Amber’s Cantina

For everyone who wants a local happy to see you, and remember your name place… this is it!!! Even at its fullest the welcome will be warm, and the wait… worth it. Lunch is usually quiet, dinner rackus. The food always delicious, satisfying, beautifully plated, FRESH, and mouth watering. My husband and I have been regulars for years, and always look forward to our next meal.
Recommended…enchilada Durango… tortilla soup… fish tacos…
Anything with rice and beans, yum… Cadillac margaritas. Ps the ice in any mixed drink, cola, or iced tea is scrumptious.
See you there.

We had dinner there last week, a family of 6. We all had something different and everything was delicious! I also loved the fact that you can switch French fries for the rice and beans for the kids. I had the crab and shrimp enchiladas, and they were so good. They were covered in a mild green sauce that was nicely flavored.

Durango Enchiladas were fantastic, guacamole, chips and salsa was SO GOOD and the service was wonderful. Great place for dinner with friends!

My wife and I love this place! Very good and consistent food and a friendly staff. It’s pretty crowded on Friday and Saturday nights, so expect a wait if you don’t get there early. But the line out the door waiting for tables shows how much everyone enjoys Amber’s food.

I’m not local, but Unilocal the area looking for some good Mexican food, and Amber’s Cantina came up with good reviews. I was greeted upon entering with a friendly server and any booth to choose from. The chips and salsa were the best part of my experience at Amber’s but even they weren’t the anything to go back for. I’m a fan of cilantro, but when it’s in my salsa I want it chopped finely. There were huge chunks of cilantro in the salsa, but the flavors were spot on. I had the Amberito Bowl with chicken. Everything was good, but nothing unique or extraordinary. This place is A-​OK, but probably nothing I’ll go back for. I’ll keep driving next time I’m in Laguna Niguel and keep looking for a restaurant that deserves all the stars!

Good, local Mexican food. Fast friendly service. I always get the El Pollo Ranchero. It’s excellent!

Good place! Friendly servers, great margaritas served in mason jars, good food at very reasonable prices.

Love this place! We just found it and they awesome margaritas, chips and salsa, food and service! We go to high end Mexican places and this is right up there with the best! Thanks Debbie you were super sweet too!

My wife and I have been going there regularly for a few years now. Consistently great food. Very friendly hometown staff. The chips and salsa is the freshest and best tasting in the county. Oh, And the beers… Ice cold.

I’ve been to Ambers 3 times and all 3 times I left satisfied. They have great service. Their food is good. The atmosphere is relaxed and casual. I get the enchilada durangos and their consistently good. I also really like their chips and salsa.

First time and not last time.
Excellent food and service. Jill was an amazing server. Staff was friendly from the moment we walked in.
Great find

Cozy atmosphere yummy food super nice family restaurant. You could miss this goldmine driving by

My favorite Mexican restaurant in the town!!! Their foods are always delicious and services are friendly. Prices are reasonable and place is clean at all time. Thumbs up!

Probably the best Mexican food in South Orange County. Service is generally pretty friendly for take out or dine-​in. One of the few places you can get a real deep-​fried chimichanga (believe it or not lots of Mexican places do not offer chimi’s).
It can be quite loud inside if you choose to eat in when its crowded, and it can be warm at certain times in the summer.
Sometimes placing orders by phone is a challenge, I’ve had more than one experience of being disconnected, getting the answering machine during store hours, (and even one time they were closed unexpectedly messing up our dinner plans, and found out later in the week their phones were down). Typically this is remedied by calling back a short while later.
That being said, this is a great place for food and everything I’ve eaten here has been great. Prices are pretty good as well.
Would highly recommend these folks.

Great hole wall place… great food and service by Jill.
Chile verde was AWESOME.
Everything homemade!

Food was great! They served us fast too. Friendly servers. Enthusiastic. Salsa was good too.

We actually found this restaurant by accident when we asked Siri for a good Mexican food lunch spot. Thank you Siri for sending us to a legit Mexican food restaurant. :)
Food was sooooo good. My new favorite Mexican food spot. My boyfriend and I came with our son and it was the perfect way enjoy a quiet lunch!
I had the seafood enchiladas (crab and really large shrimp inside), the green sauce was soo flavorful and good. My son (a picky eater) had the cheeseburger and he loved it. Boyfriend had the carne. also very good.
I must say I was most impressed with the customer service. Our waitress was so authentically polite and really made our meal that much better. My 7 year old asked for a soda, and as most moms know, we don’t usually want our little ones drinking soda. She was polite enough to ask me if that was ok. I thanked her for asking me first before getting the drink.
I’m not sure of my waitresses name, but she was truly a gem! Thank you again for a really yummy lunch! We will be back for sure!

I love this place and can’t believe it took me years to try it ! I think because I don’t eat at strip malls hardly ever. What a little quaint jewel this is with amazing service. Not only is the service awesome the food is prepared basically in your view and made to order by the chef. This is some of the freshest Mexican food I have ever had. We have been there 4 times in 3 weeks, and at nite it’s even better ambience with the simple twinkling lights. We have had their fajitas, their special bowl, and I have had 2 of their salads. All fresh and delicious. So glad we found this local jewel. If I had one complaint it’s their chips could be a little thinner, but they are good enough and their salsa is awesome and served in BIG bowl!

I’ve been coming here, to Amber’s Cantina, since 1986. To this date I’ve never had a bad meal placed in front of me let along had bad service.
Coming from a large metzican family I’ve been groomed to having a good traditional metzican meal put in front of me. Here at Amber’s Cantina you’ll get that same type of meal. As a matter of fact it’s almost like my Grandma’s and mom’s cooking, yes I’m biased.
Fernando the chef can plate you a phenomenal traditional metzican meal like no other in the city.
I will continue to come back as well as be a loyal and faithful customer.
Fernando. … ORALE… … Good job, good meal.
Amber… Thank you for being the best place us locals can call home.

Thought we would give this place a try for lunch as it had been a few years since we ate here. It has been nicely redecorated and now has comfortable booths. There was no wait, and we were seated immediately. Our waitress was friendly and brought us chips and salsa and water as she handed us our menus. The chips were crunchy and the salsa was good with enough hot spice for me.
I ordered the seafood enchiladas made with shrimp and crab, a green sauce, and topped with sour cream and avocados. They were full of flavor, however, they were only luke warm and should have been hotter. The beans and rice were nothing special. The fish tacos were also ordered and served and not very good. The taco shells were stale, not crunchy, and the fish was dry and flavorless.
The service here was excellent and our waitress was very attentive. The restaurant is clean and the prices are reasonable. I would give this place another chance as there are other things on the menu I would like to try.