Cantina La Mexicana

I’ve been at your Restaurant twice, and Alyssa has waited on us. I have to say that i have NEVER been so Well treated in my entire Life like She did with us. This waitress is very very Kind and She knows How to make a Client feel like a King or a queen!!! Thanks for having such a Good Service !
Best regards,
Aida Anasagasti

We have been back and it is not the same. It has really gone downhill. The ingredients of the food do not seem fresh any more. But the staff is all new and there were long periods when we are waiting and it is not even busy. We had dirty plates on the table a long time and staff just walked right on by. The blonde bimbo server who doubled as bartender left us with finished drinks for 20 minutes and did not return. When we commented, it was no worse than other places in the neighborhood. We had the fish taco and steak salad. The fish tasted off and the salad ingredients were wilted and not fresh. The steak was mostly too gristly. The cocktails were too watery and were definitely not worth over $ 10. They should be about half that. It has really gone downhill. There are many other places — the food at Tenoch Mexican in Medford Square is twice as good, while 30% less expensive. Do yourself a favor, go the extra mile or 2 to «Tu y Yo» Mexican for food 5 times better and the service 10 times better and the cost works out the same.

What a great find! I live nearby and was craving burritos on a freezing winter night. I ordered delivery from Cantina La Mexicana since I was already all cozied up and didn’t want to venture out in the cold. Only 30 minutes later the owner himself showed up at my door on foot with the delicious food! He literally walked to my house in the freezing cold and refused to accept a tip!
Having been in California the last few years I got used to good Mexican food — and Cantina la Mexicana is the best place around! I’m definitely becoming a regular to support a good restaurant with a great owner.

This place is gross! Food made me sick! Staff is so unprofessional they dont carw about the customers!

I have been dragged here by my boyfriend for years because he actually remembers when it was the Taqueria and good. I have only ever had one good experience here and that was on a cold winter day when the place was deserted and the owner’s daughter tended to us herself at the bar.
First of all: Why do they tend to hire waitstaff who can’t speak English OR Spanish? They tend to speak things like Romanian which means they can’t understand the patrons or the menu. I have never once (nor has my boyfriend or his daughter) ever gotten exactly what we ask for the first time. And the menu isn’t that complicated or extended.
Lately, we have had this surly, rude, blonde character as a waitress. She speaks English, but she just doesn’t care. The daughter is 9 and will only eat whole pinto beans and rice. When we asked this creature for this, emphasizing that she would not eat refried beans and rice and that we always order this so the kitchen can do it, this waitress actually heaved a huge sigh. The boyfriend said: «You’ve never heard of whole beans and rice?» She said «No!» In the way that I would say «No!» If someone asked me if I’d like a burrito with live baby mice inside it.
I am a vegetarian and sliced avocado is a standard ingredient to everything. Then why when I ask for it, do I hardly ever get it? Last night I was starving and took a huge bite of my enchilada without, for once, looking inside of it, I ended up with a mouthful of meat. We sent it back for the avocado but on the bill I was charged for the chicken.
The boyfriend abhors raw onion. Every single time he orders, he says «Instead of the pico de gallo, can I please just have chopped tomato and cilantro?» What does he get? Nothing. And when he asked, there was an annoyed look on the blonde creature’s face.
Without asking if we were all set, she slammed the bill down on the table and took off so quickly, we couldn’t even say «Wait! We want another round!» When she came back to retrieve it and we said we wanted more drinks, she acted totally and completely exasperated.
Now onto the the drinks. I don’t drink margaritas but the boyfriend does. He always gets the ‘house margarita’ There is apparently no consistency in these at all. There is something wrong with «no consistency» and «house margarita» It’s what they do. It’s their specialty. Shouldn’t it always be the same ?! If he gets two of them, the 2^nd one is alway way different from the first. Last night when he said his 2^nd margarita tasted weird, the blonde creature came to the table after he had gone to the restroom and proceeded to badger me. «Where is he? What doesn’t he like about it? How are we supposed to fix it if we don’t know what’s wrong with it?» Then she stuck her nose in it and said it smelled fine to her and slammed it down on the table. How about «We’re so sorry you don’t like it! We’ll get you a new one on the house!» She did go and pretend to make one herself but we just assumed she did this for a laugh to see if he thought it was different.
As for the bottled beer, which is what I drink. Not once was I asked if I wanted another. And when the 2^nd margarita was delivered and I said I wanted another beer, the blonde creature heaved a huge sigh before she walked the 5 feet or so to the bar to get it for me. She also tried grabbing the bottle away when there were at least two sips left and gave me a shocked and angry look when I grabbed it back and said I wasn’t done.
Earlier, there was a band. Why do restaurants the size of studio apartments think bands with trumpets are a good idea?! Or any bands at all? There was no way any conversing could take place. The man at the table next to mine and I had our ears covered to avoid permanent damage. In fact, the live music almost drove us away but we caved because we were starving. I have rarely been so relieved in my life as when they packed up and went home.
Then 11:00 rolled around. We were finishing our drinks and observing the antics at the table across from us, where apparently the entire population of The Island of Misfit Toys had decided to go out for Mexican. Suddenly the creature started picking up chairs and slamming them upside down on the tables. Wow! Talk about feeling welcome! The other side of the room with the bar was still full of people so I don’t know what that was all about.
So we are made to feel like the most annoying, exasperating customers ever and then urged to get the hell out.
Also, there was smeared and dried diarrhea in one of the women’s room stalls. And why is it always 20 degrees colder in there?
Really, the only thing good thing about the place is the sequined Lady of Guadalupe and I don’t think She’s happy with the current state of affairs.

