Salsa’s Mexican Grill & Cantina

I really like the location and the space-​pleasant and attentive staff. The drawback is just like most midlevel places-​inconsistent as heck. Time from sit to order is good. Time from order to food seems entirely random. I’ve had two or three great dishes and two that might as well have been from a cafeteria. In sum, I’ll keep eating here but won’t recommend it much.

This was my first visit here. It was so clean. The host staff greeted me with a smile and was seated quickly without delay. I had the chicken burritos it was superior to any I’ve eaten in Texas. The enchilada plate was eaten by my guest it was great. Our server was Daniel and he checked back at our table frequently and was very kind and helpful with the menu questions we had on the beginning. He did not try to rush us. He made us feel welcome. He offered refills and it seemed like he enjoyed his job. He told us about other locations also. Our dining experience was excellent and we will be back. Hopefully you will try them. Looked like they had a great bar if you are a drinker. Btw we received our food correctly and fast as lighting bolts

Just ordinary food, nothing special to make you return.

We love their mole sauce on any of their dishes. The fajitas are delicious with home made tortillas. We have never had a bad meal here and come often. Great Servive, fresh food for a very reasonable price

Worse service that we have experienced in a long time. We came in for lunch and we’re one of maybe 3 other tables. After a long wait to order it took almost 40 minutes to bring our food. We were a party of 2. Once the food came it was bland. We would have been better served to eat at taco bell. We will not be back.

Had this place for the first time today and I was very pleased! Ordered the bean and cheese nachos and avocado tacos. Food came out fast and full of flavor. Service was great too. I will def. be back.

Update to my 1^st review… The owner was kind enough to respond to my concerns and provide an update to Salsa’s recent improvements. As a result… upon my return visit I was impressed with the food and extremely friendly staff. Enjoyed their lunch beef fajitas and frozen margarita. Will certainly return again for their happy hour.

The food we ordered came out in less than three minutes and the cheese wasn’t even melted in the enchilada. So, now we wonder if anything is actually fresh or fully cooked. The spinach and mushroom enchilada didn’t have mushrooms. The taco was so soggy that it fell apart the first time we picked it up. But before all of that, we inquired about a Mexican Martini. The waiter said he doesn’t drink so he wouldn’t know if it was good or not. Not drinking is completely fine, but he easily could have let us know what was popular with the guests that frequented this establishment. Instead there was zero follow up or answers. So, we ended up with water and regretting this visit to this terrible restaurant.
Do NOT visit this restaurant if you expected fresh and properly prepared Mexican cuisine. This is a definite SKIP if you live in Lakeway or Bee Cave.

I have been 3 times, every time I have had really great service. What keeps it from a 5 is the food is good but not amazing. For our area the service is way better then most, for the food it is better then Maudie’s and similar to Flores with better salsa. I will go back for sure. The drinks are also pretty good. Go and have fun! Update The food has gone down FAST!!!

The food is delicious and the service excellent! Will definitely be going back. I recommend this restaurant, to who ever has not tried it, it never hurts to check it out.

I like this restaurant/​cantina. Right off, it’s open and bright. Seating in the ding room is mostly comfortable booths for 4. The crispy chips come out with 3 salsas that are all tasty and fresh. I especially liked the ‘roasted’.
For today’s lunch I tried the carnitas plate… and I was more than happy with my choice. The meat was tender, flavored to delight the palate, cooked to perfection. This is one of my personal tests of a Mexican restaurant and they passed it with flying colors.
Alongside the meat, served on a nice 12″ square plate, were generous portions of salad, sliced jalapeño, rice and beans. The rabbit food came with pico, diced tomato and avocado. I love to eat it with the red salsa. Yum! Jalapeño is jalapeño. What can I say. Enjoyed having it.
The rice was light, flavored just right. The refried beans were practically perfect. Fresh, warm, made in-​house tortillas were perfect for mopping up whatever my fork missed.
Texas style sweet tea finished the meal just right.
To wrap this review, the price was right, the flavor was excellent and portion size was generous. This is a place I will visit again… bunches of great sounding stuff to try!
Two more things I should point out about this clean, comfortable restaurant. First, they have a nice 40 seat banquet room that hosts such events as a weekly poker night. Second, there’s also a cozy cantina there for those who favor such… with a nice big flat screen for those special sporting events.

