the pinto beans just tasted like cumin, the rice I won’t even talk about it. And the taquitos were chewy and dry, every bite a piece of meat came out of it and is was rubbery, a real Mexican will be offended by this place. Last but not least the guy who took our order forgot he’s dealing with customer and never ever smile, he looked pissed. Other than that I will never go to that place.

I had the three street taco. The chicken taco was ok .The fish taco was the amazing. Clean and fast service.

Fresh food. First time and loved it, you all need to try it. Not expensive either… Didn’t take long to get thru as the service was very fast and so many people came thru to order. Unilocal really helps in finding great food.

Good food but q bit pricy for Mexican fast food.
place is clean with good service and a lot of spices and sauces. In general good fast food place

It was about 8:30 on Saturday night and there were a few diners besides us around closing time. The first thing we noticed is that they don’t have queso dip. Which sucks because the chips are so darn good. The salsas tasted super fresh even though it was the end of the day. The guy who took our order was very patient with our indecisiveness. We both got the three taco plate, two fish and one chicken. They also let us order taquitos a la carte since they normally come as a meal.
Of all the things we ate, I thought the fish tacos were stellar. Loved the tortillas and the fact that it came «double bagged» which made them really easy to eat. The fish was fried to perfection and the toppings had the right balance of crunch and acidity. The chicken taco was meh. I thought the chicken was kind of dry and had an overwhelming char taste. I also didn’t care for the toppings. The taquitos were a total waste of money. It was long strips of chewy steak rolled in a tortilla and deep fried. I thought there would at least be cheese or some other filling inside. It was just lazy. I dissected it and dipped the fried tortilla in guacamole.
I think we will eat here again for the fish tacos alone! I definitely preferred it to any of the other fast casual Mexican places in the area.

After reading some reviews I came in today to check out. I ordered a quesadilla and was so disappointed. I asked for steak quesadilla and there was barely any meat in it. I opened it up to check. They serve it with sour cream, very small portion of guacamole. I think 12.00 for a quesadilla that barely had any meat inside is very pricey. I prefer Lime.

This place is really tasty, the food is super fresh and authentic.
They have wonderful salsa bar and everything is lovely.

We found Zona Fresca while looking for Lime today and decided to give it a shot. At around 5pm on a Sunday it wasn’t too full and the food was ready fairly quick.
I had the «Chicken Quesadilla», which was exactly how I like it, plain but flavorful and the chicken was tender which is always a plus. My boyfriend had the «Tostada Salad» which was very good but a little too lemony for his taste, so if lemon is an ingredient you really like, this may be a good thing for you.
There is plenty of sitting area and my quesadilla was big enough to bring some leftovers home. We definitely see ourselves going back to Zona Fresca as we had a very good experience. The food was great and fresh, the service was quick and the attendant at the register was very nice and polite. Also, they deliver, that is always a plus!

I’ve been coming here for many years and always have a great experience. Friendly staff and good food. I’ve have had catering by them and they do a great job. Plus they deliver for catering and include everything from cutlery, plates, drinks etc.
I have to say the manager is a super nice guy. Very chatty and friendly guy!

Located in the new LA fitness /​Publix plaza on Peters and University beside the Dragon buffet. Constantly good food at Zona Fresca.
My husband was having a fish taco kick and I saw many reviews recommend here. I wanted a quesadilla.
Pay at the cash and have a seat with your number. On taco meals you get complimentary tortilla chips, help yourself and fill up all the salsa cups you like for your meal at the salsa bar.
Very different posters on the wall, cartoon images of busty women.
My quesadilla was disappointing compared to the taco truck I just tried the day before, I should’ve ordered something else.
My husband ordered the fish tacos. They offer grilled or fried. It was great. The machaca tacos come in a hard shell, nothing special
Can’t go wrong, not much a wait, the orders are made quickly and the food is fresh.

Nutritious and delicious!
Pretty much my new go-​to spot after hitting the gym (200 ft from LA Fitness). If you are looking for a quick, fresh, and healthy meal then Zona Fresca is your new fast-​casual place to be.
I have been here 3 times, and each time I have not been disappointed. Previously I ordered a burrito without the tortilla, and yum. Everything on the plate was yum. The beans were yum. The chicken was yum. The rice, peppers, guacamole… yum. My latest venture had me feeling extra healthy and I went with the garden salad, and again, yum. I rarely get excited about a salad, but this thing was great. Each bite was delicious, yet made me feel healthier as I ate. The «lemony» dressing is very light and does well with Mexican inspired meal. And I must say, the chicken in this place is juicy.
The salsa bar is awesome as well! I sampled all of the options and I love each one.
Price is great! Cheap and you get a discount with NSU student ID!

