REVIEW: As If You Need ANOTHER Reason to Visit EPCOT’s Mexico Pavilion

What happens when you take one of the best World Showcase pavilions for food and drinks and add even MORE delicious creations?

Mexico pavilion

We’re about to find out! We’re at EPCOT’s 2022 International Flower & Garden Festival today to see the impressive character topiaries, check out gardens inspired by locations around the world, and (most importantly) eat all kinds of snacks! Right now, we’re heading to a popular Outdoor Kitchen (that’s what the food booths are called at this festival) to see how the NEW eats and drinks measure up.

Did you already guess which booth we’re visiting next? It’s Jardin de Fiestas, which is located right before the Mexico pavilion!

2021 Booth

In the past, this spot has had some delicious snacks and even better drinks. There are a few brand-new items here, so let’s take a look!

Menu

Several of the items on the menu at Jardin de Fiestas are marked as new to this year’s festival, but a couple of them might sound a little bit familiar.

A look at this year’s menu!

For example, do you see the Tostada de Chorizo on there? That dish IS new to the Flower & Garden Festival, but it’s been available at the Festival of the Holidays (which takes place in November and December) for the last couple of years. The Taco Vampiro was on the menu at this booth during last year’s Flower & Garden, but it has some new ingredients this year.

We’re ready to eaaaat

But don’t get too distracted by the food here — this booth is also known for its delicious drinks, and there are a couple of new options on the menu. We’re going to try out a couple of margaritas and ALL the snacks on this menu!

Food

We got ALL of the food at this booth, as well as both margaritas!

Let’s get to tasting!

Jardin de Fiestas Spread

First up, we’re trying out the new Enchilada de Mole Negro, which is made with Chipotle chicken in a corn tortilla with mole negro, avocado mousse, crema Mexicana, and queso fresco.

This looks promising!

This option is $7.50 and is also gluten- and wheat-friendly. In fact, all of the food at this booth this year is gluten- and wheat-friendly!

So colorful!

The mole itself has a sweetness to it that’s almost similar to a stereotypical barbecue sauce, but it does have a little kick! The queso is super creamy and a perfect contrast to the spiciness and sweetness of the mole.

Enchilada de Mole Negro

You can’t really taste much from the avocado mousse, but we did detect a bit of garlic flavor from it. The chicken inside the enchilada is slightly spicy, but not overpowering. It is again balanced out by that queso!

Very tasty!

The chicken is very tender as well, and we love the corn tortilla used here because it adds another whole layer of flavor. All of these flavors combine together beautifully to make a delicious dish!

We recommend!

Next is the Taco Vampiro, which was on the menu at last year’s festival. This one is a little different, with Barbacoa beef instead of braised beef. The beef is inside a corn tortilla with crispy grilled Monterey Jack cheese, salsa ranchera, and esquites. You can get this dish for $8.

YUM

This thing is SO GOOD. The outside of the taco shell has that Monterey Jack cheese and it’s crisped up to add some nice texture. It’s lying on top of that salsa ranchera, which is quite acidic, but it’s great to cut through the richness of that cheese!

Taco Vampiro

The beef inside the taco doesn’t have a ton of flavor, but you can tell that it’s been seasoned well. So it’s not bland, just nothing extraordinary. But that’s okay, because the rest of the dish has a lot of flavor!

An A+ taco

It also comes with some corn on the side that’s in sort of a mayo-like sauce and toped with queso fresco. We didn’t think the corn really went with the taco, but it was tasty — it had a nice sweetness to it. If you don’t want to eat a whole ear of corn, this is a good option to have because you still get a decent amount!

A little side of corn

We’re finishing up our snacks with the Tostada de Chorizo, which has one BIG difference from the version of this dish that we’ve seen at Festival of the Holidays — the chorizo is plant-based! The plant-based chorizo is served with black beans, avocado mousse, and queso fresco on a crispy corn tortilla. It’s available for $7.75.

Okay, this looks fun!

This tostada is absolutely delicious! The black beans on their own have a bit of a lime flavor to them, and then the plant-based chorizo is topped with some queso fresco. Note that this is vegetarian friendly, but not vegan friendly due to the cheese.

You’re going to have to pick this one up to eat it!

The chorizo doesn’t necessarily taste like meat, but it does have a lot of spice in it to give it good flavor. The beans also moisten up the fried tortilla on the bottom and you can really taste the fresh chilis!

Dig in!

The avocado mousse also helps to cool everything down and goes well with the other flavors. This whole thing reminded us a bit of the Mexican pizzas from Taco Bell — in a good way!

Drinks

Jardin de Fiestas has tasty snacks, but a lot of people really visit this booth for the unique margaritas! This year, there are a couple of new margaritas on the menu. The Poppy Flower Margarita has Tequila Blanco, hibiscus flower tea, cucumber juice, aperitivo, and blackcurrant liqueur with a chile salt rim. You can get one for $13.75.

Poppy Flower Margarita

You can really taste the freshness of the cucumber juice in this marg! And, the hibiscus tea adds some nice floral notes on the backend.

The tequila flavor is very well balanced with the rest of the drink. The consistency is similar to a juice.

This one is easy to sip on!

We think the salt on the rim could have been a bit spicier, but overall, this margarita is extremely refreshing, well balanced, and has fun flavors.

A unique offering!

The next new drink is the Hypnotic Margarita, which has Tequila Blanco, mezcal, rosemary syrup, cognac, and lemon juice. This one is available for $14.25.

Hypnotic Margarita

This drink is very sweet and very tequila forward. It tastes strongly of alcohol, so if you don’t like the flavor of tequila, this is not for you!

This aftertaste of this drink reminded us a bit of cough syrup, it was thick and could use with some more lemon juice or other acidity to brighten it up a little.

Just slightly too sweet for us

You also can definitely taste the rosemary in this drink, but it’s not overpowering! If you like sweeter margaritas, you might enjoy this one.

Hypnotic Marg

Note that Craft Mexican Lager is also available at this spot for $5 for 6 oz. and $10 for 12 oz.

Overall

If you’re going to Jardin de Fiestas during this festival (and we really think you should!) don’t miss out on any of those food items — they’re all very tasty! And, the Poppy Flower Margarita is fun and fresh over here, so it’s a change of pace compared to the frozen strawberry ones you can get elsewhere in the Mexico pavilion.

Keep following DFB, because we’re trying out ALL the new items (as well as some returning offerings) at this year’s Flower & Garden Festival in EPCOT! Stay tuned for more full reviews.

Click here to see all the booths and menus for the 2022 Flower & Garden Festival in EPCOT.

Click HERE to See All the Updated Details for EPCOT’s 2022 International Flower and Garden Festival!

Ready to Plan for Your 2022 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival Trip?


Order the DFB Guide to the 2022 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival e-Book today! This 200+ page guide to the Festival offers insider tips and advice as well as all of the details you need to know to plan your best Festival visit ever.

Your purchase includes several bonus items as well — including a full daily schedule of events at the Festival and a printable Outdoor Kitchens Booth Menu Checklist to carry with you as you Eat around the World!

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