Iron Cactus Mexican Grill and Margarita Bar

Came here in a week day because we were craving Mexican food and we are a little bit too old to be eating at Taco Bell!
Located on 6^th street so good luck finding parking! Now to the bar/​restaurant. The music is unnecessarily loud. So hard to hear the person speaking next to you. Add the loud music + a game going = deafness for the rest of your life.
We are outside because the music was waaaay too much. I got the ‘Chicken Tinga’ burrito and my friend got the goat enchiladas. The burrito was okay… It needed some sort of fresh element to it instead of just meat, stewed tomatoes, and rice. It came with two sauces and the red sauce was just oil and disgusting and the white sauce was pretty good.
The bartenders were beyond sweet and super nice. Sitting outside was annoying because homeless people kept coming up asking for money and starring.
Lastly, there were a lot of drink specials on a weekday! 3 dollar margaritas, 2 dollar fireballs and stuff like that.

The service was terrible, the waitress did not pay any attention to our table for 7. It took 30 min for the food to get to us and was cold. Then another 25 min just to get the check. The food was not good either.

As I live near Austin, I am always tagged as a tour guide by friends who come in from out of town. Of course, everybody wants to see 6^th street. If you are roaming around 6^th St. with guests, I think the Iron Cactus is one of the best values for a place to take a break for a meal. Most of the year it is very pleasant to eat on the patio on the roof. Never had a bad meal here, the drinks are always nice.

Ok so we are in Austin to celebrate my birthday and wanted to have a snack and a few cocktails on a patio. We walk upstairs and the hostess says oh you have to order dinner to sit outside? Really wow ok so we were seated at the bar and about 10 mins later a couple walks in and they were asked if they were there for dinner or drinks? They respond maybe both not sure! They are allowed to sit outside wtf !!! We ordered drinks and the roasted shrimp fondue… Terrible ! No shrimp !! And it was pricey !! Wasted my time and money

Guacamole made tableside; honestly have never had better. The shrimp enchiladas with lobster sauce were also fantastic. Even the rice was good on its own. Really couldn’t have had a better meal or service.

On a street lined with mostly bars, I was looking for some Tex-​Mex. Well I fell into Iron Cactus. I live in Seattle and this looked legit. I sat down at the bar and immediately had a drink, lunch, and full menu in front of me. Not 30 seconds later the bartender was by to take my drink order. Nice. I opted for an ice cold local IPA. Again, in seconds it was there in a frosty glass. While deciding on what to order the manager cruised by to make sure I was being well taken care of! Wow. Nice X 2! Along with my beer came a basket of fresh tortilla chips and two salsas, one served cold, the other served warm. I wasn’t expecting a warm salsa, but must say its growing on me. I then ordered a brisket quesadilla served with a raspberry BBQ sauce. OMG… The best. Don’t skip over this spot. Attentive wait staff, great food and drink! I’ll be back.

I live in Austin and I bring people here when they are in town. The patio upstairs is great. I was visiting today and we were told we couldn’t sit outside unless we were ordering full meals. I said we wanted drinks and apps, but they said no. We caved. There were plenty of open tables so that wasn’t the issue. We ordered a couple of drinks and an app anyway :) Overall we spent more than we would have if we just ordered 2 burgers and water. The upstairs hostess kept giving us the evil eye but our waiter was AWESOME! He even gave me a hug bc it’s Memorial Day weekend and I’m in the military. Good food and drinks. Great service. Shitty policy. Our waiter made up for the evil host and hostess. Recommend? Maybe.

