Walking into Margarita Hut, in little Elm, was like wandering into a Jimmy Buffett song. The space was bright and cheery; the walls were decorated with surfboard-shaped beer signs. Behind the bar was a row of frozen margarita machines nestled beneath the fringe of a tiki-style roof.
I settled in among the dressed-down crowd and studied the menu. The margaritas came in four sizes, from 16 ounces to a gallon, and the menu listed fruity flavors with names like Hurricane and Blue Hawaiian. One of the friendly young bartenders came over and explained that the 23 concoctions listed on the back of the menu were customer-created. Since there was no limit on combining flavors, people experimented and made their own mixes. For example, Purple Rain combined Peach Bellini, Hula Punch, and Hypnotic.
“I didn’t realize there’d be such an art to this,” I said.
The bartender smiled brightly. “We encourage creativity.”
As I pondered, two women came in and sent the bartender scampering from machine to machine, filling up 32-ounce jugs with rainbow layers of frozen margarita. She sealed the jugs, and the women took their drinks and disappeared into the night. Brilliantly, Margarita Hut combines a laid-back bar with a margaritas-to-go component—perfect for a place right by Lake Lewisville.
Also, they’re not shy about samples. The bartender let me taste-test Strawberry, Peach Bellini, and Gold Margarita. Then the other bartender came over, guessed my flavors by their colors, and recoiled. “Wait, she didn’t give you Sangria?”
She quickly retrieved a sample of delicious Sangria as well as Hula Punch, which tasted like SweeTarts. And before I knew it, I’d consumed more than enough frozen margarita. But that’s the beauty of Margarita Hut: now I knew which flavor(s) I wanted to take home for later.
