South Beach Grill is a recent addition to the Rancho food scene, taking the place that the popular Ike’s Deli (now called Pocket Deli) once occupied before moving down the street on Sunrise. It is right next door to, the always classy, Pure Gold Showgirls. They opened a while back and I’ve heard from a couple coworkers that the burgers were OK but the tacos were better.
This place really caught me off guard. Look at the exterior, the signage, the colors and style. What do you imagine? I was thinking something along the lines of a beach hut inside. Nope, not even close. It’s a freaking 50’s diner. The weird thing was that I had seen some photos of the inside when I went researching to see if they had salads, and I guess I just didn’t believe what I was seeing and forgot, because she I walked through the door today I was just like “Whoa.”
This place is not really going for the salad crowd. They basically have 2, a Caesar (Romain, cheese, croutons)[$5.29] and a basic Green Salad (spring mix, tomato, cucumber, red onion, cheese, croutons)[$4.99]. They also have a Grilled Chicken Salad that is just the green salad with grilled chicken for $2 more. I went with that, added bacon to it for $2 and finished my order with a soda for $1.79.
I was given a little table number and sat down. There is diamond-plate chromed-out metal all over the place in here. The dining room was pretty busy so I’ll show you the corner where I was sitting which includes a table, the very shiny wall and a classic Coke-themed cooler.
My salad came out in about 7 minutes. It was a decent size and there was a good amount of chicken. Unfortunately the chicken was just a little warm and was on the dry side. The thing I noticed right away was the bacon. I could smell it immediately and it was definitely warm. I have a feeling the salad was ready to go and waiting for the bacon to either be grilled up or nuked before being sent out, hence the lukewarm chicken. The rest of the salad was fine. All the greens seemed pretty fresh. The tomatoes were decent. Maybe could have been a tad riper and juicer. The cucumber chunks were in great supply. I must have eaten at least half a cucumber.
Overall pretty meh. I do definitely want to return to check out a burger or tacos. They do taco Tuesdays for $1 each and come in chicken, carnitas and battered fish (I think that was all I saw, might have been one more option though).
Website: None
(Scanned) Menu: Click Here
Rancho Salads 