Grand Strand Restaurants Review

A visit to MARGARITAVILLE is a real trip

You know you’re getting close to Margaritaville when you hear the sounds of Jimmy Buffett’s music wafting through the air from speakers located in the open air bar beneath the lighthouse tower at Broadway at the Beach.  That’s as far as many visitors to the famous restaurant get because the drinks, especially the Margaritas, are stupendous, but there’s also a good selection of bar food.

Entering the main restaurant is like walking into a Caribbean hang-out.  The staff is large, friendly, and all of them give the impression they are doing their very best to please customers, but what really sets off the scene is the gigantic blender in the middle of the dining room that regularly whirrs to life as what looks like hundreds of gallons of margarita mix are poured into it from the center of an ersatz hurricane that spins around in the ceiling.  As if that weren’t enough to evoke the atmosphere of the Florida Keys, and the Caribbean, there’s Buffett’s music, steel band music and a bunch of TV monitors spread around the room tuned to a fake Weather Channel on which some of the real Weather Channel stars are forecasting the arrival of a terrible hurricane.

Craig Ledger is the executive chef and quickly attributes the success of Margaritaville to his staff.

“We try to get great people in here with positive personalities who make great teammates and who are hard workers,” he said.

Ledger describes the menu as Caribbean, “with a little bit of American style mixed in.”  He says the main flavoring ingredient for many of the key items on the menu is a Jerk Spice, which is a mixture of cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and a number of other herbs and spices.  There are many forms of Jerk Spice, but they’re all designed to give food a distinctively Caribbean flavor.

There is no doubt about the star of the menu.  It’s the Volcano Nachos.  The name is apropos because it actually looks like a Caribbean Volcano, piled a foot high with chilli, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes and scallions.  For most people, it’s too much to eat at one sitting.

Good starters include a real shrimp and chicken gumbo, corn and crab chowder, and quesadillas.  The huge salads range from a cavernous taco shell filled mixed greens, black bean and corn salsa, and Margaritaville’s own taco meat blend.  The Caribbean Chicken Salad is made with mangoes, sugared pecans, tomatoes and cucumbers, and the Jumbo Lump Crab Salad is just that, a big helping of Lump Crab along with olives, tomatoes, and carrots on top of rotini pasta and mixed greens.

For burger lovers, there is a wide variety of American style creations including Buffett’s signature “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” the name of another of his restaurants in Myrtle Beach.

The main entrees include steak, chicken and ribs as well as a “Calypso Mahi-Mahi” topped with a pineapple-mango salsa.

On the seafood side, there’s Jerk Salmon, Bayou Shrimp Pasta, Coconut Shrimp and whatever the catch of the day might be cooked the way the customer would like it, including having it blackened.

The bar concoctions are legendary, but Ledger says the big seller is Buffett’s own “Land Shark” beer.  Land Shark just happens to be the name of a new Buffett restaurant on the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach.

MARGARITAVILLE, JIMMY BUFFETT'S
1114 Celebrity Circle
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
(843) 448-5455 | Menu
Restaurant Type: Casual, Family, Seafood
Meals Served: Lunch, Dinner, Late Night
Food Type: American
Features: Alcohol Served, Child Friendly, Entertainment, Full Menu, Group Discounts, Group Seating, Handicap Accessible, No Smoking Area, Open Holidays, Outdoor Dining, Private Room, Take Out, Vegetarian Options
Avg Cost: Over $20. Location: Central