I am so glad we didn’t read any of the negative reviews before trying this place out. It was actually quiet good. The servers were very friendly and attentive. I had the tamale plate which came with a red chili pork tamale and a chicken tamale with tomatillo sauce. Both were excellent. My wife had the green chile enchiladas that she like quite a bit. We will be back.

This was the worst Mexican food we have had in our lives. The chips taste like you are drinking old oil. Do not waste your time, drive to Santa Catarina or Flores. I never complain about food but this was just disgusting. Sad choice for Lakeway.

Came here about 3 weeks ago and what a disaster!
Seating didn’t take that long but the service and the food are the PITS! Service was entirely too slow and it took 1.5 hours to get our food. Could never find our waitress. I ordered shrimp tostadas and the shrimp was grey!!! Had to send it back and the brought me some average tacos. Taco Bell’s are better. The chips and salsas are the best part of the meal.
I had such high hopes for Salsa’s being that we love Mexican food and their location is great with ample parking. Why on EARTH would you play country music at a Mexican restaurant? That is beyond me! Anyway the manager did come to apologize but I don’t think we will be going back. They have another restaurant in Steiner that also has mediocre reviews so obviously they won’t get any better. They will not survive in Lakeway where expectations are high unless you are fast food.
If you want amazing Mexican food in Lakeway, go to Santa Caterina, the Unilocal reviews are great for a reason.

I wanted to give this place a chance to work out the grand opening kinks and finally made it over there this weekend. We were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed both the meal and the service.
We started with guacamole which was delish and generous portion. The chips were good and tasted homemade. They bring a trio of different salsas. I liked the spicier, darker red one.
My husband ordered the beef fajita tacos and I had the grilled fish tacos. Both were quite good. The beef had great flavor and texture, cooked nicely. They were not served with the traditional sizzling cast iron skillet. They came made already as 2 tacos on the plate and the rice, beans, lettuce, pico, cheese were served separately on the plate. Some may like the big fanfare of the sizzling platter (which you can order as regular beef fajitas) but to me, this was more manageable on the table and easier to deal with. The grilled fish was very good too, no fishiness.
We have literally 12 Mexican restaurants to choose from (yes, I counted them) in the area covering Lakeway, Bee Cave and Spicewood. I would say the food here is better than Maudie’s (which is always crowded, I am convinced, only because it’s trendy and Austin-​hipster-​approved). I don’t know why we need so many Mexican restaurants within a 5 mile radius but I guess for the same reason we have so many banks and mattress stores. Go figure. Anyway, we liked this place so we will be back again. Glad to have the defunct Chili’s repurposed and not an empty eyesore anymore.

We had high expectations for Salsa’s in Lakeway, and were very disappointed.
Funny thing, the salsas were the best part. They brought chips and three salsas, all three were better than average. The restauarnt is nice, with plenty of parking and a comfortable bar with lots of TVs. Good place to watch the game.
We asked for recommendations and landed on the mole enchiladas which were OK but lacking in flavor. I would give them a barely passing 7 out of 10. My wife got the Carnitas which were moist but also a 7.
As we were finishing our meal the check arrived, the waiter did not offer any desserts, so we did not try any of them. We were not that interested at this point anyway.
As I was finishing my drink, I saw my glass was dirty — some food stuck on the glass side, which is not acceptable for me.
While Salsa’s sign says ‘Mexican restaurant and Cantina’ it is more a low-​cost TexMex restaurant. If you want a real Mexican restaurant keep driving and go to Don Mario’s or to Hecho en Mexico.