I’ll admit that I’m a little sentimental about this place since I’ve been coming here since before I could say «guacamole.» It’s not worth eating in the restaurant, just roll up to the counter and load up on the delicious Mexican food you know you’ve been craving.
I’m obsessed with the nachos here! Maybe the chips lose a tiny bit of their crunch on the drive home, but the meat is always that awesome combination of crunchy and fatty, and the tomato sauce is great. (Just realized how crazy it is that I repeatedly shell out $ 7.50 for nachos… but that just tells you how good they are!)
The salsa is definitely heavy on the onion, but I don’t mind (at least until I try to brush my teeth). Even the rice and refried beans are full of flavor! The beans are kind of liquidy – they’re almost like a bean sauce? – but then you can mix them around with everything else on your plate.
Go to Anna’s if you want a burrito, come here if you want a feast of enchiladas, chiles rellenos, tamales… I like to get a combo (like the appropriately named «Union Square Gringo» = 2 enchiladas, 2 flautas, 2 tamales) to savor a little bit of all of the above.

I hate leaving a bad review… but, ugh!!! I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe because I grew up in the southwest and cook a lot of Mexican dishes I’m more familiar with what good Mexican food should taste like.
First issue is a lot of the ingredients weren’t fresh.
Salsa is the first hallmark of a Mexican restaurant, if the salsa is bad, you’re going to be in trouble. I’m not sure what the salsa actually was, it seemed to be some kind of tomato purée with very minor spices, and little to no chilies
Tortillas, the second hallmark of good Mexican… not fresh factory made/​store bought. Real tortillas are steamy hot, toasted and irregular, made with love and deliver twice as much in flavor.
Margarita, maybe not a hallmark but, something anyone should be able to make from scratch fresh and have be delicious… wasn’t a margarita. the tequila was beyond bottom shelf with a sharp ugly bite. I’ve almost never, not finished a drink and had to leave ²⁄₃ of it. The drink was served in a short rocks glass, rim wasn’t salted, there was no lime slice, or ice. The ingredients seemed to be water, cheap booze, and a squeeze of lime (just a squeeze if that, couldn’t taste it, but, I sensed it may be there).
I asked for a bean burro enchilada style and the waiter had no idea what that was. What came out was equally perplexing to me. The burro was 90% rice with maybe a spoonful of beans, covered in an orange sauce of some kind, no cheese, no lettuce, no pico.
The Guacamole was overly chunky, defeating the entire purpose of guacamole and lacking it’s characteristic flavor profile. Though the avocados did seem fresh.
I think late night college meal after drinking, could maybe see it, but, dinner… no.

Pretty good overall.
I’ll call it less Americanized than most. Tasty and seemed like decent quality ingredients. Good burro, enchiladas, and empanadas. The beans fell short compared to the flavorful beans in Mexico which i just loved but they’re okay for American beans. Rice was bland too but the rest was yummy.
Good staff.
Appropriate ambiance.

