The Cantina

I’m sad this closed… I love this building. I wish it was mine… Not the restaurant. This is the perfect spot, layout… So many opportunities it’s endless… The building appearance itself says it all to me. I have no clue of the buildings health but if it’s upkeep is maintained. It will be nothing but a. Money maker!

The only reasons this place doesn’t get 1 star is that they have a decent patio, decent bar, decent portion sizes, and are centrally located. I’ve never gone here by choice… but it’s a popular birthday choice for girls I know for some reason.
Years ago, I actually thought this place was pretty decent. I’ve had a couple dishes that I would say are fine. Nothing has ever stood out as something I got again though… I wind up just having a couple drinks and filling up on chips when I have gone there recently. Lately, there have been menu changes which got rid of a couple of the options I would have thought they considered were their stronger dishes and they have skimped out on some necessary renovations to the bathrooms (which are super-​gross). The last couple times I was in there I didn’t leave satisfied… just stuffed like a pig with food that was so-​so.
I’ve been here to eat over a dozen times (again, mainly birthday’s for females who are really just in it for the margaritas) and I’ve only had decent service once.
The bar is reasonably sized and they give you chips… so it’s a pretty good place to meet up for a drink before going out drinking or eating somewhere else.

I wouldn’t say that I’m a regular, but I come through here periodically. Probably more frequently now that Russian River Brewing is «on notice.»
The food is fine. It’s a Chevy’s menu, but there are some burgers, pulled pork, other things in a «Gringo Section» (ha) of the menu. None of it is repulsive, and I’ve had a few things that were excellent. Plenty of beers on tap, full bar. Service is fine, sometimes great. I’d say the prices are a little steep compared to the quality of the food. But it’s ok. I’ll be back, I’m sure.

So it wasn’t Sunday but my taste buds couldn’t wait.
The game was on (Yeah! Lincecum gets it done!) and I had to have another taste of that Sangria.
I thought this bartender made a better drink actually and that’s saying a lot because the first one I had was really good!
Note to self: Light on the juice, heavy on the wine and brandy. Mmmhmm!

Goodness, if the walls here could talk. I’m sure it’d go something like this,
«Oh, man. Loli’s here. Everyone, hide the chips!»
As with Chevy’s, I don’t make my visits here for any sort of authentic Mexican experience. I return here because there’s certain things you can count on.
1. chips. chips. and more chips. awww yeah
2. wood seats
3. excellent margaritas
4. decent and amply portioned food
5. super friendly and attentive bar staff
6. chill daytime vibe
7. entertaining nighttime patrons who enjoy crappy music
8. always a decent beer on tap
9. chips. I know I mentioned them already. They’re really good.
10. excellent location. When you tell someone to meet you there you don’t have to bother with directions because this place has been here forever.
***Special mojito-​inspired shout out***
I didn’t get his name but the charming bartender who whipped up my mojito this Saturday should get an award for making a mojito that is easily in the top 3 best mojitos I’ve ever had. There is a HUGE margin of error with these but I was feeling adventuresome. This dear human absolutely nailed it! Between the weather and the excellent company, this mojito made my day.

Location was good. Food was not so good. Soup was weird, salad was limp. Service took a long time. Message to management: Get it together. You have a fabulous location, an easy formula; and a full bar license. You’re creating customers that won’t come back.
Step 1: Put chips and salsa on the table as soon as you seat the customer.
Step 2: Put a drink in front of your customer within minutes of ordering.
Step 3: Go get the taqueria las palmas cook to consult with you.

The food has always been bland, But the full bar and the space make it a OK place to meet and hang out except for it seems hard to actually have an OK talk with people here.
Try it if you must,

Good Margies. We ended up ordering a pitcher of strawberry margaritas and I pretty much single-​handedly downed the entire thing. Apparently they were good enough to ignore the fact that it was 10:30am and I had shit to do that day?
On another note, when I’m drunk, all food usually tastes good to me. Not here. I coulda settled for just chips and salsa.
But lemme stress, good margaritas.

People are pretty much right, this place is meh. The food is indeed fancy taco bell. It is mediocre, the chips and salsa themselves taste like they were brought out of the costco box. I think this place needs to fire their main chef and have a reopening if they want to stay in business. The only people that will continue going will be those with poor taste in Mexican food, or those seeking to take advantage of their awesome drinks. Thinking it over they should close the restaurant and keep the bar as the name says: The Pub, that’s the only good thing about that place.

I give it 3 stars because I love the drinks, but the food is very run of the mill.
Great margaritas, pretty good sangria, but thats the limit.

