Decided to try Cantina for dinner last night and I have to say the overall experience was extremely underwhelming and lacked the polish I expected from its location. I called to place a to go order and the first thing the female employee told me was that they are closing soon. Her tone felt put out to have to take my order. It was 40 minutes to closing time and i was already on my way there, I didn't anticipate a problem ordering. When she started to take my order I had to stop because of the high pitch noise coming from her end of the phone. I ask what the noise was and she giggled and said they are vacuuming right by her and that they were almost done. Eventually they shut off the vacuum and i was able to order. It felt as if the server was occupied elsewhere as there were many times that she would pause and not respond to something that I ordered and I would have to say, "are you there?" and then eventually get a response. Nonetheless, I finished my order she repeated it correctly and we hung up. Upon arriving at the restaurant it was totally different than what I imagined. It feels like a fast casual restaurant where I should order up at the register and pick my own table. The black holders on the table lack elevation and were a big eye sore I couldn't stop looking at. When I walked in there was at least 4 employees in the front of house. They were chatting and casually doing side work. Not one of them welcomed me in or acknowledged me. I walked up to the register and the server there had my boxes of food and still without greeting me opens the boxes and showed me the food. It looked good and she packaged it up. There were no chips and salsa so I ask for those and happily packaged up a really nice size portion and bagged it up for me. It's important to highlight the lack of service in the restaurant. The servers seemed more into their own conversations than helping the guest. The bar and front register area were a wreck, and overall just didn't feel inviting. Then there was the part that was alarming from a health standard. At least three of the servers were chewing gum, let me rephrase that, chomping on gum- opened mouth and totally unacceptable for a restaurant staff member. I also in my short time in the restaurant observe two servers grab plates going out to customers with their thumb in the dish. It made me question the sanitary condition of my food. The only thing that put me at ease with that was that from where I was at I could see into the kitchen and the guys working in there seemed to have a good handle on the food they were working with seemed to be working well together. Not once did I feel the presence of any front of house leadership, and the lack of customer engagement showed that. I ordered the cheese enchiladas for my Dad which he really liked. I ordered them without the black beans and corn inside because he wanted traditional cheese enchiladas and those are a bit too Texmex for him. I had the chicken and steak combo fajitas. The chicken and veggies were good. The steak was cut really large, was tough and after trying two pieces I pushed the remaining off to the side and didnt eat. The rice and beans were good and it came with plenty flour tortillas. I don't think it's a total loss cause, but I think that the leadership in the restaurant need to urgently work on Elevating the areas mentioned and probably need to spend more time on the floor demonstrating and coaching to a hyper focused guest experience that hits all areas of the restaurant. I'd be open to trying it out again and might even try dining in, I just hope that there would be noticeable changes in the overall environment in the restaurant during that visit.
Ann F M.
Service is terrible food just ok. Hours of operation sporadic. Woulld do zero if possible
Julia H.
The food is awesome! A little disappointed that a refill of chips and salsa was an additional charge. The service was slow, but it was a Saturday evening. The margaritas are decent, tasty and very refreshing! I probably would have ordered another drink if I had chips to munch on until our food came. We ordered the trio fajitas! They are so "delicious"and there was enough for two people! However the rice and beans were portions for children. We just ordered extra. Ok this was out of their control, but let your guest know that you will be fighting off flies if you eat outside! It was really bad. We saw several people leave before being served. Overall it's a charming place and so close, you can't beat that!! Please go if you haven't already been...sit inside for your first experience!!!
Mike Roberts
I have been there many times and it has been wonderful. No wating to speak of, quality food, unique menu, reasonable prices. Love it!
Shyanne Grabowski
The food was so good and the suvers are amazing.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mary Trujillo
Delicious food, great service and a relaxing atmosphere. I will definitely be back soon!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Max Ambrosio
What a waisted opportunity this place is.The most mismanaged restaurant in the valley.Young waiters semi clueless in what they do.40 min waiting just for water and chips. Trying to go to the counter to ask why and not even an eye contact.We left, too upsetting. Please sell these restaurants to those who can manage.Always out of food, always out of help.The irony is that the food is good.You can be a good cook but a bad entrepreneur.That’s the case..
