Local Cantina

I came here with friends for happy hour and really enjoyed all the drinks. $ 5 margaritas during happy hour. The margaritas come in a small mason jar, but they are really strong and delicious. My friends were able to find local beer or other drinks without an issue. This is definitely a great place to drink.
The food here is just okay. Free (self serve) chips and salsa. The chips don’t have much flavor and the salsa is bland. I would order a side of guacamole or queso to eat with the chips instead of the salsa. I’ve had the cantina truck style carnitas tacos and taco salad. The tacos aren’t bad but nothing special. The taco salad is what you might expect — huge fried tortilla bowl with everything inside. The chipotle dressing is really sweet so I would definitely not recommend it.
Overall, I’m glad to have Local Cantina in Clintonville. There’s a parking lot in the back which is always a plus. I would recommend coming here for happy hour or any time for drinks.

Cool place inside, and the food is awesome. But it’s not what you’d think/​expect fe the name — not the most Mexican. Draft beers are all American craft and not the real Mexican ones, like Modelo. The price is good too but don’t plan for ‘Mexican.’

It was busy for a Friday night and we did have to wait for a table. Self serve chips and salsa. Not bad. The salsa was spicy. Make sure to get water in addition to any drinks. The guacamole was good as was the queso. The Mustache ride margaritas were yummy. And I had the sweet and spicy shrimp. It was really good. My only complaint was the seating is too close, and some people should not bring young children. The ones sitting next to us were too rambunctious and continued to kick the booth and bounce around. Their mothers too busy drinking and chatting to pay attention to their girls. Other than taking pictures of them. But I’ll go back.

I loooooove Local Cantina in Clintonville!!! The food is amazing! The cocktails perfection! The atmosphere top-​notch!
The service can be hit or miss… more often than not for us it’s been a hit. There have a been a couple times that we’ve struggled with service during our time there — not getting drinks or food within a reasonable time or being ignored by a bartender when it’s obviously not busy — but overall we’ll always go back. The good times far outweigh the bad.

Really enjoy this place! Especially two dollar taco nights, I will say the music is often over the top loud.

Love it here!
Good food, fresh chips and salsa so good I could drink it! Servers are warm, welcoming and efficient. Great neighborhood feel.
I dinged my score off 1 point cause the music is too loud. and I play my music on a 24 out of 25… its too loud… sorry.

Absolutely love this place! Have such a great time every visit; the staff is great, the beer selection is on point, the atmosphere is fun, and the food is good! I typically go on Sunday afternoons for a little sunday funday, and always have a great time. I’d say the place is more of a bar that serves food than a restaurant with a bar; with that being said, I’ve never been disappointed in the food. Sometimes (frequently) the crowd can include children, so my only advice would be to have a 21+ policy for certain (hopefully most) hours of the day. All in all, great local taco joint!

Loved the food and service. Liked the Quesadilla and Fajita. They have a good collection of beers. Music is OK. GOOD if you are bored and looking for a quick mexicano joint.

Service insanity. We’ve been here a bunch of times – the food is good and I like everything about this place except. .. the totally weird service dynamic:
The busier they are, the better the service. The slower they are, the WORST service.
I mean, as in watching the servers literally hang out at the back of the restaurant until enough people come in that they feel compelled to visit the tables.
Maybe it’s because the servers are all attractive (they are) and hook-​ups amongst employees takes priority. Maybe it’s just because they are lazy and unwilling to make an effort unless they see a pay-​off in lots of tips. For whatever reason, it’s really a turn-​off. I’ll try again, at least once, because this place has a lot going for it. I just hope the owner realizes that investing in good servers is as important as investing in a beautiful building, good chefs, and fresh ingredients.

Good atmosphere/​vibe — has the feel of a local hangout. Waitress was mediocre especially for a slow night. Food was okay. In general, Columbus just doesn’t do Mexican food well, this restaurant is no exception, I thought my tacos were rather bland.

Grandview’s LC has always been my favorite, but we were in the neighborhood on Sat close to game time and we stopped in to grab seats before they got busy. We got a parking spot right in front. This is a great location and space. Our server was super sweet and we ordered guac and queso to go with our complimentary chips and salsa. I had my usual fish and shrimp tacos, a house margarita, and Tecate beer. My guy had a steak burrito and loved it. It was a great spot to watch the game, have great food and drinks. One of these days I may actually live in Clintonville and be able to walk to my fav spots.

Amazing. Taco Tuesday, take me back!
Love that the chips + salsa are self-​served. That’s the way to go!

If you want to spend $ 20/​person on a taco dinner instead of $ 60/​person, go here instead of Nada in Arena. Also know that it isn’t as fancy pants like Nada, but you will literally get the same amount of tacos and drinks for significantly less. And the food is good. Although being a new build in 2014, it maintains a sweet, Mexican cantina charm – especially in the summer when they open the garage doors to more patio seating. The bar supports the Crew by airing the games with specials and decorating with their swag – always a plus for me! I am also a sucker for all-​you-​can-​eat tortilla chips – the salsa is fresh made and decently spiced! You’re welcome to serve-​yourself whether you’re stopping in for a drink or dinner. They have quite the range of beer offerings and their house margarita is named «The Mustache Ride.» Drinks come in mason jars and feel a bit small, but a decent price for a mixed drink. I wonder what they’ll change it’s name to when the mustache trend jumps the shark…

Whoa nelly! They make some seriously good and STRONG margaritas! I had the mustache ride and it tasted like tequila with a splash of lime. I ain’t complaining though…
My tip: order your tacos «Cantina Truck Style». They’ll come with your meat of choice and pickled onions and cilantro. This is my favorite way to eat a taco.

