Olé Olé is a fun, family dining choice in an area that tends to lean toward adult patrons. The food isn't outstanding, but most of it is very good; service is young but capable; meals won't bust your budget; and overall, it's a welcome downtown destination whether you're entertaining visitors or out with the kids.
The Aztec carving stands more than eight feet high, an imposing head that right now is topped with an ancient headdress. OK, it's really a 20-foot wide Santa hat. The real Aztecs might have had to sacrifice a few staff members over the holiday adornment, but there are no reprisals here.
Olé Olé has risen from the ruins of the former Aztec World Café, on the second floor of the Riverfront shopping complex in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The sprawling, 350-seat restaurant has kept much of the café's dramatic decor, including its towering 40-foot ceilings, molded fiberglass likenesses of Aztec and Maya icons and looming columns.
But Olé Olé has also thrown in elements of a light, colorful Tex-Mex cantina atmosphere, adding three pool tables, video games and 22 TVs. The front room looks like the inside of a fish tank, with aquatic murals of lobsters and fish -- wearing hats -- on blue and green walls. A 200-gallon tank holding a live reef system is also displayed.
Olé Olé recently celebrated its third anniversary at Riverfront, but its sister location across from the Broward Mall in Plantation has been open since May '89.
Despite the elaborate Aztec presence at Riverfront, Olé Olé is a fun, family dining choice in an area that tends to lean toward adult patrons. The food isn't outstanding, but most of it is very good; service is young but capable; meals won't bust your budget; and overall, it's a welcome downtown destination whether you're entertaining visitors or out with the kids.
We picked Olé Olé as an inexpensive, convenient dining choice that even our young teen would enjoy before a performance of The Lion King at the nearby Broward Center for the Performing Arts. We tip our sombreros to the staff -- at least our waiter -- for getting us out on time without feeling rushed.
Even if this is your first stop on a night out, consider one of Olé Olé's potent margaritas -- there are at least 20 to choose from, including a popular Golden Margarita ($6) made with Grand Marnier.
We devoured the basket of crisp corn tortillas and refreshing, cilantro-spiked salsa while looking over the menu, a fairly typical selection, ranging from flautas to fajitas. But Olé Olé gets bonus points for using better ingredients like California's Haas avocados (the chunky guacamole is excellent) and real snow and king crab in its nachos, quesadillas and enchiladas, not the norm at inexpensive restaurants. The sweet taste of the crab meat elevates the quesadilla ($9.59), though we'd like a little more, please. The quesadilla gets a kick from sliced poblano peppers.
Nachos are a staple here with chicken, crab, cheese or various combos and if you want grazing food, there are dips and platters like the El Toro ($9.59), with cheese quesadillas, queso dip, chicken nachos and three poppers.
Olé Olé offers six Cuban dishes as well as a full page of Mexican entrees. Bistec de pollo ($10.99) brings fairly thin slices of chicken first prepared in a mojo marinade, then grilled and served with white rice, beans and plantains. The chicken breast could have been pounded thinner, but it's good, basic fare.
We'd probably save the Cuban dishes for our favorite Latin restaurants and concentrate on Tex-Mex dishes here. We liked the shrimp Cancun ($13.99), a large, colorful stir-fry bearing about a dozen shrimp, chopped broccoli, squash and onions tossed with a flavorful rice slow-simmered with onions, tomatoes and spices.
Fajitas arrive sizzling as they should, whether you get shrimp and chicken ($14.99), veggies ($8.99) or pork or steak (either, $11.99), among others. We tried the steak fajita, with sliced flank steak marinaded in a teriyaki-soy sauce base, served with plenty of red and green bell peppers and onions. Stuff your tortilla with guacamole, sour cream, shredded Monterey Jack and perky pico de gallo.
Salads, omelets and ''North of the Border'' items like burgers and grilled chicken sandwich ($5.49-$7.49) round out the menu.
While there are Aztec relics all around, no need to sacrifice when it comes to dessert. Olé Olé serves three desserts, a decadent mud pie, popular fried ice cream (each $5.50) or flan ($4.50) -- light, creamy and oh so civilized.
