I had heard of Tijuana Flats before but I never knew we had one in Lakeland until yesterday, so I went there for lunch to see what this place is all about and it was quite the spicy experience.

Tijuana Flats is a Tex-Mex restaurant/ burrito place located in the Lake Miriam Square Plaza on S. Florida Ave. Tijuana Flats is not your typical restaurant, here the emphasis is on fun and casual dining. The food is pretty good, not the absolute best I’ve ever had but still delicious. At this place it seems to be more about the environment and efficient customer service.

When you walk into Tijuana Flats you enter a room with a bright green ceiling, brightly painted walls that are COVERED in funky wall art and paintings, and lights are strung up throughout the restaurant. It’s really cool looking and gives you a lot to look at when you eat; my boyfriend went with me and I caught him staring at the wall with burrito in hand for a good 2 minutes.

As soon as you walk into the restaurant, a friendly staff member greets you at the door with a menu. The menu is just one big page and follows the bright and funky theme of the restaurant. You choose where you want to sit and then take however long you need to look at the menu. On the menu there are items such as chimichangas, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, nachos, and more. Many of the food items are available in 3 different sizes, making it easy to choose how much food you want. For beverages, they serve soft drinks, tea, and beer. Once you’ve decided what you want, you go up to the counter to order it and pay. A staff member brings out your food and drinks when it’s ready.

I ordered a medium size beef and bean burrito. Everything comes with lettuce, tomatoes, onion, black olives, jalepanos, and sour cream on it unless you specify what you want or don’t want. For an extra $1.99 you can make it a meal and add rice, beans and a drink, so I did. I also ordered chips and salsa to start off with. They brought the chips and salsa out immediately and our food followed shortly after. The chips and salsa were really good, I really liked the sweetness of the salsa, and they give you a TON of it! My beef and bean burrito was also good, and pretty large for a “medium”. They stuff the toppings inside of the burrito so every bite has meat, cheese, beans and the fresh toppings to enjoy.

My burrito was good, however it needed some spice, which is no problem at Tijuana Flats. Tijuana Flats has what they call a “Hot Bar”. The “Hot Bar” is a counter full of a bunch of different hot sauces. The hot sauces range from sweet to fire hot so there is one for everyone to enjoy. They also sell bottles of each to take home. I tried their signature hot sauce and the habanero pepper hot sauce. The signature sauce is sweet with a tiny bit of spice in it. The habanero pepper one was REALLY hot but really good. I put just a couple small drops of it on my burrito and it had my mouth burning and my nose running. I really liked the flavor of it though and how it complimented the burrito.

Overall my meal was very satisfying, spicy, and good. The only thing that could be a little better is the re-fried beans as they were a little too watery for my liking. However, the environment, fast and friendly service, and the food combined with the many choices of hot sauce, make Tijuana Flats a great place to go for those Tex-Mex cravings.

To get a better feel for what Tijuana Flats is like and to view their entire menu, visit their website HERE.