Cantinflas Gourmet Mexican & Vegetarian Restaurant

Below average/​lukewarm food, below average service, new bartender with no training, no air conditioning… will not go back.

I actually didn’t Unilocal when I came to this restaurant. I’m known as a «Yelp snob» because I find everything I want to eat on Unilocal and typically don’t go to places with 3 stars or less. However, the restaurant I wanted to go too… was very difficult to find and walking in the sun with a baby wasn’t ideal.
My husband and I decided to just try this place out. It was close to 1:30−2pm when we came in and there were only 4 tables taken. The restaurant is pretty small but has indoor and outdoor seating with a bar. We sat in the back with a highchair for my baby.
The chips and salsa came out to begin with and the chips… were very different. Instead of tortilla chips we are used to seeing, the basket had about 6 chips but they were the size of a tortilla– huge! The salsa was good but there were big chunks of onions in it that weren’t diced enough.
I got the olmeca quesadilla. Why? Because everything was overpriced to me and this was reasonable I guess. The olmeca had cheese, grilled chicken, bell peppers, onion and tomatoes. There weren’t a lot of bell peppers in the quesadilla. The onions and tomatoes were basically the pico that was placed on top of the quesadilla. There was a sauce that was drizzled on top of the quesadilla that was tasty. I think the base of it was mayo.
This wasn’t the worst Mexican restaurant I’ve been too but it wasn’t the best. I am very thankful that there wasn’t anything in my food and the food was all right.

This place was ridiculously bad. The restaurant lack service. I physically had to get up to get water and straws. We’ve had four different waiters they were never checking on us anndd one waiter smelled like alcohol. Every time I looked inside they were doing nothing but standing around. Very disappointing. I hope the staff gets there stuff together.

Sorry prices were ridiculous!!! And charging for second plate! Couldn’t get past $ 38 for 2 margaritas and cheese dip so no food. Won’t go back.

When we were first seated everything was fine. The waiter, Josh, seemed nice enough by making sure we had enough chips and salsa w drinks. We ordered the food and when it came out Josh went to go sit the hot sizzling fajita plate down in from of my friend. He let the black hot plate slide off its holder heading for my friends lap. In order to prevent the hot plate and hot food from going in her lap she had to push the hot plate back onto the table. Josh stated, after the fact, that the plate was very hot and not to touch it. Also stating, «You never touch the plate it’s so hot!» Well, DUHHHH Josh, what would you had rather happen? Her get a portion of her hand burnt or a huge part of her stomach and or lap??? Which some of the food did fall in her lap and on the floor. He asked her if she would like some ice… nah Josh, bring her some ice cream! Of course she would like some ice! That should not have been a question. Well he brings her a cup of ice. Ummmmm, what the hell is she to do with a cup of ice. Well by that time a guy from the back, that has some sense, brought her a clean rag with ice in it.
The food was not the best and didn’t taste like Mexican food. Not to mention, items that came with the meal were missing.
Time to check out. Now at any other Resturant I’m pretty sure the meal would have been free due to the waiter causing you to get burned. Hands down, I don’t see why that wouldn’t have been automatic. But Josh continued to charge her and when she stated she wasn’t paying he accused her of being a thief and proceeded to argue with her. Clearly upset that he should be in the right, he placed the to go boxes down on top of food after he was called to the register by the assistant manager. She told him that he should not be arguing with the customers like that. She stated she would take my friends meal off. Josh walked out the door heated as if the customer did something wrong and walked down the street.
I would never refer this restaurant to anyone first BC of the treatment we received and second bc the food isn’t good.

Terrible service. Very slow. The sauce on my burrito tasted like bland tomato sauce. I ordered a margarita I could barely drink it. It was so sweet and syrupy. Then I get the check and the margarita was 17.99!!! Do not waste your time. There are much better restaurants in beautiful downtown Greenville!

I created a Unilocal account to write this review. I felt bad for the animals and vegetables that were harmed to create my burrito. I knew something was up as soon as I walked in and noticed how out of place the staff looked. Suspenders? Ties? Come on. The burrito had the texture and taste of a worn, wet rag covered in marina and thrown in a microwave. The Salsa was poured directly from a can, adorned with fresh cilantro and served to me ten minutes after getting there. The margarita tasted like it was made with vodka and crystal light. I felt robbed and conned after eating here. Please do not go here.