We ordered delivery ( Unilocal Eat24) as we were busy with school work. The order form had a separate area for choosing red or green sauce. Simple enough you would think, however, both dinners that were selected to have green sauce and both which clearly showed up on the order, were wrong.
The «custom burro» and the chile relleno both had arrived with a dark sauce that was not very good.
This was a bummer as we then needed to find some food after waiting 90 minutes for the incorrect order.
I will say this, Eat24 has been fantastic correcting orders so far. You just email them, I usually include photo of whatever the issue is and they promptly take care of it.
The custom burro was large bit mostly just rice and very little fish, more like the pez pequeño burro.
Eat24 is like the
of food delivery!
See photos.

Okay, so did you see the pic of the «Made to order» guacamole that I posted? As far as I know, that was not guacamole. I mean I have no Mexican roots whatsoever, so maybe I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, but I have never seen guacamole that looks like it is basically chopped up avocado mixed with pico de gallo. And honestly, I probably would not have been so upset about it if it actually tasted good. I know, you’re thinking what could possibly be bad about chopped up avocado? Um… the fact that it is not ripe and pretty much still hard and virtually tasteless for $ 11!!! Ugh, I am annoyed just thinking about it. I mean if you had at least mushed it up maybe the texture would not have been quite so noticable?
Anyway, the rest of the meal was not much better. The pulled pork was dry, though once smothered in sauce, it was slightly more edible. the grilled avocado, was again, a hard, unripe avocado that had been slight warmed. My mixed plate of a taco, enchilada and chile relleno was fine as all three items were pretty much drowning in cheese, and there wasn’t much else you could taste anyway. All of that and a couple of beers for upwards of $ 50 and we left knowing that we would never be back. There is nothing I hate more than spending good money on mediocre food.

I haven’t had much experience with Mexican food in Boston, but I’ve definitely had better in terms of taste and price in Virginia.
I was expecting more after reading Unilocal reviews, but maybe I didn’t order the right thing. My boyfriend expressed similar sentiments. The free chips and salsa were fine. I got the baja fish taco plate, which only had 2 tacos. It cost $ 13, so not a good deal. Granted, I’m picky and asked for everything on the side so that the tacos came with just the fish and sauce, but the portions of fish were really small compared to the other places I visit (those places give you 3 tacos with more fish for less than $ 10… But this isn’t VA). My bf got a chicken taco plate, which seemed to have a lot more protein. But he said they were only okay.
Service was meh. I checked the outside menu before coming in and saw that there were different options than the menus given to us. I asked the waitress about it and she was confused, so I just told her what i wanted from the outside menu. She came back about 5 minutes later still confused about my order, so I showed her what I saw outside. Took her a minute before she told me that was the lunch menu. It would’ve been helpful if there was some indication of that on the menu that’s posted, since there’s a disclaimer on the brunch menu. Anyway, I told her to just give me the dinner portion. About 10 minutes later she comes back and asks my bf what he ordered, it seems as though she completely forgot. So yeah, service could’ve been better.

We brought my girlfriend’s mother here for a mother’s day brunch with a group of eight people and were promptly seated. The chips and salsa that were brought out were tasty and fresh and our servers were attentive throughout the evening.
I appreciate that they let me customize my chilaquiles to have the addition of carne asada that made for some delicious bites along with the egg yolks and red sauce. I felt that the pitchers of red and white sangria that we got went quickly amongst so many people but that they were very strong and refreshing. I would definitely come back again for a hearty, delicious Mexican brunch.

My experience yesterday for my friend’s birthday bar crawl seals Cantina’s 5 star rating. We couldn’t have asked for better service. Knowing that it was a birthday, the restaurant went out of their way to accommodate our large party: Brought out complimentary food and made an effort to push several tables together.
Definitely hit up Cantina next time you want an awesome time in Union Square.

All the dishes were very fresh. Fresh ingredients, platted very well and not thrown together even though they were very busy. The place was packed (it was Cinco de Mayo). The salsa was definitely hand made (a bit spicy) but delicious none the less. The staff were very friendly and inviting.
Drinks were strong, but good. Great drink selection. Menu was limited, but all you needed. I would go again.