We were looking for a place on 6^th street to eat after 11pm and only a few handful of restaurants were open and one of them was this, it’s a pretty huge place with lots of seating, it’s a Tex-​mex place so lots of tacos, enchiladas and fajita dishes, I ordered the steak fajita for one but honestly it is good enough for 2 people or I should say a couple to share, they were also famous for their cocktails which I got the cactus juice, very fruity with not much alcohol in it, overall it’s a nice to place to hang out with friends but a little bit on the pricey side

*Sigh* I don’t know where to start. This place was mediocre at best. The service was subpar, our waiter seemed totally uninterested in serving us. He only started to perk up toward the end of our meal before giving us our check. Working for that tip maybe?
We came in at around 8:30 and were seated upstairs after we requested patio seating. It’s an awesome space for dining so we expected to continue to be impressed. But alas… impressive times were not to be had.
Our food wasn’t hot… it wasn’t even WARM, and when my husband asked if he could have his burger protein style (wrapped in lettuce in lieu of the bun). He was told they only carry shredded lettuce.
I also ordered a margarita with a pear cactus swirl. It was overly sweet and I could swear there was no alcohol in it.
It was a waste of 100 $ and the biggest culinary disappointment during my birthday trip.
Wouldn’t recommend and I wouldn’t even accept a comped meal here.

Ok, I am not going to get into the food. Some love it, some do not. We all have different tastes, and that’s fine. To me, it is much more important to discuss quality of service. A great meal can be ruined by bad service, and an average meal can seem great because of A+ service.
The service here is fantastic, friendly, and on the ball. I typically stop in every Tuesday between work and volunteering for a quick bite and have always had a pleasant visit due to the staff.

Iron Cactus had good food and was a decent stop.
Pros:
— Good food
— Good cocktails
— Good wine
Cons
— Extremely slow service
— Drinks were often empty and took awhile to refill/​reorder
— Requested more salsa three times
— Not greeted at the table for about ten mins

Pros: nice view upstairs outside and the queso was really good. Complimentary chips and 2 salsas were also delicious
Cons: the restaurant had a really gross smell which is something I’ve never said in a review before, the food is pricy yet the shrimp in my shrimp fajitas tasted worse than just frozen, they tasted old and weirdly musty. Margs were ok but tasted like Cuervo margarita mix and super sweet.
We had incredible Mexican food at about a half the price the next day and it just seems like there is no excuse for bad Mexican food in Austin.

I had a friend in from out of town. She was at the Marriott and she chose this location for us to have lunch (in addition to one of her colleagues) last Thursday.
We dined on the patio, and the views were one of the few redeeming points of this meal. I had the flatbread, which was good. However, the food was overshadowed by how abysmal the service was. It’s been a long time since I’ve had service so poor, and I was frankly confused by it. Never again.

Solid place with a very nice ambiance.
–Queso was great, the right cheese blend.
–Two salsas are nice as well.
–Brisket enchiladas were excellent, rice and beans too.
–Sampled a steak fajita, steak had lot of flavor.
Overall felt they did a great job of adding that right amount of flavor to all the items that I tried here.

I thought the chicken enchiladas were really good. Full disclosure, I’m by no means an enchilada expert, but I’ve had quite a few in my 6 months in Austin and these were some of the best. The chips, while not hot, were pretty good with a nice crunch. The salsa was a good standard red salsa with a kick.

Bad comments: First time at Iron Cactus! Service is great, our server was delightful. Brisket enchiladas? I opened one up to see why it was so flat and turns out there’s not much brisket just cheese sauce. My friend asked if I had eaten it all when she looked over, but really I had just opened the tortilla. Maybe next time I’ll make the right choice and stick to the fajitas!
Good comments: loved that they accommodated that I didn’t want to beans! I got asparagus instead and that was awesome!

Ok here is why my 5 star rating.
When you first enter the restaurant they treat you like you are home. The restaurant is well decorated very clean and people who work there are always smiling. Our waitress Karli was super nice very fast and always making sure that we were talking care. The food was awesome delicious and Mr. Nolasco took care of us making sure that our food was outstanding. We have the best time ever.
Dear Management. … your place is awesome and we will come back.

We had the steak and chicken fajitas. They were delish! We also had the table side guacamole. It was really good. I loved the texture of the chips. Everyone with our group enjoyed the salsa as well. My only complaint would be slow service… extremely slow. but the food definitely made up for that!

