I am an avid yelp user solely because I LOVE getting to leave positive reviews & support small businesses/chains, but I had the most frustrating experience at C3 yesterday. My friend was visiting from out of town so I obviously had to introduce her to Cactus - and made the god awful decision of taking her to 3 instead of 1 because it was incrementally closer. We were one of two customers in the restaurant, and sat for over two hours waiting for food/ drinks / the check. Our server checked on us twice in that time period. Despite being one of two customers there, they managed to mess up ALL of our orders, which led to us befriending the other understandably upset table of paying customers. Obviously I'm not expecting Michelin star quality from Cactus, but my food was cold and the rice was so salty it was quite literally inedible. I made my friend (who had already eaten) try some just to understand my disgust. I will give them credit that after I expressed my frustrations to the manager they cut our bill in half, which was greatly appreciated. I believe they refunded the other table too. I work in elementary Ed and she is a CNA, so I'd like to believe we have a lot of patience, empathy and respect for service workers, but I was super disappointed by this experience & I hope this is a good learning experience for their staff and management, especially considering they made no!! money!! after having to refund all of us for how god awful the experience and food was.
Dustin Quam
Great food and service! Made for a lovely evening, thank you!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa, Chips
Dita Hotic
Worst Mexican restaurant I have visited. Went there with my family of 4, only one other table was full when we arrived. Our table was sticky and dirty. Waitress took so long to come to our table and even take our drink order. My daughters steak dish could barely be cut into it was like rubber. My husbands chicken and rice dish came on a tiny side plate and then he found a hair in it so he couldn’t even eat it. Ordered cactus shots which there is a huge sign for outside stating they were $3 due to it being a game day, however they charged us an extra $2. The queso had the weirdest after taste I have ever tasted, and the chips were completely stale. I ordered just a cheese quesadilla as I was nervous ordering anything else after the experience up to that point. It was a cold store bought tortilla with cheese that had gotten hard as it must have been sitting there for so long. Literally two pieces (one small quesadilla folded in half) I did not eat it as it was not even edible. A large group came in after us and they sat them down at a table literally blocking our booth it was so close to us that we could not even carry on a conversation because the noise of their larger table completely made it impossible. Not sure why they were sat next to us when the entire place was empty. As I said, the absolute worst thing experience. Go literally anywhere else and avoid at all costs.**Editing to add that the waitress working that day saw my review, found me on facebook, wrote me a snarky rude message on Fb messenger, and blocked me immediately after. Further confirming how unprofessional this place is. Very off putting and I am astonished their employees are allowed to harass customers because they had a negative experience at this establishment. Wow.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Cole Ulbricht
I’ve never written a review before but I really needed to let people know this is the absolute worst Mexican food I’ve ever had.
Rhonda Westaway
I'm really impressed by the food and the service at Cactus 3!!!!! Best Mexican food in Iowa City. They made my order just how I wanted it!!! I will be back for sure!!!!
Luke A.
Brought my 11 year old son here and we both ordered a grande gold margarita. I love how family friendly this place is. Never an issue getting my little one a beverage. Even was able to get the kid's margarita in a sippy cup. The hospitality here is unbeatable. The shrimp fajitas gave me giardia once so probably would not recommend that but Cactus definitely deserves 5 stars for the child-friendly service.
Zaden Issah
I've eaten here in the past and things were adequate, but boy tonight really pushed that to bad. I sat down and was given a menu. When I said I wanted the Pollo en chipotle and pointed to it on the menu, my server said he needed to check if they had it.He then disappeared to the kitchen and despite my attemps to flag him and other staff down did not approach my table until my food ,that was never confirmed to be avaliable, was ready.In that time I never received a drink, chips, or even silverware despite other patrons getting them. I tried fixing this by flagging someone down. But no one noticed and I didn't feel it should be necessary for me to get up to the bar where the servers were congregated, or to shout across the restaurant.Eventually to my surprise food arrived. But not what I ordered, the menu item one above what I had pointed to on the menu, which i only knew because they never took it from me. An honest mistake but taken with everything else and how hungry I was I just ate it. After I finally flagged someone else down to get silverware as none was provided with my food.Once I was finally done eating I asked for the check. When my server delivered it the total was 10 dollars and some change. I handed him a 20 and was asked how much I'd like back. I considered the question as at this point I thought about not tipping at all. But I said I'd like 7 dollars back. Leaving approximately 2.50 as a tip or about 20-25% which I felt was more than fair. He apparently thought I meant he could keep 7 dollars (a 70% tip, which would be more than i would give for good service), as he gave me 4 and then walked back to the bar. I followed asked for the rest of my money and left.It was around 10:30pm when I came in and there was loud music playing. So I have to assume that was maybe part of the utter lack of understanding of what I was saying but I can say that if I didn't get off work late enough where they're one of the only places open I wouldn't ever go again. Even with that in mind I'll probably never go again. Unless your going to drink I'd say it's not worth going.Tldr; horrible service, reasonable price, bad atmosphere, decent food.