Terrible service. Very slow wait staff and we didn’t get 4 of the things we ordered. We asked for cheese dip and got guac. Had to find our own silverware. Ordered soup and never got it. Also ordered two coronas that were never delivered. The food was average at best and the menu was small and not very good. The best thing this restaurant has going for it is the location. The salsa had no flavor and I’m not sure it wasn’t just a can of diced tomatoes. H

I rarely go out of my way to leave a bad review. The level of failure in every aspect of restaurant service though compelled me to. I could go on and on but in summary the food was terrible. My vegi burrito was stuffed with end cuttings of bell pepper and zucchini, devoid of any flavor or spices. A stale flour tortilla saturated in a wet mess of canned sauce. 2 bites in and I left the rest uneaten. Everything is out of a can and of the poorest quality, service was so profoundly confused that I don’t think we ever actually had a server.
The food though was the kicker. An insult to the customers who spend their money, it was neither gourmet nor Mexican. The only thing it was, was inedible. Do not eat here.

I literally downloaded the Unilocal app just so I could leave review for this restaurant. It was SO incredibly bad. We are new to the Greenville area, and so we were looking for a new restaurant to try. We figured that this place would be fine. It was downtown, in a cute area, and the menu looked promising. We were so wrong! There were so many things that were bad:
–the service was lackluster. The servers were all standing around, and our waitress didn’t check on us even once. Zero smile!
–THE FOOD looked like something straight out of kitchen nightmares. We wanted to leave as soon as we saw it. Just disgusting! And the portions were so small
We barely finished, and it took all we had not to run screaming out the door
Moral of the story: $ 35 for a frozen burrito and 2 tiny quesadillas that were BARELY even edible.
Don’t go there! Literally just NO. I am haunted forever by this food experience.

Before I begin with my review of this establishment… Let me just say…
In doing a bit of research before composing my review, I checked out what was posted on other sites about this restaurant.
«Jmapple A.‘s «had this To say on a site — «Very friendly service, but I have gone several times & always been disappointed with the Mexican food. Maybe I just haven’t ordered the right stuff from their menu, but I much prefer to go to Corona’s for authentic Mexican at a cheaper price.»
ATTENTION ALL GRINGOS
The food at local «order by number» Restaurants, IS NOT AUTHENTIC Mexican cuisine! You know the places I mean… «I’ll have the #4 combo with beans and rice». It saddens me to read a post like this where place like Corona (Monterrey’s, Mr. Salsa…) are given the title of authentic. Do you think this is what they eat in Mexico? NO. Now do not get me wrong, I do so enjoy a plate of Flauta’s at any of these restaurants, but authentic… it’s just not the case. Wheew, okay… so on to the business at hand.
His parents were in town, and we wanted to go downtown and enjoy a meal. We got a later start than anticipated, due to some trouble with the printer… Okay so I’ll admit, Cantinflas was not our original choice. We were going to go to the Dwntwn Location of The Cazbah (I bet you already know where I am going with this…) THAT’S RIGHT! I’m not ashamed! We went to
and bought a gift certificate for The Cazbah… So? Only, it took so long to get the printer to work, and get everyone rounded up and in the car, then to find a parking spot, and walk the 2 blocks back to McBee Street… That by the time we arrived at the small restaurant, the only help that the hostess offered us upon finally returning to her post at the front door was, a shrug of the shoulders and «It doesn’t look like any one is leaving soon».
So, We Did.
We walked up Main Street, and decided to go in to Cantinflas. I think it would be safe to say that this is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants locally. I seem to always wind up there for special occasions, with out of town guests… and even to enjoy a weekend lunch & Margarita. Oh and do they have the yummiest Margaritas! We sat down and were immediately attended to. I chose the Enchiladas con Mole, and I can’t remember what everyone else at the table ordered, but they were all very happy with what they ate. The only complaint about the restaurant is that (through no fault of their own) they don’t allow you to enjoy a margarita if you are dining at one of the sidewalk tables. Maybe someday Greenville won’t be run by the likes of Bob Jonesites, and then I will be able to enjoy that margarita on the sidewalk… Or heaven forbid (gasp) we can walk down to the park with one like in Savannah…
OH WAIT — one more tip… This is not the place to celebrate cinco de mayo. If you do, find out if there will be live music. The lady that sang the year we went for cinco de mayo… We’ll lets just say it was somewhere between a skit from snl & Ashton Kucher hiding around the corner.
It was an older than middle age woman, looking like she grew up in Connecticut on a dairy farm, singing Karen Carpenter type music. …olé…We couldn’t leave fast enough that night. However it’s hard to chug a ginormous margarita while trying not to laugh.

Good food but not exactly what I would call «gourmet Mexican». We dined inside on a Friday night and had good service. We ordered the spinach dip which was basically a $ 8 bowl of queso with spinach in it, It was good though. We also split the Mayan Quesadilla. It was served with rice and beans. The rice and beans were average but the quesadilla was actually good. We also enjoyed their salsa because it had a good cilantro flavor. Would probably go back but was a little pricy for average Mexican food.

