A 20-Year-Old Frozen Margarita Chain Bites the Dust in Las Vegas
Bahama Breeze. | Darden Restaurants The chips, salsa, and slushy margarita era is melting — and Bahama Breeze is the latest casualty First, Margaritaville closed in 2024 on the Las Vegas Strip. Then Señor Frog’s shuttered at Treasure Island. In what seems like a targeted sweep of restaurants known for their chips-and-salsa-with-a-margarita appeal, Bahama Breeze’s parent company is now shuttering 15 locations nationwide — including the island-themed outpost at the Hughes Center in Las Vegas. Bahama Breeze officially closed its Las Vegas location on Thursday, May 15 at 375 Hughes Center Drive, in the same shopping center where the Gordon Birsch Brewery Restaurant closed after 26 years. The restaurant had operated for more than two decades, featuring a vaguely Caribbean theme, indoor-outdoor seating, thatch roof details, and generic island artwork. These kinds of restaurants — fun, boozy, and beachy in a mall-adjacent kind of way — had a heyday in the early 2000s. Think Rainforest Cafe and Joe’s Crab Shack. The combination of affordable meals, drink specials, and breezy Bob Marley covers made them prime picks for family birthday dinners and escapism-seeking tourists. But nationwide, that mass-market appeal of island kitsch — for better or worse — seems to be fading. The Bahama Breeze menu leaned heavily into island-inspired bar bites, with appetizers like coconut shrimp and crispy conch fritters, mains of jerk Jamaican chicken, mahi tacos, and seared snapper topped with mango-avocado salsa. Frozen drinks like piña coladas, margaritas, and mai tais came stacked in tall glasses, layered in slushy swirls, and topped with paper umbrellas. It’s the latest middle-class-friendly national brand to exit the Las Vegas market, on the heels of the mass TGI Fridays exodus. Bahama Breeze’s parent company, Darden Restaurants — which also operates brands like Olive Garden and Yard House — did not respond to a request for comment on the closing. While Caribbean-themed restaurants with high-energy atmospheres and icy margaritas on tap appear to be on their way out, spots like Cabo Wabo Cantina on the Las Vegas Strip and Chili’s remain safe havens for anyone craving a frozen margarita and a place to yap.
Dante Ulanday - News Moderator 
The chips, salsa, and slushy margarita era is melting — and Bahama Breeze is the latest casualty
First, Margaritaville closed in 2024 on the Las Vegas Strip. Then Señor Frog’s shuttered at Treasure Island. In what seems like a targeted sweep of restaurants known for their chips-and-salsa-with-a-margarita appeal, Bahama Breeze’s parent company is now shuttering 15 locations nationwide — including the island-themed outpost at the Hughes Center in Las Vegas.
Bahama Breeze officially closed its Las Vegas location on Thursday, May 15 at 375 Hughes Center Drive, in the same shopping center where the Gordon Birsch Brewery Restaurant closed after 26 years. The restaurant had operated for more than two decades, featuring a vaguely Caribbean theme, indoor-outdoor seating, thatch roof details, and generic island artwork.
These kinds of restaurants — fun, boozy, and beachy in a mall-adjacent kind of way — had a heyday in the early 2000s. Think Rainforest Cafe and Joe’s Crab Shack. The combination of affordable meals, drink specials, and breezy Bob Marley covers made them prime picks for family birthday dinners and escapism-seeking tourists. But nationwide, that mass-market appeal of island kitsch — for better or worse — seems to be fading.
The Bahama Breeze menu leaned heavily into island-inspired bar bites, with appetizers like coconut shrimp and crispy conch fritters, mains of jerk Jamaican chicken, mahi tacos, and seared snapper topped with mango-avocado salsa. Frozen drinks like piña coladas, margaritas, and mai tais came stacked in tall glasses, layered in slushy swirls, and topped with paper umbrellas.
It’s the latest middle-class-friendly national brand to exit the Las Vegas market, on the heels of the mass TGI Fridays exodus. Bahama Breeze’s parent company, Darden Restaurants — which also operates brands like Olive Garden and Yard House — did not respond to a request for comment on the closing. While Caribbean-themed restaurants with high-energy atmospheres and icy margaritas on tap appear to be on their way out, spots like Cabo Wabo Cantina on the Las Vegas Strip and Chili’s remain safe havens for anyone craving a frozen margarita and a place to yap.
