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Last Update: Jan 16th, 2021
El tamarindo 2021

El Tamarindo Cafe

233 W State Road 84
Fort Lauderdale FL, 33315
(954) 467-5115
Overall Rating
2.4
Food
Service
Ambiance
Value
Last Review
05/16/2016

Details

Hours: Open for Lunch and Dinner Daily
Attire: Casual
Parking: Private Lot
CC: Yes
Alcohol: Beer and Wine Only
Outside Dining: Yes
Reservations: Yes
Delivery: No

Pros

Superb Chimichurri

Cons

Not as Good as it Used to Be
Abysmal Service

Critic's Review

Review 5/16/16

El Tamarindo Cafe Fort Lauderdale

I hadn't been to El Tamarindo in a while, and I've always gotten the skirt steak, mainly because the reason to come here is the outstanding chimichurri sauce. Today I was in the mood for fish. I arrived at about 1:30pm and the restaurant was about 1/2 full. Nobody was outside; it's getting too hot to eat outside.

No hostess. A server tried to steer me to the bar; I pointed towards the rear and he just told me to sit down. He brought over a menu; I had a nice view of the coffee service station.

El Tamarindo Beverage Station

I ordered an iced tea, which came out with no fruit. Most of these latin places only have limes, so I didn't ask him for anything. I don't really care for tea without lemon.

El Tamarindo - No Fruit Iced Tea

The menu here has really changed for the worse. It's $26 now for the skirt steak, which is absurd for lunch. This place is like every other latin restaurant now; it might as well be Las Vegas Cuisine.

Service here is textbook bad; they do everything wrong. Didn't explain anything, didn't tell me the specials. Didn't offer me bread. They have "fish" with no mention of the type, which means it's cheap fish. You can get it grilled, "empanizado" (breaded) or livornese. I ordered it breaded. I waited until I was sure that he wasn't going to offer me bread; as he turned to leave I asked for the bread.

They're pretty cheap with the bread.

El Tamarindo Bread Service

It's a good thing that I got the bread, because it took a long time to make the fish. Waiting and waiting. Just about everyone on the section I was in was paid up and I was still waiting.

El Tamarindo Interior

They have this bench seating all around the restaurant; there's no privacy anywhere in the place. They do have nicer tables now.

So a runner brings out a piece of slightly blacked fish and puts it in front of me. "This is breaded and fried"?, I asked. No, Grilled Tilapia. "I ordered it breaded and fried". Ok, Sorry.

More waiting. I noticed that some of the empty glasses still on tables had lemon, so when a lady came over to top off my glass I asked her for some lemon. I saw here walking around afterwards. She never brought me any lemon. When my server ran by I asked him for some and he brought me a few wedges.

El Tamarindo - They have Lemon

Finally the fish came out. I expected it to be more delicately fried than this. This was a thick coating.

El Tamarindo Fish Empanizado

Rice and beans and the rest of the Chimichurri. I unbreaded a piece and tasted it on it's own; Talapia is nasty. It really needs breading and sauce as a cover up.

Fish Empanizado

What's interesting about this place is that it empties out at 1:50 and that's it for lunch. There were like 3 people in the place at 2:15.

El Tamarindo Interior

My server just disappeared. I didn't see him again since he brought the lemon. I was about ready to do, but I figured I'd hit the bathroom since I didn't see him anywhere.

Now I've done many 100s of reviews and almost never photograph a bathroom, but this one made me think of something you might see in prison.

Tamarino bathroom

You ladies may want to wait until you get back to your office.

When I came out, maybe 2 minutes, my table was completely clear. Everything; the tea, water, half a plate of rice and beans. They can't keep track of 3 people in the restaurant?

They Cleared My Table

I asked for the bill and sat at my empty table until he returned with it. No offer of anything as compensation for taking my unfinished food and drink. Not even a tea for the road.

Conclusion

3 Years ago the skirt steak was $14, now it's $26. If there's one thing about Fort Lauderdale; if a place stays open long enough it will turn into a bad restaurant. The service was always a bit wonky here, but now it's the same as any of the other Latin restaurants, with better chimichurri. It was also a lot faster before.

I thought it was interesting that they changed the sign. It's now a "Bistro", whatever that is.

This will be my last review of this place. Ever.

Review 3/28/13

Eltamarindo

If you're in the mood for a skirt steak, there's only 2 places to go: either the Angus Steakhouse in Hollywood, or El Tamarindo on route 84.

I hadn't been here in almost 3 years, and it was pretty ratty throughout back then, but they've remodeled the place with black granite. There's still a lot of bad angles, but it's better than before. The bar is also a plausible option for dining alone.

El Tamarindo Interior

I was here for a skirt steak, so I ordered one up medium rare with rice and beans. I got an Iced Tea with lemon, which is always nice at a latin place. They also dropped off some bread and a bowl of their crazy garlicky chimichurri sauce.

El Tamarindo Chimichurri Sauce

This, my friends, is the good stuff. You could dip an old shoe in this and it would taste good. I usually skip the bread, but not here. A runner dropped the steak off in less than 10 minutes.

El Tamarindo Charrasco

A pretty good haul for $14. The only slight disappointment was that they gave me red beans; there's no distinction on the menu as it just says "beans". I was expecting black beans. The skirt itself is pretty much unseasoned or marinated; it needed some salt. But some chimicurri on the plate and on top of the steak transformed this into exactly what I was hoping for. I polished off the entire thing in one sitting, along with the bread, beans and half of the rice. I also needed another bowl of chimichurri. No dinner for me tonight.

Service here wasn't as good as previously; it's pretty mechanical with servers running around with water pitchers and runners bringing out the food. The issue was that I didn't seem to have a specific server, so nobody checked on me for my entire time here. No refill on my iced tea, I had to go to another table to get salt, and I had to flag down a runner to get me more sauce. And when I was ready for my check, I had to flag down someone to ask for my check, despite an empty glass and plates. Again no refill was offered.

So you don't come here for service; you come here to eat. One of the better $20 lunches you can get in this town.

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