Gluten Lips and I were in Kitsilano and decided to test out a restaurant there. We don’t go to Kitsilano very often and so we walked along 4th Avenue for a little bit until we saw some restaurants and picked one of interest. We decided on Las Margaritas because they had a really beautiful looking patio and also neither of us have had Mexican food in some time. We put our names on the waitlist since all restaurants in Vancouver are still only allowing dining on patios right now due to covid restrictions and it only took about 30 minutes for us to get a spot. We ended up on the front patio along 4th Avenue which wasn’t the best location because there were cars and buses going by right next to us but it worked.
We were seated and given paper menus. After perusing the menu we double checked with the server the items I’d be able to have that were both gluten-free and dairy free. Luckily with Mexican food it’s generally pretty easy because they always offer corn tortillas which never have gluten generally. And it’s easy enough to just take out cheese or sour cream.
We decided on the shrimp ceviche to start as well as guacamole and chips. We loved both starters – the ceviche was really fresh with fruit with shrimp cilantro and a few different veggies, lime juice and then fresh corn tortilla chips that were still warm out of the fryer. The guacamole was also really tasty and had a little bit of a different flavour than guacamole we would get at other restaurants or even that we might make at home. It was really creamy and just totally hit the spot and again the fresh tortilla chips were a little bit warm and just really delicious.
For the entrées we decided to split the fajitas and shrimp tacos. I haven’t had fajitas in years because generally when you order fajitas they’re only offered with a flour tortilla which I am not able to have and not all restaurants even offer corn tortillas. But at Las Margaritas you could choose between either flour or corn tortillas with the fajitas so we went with that. We ordered the chicken and beef for both of us and they came in an iron skillet with some fried onions and peppers and then on the side there was guacamole, lettuce, tomato, and refried beans. Normally there would also be cheese and sour cream but of course I omitted that. I love fajitas because they come out sizzling on this hot pan which is just such a nice sound and smell and overall sensory experience. Both the beef and chicken or seasoned really nicely and they were both quite tender and tasty. We found that there weren’t quite enough corn tortillas. I believe they provided five corn tortillas along with the dish and we ended up ordering an extra two which they were able to do. It was an extra $1 to get two more tortillas so we did that. I found that was the perfect amount of tortillas for the amount of meat and sides that came with the fajitas.
One comment is that while the seasoning was nice I didn’t have a lot of kick to it and so in the future we might have asked to add a little bit more spice or get some jalapeños or hot sauce or something on the side just to spice it up a little bit. I personally don’t love a lot of spice so I was fine with the seasoning as it is but that is something to keep in mind if you like your dishes more spicy.
For the fish tacos there were two tacos that had shrimp with guacamole, lettuce, tomato, and normally there would’ve been some sort of cheese and I believe a sour cream but we had to omit those two items. Also on the side were black beans and a side of green verde salsa and a little salad. The tacos were really tasty. I thought they were nice and juicy and fresh but they also tasted light. Gluten Lips comment again would be that they could maybe use a little bit more spice so maybe adding a hot sauce or some peppers might have been a nice option. I liked the salad and black beans on the side and the green verde sauce was also really nice to dip the tacos in.
Our server was really lovely. She was obviously very busy as she was handling all tables in our section and she was sort of running around but she always sort of stopped in to check on us and see how we were doing which we really appreciated. Overall we really had a great time at this restaurant. I would definitely be back although we would try to go on the side patio as opposed to the patio on 4th as it looks like it would be a little bit quieter and just a cuter patio than the one we were on.
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If you enjoyed this article, you might also like to read about our other culinary adventures sharing our gluten-free and dairy-free experiences such as Hundo-P Smoothie Bar in Whistler, Seafood Dinner at the Rimrock Cafe in Whistler, BC, and Lucia Gelato in Whistler, BC.
