Cactus Taverna

Great food at reasonable prices for what you get. Try the alligator bites! The sauce is fantastic.

My husband and I recently tried Cactus Taverna for the first time, and it quickly became our favorite restaurant in Salisbury. It’s a little on the expensive side for a restaurant around here, but worth every penny. Amazing specials, amazing drinks (the wine margarita is delicious), and excellent service! Whether you’re looking for red meat, seafood, or pasta, you will not be disappointed. I can’t think of any other restaurant in Salisbury with such unique dishes and exceptional quality. The staff is friendly and attentive without hovering. Make sure to ask your server for recommendations, as they all know the menu very well.

I ordered the chicken fajitas and red wine sangria. My meal and drink were awesome and the service was superb!!! I’m very picky when it comes to sangrias. My #1 place for Sangrias is Guapos in Bethesda, MD and the sangrias at Cactus Taverna taste almost exactly the same. My waitress was Meredith and she was very friendly and knowledgable about the menu. I told her it was my first time there and that I had recently moved. She made me feel very welcome to the restaurant as well as the community.

We had a wonderful dinner here. The «Coconut Martini» is a MUST HAVE and I’m a beer drinker. Our appetizers, Lentil soup and chorizo dip were really good. And our waitress Kirstie was a pleasure !

The service was great most of the time. Endless chips and salsa, but the salsa was too watery for me. The fajitas were great though 3 small shells was nowhere near enough for the huge amount of food on the plate.
The menu is one of the oddest juxtapositions I’ve ever seen. They have a few things like specials that included sirloin and lamb for tex-​mex, but shellfish is probably in ²⁄₃ of the dishes. There are tapas, but many revolve around adding shellfish to them. I expected a little more traditional Mexican food options (allergic to shellfish) so the menu was pretty limited for myself. It’s definitely more Mediterranean than tex-​mex, so if you go in thinking that you won’t be disappointed by the menu. One of the more unique menus I’ve seen, especially for Salisbury.

Ugh. Gross, gross, just gross. I ordered the Greek spanokita (sp) my Mom and Step dad ordered some Greek thing that claimed potatoes were in it… but it was literally French fries. Hubs ordered the chicken fajitas… which were actually the best out of all the dishes. They only give you 3 tortillas so you will have to ask for more and they don’t have corn. My stuff was obviously frozen then cooked. The French fry meals just looked pathetic. My stomach actually hurt days after!!!
It’s a dark restaurant and their live music is way too loud, though the guy wasn’t bad. The bathrooms, oh the bathrooms… so filthy. Will definitely be avoiding this place in the future!!!

This place is awesome. The food is terrific and the service can’t be beat. Been here many times with my family and it’s pretty much the best dining experience anyone could ever hope for.

Went out to eat here with a friend because I heard this place was good– ordered the veggie fajitas. What came out was a mixture of carrots, peas, broccoli served with no sauce and a plate of tortillas. I am not a picky eater and love all types of food; I made an account to write this review. Friend was equally dissatisfied with her meal. Have never considered asking for food to be sent back before this restaurant and I will never go back.

Excellent food, excellent live acoustic music and excellent service by Zachary! My partner got fajitas and I got mariscos saltados. We highly recommend both. We are not from the area, but if we are ever back we will be going here again. The servers are here to make sure you have a good time and they don’t disappoint.

Ok so this is officially my new favorite restaurant. The food here is amazing and full of flavor… The service is fantastic. I had the rockfish topped with crab Imperial and the cream of corn crab-​soup.
Bonus plus: The owner comes out and greets every customer

Great food and service in a very unassuming location. Located in a strip mall and not much to look at from the outside but inside is wonderful! The food was excellent and we had wonderful service.

Great food, service, and hospitality by owner for party we had there. Food was excellent as well.

I was in town for business and decided on Cactus Tavernas for dinner based on the Unilocal reviews. I’m soooo glad that I did because everything was excellent! I had the Sangria and Rockfish topped with crab imperial!!! The service was friendly and top notch! Highly recommend!!!