We walk in and the girl downstairs tells us there’s a 15 min wait. We go upstairs to hang out at the bar and the hostess up there tells us there’s a 45 minute wait. We got drinks at the bar and 13 minutes later we were told our table was ready. Maybe they should work on their communication. Drink menu is full of (mostly) tequila only drinks. I asked the bartender if he had something without tequila, and he recommended a margarita…
We finally sit down and they brought out chips. We ordered guacamole and this took about 15 – 20 minutes to come. It was good though and it’s ‘table side’ so they make it in front of you and you can choose what u want/don’t want in it.
Main dish I got the chile rellano. It was very good. I recommend this dish if you’re picky and don’t like seafood. Most of the other chicken dishes have tequila in it. My friend got the pesca del mar (mahi mahi) and loved it. The ceviche was also very good. The fajitas good as well.
Everything was roughly $ 20 – 25. For 9 girls, the bill came out to $ 237 (only food, we got drinks at the bar and paid separately). We left a 25% tip because although not very attentive, our waiter was nice.

We were there during SXSW2014 and Ronnie our server gave himself a big tip! Not cool Ronnie, our bill was $ 134.70 and we tipped him %15 and he gave himself more ($ 35 to be exact) I am doing our tax receipts today and there it was. WOW!!! I will be letting all my Austin family and friends know about this… so not cool!

Go anywhere else. I went for Sunday Brunch. There was a variety of food but it wasn’t any good. No flavor for the chicken fajitas, over cooked flavorless vegetables they declared were sauteed, flan was sugar from a box recipe. All the food that was supposed to be hot was luke warm. The coffee tasted good but it was barely warm as well. The mimosas appeared watered down so I did not imbibe.

A little to expensive for my taste and most people at my table thought th food was plain. My fish tacos were not good. The service was fast but the food was meh. I will probably not come here again.

1÷19÷16 Suprised at the negative reviews but have only been here once. Brisket enchiladas were fantastic. Hint of chocolate in the sauce. Service was very good and drinks were well made Rita’s and tequila rocks. Can’t speak to the chocolate martinis. Who the hell orders that at a Mexican restaurant?

We had a group of 15 with us. Our server was phenomenal unfortunately our martinis were not. Several of us ordered numerous types of dessert martinis and none where consistant. Some came in pint glasses some in martini glasses. As the evening progressed the drink pours kept getting less and less. When addressed with manager the response was… «We already made it hence I refuse to take it off your bill.» We asked again, why is the bartender short pouring, at $ 12 a martini can we have the rest of our drink? He says «I remake them but not take off Bill.» So we said okay remake them properly. then they all came out with less than the last pour. Never again.

Food was really good, HOWEVER, drinks were SUB STANDARD. Martinis were not filled to the rim like martinis are supposed to. My group ordered 4 chocolate martinis and the they had a shots worth of liquor and the rest was filled with whipped cream and only halfway at that! Then the manager came over and agreed the drink was low and refused to remove it off of the bill. CUSTOMER SERVICE FAIL. I’ve had martinis elsewhere and they’ve all been filled to the rim! Heck even chains like Applebee’s and Outback Steakhouse offer drinks cheaper and more fulfilling than here. I’d pass on this place and go elsewhere for the food, you would be better off with the drinks too!

Food was just ok. We had a decent size group and spent quite a bit of money on food and beverage. One girl in our party ordered a chocolate martini as a dessert beverage. The glass was ½ full, and ½ of that was whipped cream. When asked to remake it, the bartender, Jordan, refused. When asked to speak with the manager, the manager said he could NOT take the drink off the bill, because it was already made. He finally offered to have it remade, but when it came back, all they did was blend the whipped cream into it. When the bill came, he told the waitress to charge for BOTH, even though he took the drink back! So disappointed in this type of service. A group of 15, leaving with an awful impression of your restaurant because management has ZERO customer service skills.
I would like to say that our waitress Tessa was great. I hope she finds a better place to work.
#ironcactus

Came here visiting with family for lunch, saw the great Unilocal reviews and was glad it did not disappoint! I got the mahi mahi (picture) and someone else tried the stuffed avocado. I rarely eat restaurant rice but I could not get enough of this cilantro lime rice! The sauce was smooth, buttery, and somehow went really well with the tangy rice and fish.

