Border Grill, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

Border Grill is a Mexican restaurant mini-chain that I've heard of before, but never paid any attention to, as Mexican food is really not a cuisine I gravitate towards.  

"Critically acclaimed Modern Mexican cuisine featuring conscientiously-sourced, seasonal fare from Chef/Owners Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.   Since opening on Melrose in 1985, Border Grill has been renowned for spotlighting sophisticated regional Mexican cuisine. Today, Border Grill has locations in Las Vegas and LAX Airport, multiple sister restaurants, food trucks, and a full-service events and catering business based in Los Angeles."

I did know of it however, probably from seeing locations elsewhere, and seeing the chef-owners on Food Network shows at some point.  Again, not really my thing, but I was recently in Las Vegas for a conference, and Border Grill was chosen by event sponsors multiple nights  to host our happy hours, and thus, I visited, only quasi by choice.

Setting

Border Grill's Las Vegas location is inside Mandalay Bay, closer to the convention center than the hotel areas.

Entrance.

It has an open entrance and dining room to the main hallway, with a lot of foot traffic (particularly during a convention) and thus is pretty loud.

Bar + Dining.

Upstairs is the main bar and dining room, along with a second dining room that can be closed off.  I didn't get a photo of it, but that dining area is where the first event I attended was held.  Very convenient location, and the noise isolation in the private room was a must.

Outside Patio.

"Steps away from Mandalay Beach and the Lazy River, surrounded by trees and string lighting; warmed by heaters in winter."

The second evening I attended an event at Border Grill, it was downstairs, and actually, outside.  Downstairs they have multiple indoor spaces, including several dining rooms or a room with a bar.  Outside, they have a bar area (suitable for groups up to 60 for cocktails and passed appetizers), and a large patio space that can be reserved together or separately.  We had both the outdoor spaces for our event.

I really liked the outside space, as the weather was lovely.

Drinks

The drink menu at Border Grill has a slew of margaritas (everything from the classic blanco to one with guava), cervesas, and sangria as you'd expect, plus a fairly long list of "crafted cocktails".

I attended special events two different nights, and each night had a couple signature cocktails to pick from, rather than a full cocktail menu.  The drinks were the highlight of the evening, both times.

Margarita. $14.

"Tequila blanco, agave nectar, fresh lime."

The first night, I had a margarita.  I'm assuming this was the basic margarita blanco, they were being handed out by servers as you entered, so I wasn't provided details.  It was this or a Corona, my choice was clear.

The margarita was actually pretty good.  Tons of salt on the rim.  Good sour notes, slight sweetness, fairly strong tequila undertones, refreshing.  Made me almost want to consider getting one sometime in the future somewhere, as it had been years since I last had one as they just haven't really been my thing.  It was particularly fitting and refreshing for the hot weather.  ***+.

Special Cocktail.

"Tequila, lime juice, blue curacao."

The second night, there were no pre-made cocktails, but rather a curated list of special cocktails for us to order from at the outdoor bar.  I went for this one, because it both looked cool, and I do like tequila drinks.  

This drink was also pretty good, again, lots of salt on the rim, balanced flavors, and hey, it *looked* cool.  ***+.

Food

Both events I attended were simple happy hour type receptions, not full dinners.  The hosts both nights selected a few passed appetizers for the group, which came out fairly infrequently.  Besides the chips and salsa, the food was fairly limited, which I'm assuming was a decision made by the hosts to keep costs down?  Still, for a 80+ person event, a server coming out with a single tray with only about 8 pieces on it seemed odd.  They never made it more than a few steps into the space, and never came back with a replenished tray.

I had of course scoped out the event menu in advance, to see if there would hopefully be things I was interested in.  Even just for passed appetizers, Border Grill has a huge selection - I think I counted nearly 65 items to pick from!  It is clear they specialize in these kinds of parties, which makes sense, given the location.  The menu is obviously very Mexican, with a slew of mini tostadas, tacos, sopes, tamales, ceviches, empanadas, and skewers, plus ... toasts and sliders.  They have plenty of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free offerings.

 The event menu has a number of appetizers I actually thought sounded fun, like mini lobster corn dogs or butter poached lobster rolls on mini brioche buns, or even cubano sliders, but alas, my hosts for both events didn't pick any of those items (or, at least, I never saw them).  I didn't enjoy any of the food.

Chips & Trio of Salsas. (GF) $4/pp.

"Tomatillo | arbol | smoky chipotle."

Both events I attended had plentiful chips and salsa around, set out on all the tables.  These are also featured on all their regular menus as a starter (NOT complimentary as is common at Mexican restaurants).

Chips and salsa aren't really my thing, but I was pretty hungry, so I tried them.  The chips were very, very average, a surprise for such a well regarded Mexican establishment.  I'd think chips would be something they'd do a bit better than average, but these seemed like they could have easily come from the grocery store.

The smoky salsa was my favorite, it had some nice smoke.  But overall, still pretty average.  **+. 

Event pricing is $4 per person for the provided chips; from the regular menu a serving is $5.

Fish Tostaditas. (GF).  $6/7 piece.

I'm not actually sure which kind of tostada this was.  The server just said "fish", and I assumed it was thus the "Baja Ceviche Tostaditas", which has "lime marinated sustainable seasonal fish & shrimp | tomato | jalapeño aioli", but it also could have been the tuna one, with "ahi tuna | ancho crema | avocado balm | salsa macha".  I couldn't really tell what kind the fish was, nor what the minimal toppings were, and the dot of green could have been jalapeño aioli or avocado balm, as it was too tiny of a dot to really taste.

Anyway, this was not particularly good nor bad.  A very small bite.  The tortilla flavor dominated.  The fish (tuna?) was fine, but there was just not much flavor at all.  Low ***.

Duck Confit Sope. (GF). $5/piece.

"Blue corn masa | fennel and orange slaw | avocado."

The servers came around with two animal proteins next, either lamb tamales (boo, I don't like lamb) or these duck confit sopes.  Duck confit sounded good to me, but I didn't notice until I had started to grab it that it was loaded with avocado, which I'm allergic to.

My allergy isn't severe to avocado though, so I still tried it, just removing the avocado as much as possible.  It had a thick blue corn base, kinda greasy pulled duck, and obviously lots of avocado.  I didn't like any element really, and obviously I'm allergic to avocado, so this one was a fail for me.  *.

Dobladito. $4.50/piece.

"Grilled corn | shishito pepper | mexican cheese | kale | crispy bbq chips | salsa macha aioli."

The dobladito is one of their signature items, a vegetarian quesadilla.  

This had a nice char on the crispy tortilla.  I appreciated the tortilla.  The filling was basic Mexican veggies (corn, peppers, cheese).  I didn't find the bbq chips or salsa macha aioli in mine.  It needed toppings.  **.