We went here for lunch on a Saturday. We saw the parking lot was packed the other day and love mexican food so we had to try it. We were seated right away. The atmosphere is a little dark for my liking. They have a couple of TV’s playing football in the bar area. Heard country music vs Mexican music in the background.
The menu was great. Lots to choose from. I only wish they had more combination plates to choose from so I can taste more of the items on the menu. We were greeted with chips and a salsa trio, roasted, verde, and regular salsas. They were all really good.
Kids menu was pricey for what they received. Kids loved the food.
We ordered the verdes enchiladas and the mole enchiladas. They were great. Our main complaint was that the plates were hotter than the food. The chicken inside the enchiladas was luke warm at best. and the beans on my daughters plate was cold. Inconsistent food temperatures. The positive side was that the chicken tasted good was white meat chicken breast and was still juicy and not overcooked.
It was decent, I’ve had better, but I’ve had worse. I’d go there again and try something else and see how it goes. I’m going to attribute this to being new and hopefully they work out the kinks.
My service was great and was always there to help.

We were looking forward to a new restaurant on 620 and encouraged by the full parking lot. The staff is decent and the reason they get 1 star. The forgotten appetizer was replaced with something we didn’t even order. I had the enchilada trio, looked/​tasted like a frozen generic meal from the grocery store. Queso was beyond bland. My husband had the fajitas and it was tough to identify the various meats. Very disappointed and not certain who would eat this food. I’m with the others, I give this place 6 – 9 months before the doors close.

Well Dawn H — I agree whole heartedly with your take of the place.
My spouse got a beautiful salad but it was blah, we finally figured out that it was missing the dressing. When we told Rosa, she said «yeah, I forgot to ask if you wanted some» Ahhh a $ 10 salad, give me some taste here.
We asked for the dressing 2x and for some tortillas 3x. She didn’t seemed to be concerned. And then she offered some desert. She said tres leches and I thought I ‘d be nice and give it a shot — NOT. The last cut of tres leches had just left the kitchen.
I had avocado enchiladas — different, but not something I’d run back and get.
The food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t to die for.
The place still smelled of paint.
The service was less than desirable.
I may come back in a year, but like Dawn H., I’m a betting it won’t survive.

I didn’t have any particularly high expectations when Salsa’s opened on 620 (old Chilis locale), having dined at their 2222 spot a few times. BUT, I didn’t expect it to be as bad of an experience as it was. I feel it only fair to premise this review by stating they just opened last Monday and went on Sunday — 7 days in.
Fresh coat of paint on exterior and interior, not much else changed. Hubby and I stopped in while driving home from picking up more paint for a project we were in the middle of… didn’t expect to be there for well over an hour.
Sat at bar. Took about 30 minutes to be greeted, take drink order… and then wait wait wait for drinks. Husband’s draft beer was delivered pretty quickly; however, my margarita took forever. The bartender, albeit very sweet, did have several customers, but she failed to exhibit ANY sense of urgency… moved at a snail’s pace… oooooh mmmmy gggggoodness. I could easily tell other people were a bit aggravated as well. Oh, and my husband never did get the glass of water he asked for.
Ordered food. Decided to ask for to-​go because we only had so much light left in the day to finish our «project.» Asked for chips and salsa while we waited — another 10 minute wait. Takeout food took almost 35 minutes! Add then more time to actually get and pay check.
Service — sucked!!! I know… they just opened… but, they have other locations and I would assume they know how to «open» (e.g., they are currently hiring — um, how about staffing your restaurant before you open the doors?).
Food — meh. It was A-​OK (enchiladas for the husband and beef barbacoa taco plate [actually on the tasty side] for myself).
At the top of my list out of all of the other plentiful choices of marginal Tex-​Mex in the Lake Travis area — nope. Just another uninspired, insignificant joint that will probably close its doors in within the next year or two. :(
[163 in 2015]