I’m giving this place 1 star cause I can’t give 0 stars. This place is disgusting. Hated paying $ 16.99 for shrimp fajitas that didn’t come with lettuce, guacamole or tomatoes. Presentation of all food that we order was bad. Their vegetarian menu is total yucky mush wrapped up in tortillas. I asked for hot sauce and they didn’t have it. Their salsa was tasteless and chips were whole tortillas deep fried. They didn’t bother cutting up the tortillas before frying. Even the kids complained how they couldn’t eat anything. Taste was terrible. We left in between our meal couldn’t sit and smell or look at that food anymore.

Mediocre food, poor ambiance. Service was decent and the server was friendly. But we went around 7:00 on a Saturday night and there were only a couple of other tables occupied — should’ve been our cue.
Nothing special about this place. There’s more to explore in Greenville.

We went for the first time today and were very pleased with both the food and the service. We ordered the Mayan Quesadilla and Steak con Chile fajitas. Surprisingly many restaurants manage to mess up the basic rice and beans but they did not. It was VERY good and flavorful and setting us up for a great meal. We enjoyed and ate everybite!!! We will most definitely be going back!

It’s sad to see the lousy reviews this place has previously received. My experience was rather nice! I came kind of late on a Sunday, must have been close to closing, and I sat outside. I was super thirsty and was hoping for a margarita, but I was informed that the liquor license was under review, but the beer and wine one is good! So, my waitress offered me a wine-​a-​rita as an alternative, using wine instead of tequila. They make it with white zin or pinot grigio-​I had mine with white zinfindel because it seemed to make the most sense as a cocktail and it was awesome.
Do this.
I also had the guacamole, which was pretty good, and a veggie-​rito (weekend special) that came with rice & beans and I thought it was great! I even heated up leftovers for lunch the next day and it was still really good.
Also, everyone working here was super friendly and accommodating.

I found this walking down town. It was a Mexican restaurant. I was glad I decided to eat here. The service was great as my waitress kept my glass full of sweet tea. It was very hot down town Greenville and as a result I was needing something to drink. I also just walked a few miles thru Falls Park, a tourist destination.
I got the Pollo Flauta. This is chicken and melted cheese in a wrap (Mexican style). I was surprised with how good it tasted. I also got rice and beans. The beans came in a small bowl with juices. I decided to dump them on the rice. I wished I had kept them separate because they tasted better that way. Do not mix the beans and rice like I did. I can’t believe I did that. Keep beans in bowl.
They have inside seating and outside seating. I chose to sit outside which proved to be uncomfortable. Let’s just say there were pests flying around that kept biting me. I also of course got chips a sausa. The chips were huge, see my pictures. The sausa was of a mild taste but the more you are it, the hotter it seemed to get for some reason.

We should have left when the bartender ignored us for 10 minutes, and we were the only ones at the bar sitting directly under her nose.
Our server was horrible. .My kids sat waiting for drinks as she sat inside wrapping silverware in napkins.
When food finally arrived, the tortillas for the fajitas were all dry around the edges and they only gave you two. My daughter couldn’t even eat her quesadilla because it was so bad. spent $ 90 and could have went to Papas and Beer for our usual $ 54, fed all five of us, and been satisfied. .
If it weren’t for Jeff, a waiter from another table, we probably wouldn’t have been seated, provided beverages, or felt welcome. If I ever open a restaurant or anyone needs an awesome employee, find Jeff…
My wife complained to a somewhat manager, team leader, and the only thing they offered was a free dessert.
Awful, but thank you Jeff.

I’ve had very different experiences here than other reviewers; I come here fairly often for lunch.
The first thing I’d say is that I’ve never had any sort of negative experience with staff, which seems fairly objective. They have always done things like ask me outside or in, booth or table, do I need menu help, can they get anything else– and they definitely always check on the meal after it comes. No one has come close to being rude.
I’m no gourmet myself, so maybe I can’t judge that status, but I do like the food. I have no problem finding vegetarian options and don’t stick with a standard. I haven’t tried anything I didn’t like. It may not be the fanciest food in town, but it seems just fine. Plus, it tends to be quick.
The only caution I really have is that it’s not the best place to bring someone who’s not a fan of Mexican, as there aren’t many other options (as there are some places).

This place is neither Mexican, Vegetarian or Gourmet. We were sat nicely by the really friendly staff ordered some waters, looked over the menu and we were STARVING. I decided on the Friendly Flautas and T got a Burrito with Shrimp. Not a minute later our food arrived. YIKES, red flag for sure. As expected when the food comes out way too quickly it was terrible. The rice and beans were dried out. The Flautas were filled with old mushy green peppers, flavorless onions and Jack cheese all microwave hot. The burrito had all the same components from my dish re-​imagined into a burrito with the addition of severely undercooked shrimp and the same oozing Jack cheese. We had a couple of bites and figured that complaining or sending the food back wouldn’t make any of this better. We paid our bill and had to find somewhere else to eat. There was no love of food here.