Owners serve affordable, homey cuisine

Gilbert Perales and Luis Mendez met 10 years ago while working together at Casita Jorge's. When it closed, the duo took the opportunity to combine their dozens of years of restaurant experience and open Margarita's Mexican Grill last April.

Named after Gilbert's wife, Margarita, who is also a co-owner, the restaurant uses recipes from Mendez's abuelito, which is a name for grandfather in Spanish.

"The nature of the recipes are a mixture of Spanish culture and homemade Mexican," Mendez said.

This isn't the first time Gilbert and Margarita Perales have owned a restaurant. They owned the original Margarita's in Midland for about five years before moving to Austin.

In Midland, they used a spicy New Mexico red sauce that is popular in West Texas and have incorporated that sauce at their Austin restaurant.

Margarita's serves breakfast all day and offers homemade corn and flour tortillas. The restaurant also serves a variety of taco, enchilada and flauta plates. Margarita said customers love the fajitas, which are available in chicken, beef and shrimp.

Keeping prices affordable and portions reasonable is key, Margarita said. Margarita's offers 11 daily lunch specials for $6.29. Lunch options available include carne guisada, which is a dish of beef tips with tomatoes, onions and Anaheim peppers in a brown gravy. Margarita said this is the more traditional way of making carne guisada instead of with a red sauce.

Mendez said he has always had a dream of owning his own Mexican restaurant chain. He said they will focus on growing their customer base.

"We hope to open another restaurant in the future," he said. "Our goal is homemade, very good food for a reasonable price."

Margarita's also serves beer, wine and margaritas. Happy hour is from 3–7 p.m. with $1 off margaritas.

Mendez said the restaurant will start selling bottled margaritas in 2014 to keep with its tradition of serving the best margaritas in Austin.

Margarita's Mexican Grill, 6301 W. Parmer Lane, Ste. A, 512-436-9416, Hours: Mon.–Thu. 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m–10 p.m., closed Sun.