Great place for Mexican food on 6^th street. Very modern inside with 3 stories of awesomeness! I had the queso to start, it came with ground beef, guacamole, sour cream and pico. Portion size was great plenty of food for 3 people. I enjoyed the beef quesadillas for my entrée, it also came with guac. The margaritas are awesome and strong (think) I had 3 different kinds. I will be back here next time I visit Austin.

My two star rating might seem a bit harsh here, but the reality is that there are so many better options in Austin then the Iron Cactus, that it’s a forced two stars.
The service was good, probably mostly since it was mid week and a bit slow, but that’s expected. My first disappointment, especially considering the type and location of this restaurant, was the lacking selection of good craft beers. In fact, everything is bottle or can… can?
Food was ok at best. We all had the same response, it’s as if the chef is afraid of the spice rack. Everything was bland. The seafood was perfectly cooked and the presentation was nice, but the flavor was lacking.

Very poor service and cold food. Have been going here for years and will not go back. Between our two tables we spent $ 1000.00. They where more interested in getting us to leave then giving us good service so they could have their holiday party.
Shameful

Bartender was excellent (Kyle). Introduced himself, very knowledgeable of both the bar and food menu.
Ordered 2 Margaritas over the course of my meal. First one was reasonably priced. Second one was there «Iron Cactus» one listed first on menu, felt that was slightly over priced at $ 12.75. Both very good.
Complimentary chips were excellent and fresh. Came with 2 salsas, one cold one hot.
Ordered the Chile Relenios. Very good and a nice change from having standard fajitas.
Overall the food and drinks were excellent. Service was beyond excellent at the bar. Food was over priced. That’s why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.
Enjoy !

I wasn’t expecting to get something this good out of this place. I’m visiting Austin for a journalism convention, and come from a Mexican background-​therefore I had to find some good Mexican food that isn’t Tex-​Mex.
Guey, did I find it.
I got the lunch enchiladas: one chicken with salsa verde and one brisket enchilada (…I’m in Texas). They were both savory and packed with flavor until the end of the corn tortilla that doesn’t see much meat. If I judged all enchiladas on their end-​of-​tortilla game, this one would be the standard. Not a bad price either, $ 11.
The side of charro beans pleasantly surprised me again, with a super unique flavor I honestly have no words for. You go, Cactus.
Right down to the two salsas and chips for the (free) appetizer, a warm and chilled choice, this place i ¹⁰⁄₁₀ recommend.
Also, my sever Phil was totally rad. He gave me GREAT Austin traveler tips (even wrote me some down!) and was a super cool, sweet dude who genuinely wanted to help me out. He even tipped me that the quest I accidentally ordered was $ 9…oops.

Tried do go in on a Monday afternoon for a midday cocktail. Place was open, and we asked to go upstairs to sit on the patio. The ambience is actually quite nice. It’s difficult to find a good place on 6^th street that isn’t a college bar where your shoes stick to the floor and smells like moldy Long Island iced teas. Their upstairs deck is great as well.
When we made it upstairs we saw the place was only ¹⁄₃ full, but when we asked if we could sit and have a drink they said all the table were taken we could get a drink at the bar but would be relegated to a table in the back. We begrudgingly got a beer and went to sit down, but between that 3 minutes, more patrons came up for lunch service and they decided to open another section of the restaurant essentially boxing out our table. remind you the restaurant is still only ¹⁄₃ full, and plenty of staff around for a full service.
They said if we weren’t eating we would need to immediately finish our beers and leave, at 2pm, on a Monday. This is a bar on 6^th street! people come in for beers all the time.
Good potential, bad execution. would try again hoping my experience was the anomaly.

