I got out of work a bit early on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend so I met up with Josh (who had the whole day off, lucky!) for a leisurely late lunch. I pass Lime Jungle every day on my way to work and it looked like a cute place so we decided to check it out. The restaurant is long and narrow but has a bright and cheerful jungle theme painted on the wall. Since we had a long weekend ahead of us, I was in a celebratory mood and opted to have a frozen strawberry margarita ($6). Unfortunately, this version was pretty artificial tasting and watery, which was disappointing because the restaurant offers many different tequilas and several flavors of margaritas, so I thought it would be one of their specialties.
Sadly watery frozen strawberry margarita
I was craving chili nachos so we ordered nachos with seasoned ground beef. The nachos, served on four large tostadas, are not the messy pile that you find in most restaurants. These were carefully layered with beans, jalapenos and the seasoned ground beef, and then topped off with melted jack and cheddar cheese, lettuce and pico de gallo. Containers of sour cream were offered on the side. The tostadas weren’t sturdy enough to support the weight of the toppings, however, so I ended up eating them with a knife and fork. The flavors were good but the tostadas got soggy very quickly and everything fell apart.
"Nachos" with chili and cheese
We also opted for “Hell’s Kitchen Jalapenos” as our other appetizer. These were jalapeno poppers stuffed with cheddar cheese, breaded and deep fried. They also came with lettuce and pico de gallo, and a sauce that is described as “creamy cilantro” but tasted more like ranch dressing.
"Hell's Kitchen Jalapenos"
These poppers were served hot and crispy but tasted fairly standard.
Jalapeno popper cheesy innards
For our main course, we split an order of chicken fajitas ($9.99). The chicken came on a sizzling platter with grilled onions, peppers and melted cheese.
Chicken fajitas with onions, peppers and cheese
The flour tortillas were served on the side in a wooden salad bowl with lettuce and pico de gallo. We added a small container of guacamole for an extra $1.00. The chicken was tender and the grilled peppers and onions were very fresh tasting. I just wish they gave us more than three small tortillas, as we had a lot more filling left over that we ended up eating with a knife and fork.
Fixings for the chicken fajitas
Overall I found Lime Jungle to have a slightly watered down version of Mexican food (or at least the Americanized version of Mexican food), as I think they try to offer “healthier” options (lots of salads, whole burritos, etc.). The taste of the food was very clean and it was significantly less greasy than some other places; I left feeling full but not disgustingly bloated like I usually do after gorging on nachos and fried foods. But if you’re craving the cheesy/gooey/salty/spicy aspect of Mexican food, this isn’t that kind of place.
Lime Jungle
803 9th Ave. between 53rd and 54th St.
New York, NY
Tags: Mexican, Midtown West