This place in the summer makes me feel like I’m on vacation on the beach! I love that all of the doors slide open, it gives the whole place a patio feel that is awesome for summer Ohio weather. Not so awesome for winter Ohio weather, but oh well, we’ll use it for the 3 months we can!
Now, onto the food/​drinks. This Local Cantina seems to be more bar-​focused than the one in Grandview (just my opinion). They have lots of local beers on tap and their margaritas are STRONG. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! But they have lots of drink selections and everything seems to be good quality. The food is a little lacking in my opinion, but it’s a cheap price, and who can really complain about a $ 3 taco ($ 2 on Tuesdays). But when you put their tacos up against Condado, Local Cantina is a clear loser. They are the same price, but Condado tacos are literally like 4x the food. I do like that they let you scoop your own chips and salsa and grab your own napkins, it’s very casual, but I think that almost gives the servers an excuse to not be as attentive to the tables because there isn’t as much for them to do. It took our server a while to get to us to take orders because we seemed occupied eating our chips.
Overall, not my favorite tacos in Columbus, but not my least favorite! I think Local Cantina was much needed in Clintonville, they just need to step up their food game a bit more.

Why all the negativity, Unilocalers? There’s a 1-​star review here that’s way out of line.
Maybe the concept isn’t for everyone. So here’s the possible rub. This place is a hipster taqueria. The beers are a buck more than elsewhere and the menu is glorified taco truck fare at a premium price.
But the positives weigh in heavy. The food is great. Beer selection is great, bar seems fully stocked.
I like this place. Maybe complimentary chips and salsa go a long way with me…

Local Cantina is one of those places where you don’t really go there for the tacos– you go there for everything else. There are so many places in Columbus where you can get a delicious taco with artisan toppings, or even just a true blue authentic Mexican-​style taco for a comparable (or even cheaper) price. Where Local Cantina excels is the fact that you can get a variety of craft drafts or cocktails for a good price, and hang out with your friends. This location has the roll up doors that make the inside feel like a patio, so that’s definitely a plus.
We had great service, and one of the kitchen staff gave us a free appetizer of some kind of hot spinach queso dip that they were testing out! Free food makes me incredibly happy. I also like that they have bottomless serve-​yourself chips and salsa, and their salsa is really good. I’ll probably always grumble a bit about the $ 3.50 tacos that are ‘just okay’, but there are plenty of other redeeming factors to keep me coming back.

Food: 3 stars
Service: 2.5 stars
Ambiance:4 stars
Price: 4 stars
I popped in her for lunch and drinks on a recent weekend. I was surprise how few people were here, although I am willing to chalk it up to the snowy conditions. Our waitress was inconsistent. Sometimes she would be on top of refills and keeping my glass full, and other times it was like we had to flag her down to give her an order. The fact that this place has some «Self-​serve» elements like for napkins and chips&salsa seemed to allow her to take her time. She was friendly.
Service at the bar wasn’t great. We hopped to the bar area once we finished lunch and had to wait on a bartender several times for refills. My friend mentioned that she felt that the bartender was rude and condescending when she didn’t know what beer to get. I am decisive with my beer choices (anything please!) so I didn’t have this same experience.
Food, as others have stated, was not the best. Tacos were served on dry tortillas and were described by all parties as «okay». I tried the carnitas taco and Americano. Neither I would order again, but they weren’t terrible. I wish I would have gotten something else. Queso dip was pretty delish, so just smother it on whatever you order and you’ll love it…
This place’s saving grace was it’s beer selection! Plenty of good local brews to choose from either draught or can. When I was there they had a FatHead takeover which was a pleasant surprise. I had several brews and really enoyed hanging out at their comfy bar. This place seems like a great stop for happy hour (especially on Tuesdays when tacos are 2 bucks)!

First time at the Clintonville location. The place has a lot going for it, and will undoubtedly be a favorite spot in the summer when the garage doors can open and we are not stuck in the miserable cold.
I had Saturday brunch here, Huevos Rancheros, and I do like their version of it. Service was a bit slow, though the servers were very sweet, and the music too loud to carry on a conversation unless you were sitting on top your dining companion.
I will undoubtedly come back, and my guess is this place will eventually earn another star from me.

This place has some kinks to work out. It’s a hip funky place to hangout with a group of friends and grab a drink, appetizers, and Applebees-​like food. Don’t expect much beyond atmosphere. Keep your expectations low and you’ll be fine. We went opening weekend and waited 40 minutes to get a table. Our waitress was rude, it took her forever to take our order, we had to flag her down to get water refills, and we got our main course before our appetizers– need I say more. This place serves up average tacos – nothing special. I wish them all the best, but they better step up their game soon or they won’t last long.