Emma Rose
Really yummy, good service and an overall great experience with my friend from Egypt.
kylie lynn
got chips and guacamole to go they gave me my guac in a raminken and somehow the total was 9.54 I CANNOT also the chips were cardboard
Bro this place is so bad. The food is actually pretty bad and the temp in here is so bipolar. Dry chicken, hardly got what I ordered. My stomach is already churning I've had four bites. The water is the best part of this meal. They really got burnt ends on my taco's chicken. These meals should cost CACTUS, not customers. If you came here to eat, you're wrong this is more a drunk place if anything.
Brandon Yeater
A 14 year old drunk off two shots of fireball asked for our order 4 times and kept losing his paper. Good time
Louie Brigl
The only good thing is our waitress was very nice!We ordered and got another people's food. Then they brought us our orders, my steak burrito and steak enchilada were both ground beef. Red sauce instead of green. All the food was cold, rice was crunchy. They also gave me a cheese enchilada instead of chicken. Kind of annoying. Also got the toppings wrong. The waitress said the manager was running the kitchen, which made a lot of sense. All the food was wrong and I was sick of hassling my waitress to fix the messed up stuff.Finally my bill! I got charged $12.15 instead of the $9.25 I was supposed to be charged for the Sunday special. I was so sick of working with the waitress to fix stuff I just gave her a twenty and asked for change. She brought me $7.00. My girlfriend and I were so done we just walked out and laughed about everything on the way to the car.It was straight up comically bad. Wrong food, bad food, wrong bill, wrong change. The worst service I have ever had, it was lowkey impressive how bad it was.
Dylan Miller
As a man who has been to restaurants and worked in customer service I will say this: In my experience the one redeeming quality they have is they make a pretty good burrito but with every bread comes butter. When I was there on my birthday in the evening it was loud and chaotic. In a town full of youngsters they give you a free shot on your birthday if your over 21 wile your surrounded by under age drinkers. The only reason I came back during lunch next year is because they don’t have a lot of restaurants with burritos in Iowa city and when I did I had to get the severs attention when he was slacking of and flirting with a group of girls who were like literally the only people who were there. And when I did he came up with the worst cover story I’ve heard saying he was tired that morning and had to get up early. I had to get his attention again when I was done eating. he was joking and swearing with the same group. His cover story did not change when he came to collect my payment and it was pretty obvious that he had four hours to drink coffee when he arrived to work.
I am an avid yelp user solely because I LOVE getting to leave positive reviews & support small businesses/chains, but I had the most frustrating experience at C3 yesterday. My friend was visiting from out of town so I obviously had to introduce her to Cactus - and made the god awful decision of taking her to 3 instead of 1 because it was incrementally closer. We were one of two customers in the restaurant, and sat for over two hours waiting for food/ drinks / the check. Our server checked on us twice in that time period. Despite being one of two customers there, they managed to mess up ALL of our orders, which led to us befriending the other understandably upset table of paying customers. Obviously I'm not expecting Michelin star quality from Cactus, but my food was cold and the rice was so salty it was quite literally inedible. I made my friend (who had already eaten) try some just to understand my disgust. I will give them credit that after I expressed my frustrations to the manager they cut our bill in half, which was greatly appreciated. I believe they refunded the other table too. I work in elementary Ed and she is a CNA, so I'd like to believe we have a lot of patience, empathy and respect for service workers, but I was super disappointed by this experience & I hope this is a good learning experience for their staff and management, especially considering they made no!! money!! after having to refund all of us for how god awful the experience and food was.
Great food and service! Made for a lovely evening, thank you!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chips and Salsa, Chips
Worst Mexican restaurant I have visited. Went there with my family of 4, only one other table was full when we arrived. Our table was sticky and dirty. Waitress took so long to come to our table and even take our drink order. My daughters steak dish could barely be cut into it was like rubber. My husbands chicken and rice dish came on a tiny side plate and then he found a hair in it so he couldn’t even eat it. Ordered cactus shots which there is a huge sign for outside stating they were $3 due to it being a game day, however they charged us an extra $2. The queso had the weirdest after taste I have ever tasted, and the chips were completely stale. I ordered just a cheese quesadilla as I was nervous ordering anything else after the experience up to that point. It was a cold store bought tortilla with cheese that had gotten hard as it must have been sitting there for so long. Literally two pieces (one small quesadilla folded in half) I did not eat it as it was not even edible. A large group came in after us and they sat them down at a table literally blocking our booth it was so close to us that we could not even carry on a conversation because the noise of their larger table completely made it impossible. Not sure why they were sat next to us when the entire place was empty. As I said, the absolute worst thing experience. Go literally anywhere else and avoid at all costs.**Editing to add that the waitress working that day saw my review, found me on facebook, wrote me a snarky rude message on Fb messenger, and blocked me immediately after. Further confirming how unprofessional this place is. Very off putting and I am astonished their employees are allowed to harass customers because they had a negative experience at this establishment. Wow.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
I’ve never written a review before but I really needed to let people know this is the absolute worst Mexican food I’ve ever had.