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 1
Theresa Donovan
Beans undercooked and very small amount if carne asada which was very grisly.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Kevin J.
Good food. Great atmosphere. Sit on the deck for a great experience. they have a pretty wide variety of food, I am not a Mexican food fan, but there's always something for me to eat. The atmosphere outside is awesome, the service is friendly and fairly fast. I have lived in Estrella for seven years and I've eaten there at least 25 times. You will love it.
Jan Leonardo
They were a little short handed. But food was
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Shrimp Tacos Special, Fish Tacos
Took 2 hours to get our food. Place is super loud with bar inside. They ran out of beans we told, that's why it took so long. Over priced, slow service and just loud. Always under staffed.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
Jane Q.
We've not been to the Cantina in many months and had looked forward to it! The setting was as beautiful and serene as always, and our server, Jackie, was the best! Now if the rest of our experience matched those two things......drinks were okay, kind of sweet, no tequila taste and very expensive. My quesadilla was so underdone that it was sitting in a steamy puddle of water. Had to look hard for the chicken in it after I wiped off the soggy tortilla. Pico served with it was good but barely 2 tablespoons of it! Enchilada was tasty, according to my husband, but so so so small! The beef Ramen left something to be desired. It was full of birria-great!-but little else. It needed more mexican flavor and perhaps a ramen egg? I have to say we left disappointed. I so wanted to love a place in our neighborhood but am not sure at this point.
Delilah W.
The food was great and our server was even better! Nikky really made our experience one to remember. She was kind and extremely knowledgeable on the menu and its items. My wife had questions about the shrimp tacos ans she couldn't have been more clear in her answer. We couldn't be happier with our experience. We definitely will be coming back for future date nights.
J.R. Hayes II
Fast and excellent service, with really tasty selections for all!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Street Tacos
Carl G.
Went for happy hour. Even with discounts til 5pm it is overpriced. $13.95 for a very small dish of guacamole with chips. Quesadilla had a little cheese. It came with a container of pico de gallo, a little larger than a thimbleful for 4 slices of quesadilla. We had guests from out of town, it was our first time there and will not return. We were going to order dinner but with the experience we had, we went elsewhere for dinner. It could be such a great place with better food and reasonable prices!
Decided to try Cantina for dinner last night and I have to say the overall experience was extremely underwhelming and lacked the polish I expected from its location. I called to place a to go order and the first thing the female employee told me was that they are closing soon. Her tone felt put out to have to take my order. It was 40 minutes to closing time and i was already on my way there, I didn't anticipate a problem ordering. When she started to take my order I had to stop because of the high pitch noise coming from her end of the phone. I ask what the noise was and she giggled and said they are vacuuming right by her and that they were almost done. Eventually they shut off the vacuum and i was able to order. It felt as if the server was occupied elsewhere as there were many times that she would pause and not respond to something that I ordered and I would have to say, "are you there?" and then eventually get a response. Nonetheless, I finished my order she repeated it correctly and we hung up. Upon arriving at the restaurant it was totally different than what I imagined. It feels like a fast casual restaurant where I should order up at the register and pick my own table. The black holders on the table lack elevation and were a big eye sore I couldn't stop looking at. When I walked in there was at least 4 employees in the front of house. They were chatting and casually doing side work. Not one of them welcomed me in or acknowledged me. I walked up to the register and the server there had my boxes of food and still without greeting me opens the boxes and showed me the food. It looked good and she packaged it up. There were no chips and salsa so I ask for those and happily packaged up a really nice size portion and bagged it up for me. It's important to highlight the lack of service in the restaurant. The servers seemed more into their own conversations than helping the guest. The bar and front register area were a wreck, and overall just didn't feel inviting. Then there was the part that was alarming from a health standard. At least three of the servers were chewing gum, let me rephrase that, chomping on gum- opened mouth and totally unacceptable for a restaurant staff member. I also in my short time in the restaurant observe two servers grab plates going out to customers with their thumb in the dish. It made me question the sanitary condition of my food. The only thing that put me at ease with that was that from where I was at I could see into the kitchen and the guys working in there seemed to have a good handle on the food they were working with seemed to be working well together. Not once did I feel the presence of any front of house leadership, and the lack of customer engagement showed that. I ordered the cheese enchiladas for my Dad which he really liked. I ordered them without the black beans and corn inside because he wanted traditional cheese enchiladas and those are a bit too Texmex for him. I had the chicken and steak combo fajitas. The chicken and veggies were good. The steak was cut really large, was tough and after trying two pieces I pushed the remaining off to the side and didnt eat. The rice and beans were good and it came with plenty flour tortillas. I don't think it's a total loss cause, but I think that the leadership in the restaurant need to urgently work on Elevating the areas mentioned and probably need to spend more time on the floor demonstrating and coaching to a hyper focused guest experience that hits all areas of the restaurant. I'd be open to trying it out again and might even try dining in, I just hope that there would be noticeable changes in the overall environment in the restaurant during that visit.
