Tin Lizzy’s Cantina, Atlanta GA

Tin Lizzy’s Cantina is the place to go for delicious FlexMex cuisine. No trip to Atlanta is complete without a visit to this Taqueria for a margarita, chips and street tacos!

Last month I went to Atlanta for the Association of Luxury Suite Directors (ALSD) conference. I am no longer working at Oklahoma State, but I still went, “as a fan”. I’ve made some amazing friends through ALSD, and I love Atlanta, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. 

When I travel, I do restaurant research before leaving, so I have a plan of action for each day. However, it’s inevitable that I change my mind a million times when it’s time to eat. Sometimes I get uninspired by my original plan; sometimes my choice is further away than I thought, and sometimes group decisions rule.

The conference was at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta, and began on Sunday evening. A group of us met for lunch earlier in the day, and quickly learned that not much is open downtown on Sundays. We decided on Tin Lizzy’s Cantina because it was the closest, and because they serve cocktails. I prefer not to do blog work when I’m with a group, so even as we ate I knew I had to return.

Tin Lizzy’s first opened in 2005 in Buckhead, a beautiful upscale Atlanta neighborhood. There are now 11 locations throughout Georgia, one in Florida and 2 in South Carolina. One thing I noticed on the location page is “suggest a location”. I’ve never seen that before, but if you’re listening Tin Lizzy’s, come to Oklahoma!!

Tin Lizzy’s is a very fun, eclectic restaurant. It’s also quite spacious, with a large bar in the center that wraps around 2 sides, plus bar top seating and a main dining room to the right of the host stand. The dining room is a combination of booths and tables.

The Tin Lizzy’s menu includes appetizers, soft tacos, signature dishes, salads, sides, drinks, desserts and a kids menu.

I began with a TLC margarita with salt.

The TLC is delicious, strong and smooth. Atlanta law dictates no alcohol sales before 12:30 on Sundays. We had ordered our drinks at 12:20, and our server said he would make sure they dropped at 12:30. And then the bartender didn’t even start making them until 12:35. Fail, but we survived. Tuesday I didn’t have that problem.

I also ordered the Tin Dips. The dip options are salsa, guacamole, and queso. Of course, you can order individual dips. They also offer The Duo or Three Amigos. In the spirit of research, I got the Three Amigos with guacamole, salsa roja, and queso blanco

The chips are thin, crispy, well seasoned, and served warm. I love the presentation of the dips! The Duo is the same design, with 2 bowls instead of 3. The guacamole is made fresh, with chunks of avocado throughout. The queso is warm, gooey, and delicious. The salsa roja is very flavorful and has a slight kick, but I concentrated on the queso and guacamole.

I’m not good with large menus, so of course it took me some time to decide what to order. But while I considered, I took time to enjoy my chips and dips, and my margarita. Finally I decided to try the authentic street tacos. You choose between grilled chicken, carnitas, and grilled steak. I wanted to try one of each but there’s no mix and match option, so I did carnitas. The street tacos come with a side of rice and black beans

I like that they use black beans, rather than the pinto beans you usually get at Mexican restaurants. The beans are well seasoned and perfectly cooked. I usually skip rice at Mexican restaurants because it’s often bland and just adds unnecessary calories. However, I couldn’t stop eating this rice. Just like the beans, the rice is very well seasoned. I mixed them together, and ate the entire bowl.

The street tacos also come with chile de arbol salsa.

Holy hotness! I tried a tiny bite, and my mouth was absolutely on fire. This salsa is one of the options for the Tin Dips, and I can’t even imagine eating this by itself on a chip.

The tacos are fabulous, and the pork is very tender. Portions tend to be smaller with street tacos, but these tacos are generous. I got brave and added a little bit of the chile de arbol to the street tacos. It was still very hot, but added fabulous flavor to the tacos. The chile arbol mixed with salsa roja is a perfect combination to top the street tacos.

I knew I couldn’t let the guacamole go to waste, so I asked for a to-go box for the chips to take them with me. Instead, my server brought me a bag of fresh and still warm chips! I wasn’t hungry at all when I got back to my room, but I couldn’t resist munching on a few chips while they were still warm

Will I go back to Tin Lizzys Cantina? Well, we actually went back Tuesday night after our last conference event! Even though there are thousands of restaurants in Atlanta, Tin Lizzy’s will always be on my list…even if it’s just for margaritas and a Tin Dips for an afternoon snack