Saved By The Happy Hour Bell: Chili's New Margarita Of The Month Sends Us Back To The '90s
Grab your oversized '90s Champion crewneck; we're headed to Chili's for May's all-new Margarita of the Month: The Radical 'Rita. With a campaign launched by none other than "Saved By The Bell" star Tiffany Thiessen — aka Bayside High's fluffy-haired heartbreaker, Kelly Kapowski — the spot best known for baby back ribs offers fans a trip back in time for just $6. (Watch out for those zany 1990s squiggles — they were invented before we had personal space.)
Leave it to the casual restaurant chain turning over tons of tequila to mix a totally tubular marg that's packed with some seriously premium ingredients. Chili's Radical 'Rita features Lunazul Tequila Blanco, pink Monin dragon fruit syrup, a citrusy blue curaçao float, house-made sour mix, and a lime wedge — plus a dope '90s-style swizzle stick. But it's not just for looks; stir your pink and blue cocktail into a color-changing purple one faster than you can say "Talk to the hand" (and order another).
IRL, Thiessen actually loves a good marg — and has a certain soft spot for the neighborhood restaurant, too. "Everyone knows me from my days on America's favorite '90s sitcom, but what they might not know is that I also love a great margarita," she shared in a statement. "And some of my favorite early memories with my husband were made at Chili's." Unless you're in the only U.S. state without a Chili's, get your Radical 'Rita on while you can; unlike Zack and Kelly, May's Margarita of the Month won't last forever.
The '90s takeover we didn't know we needed
The decade that burned grunge, Dunkaroos, and dELiA*s baby tees onto our collective brains is back on the menu for 2025. And as far as some of your favorite food and restaurant brands are concerned, it's all about nostalgia, nostalgia, nostalgia — or, sorry, "nowstalgia." You're not just imagining that it's all Funfetti all the time and that everything from Golden Oreo Cakesters to Jell-O pudding cups are getting a reboot.
You don't even have to remember the '90s to fall for a sentimental snack from the era. Experience someone else's childhood chimichangas at a newly reopened Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant, freshly revived from decades of extinction. Maybe your grandma didn't cook, but you can eat like she did with hot '90s trends like sun-dried tomato pasta dishes and ridiculously gooey molten lava cakes making their stunning return to regular rotation. They may be made with plant-based, vegan, sustainably harvested, non-GMO Malk, but those big, beautiful ice cream sandwiches you remember holding with two hands as a kid? They're back, too. Even if it's all just an elaborate plan to distract us from the early-aughts low-rise jeans that have also snuck back into fashion — by Xtina Aguilera, it's working.
Honestly, we're still waiting for the original '90s-style Chili's Chicken Crispers to come back, but unless it's a $6 Radical 'Rita, you can't always get what you want. As if! (Just pass the Chili's chips and salsa-ranch and let us eat our feelings.)