The stuffed chicken is hands down amazing, and if you feel the need for something from the red meat area, definitely try the rack of lamb! Always fresh and tender, and the service, oh my gosh, always fantastic and personable. You always leave with a smile!

I wanted to like this place– truly, I did– but it fell short of my expectations.
My husband and I went here expecting to be wowed by the food, based on word of mouth and other Unilocal reviews. We weren’t.
As others have commented, the menu is so random. The place bills itself as Mediterranean, but half the dishes are said to have a Peruvian sauce. And then there are Mexican dishes — which suits the cactus name, I suppose. There are a few Mediterranean options as well — but far fewer than you’d expect. They seem to love crab imperial here too — half the specials and many entrees featured it.
I was confused as to why we got chips and salsa when we sat down at a Mediterranean restaurant. And why they were playing what sounded like Middle Eastern pop music. But… Whatever. We are go with the flow people. We ordered Queso Fundido — and I’m not going to blaspheme the place and say it was Velveeta… But my husband looked at me when it arrived and said, «This looks like Velveeta». Upon tasting it, it tasted very processed cheese sauce to me. So it may not be… But don’t expect otherwise.
I opted to order one of the appetizer specials for my entrée– Stuffed Shrimp, shrimp with crab imperial. I figured since crab imperial was all over the menu, it must be great. The shrimp were fried — which was a surprise to me, but would have been okay but they tasted like generic fried shrimp and had the uniformity indicative of having come right out of a bag pre-​breaded and tossed into the fryer. The crab imperial was heavy on the peppers, light on the crab, and the entire dish was lukewarm.
My husband chose seafood enchiladas and said that they were good — and that they did have a good amount of seafood in them.
Will we go back? Maybe. I love lamb and they do have lamb on the menu– a rarity in Salisbury, and that may be enough to tempt me to try it again.
I will say this — I like the interior. Sitting in a booth, it’s a more intimate setting than many places in town so it would be a nice date night place (unless you got stuck at one of the out of place metal chaired tables– that is a downer on the ambiance).

Our family was traveling and spent the evening in Salsbury. We loved this place. Staff was very friendly. The owner was making the rounds at tables and had a nice conversation but not overly in your face, and the food was good. Lots of specials. I was not disappointed by my strip steak with grilled scallops and grilled shrimp. Vegetables were fresh but overcooked, so I feel perhaps I’ll give four stars instead of five because it wasn’t perfect. However I would go back in an instant.

My family and I visit several times a year friendly faces and comfortable atmosphere
Good times good food and good memories

The food was amazing and the service was even better! The owner made sure everyone in the restaurant was greeted personally and we were made to feel like celebrities! Best dining experience we’ve had!

I really enjoy this local spot. It is a little hard to find if you don’t know your way around Salisbury, but if you are lucky enough to find it you have to try it!
I have been here several different times but have enjoyed it every time. They have so many different items on the menu I guarantee there is something for everyone! If you enjoy seafood, I liked the mahi mahi, stuffed rockfish, and the salmon and scallops in the cream sauce! They are fresh, and look beautiful on the plate! If you are more of a turf person their filets are tender and come with a variety of different things you can add to it! They also have an option to get a wine margarita, which I really enjoyed!
The most recent night I went on was a Friday and they had a live musician who was wonderful! It made the experience even better! Can’t wait to come back again!

This is not a Mexican restaurant, and don’t be thrown by the location (strip mall)!
Cactus Taverna is my favorite place to eat out in Salisbury unless I am craving sushi. Unlike some other reviewers I enjoy the eclectic menu offerings. I don’t believe I have ever ordered my entrée off the menu though… it’s all about the specials.
Besides the food, the service makes CT stand out in this town. The servers are all attentive, knowledgeable, and friendly without feeling oppressive. The owner is gracious and warm and is seemingly always present in the dining room to greet patrons and chat.
I like the Maza platter for an app, Mediterranean inspired with pita, hummus, dolmas, etc. The specials are all consistently wonderful and are mostly seafood or steak based, and the portions are hearty.
If you are looking for a nice dining experience where you won’t feel rushed through a meal and welcomed as a valued patron, you found it!