I have to agree with the majority of the reviewers, this place is a painful disappointment to Mexican cuisine. Don’t get me wrong, the location is excellent, the staff are for the most part tolerable, but the food is just really really sad.
I brought my very Mexican mother here once when she was visiting, and I still hear it to this day. Just the look on her face when she tasted her food said it all. I thought the food was not great, not awful; just okay. It’s not real Mexican, more like a fancier Taco Bell?
On the plus side, I agree… the drinks are killer, and they’re relatively inexpensive and are pretty strong. I might consider coming here to get smashed for Happy Hour with buddies.

No Bueno

If I could give this place zero stars I would.
David SUCKS.

Subtract Mexican from it’s name and call it a great disaster of a place.
The best part of this place is the building, standing from a corner and imagining how awesome it could be to have a meal, drinks or throw a party here.
Everything at this restaurant is negative from the service, management, cleanliness and food. From the moment we walked in here, that should’ve been our clue to get the F out. Like a baton we were passed from one lazy associate to the next. The shift manager sat talking to a customer in the bar, saw us and continued to chat it up. That associate that passed us, said it would take five minutes to be seated. WTF. It was a dead, weekday afternoon. Less than four people were dining at the time and all spread out, between the inside and out. Finally this lazy chica walks over and then proceeds to show us a table hurriedly as if now all of a sudden she gives a sh – . Our waiter was probably the only employee there that was working. The bartender is a lazy F. He’s the one that passed us off at the get go. We sat in the garden. Don’t sit in view of the sun, it’s too hot and there aren’t any fans. While seated and waiting patiently for more than ten minutes for anyone to help us, we notice that there are many tables that have NOT been cleaned off yet. It’s as if there was a shift change and the last waiter didn’t clear up the tables and now these guys are both like. «hell no I ain’t cleaning it.» Old food and dirty tables, just sitting in the sun. The food was so bland I could lick the bottom of my shoes for more flavor. Thank goodness for hot sauce, but you know when you are spending money, and it’s on Mexican food, there should be more flavor! The food sucked. It took way too long for the food to come out of the kitchen. I had a flight to catch and even though we sat to eat hours in advance I was worried. Before leaving I visited the men’s room to freshen up. UUUUGGGGHHHHH!!! I don’t think they have janitor service. You can tell from the look of the unclean floors to the gunk buildup on the toilets and urinals. Have you ever seen the restrooms at beaches? Or maybe a restroom at a unpopular resort? See the washroom may have started out alright, but because no one cares for it, it starts to breakdown. Floors have definitely not been cleaned properly in years. I took a photo and the dirt showed up in the photos. I would hate to trip or slip in here. You’d need a vaccination from the doctor to survive. Upon leaving I used a paper towel to help me exit. By the time we decided we had enough, our server was long gone. Later we discovered he was carrying ice to the bar and moving other condiments about the restaurant. No one was doing their job and he was doing the job of three. A short Mexican American guy, wish I remembered his name, so I could drop a note to management.
Note to self, always ALWAYS use your Unilocal application and check reviews first.
Great for bad dates and bad first impressions, break up with a guy or girl. Break off an engagement. Bring your hated ones here, so they know you really dislike them. Make sure they use the facilities. LoL. This is one time I won’t be contacting their management or corporate. They can read through the umpteen reviews how horrid their restaurant is.
There are at this time two listings that are for The Cantina and both are averaging 2 stars. What does that tell you?
I’m going with a one star rating, I didn’t have a margarita and although Broil told me his was pretty good, it’s my stars to give.

The Star rating really depends on what you’re looking for…
If you want cheap margaritas and bottomless chips in a nice downtown people-​watching location, Cantina is perfect.
If you want authentic Mexican food and a leisurely evening out with the fam, Cantina’s not for you.
For the starving student, or all-​around frugal type, Taco Tuesdays is an insane deal. Something like $ 2 taco plates (as in, build your own taco with all the fixins) with any beverage purchase. It makes for a basic, cheap and filling meal after work, and even better if you sit out on the patio with a Margarita and watch the oh-​so thrilling downtown bustle of Santa Rosa.
The scene at night is completely different than the daylight hours. It does become a little scummy… the cheap booze crowd comes out of the woodwork. I don’t mind it for post-​work cocktails with a girlfriend, but wouldn’t think of coming after dark. See for yourself.