After seeing a line out the door and zero parking for brunch at a (too) beloved restaurant, I thought I would return to Iron Cactus for a good ol’ Sunday buffet brunch. Can’t say it was good as I remembered it to be, unfortunately…
I got here pretty early — about 10:30am or so — and you could tell the food had been prepared for a while. I found a couple of dishes to be lacking in flavor — off the top of my head, the migas and scrambled eggs were just so bleh and desperately needed salsa/​eaten with other things, like bacon.
I will say that the prime rib and waffles (separately, obviously, but you do you) here are pretty darn good — pour au jus and horseradish sauce over slices of meat, and top your waffle with whipped cream, strawberries, chocolate chips, syrup… those were definitely the highlights of the buffet.
Service is actually quite good here, and the 3^rd floor outdoor patio has some really nice views of 6^th Street and the rest of Downtown. Just a heads up, though — food is all served on the 1^st floor, so you might want to be strategic if you don’t like climbing stairs.
There are other buffet brunches in Austin that I would prefer eating at, but for $ 15 Iron Cactus isn’t too bad.

Good margaritas! and I had an excellent sandwich called Cabo Chicken with house fries. Simply, dam good. Prices were reasonable and the service was speedy. Cool spot to hang your hat and grab some drinks. Outside seating available if you are a brave soul in the texas heat.

I’ve still never eaten at an Iron Cactus before, so this review is only for happy hour. We had tickets to see a movie at the Ritz next door and time to kill, therefore happy hour seemed like the obvious choice.
6^th street has many options but I’m glad we came here. The bar seating is first come first serve and there was no wait for a seat. The people watching is fantastic and the drinks are dirt cheap! We both got a small margarita (which are actually a decent size) and they were only $ 4 each.
What I was most excited about though was that they had prickly pear margaritas! Ever since moving to Austin I’ve heard about them but had yet to try one. I can’t speak for other places but the ones here are on point! They are slightly sweet, slightly tart and refreshing.
A lot of people seem to like brunch here so I plan to come back and try it. I know it’s buffet style and that they have mimosas so I’m sold.

We came to visit Austin for the weekend and came here for dinner with a party of 7 — we were seated relatively quickly which was nice. Place is pretty big with outdoor seating upstairs. Right when we sat down we got 3 baskets of chips and salsa (which we devoured because we were all starving).
Reviews for this place were mixed, we were in search of some authentic TexMex, however this place was pretty fancy … thought authentic tex mex places would be more hole in the wall type, but I don’t know … we weren’t sure what to think and we read very mixed reviews, so we ordered a few appetizers and shared entrees as we wanted to try a variety of things.
Queso Compuesto (with chicken) $ 10.99
We had heard that we had to try the queso in Austin, and we didn’t really know what it was … turns out it’s nacho cheese with extra goodies. I’m a big fan of nacho cheese, so I liked it! I think this place is very pricy, but it was good!
Table Side Guacamole $ 11.99
Read some reviews about this being the best guac ever, I mean it was okay … it wasn’t by any means bad, but I didn’t think it was anything life changing. They bring out all the ingrediants and mash it up table side, which is cool, but then there were also chunks of avocado because the server didn’t mash well enough …
Citrus Ceviche $ 12.99
Small serving, had one bite and was done, was not a fan. Ceviche was not tender enough and I didn’t like the flavors they chose (usually I do really like citrus). Also very expensive for the portion size.
Shrimp Enchiladas $ 15.99
I ordered this because I saw pictures and it looked yummy! I think this is where I definitely tasted the difference between Mexican food and TexMex, some of the flavors here were very different, the refried beans had a different flavor as well. I actually really enjoyed this dish, sharable size with a generous portion of shrimp. My friends from San Diego/​Mexico were not fans, but I really liked it.
Caren Guisada $ 13.99
We also go this to share, I was too full to try, but it was the tables consensus that this dish was not good at all. Meat was very dry, and ‘not eatable’. Would not recommend.
Overall, I think this place is good for food if you’re in the area and don’t have any other options, it was tasty, but overpriced. If you have time to venture out further from 6^th street to eat, I think you would get more for your money. I think there is a lot of good food in Austin, so I would NOT recommend this place to others or come back here again.