I'm really impressed by the food and the service at Cactus 3!!!!! Best Mexican food in Iowa City. They made my order just how I wanted it!!! I will be back for sure!!!!
Brought my 11 year old son here and we both ordered a grande gold margarita. I love how family friendly this place is. Never an issue getting my little one a beverage. Even was able to get the kid's margarita in a sippy cup. The hospitality here is unbeatable. The shrimp fajitas gave me giardia once so probably would not recommend that but Cactus definitely deserves 5 stars for the child-friendly service.
I've eaten here in the past and things were adequate, but boy tonight really pushed that to bad. I sat down and was given a menu. When I said I wanted the Pollo en chipotle and pointed to it on the menu, my server said he needed to check if they had it.He then disappeared to the kitchen and despite my attemps to flag him and other staff down did not approach my table until my food ,that was never confirmed to be avaliable, was ready.In that time I never received a drink, chips, or even silverware despite other patrons getting them. I tried fixing this by flagging someone down. But no one noticed and I didn't feel it should be necessary for me to get up to the bar where the servers were congregated, or to shout across the restaurant.Eventually to my surprise food arrived. But not what I ordered, the menu item one above what I had pointed to on the menu, which i only knew because they never took it from me. An honest mistake but taken with everything else and how hungry I was I just ate it. After I finally flagged someone else down to get silverware as none was provided with my food.Once I was finally done eating I asked for the check. When my server delivered it the total was 10 dollars and some change. I handed him a 20 and was asked how much I'd like back. I considered the question as at this point I thought about not tipping at all. But I said I'd like 7 dollars back. Leaving approximately 2.50 as a tip or about 20-25% which I felt was more than fair. He apparently thought I meant he could keep 7 dollars (a 70% tip, which would be more than i would give for good service), as he gave me 4 and then walked back to the bar. I followed asked for the rest of my money and left.It was around 10:30pm when I came in and there was loud music playing. So I have to assume that was maybe part of the utter lack of understanding of what I was saying but I can say that if I didn't get off work late enough where they're one of the only places open I wouldn't ever go again. Even with that in mind I'll probably never go again. Unless your going to drink I'd say it's not worth going.Tldr; horrible service, reasonable price, bad atmosphere, decent food.
Really yummy, good service and an overall great experience with my friend from Egypt.
got chips and guacamole to go they gave me my guac in a raminken and somehow the total was 9.54 I CANNOT also the chips were cardboard
Food was delicious!!
Restaurantji Recommends
Food liquor friendly staff.
Bro this place is so bad. The food is actually pretty bad and the temp in here is so bipolar. Dry chicken, hardly got what I ordered. My stomach is already churning I've had four bites. The water is the best part of this meal. They really got burnt ends on my taco's chicken. These meals should cost CACTUS, not customers. If you came here to eat, you're wrong this is more a drunk place if anything.
A 14 year old drunk off two shots of fireball asked for our order 4 times and kept losing his paper. Good time
The only good thing is our waitress was very nice!We ordered and got another people's food. Then they brought us our orders, my steak burrito and steak enchilada were both ground beef. Red sauce instead of green. All the food was cold, rice was crunchy. They also gave me a cheese enchilada instead of chicken. Kind of annoying. Also got the toppings wrong. The waitress said the manager was running the kitchen, which made a lot of sense. All the food was wrong and I was sick of hassling my waitress to fix the messed up stuff.Finally my bill! I got charged $12.15 instead of the $9.25 I was supposed to be charged for the Sunday special. I was so sick of working with the waitress to fix stuff I just gave her a twenty and asked for change. She brought me $7.00. My girlfriend and I were so done we just walked out and laughed about everything on the way to the car.It was straight up comically bad. Wrong food, bad food, wrong bill, wrong change. The worst service I have ever had, it was lowkey impressive how bad it was.
As a man who has been to restaurants and worked in customer service I will say this: In my experience the one redeeming quality they have is they make a pretty good burrito but with every bread comes butter. When I was there on my birthday in the evening it was loud and chaotic. In a town full of youngsters they give you a free shot on your birthday if your over 21 wile your surrounded by under age drinkers. The only reason I came back during lunch next year is because they don’t have a lot of restaurants with burritos in Iowa city and when I did I had to get the severs attention when he was slacking of and flirting with a group of girls who were like literally the only people who were there. And when I did he came up with the worst cover story I’ve heard saying he was tired that morning and had to get up early. I had to get his attention again when I was done eating. he was joking and swearing with the same group. His cover story did not change when he came to collect my payment and it was pretty obvious that he had four hours to drink coffee when he arrived to work.