Border Grill at Mandalay Bay

Just The Facts, Please.

Location

Mandalay Bay

Dining Hours

11:30am-10pm Mon-Thurs
11:30am-11pm Fri
11am-11pm Sat
11am-10pm Sun

Chef

Chefs and Owners:
Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger

Cuisine

Mexican

Price Range

Lunch $25ish; Dinner $45ish

Suggested Attire

Casual

Notes

The restaurant has a patio overlooking the pool area.

Sample Menu Items

Grilled Skirt Steak - marinated in garlic, cilantro, cumin, and lime; served with charred corn relish, tomato avocado salad, and black beans

Pescado Veracruzano - pan seared halibut with onion, olives, tomato, jalapeno, and oregano in a white wine garlic broth

Green Chicken Poblano Enchiladas - slow roasted chicken shredded and stuffed in handmade corn tortillas simmered in poblano cream topped with grilled corn, wild mushrooms, and roasted poblano peppers.

 

 

Mavens Overview: Border Grill

Border Grill is owned by Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. The classically-trained culinary grads (Susan from CIA and Mary Sue from Washburne in Chicago) met in 1978 at Le Perroquet, one of Chicago's best French restaurants, no longer in business. Border Grill, began as a sort of "taco stand" serving authentic home cooking and street foods of Mexico.

Milliken and Feniger began their television careers in 1993, as two of sixteen chefs invited to cook with the legendary Julia Child in her PBS series "Cooking with Master Chefs." Following-up with 296 episodes of their show "Too Hot Tamales" and "Tamales World Tour" series with Food Network (1995-1999).

The internet buzz on Border Grill at Mandalay Bay is mixed, with some comments that the restaurant has gone downhill in recent years. The restaurant has a patio that overlooks the elaborate pool area at Mandalay Bay.

Internet Buzz: Border Grill

  • The food was ok although nothing special. The $17 ceviche plate was redonkulous - seriously about 5 bites worth of ceviche and not even enough to share. Total rip-off. My plantain empenadas were good but not incredible. I don't get really uptight about paying a premium for good food but not for this. This is what I could have got at a decent taco stand.
  • It's nice to dine out on the patio! :) Great service, great prices and super tasty food! I would recommend the skirt steak and their guac rocks.
  • I had ordered the fish tacos which I had heard were some of the best in town. I took a bite and they were stinky, fishy smelling, and bland. I hated it. I inspected the dish more and the fish did not seem to even be properly cooked, and the fact that it smelled made me question how fresh the fish was.
  • I freakin LOVE this place! Try the portabello mushroom mulitas - decadent and delicious!!!! Not too expensive either (for Vegas prices) and the food is so good that any costs are well worth it.
  • This is one of the few upscale Mexican places I think pulls off delicious and unique yet tasteful dishes. We got the sampler appetizer which is the way to go if you want to try a little bit of many things Border grill has to offer- including the famous Food Network's Too hot Tamales- which YES are very very good. All the food is fresh and has a great upscale spin to the flavors. Along with the view of Mandalay's pools, you sort of feel that you are smack in the middle of a Mexican riveria.
  • Border Grill is environmentally conscious. The restaurant uses sustainable food only, and confers with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program. So, if they don't serve tuna one day, or stop serving Canadian seafood another, don't be surprised. Border Grill is just doing their part to be environmentally friendly while still tasting delicious.
  • We then split a queso fundido appetizer that was surprisingly large (easily could have been split amongst four). The queso came out bubbling and with a dollop of guac. Suffice to say I would have licked the serving platter if I could have gotten away with it, but I had to settle for using the flour tortilla (also yum) instead.
  • The patio outside is completely covered. It's almost like a room with just the one wall to the outside missing. So you get the breeze and the fresh air, but still feel like you're slightly indoors. Also, the patio overlooks a pool with a stage and you can enjoy whatever live music may be playing.
  • Pros: Steak quesadilla and chilliquiles. Listening to live music from the concert going on at the beach. Outdoor Seating and people watching.
  • I have found the food hit and miss here - some very good things like the tamales and cochinita pibil, and some very big misses like the tortilla soup and traditional flat layered enchiladas.
  • I've tried all kinds of mexican food from New Mexico, regular Mexico, back home in San Diego and many places in between. This is not any of that. This is crazy psuedo-mex from Miami or something. The only people they could fool are east-coasters and Las Vegas convention goers who get lured in by passing through all the time. Everything tasted like lime. The corn tortillas were a pasty, dry mess and terribly under salted or not salted whatsoever.
  • This is some of the best Mexican food I've had. Love the atmosphere especially in the warmer months when the patio by the pool is open.

 

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