Service 2
Food 3.5
Took the guy 5 minutes to bring chips, but literally 20 for the salsa. After telling us he would be bringing it, then apologizing the 2^nd and 3^rd time he forgot it.
Guac was lack luster. Nothing special about it. The stuffed rellenos with chicken mole was pretty good. The steak tips were good, very juicy. Cooked right.
Chicken nachos looked as pathetic as it tasted. It was all one color. Not appealing.

I like coming here because the price is low and they have horchata, which is a rarity in Massachusetts. Some of the food is bland, and the hot sauce is not terribly hot. The tamales are the star of the menu. They have a vey tasty vegetarian tamale with spinach and green bean. The owner is very accommodating and I usually see him walking around talking to customers. Its perfect to show up during the day because it is not busy and the service is fast.

Fairly decent Mexican food. The burrito is gigantic! I mean this thing was huge (so very filling) I am still trying to find somewhere in Cambridge where I can just get a bean burrito though! The beans and rice was delicious! The meal was quite filling I would order from there again for sure! Best Mexican I have found so far in Cambridge!

Let me start by saying the owner/​manager was super friendly. We had a dude’s night and were starting off at Cantina La Mexicana for some good food and the owner stopped by to chat with us. He was super friendly and even brought over a Margarita he was testing out for us to taste. IT WAS SO GOOD! We had one friend show up late and he brought over his Burrito post haste.
OK, after that little aside, let me break this down for you.
The food — solid. This is pretty decent Mexican food at a price that won’t break the bank.
The Drinks — Margs are solid, pitchers not that expesnvie. There is a bucket of IPA’s deal that breaks down to $ 4 a beer, thats nothing to scoff at in this town
The Service — ON POINT
The Atmosphere — Its fine, nothing to write home about.
Friendly wait staff and owner really makes this place a gem, and its not over priced. Gotta love that.

The food here is delicious and the people are so welcoming and friendly.
Appetizer recommendations: guacamole and nachos w/​chicken! Guacamole is hard to WOW because we’ve all had so much of it before, buuuut this one is the perfect texture and acidity. Not too many tomatoes which I love. The chicken on the nachos are so juicy and make the whole nacho platter a saucy delight!
The chilaquiles and the chiles rellenos are AMAZING! My friend legitimately said that the chiles rellenos is one of the best foods he has ever had in his life. The highest of praise.
This restaurant is a union square staple, it’s more than 20 years old, so much older than all the new stores/​restaurants coming in. support cantina la mexicana so it can be open another couple decades!!!

FOOD = this is an amazing, cheap, authentic mexican, hole in the wall. I suggest the combination plate. My boyfriend and I came in around 530. We were looking for a quick place to eat before meeting up with friends at Aeronaut for drinks, and the Unilocal reviews sold us! We both got the combination plate #3. The potato chorizo enchilada is pretty darn tasty. Also, free chips and salsa. Salsa was heavy on the onions, but really good for us starving diners.
Margaritas: we had one spicy blood orange special, and one Diablo Rojas which, despite what our waitress assured, was OVER POWERINGLY SPICY. I like spice, but woah! How am I supposed to get two Margs, with this much spice?! I mean, I’m aware that habaneros are spicy, but don’t tell me it’s potable, when its not. (I did drink it though, because I don’t waste booze).
SERVICE: Juliana, our server… Provided the worst service either of us have ever had. Coming in at 530, there were two servers on, and one table. A 2 top. Us. Only us. Somehow it took 5 mins to take a drink order. 3 mins to get drinks (totally fine, we got custom Margs), and maybe another 8mins to take a food order. I don’t mind waiting for food, but we were STARVING (I’m dramatic) and she could have grabbed us chips, but instead she was chatting (loudly) with the bartender. Finally she takes our order. 20 minutes later our entrée arrives! but we ordered an appetizer… which even with a reminder, she couldn’t name the correct appetizer… I super wanted thE Queso too.
My boyfriend said «next time we come here, we will get take out» … I reminded him that there are a ton of mexican places around, and that we will just go to Rudy’s in Teele for equivalent food, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but better service.

A well-​rounded variety of all the traditional Mexican dishes. I ordered the Burro with potato and chorizo and it was delicious! It was also a huge portion, which never hurts…
The restaurant was fairly empty when we went, so our server was very attentive. Overall it was a good experience!

Un Lugar que vende burros no puede considerarse Mexicano, hacen un buen intento pero les faults mucho lo dice un Mexicano