I note that there are two entries for The Cantina which are both for the exact same place. I have chosen this one because it has more reviews. Either way, the reviews on both seem about the same: the place is a total dud.
This is one of the worst restaurants I’ve ever been to in Santa Rosa (I think there are some worse, but those usually seem pretty obvious and I can avoid them without entering) and the absolute worst Mexican place in town. It has a great location in the heart of downtown on Old Courthouse Sq but the food is really below par even for generic Americanised Mexican food.
What passes for «food» here is the very quintessence of blandness, a complete lack of any describable character — the fish tacos stand out as having less taste than plain cubes of tofu, the salsa put on them providing only heat and no flavour whatsoever. Other dishes are so weak, I can’t even remember what I ate. The one skill which the cooks here seem to possess is the amazing ability actually to combine ingredients in such a way as to negate the flavours of each, thereby creating dishes that are not only less than the sum of their parts, but have less flavour than any one ingredient. Even the chips and salsa, usually reliable, are bland, although they are the best thing here.
Otherwise, this is just a place for people to hang out, drink, party, and try to find a date. I think this is the main reason why it is always so busy.
It is a blight on downtown, a black hole of flavour, its outwardly impressive appearance a trap for the unwary, and I fear it draws business away from the many good places to eat downtown, giving visitors a bad impression.
Visitors: please, even if you feel compelled to go here, do not judge downtown Santa Rosa’s food choices by this place! There is great food all around it and great Mexican food not far away.

Ewwwww. This place serves the worst food. Nothing tastes as it should. Not even one bite is decent. I do not even want to dignify it by calling it Mex*c*n. I would rather eat at a Roach Coach or Taco Bell than eat here again. Service: bla… Food: Natsy… Atmosphere: pathetic.
Is there any truth that Carlos Santana is part owner in this place? If so, please I beg you to close it down, gut it and start over with quality everthing or just ditch the investment. It is bad for downtown. We need, No we deserve quailty food to eat here in Santa Rosa!
Cantina is Sub par. actually if there is a lower rating I would give it.

Wow! I live in Richmond, but was doing a little shopping in Santa Rosa. I decided to stroll the downtown area. The Cantina looked fun and memorable. Well, I was half right! It was definitely memorable.
After we were seated, I decided to use the little boys room. While walking back to my table, the manager intentionally walked right in front of me forcing me to quickly stop in my tracks. I gave a nasty look, and I received one in return.
The waitress asked what we would like to drink. I wished for Diet Coke, and my partner wanted Coke. We were informed they had no soda available. How is it possible for a restaurant/​bar to run out of soda?
I got the Carnitas. It was lukewarm and the sauce ice cold. There was a side of «marinated vegetables» which consisted of onions, jalapenos, and carrots. What carrots have to do with Mexican cooking, I will never know.
My partner had the Tostada with Roasted Vegetables. Broccoli? Really? Carrots again?
The ONLY redeeming aspect of the meal seemed to be the rice. It was quite good.
When we were finished the plates were promptly cleared. We then sat there for over 15 minutes before I stopped the manager who had so rudely started my experience. Let me put it this way… paybacks are a b***h.
I don’t know about any of the other restaurants in the area, but even the worst dive couldn’t be worse than this place!
The sign should read «The Crapina.»

I’m not sure the service can get any worse anywhere than it tends to be at the Cantina.
I have come on numerous occasions, with numerous groups, and I’ve yet to either a) get the right order b) have the same server help me throughout the entire meal or c) _​_​_​insert various other calamities here.
I think the worst of my adventures…
One night after a softball game, we came to the bar for drinks — one guy ordered the pitchers, and the other guy from the team sat down cash for a tip on the bar. I watched as the bartender poured the pitchers (2), charged the guys CC, scooped up the cash — dumped it in her tip jar — and then turned around to grab the CC slip, seeing he didn’t leave her a tip (the cash was her tip, and it was a $ 5 bill) and proceed to scream at the CC guy for not tipping her and told him that she was refusing him further service until HE tipped her.
seriously?
The few times I’ve eatten here (and like I said, rarely actually got what I had intended on ordering) the food wasn’t bad — but it wasn’t real mexican food either — it’s more like Mid-​west mexican food — deepfried somethings, with lots of guac and beans. Not my type of fare, but the service is what really has me turned off for good.
** they do have an upstairs that is available to rent out for large parties, although you would be forced to eat their food, and be served by their staff**

wow, who knew this place would get such trashy reviews. personally, i didn’t have a problem with it at all. I take that back — there was one thing. Though I enjoyed the outdoor dining in the sun, there were too many flies. I like to feel like i’m eating authentic food, but damn this is too authentic. Secondly, the waiter was ignoring the crap out of my table — I should not have to ask another waiter to find you.
I only ate vegetarian and was pleased with the portion sizes, but it was pretty standard and a lil overpriced as most things are in the region.

Ick. I’m not sure what else to say.
The tables were all dirty and gross. The menus were all sticky and dirty and gross. The food was gross.
This place is like Americanized fast food tex-​mex (with much more tex than mex). Gross.
Oh, and the sangria: skip it.