For a quick and healthy lunch option Zona Fresca really hit the spot for me. Lunch for me is only 30 minutes so I need to be fast. I called my order ahead and had a few questions about the Garden Chicken Salad ($ 8). The person I spoke with was very helpful. I wanted to know what greens were in the salad because I like lots of variety. Some places want to give you iceberg and like 2 sprigs of romain… yea no bueno.
This salad had cilantro, iceberg, romain and some other leafy greens that I can’t remember the name now lol. There was also about 4 oz of chicken, avocado, tomato and corn. The avocado was incredibly fresh. The dressing was a lime vinaigrette of some sort, and was very, very good, but they were a bit generous with it. I always order my dressing on the side so that was my bad, I forgot to do that when I called.
I arrived pretty quick and my order was ready. It was accompanied with a bag of tortilla chips and I visited the salsa bar. The pico de gallo was fresh and delicious. I also grabbed some salsa (mild). I didn’t like it, it was a bit on the sweet side for me, but it was hearty. If it was the only salsa around I would probably still eat it with the chips lol
Overall I was pleased and will return to Zona as my «treat» lunch option. One thing though the chips were stale, which I guess was a good thing because I shouldn’t be eating them anyway haha
Enjoy!

I can’t say enough about the chicken soft tacos gringo style! Everything is so fresh and the staff is so pleasant! Saturday, 11:00 I was hungry for their tacos and what do you know, I was customer #1! Big thanks to the staff for playing along, I was the only one there but they call over the loud speaker «now serving #1»!
Made me laugh! Love this place.

I don’t know why I have been to this place a hundred times and never wrote a review. I work so close to Zona I usually end up ordering from them about once a week. I can honestly say I have tried everything on the menu and I have never been disappointed.
All their burritos comes with chips. They come in fish, chicken, steak or combination. I think the best one they have is the fish tacos!
What really brings me back to this place so often is their quesadilla. I usually order chicken quesadilla with jalapeños and it never disappoints. It comes with pico, sour cream, guacamole and chips.
They have a nice selection of fresh salas for you to choose from. Want extra jalapeños of peppers? They got you covered. Are you a nova student? They offer a discount! Staff are really nice and friendly!

After two visits I am giving this a solid 4 stars. I think I would knock it up to 4.5 if I liked their steak better.
First visit I tried the Machaca Burrito and it was very, very good. Apparently, it’s a new item, so I hope they keep it. The meat was tender and flavorful and the beans were just the right amount. I also appreciated that this place doesn’t put rice in the burritos. I don’t care for that at all, and it seems like that is the norm in Florida. I guess I just grew up eating Mexican food differently (rice on the side), so I am set in my ways. I do love that Zona Fresca has a salsa bar, and I became a fan of the tomatillo avocado salsa!
My visit today I went with probably my all time favorite Mexican entrée, the Tostada. It’s prepared in an edible shell with beans, lettuce, with sour cream, guacamole, salsa and topped with steak. This is another dish that a lot of places seem to want to «improve» by adding all kinds of stuff to it that doesn’t work. Not Zona Fresca! I appreciate that they didn’t rice this up. (yes I just used «rice» as a verb!) They also didn’t drown it in onions, which is an absolutely bad idea.
I went with the steak tostada for my first try here, and I didn’t really care for meat but it was okay. However, all the ingredients and proportions were perfect in my opinion. I think I will take a chance on the chicken next time and see if that works better for me. Another thing on the food here, it is really guilt free Mexy. The ingredients all taste fresh, and no weird after tastes in things I have experienced elsewhere. I notice they don’t serve refried beans, and they don’t put a lot of cheese on stuff, so I don’t feel weighed down like I normally do after eating this type of food. I do actually like to indulge occasionally, so I will continue to search for that one place out there that has it all.
Other than the food, something that impressed me on both visits were the people working there. They are very nice and helpful, from the cashiers to the people handing out the orders. They are really cool here.

Steven and I were trying to come up with quick and healthy options in the Plantation area when I remembered Zona Fresca. I had Zona Fresca once about 4 or 5 years ago and remembered a shrimp something that was delicious.
So fast forward to now. Zona Fresca is located in the soon to be LA Fitness plaza, so you can expect parking to be a nightmare once the gym is open. However, I’m quite jealous because eating Zona Fresca after the gym sounds quite delicious to me lol.
After studying the menu I only found one shrimp item — the shrimp burrito and although it didn’t sound quite like something I would like, I went ahead and trusted my memory and hoped they hadn’t changed the menu. Steven went with the fish burrito — the bajamar. Both burritos included chips to be eaten with the salsa bar.
SHRIMP BURRITO — I have a love/​hate relationship with beans and felt my burrito had too many beans and ruined the flavor a bit for me. If I had asked them to skip the beans I’m 99% sure I would be finding lots of excuses to drive to Plantation.
BAJAMAR BURRITO — I’m assuming fish is cheaper than shrimp and therefore Steven’s had less beans. Not sure what they fry the fish in but I think it’s crack. This was delicious.
CHIPS — a bit on the greasy side.
SALSA — the mild and the tomatillo were great! Anyone know where I can buy tomatillos around here? — they are slowing becoming one of my favorite flavors!
We opted to skip dessert (you know trying to be healthy)…which then led Steven’s sweet tooth to insist we get dessert elsewhere lol, but the choco-​taco they offered looked amazing lol.