Rubio's Coastal Grill

Critic's Review

At about the time that Baja Fresh was pulling out of Florida and Ruby Tuesday's was launching their Lime Fresh Mexican brand, Rubio's tried to open a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. It was a terrible restaurant; poorly run with bad food; it closed in just over 3 years; surprising since they never had any customers. Every time I pass this place I kind of shake my head, wondering how such places continue to exist.

Then I saw that they give up $5 off your first purchase if you sign up for their mailing list, so I figured I could try them for about $5. Maybe the place in Florida was an outlier?

They have an outside patio which is probably nice in the evening in April; 99 degrees today so it wasn't an option.

Inside it's a fast food restaurant without the plastic furniture; "Upscale" fast food. I'd ordered online so my order was ready when I arrived.

The ordering system doesn't give you the option of eat in or take out; only pickup or delivery. But I had to hit Costco so I figured I'd eat first. They have some semi comfortable booths in the rear that even offer some privacy.

I opened the bad to reveal a whole lot of shredded cabbage. I ordered this "as-is"; they offer options for customizing but I opted not to ge the guacamole.

They have a fairly pedestrian salsa card; Hot, mild, lemons and limes. You get all this stuff with your entree; so nothing new here.

I've been to Rubio's before in Florida so I know the only thing worth ordering is the fish tacos. You can get 2 Tacos for $7.99, but you can't use the coupon with the lunch special. This was $9.99; minus the $5 sign up reward so $4.99 net.

The sides are wholly inedible; bland beans and tasteless "Mexican" rice are just a waste of $2. Get the tacos without the sides.

The fish is breaded; your basic Morton's fish stick in a taco shell. The "white sauce" is pretty tasty; it's really not a bad fish taco. As good as anything you'd get for twice the price at a fancy restaurant.

I shed some of the cabbage for the 2nd one. The red salsa doesn't go with the fish, so it served no useful purpose.

This fish isn't crispy but it wasn't watery like Ramsay's fish and chips.

Conclusion

The Rubio's I'd been to in Florida was a terrible place; probably a franchise that never got it's act together. Their web site makes it difficult to order and annoys you with ppp ups to sign up even though you're signed into your account; so if you can make it past that, just order some fish tacos and skip the sides.