Border Grill

Monday - Thursday, 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Saturday, 11.a.m. - 11 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

I’m glad Border Grill chose to set up shop on this side of the line.

The restaurant inside Mandalay Bay is the perfect lunch spot.

It’s quick, it’s easy to access, it’s good food, and it’s authentic Mexican.

The brainchild of chefs and owners, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, Border Grill delivers with style.

I’m not suggesting that you start out with dessert, but if you’re moved by a dense, flourless chocolate truffle cake with raspberries and a prickly pear lychee sauce, so be it. Hey, I’ve had worse first courses.

There are also great savory options for main courses. Marinated Kobe beef sopes, are tender slices of guajillo chile marinated Kobe beef, in a corn masa served with mango salsa and a minty red cabbage slaw.

Mazatlán seafood cocktail is a spicy mix of shrimp, bay scallops, and black mussels in a broth-like tomato mixture of cucumber, jalapeños and cilantro.

A flavorful chicken poblano enchilada is served in a handmade corn tortilla and contains poblano cream, grilled corn, wild mushrooms, and roasted poblano peppers. This enchilada, which is the first enchilada worthy of being on Border Grill’s menu, is spiced up by using fresh ingredients and indigenous Mexican spices.

Sautéed scallops with toasted ancho chiles, slivered garlic, parsley and lime over a bed of tenderly braised greens and served with both red and white rice is a great seafood option.

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.

-- Review by Nikki Neu