Service is terrible food just ok. Hours of operation sporadic. Woulld do zero if possible
The food is awesome! A little disappointed that a refill of chips and salsa was an additional charge. The service was slow, but it was a Saturday evening. The margaritas are decent, tasty and very refreshing! I probably would have ordered another drink if I had chips to munch on until our food came. We ordered the trio fajitas! They are so "delicious"and there was enough for two people! However the rice and beans were portions for children. We just ordered extra. Ok this was out of their control, but let your guest know that you will be fighting off flies if you eat outside! It was really bad. We saw several people leave before being served. Overall it's a charming place and so close, you can't beat that!! Please go if you haven't already been...sit inside for your first experience!!!
I have been there many times and it has been wonderful. No wating to speak of, quality food, unique menu, reasonable prices. Love it!
The food was so good and the suvers are amazing.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Delicious food, great service and a relaxing atmosphere. I will definitely be back soon!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
What a waisted opportunity this place is.The most mismanaged restaurant in the valley.Young waiters semi clueless in what they do.40 min waiting just for water and chips. Trying to go to the counter to ask why and not even an eye contact.We left, too upsetting. Please sell these restaurants to those who can manage.Always out of food, always out of help.The irony is that the food is good.You can be a good cook but a bad entrepreneur.That’s the case..
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 1
Beans undercooked and very small amount if carne asada which was very grisly.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 3
Good food. Great atmosphere. Sit on the deck for a great experience. they have a pretty wide variety of food, I am not a Mexican food fan, but there's always something for me to eat. The atmosphere outside is awesome, the service is friendly and fairly fast. I have lived in Estrella for seven years and I've eaten there at least 25 times. You will love it.
They were a little short handed. But food was
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Shrimp Tacos Special, Fish Tacos
Restaurantji Recommends
Took 2 hours to get our food. Place is super loud with bar inside. They ran out of beans we told, that's why it took so long. Over priced, slow service and just loud. Always under staffed.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
We've not been to the Cantina in many months and had looked forward to it! The setting was as beautiful and serene as always, and our server, Jackie, was the best! Now if the rest of our experience matched those two things......drinks were okay, kind of sweet, no tequila taste and very expensive. My quesadilla was so underdone that it was sitting in a steamy puddle of water. Had to look hard for the chicken in it after I wiped off the soggy tortilla. Pico served with it was good but barely 2 tablespoons of it! Enchilada was tasty, according to my husband, but so so so small! The beef Ramen left something to be desired. It was full of birria-great!-but little else. It needed more mexican flavor and perhaps a ramen egg? I have to say we left disappointed. I so wanted to love a place in our neighborhood but am not sure at this point.
The food was great and our server was even better! Nikky really made our experience one to remember. She was kind and extremely knowledgeable on the menu and its items. My wife had questions about the shrimp tacos ans she couldn't have been more clear in her answer. We couldn't be happier with our experience. We definitely will be coming back for future date nights.
Fast and excellent service, with really tasty selections for all!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Street Tacos
Went for happy hour. Even with discounts til 5pm it is overpriced. $13.95 for a very small dish of guacamole with chips. Quesadilla had a little cheese. It came with a container of pico de gallo, a little larger than a thimbleful for 4 slices of quesadilla. We had guests from out of town, it was our first time there and will not return. We were going to order dinner but with the experience we had, we went elsewhere for dinner. It could be such a great place with better food and reasonable prices!