Rose’s Cantina

I love this place, atmosphere is great, always bustling with happy people eager to get their drink on! A pitcher of sangria is a must, especially if the garden is open! Food is well prepared, ceviche, empanadas and tacos are worth ordering — with nachos to start with, always! Service is awesome, very attentive waitresses and generous bartenders! After dinner we sat at the bar and the bartender let us try a couple of cocktails complimentary and served us some free shots too :) great night, great place — a must in Amsterdam!

Extremely slow service. I had to hunt down a waiter and stare down several people just to get a started of chips and guac At 8:30 on a Saturday. I got the tacos. The pulled pork was cold. If the meat were warm they would have been good the pineapple was a nice touch. My friends all enjoyed their enchiladas though.

As a native Californian with Mexican heritage, I know what’s real Mexican food and this is not it. C’mon Holland, step up your game when it comes to Mexican food. I was really disappointed by the food quality and taste, nothing like what I have eaten in Mexico or California.

Christmas night, amazing vibe! Visiting from the USA, tried and true foodie crowd. Enchiladas are delish, crunchy exterior with a kick of spice. Berry margaritas are on point! Carnitas queso fresca in corn tortillas with heavenly guac and the nachos Classico, must have!

It was Ok. Not as good as La Margarita (not the one across the street). The location is much bigger than you think it has tables in the back which is nice. The salsa is average. Drinks not so great… they were all ice hardly any content. Enchiladas are actually one enchilada. Meh. Great location though but can definitely improve on so many levels.

The cantina appears to be a dance club with a huge disco ball hanging from the ceiling. It’s a busy, crowded and loud space. The music is blaring and the crowd is having to yell in order to be heard over the din. The menu isn’t large but is adequate. The food is not bad either. They have a nice selection of drinks including margaritas.
The walls are painted black. The tables and chairs are fairly plain with nothing fancy about them. The servers though extremely busy are actually quite friendly, helpful and fast. The food and drinks didn’t take long to arrive. Overall it was a good experience though a bit louder than I prefer.

Delicious. If you are looking for a place with excellent high end authentic Mexican food, this is the place for you. Beautiful location. Service was great. Will be back to try more tasty dishes for sure.

Amazing restaurant! It came highly recommended and stood up to its expectations. Food was awesome, environment was fun, & service was great! Only minor complaint is that it became a bit noisy towards later in the night. But still great!

Probably my best place to be on a weekend going out with friends, visitors, or just with my bf.
Their food is delicious, lots of options that you almost get lost searching for your meal, we order multiple plates to be able to eat everything ;)
Very lovely staff to serve you they are all professionals and not just random students.
Best thing about this place though is their cocktails, various options to choose from, i have tried them all ;) and they are all good!
If you are around the neighbourhood, and you dont wanna dine, you can go there for a drink or two, their bar can host enough people, and you will have a lovely time!

Nice but dimly lit interior, spectacularly good food.
Very helpful and friendly staff. The only downside is the price of the food, but that is to be expected.

I’ve only been here once and I left feeling pretty pissed.
I asked for nachos with some steak on top, perhaps, and got charged for a full order of nachos AND for a full order of steak. It’s always nice to pay € 25 more for your entrée than you expect. They could’ve given me the sides I paid for in a doggy bag, but obviously they didn’t. I got a curt «but you asked for steak» response when I inquired about the bill.
The food was pretty good though, which is why I can’t give it a super low rating.
Next time I know to not order ridiculous (to the Dutch, at least) things here.

Food was good, not really Mexican but very good. Lots of the dishes featured chicken or veggie fillings, no real beef fillings for empanadas or quesadillas etc. They did have steaks on offer and short ribs (were good). Service was ok but not very friendly. I’d recommend it and try to sit in the back patio if the weather is nice.

In my on going quest for the best Mexican food I can find in Europe, I stopped here on a recent trip to Amsterdam. At first I was a little wary. I mean, being from California, as I have stated in like every review I have done on Mexican, I get a little uppity when it comes to tasty South of the Border treats. I mean, just because you put jalapenos on something doesn’t make it a Mexican dish.
However, I was pleasantly surprised with the spiciness of my enchilada, the close to perfection of my guacamole, and the margarita, which seemed to be comprised of only red colored tequila. I am not saying it is where to go for real authentic style Mexican on the continent, but it does better than like 85% in a pinch.
Add to that the waiters, even the super stoned one, are all sweet and just (or in case of the one with the wounded hand totally) this side of adorable and really friendly.

Great view of the gay bars from the street. Delicious plates and fine drinks. While the location is perfect for street gazing, the inside is beautifully decorated. This place knows how to do it well.

This was the best Mexican I’ve had in Amsterdam and probably the best meal of of my two month stay so far. The atmosphere was cozy and the menu was great. I would definitely recommend this place

Rosa’s Cantina is always a miss for me. I’ve tried it numerous times and have never been impressed. The black beans are consistently overcooked and dried up and the dishes leave a lot to be desired in terms of flavor and Mexican taste.
The restaurant is also incredibly loud, so its best to go there if you want to have a few cocktails and shout a bit before heading to the other bars in the area.
My suggestion — if you want Mexican food in Amsterdam, head to Los Pilones

By far, the best Mexican food I’ve ever had.
I’m from Arizona and never really a fan of true Mexican food because it’s always so unexciting. My fiancé and I got the appetizer nachos and the chef’s tasting menu, so we got to try a lot of dishes, and they were all amazing! I can’t say enough about the food. Amazing flavor.
None of my pictures of the food came out too great due to the dim lighting but I’ll post anyways.
The atmosphere was also great. Loved the semi-​loud volume and great music. Great vibe.

I know a lot of the other reviews complain about the lack of authenticity at Rose’s Cantina, and it is true. It is not going to compare to restaurants in Mexico or California, but what it does do is provide delicious food with Latin flavors.
So if you want good food, drinks, ambiance and service — this is the place to go!
I’ve been here a few times, and this review is specifically about my most recent visit and the amazing way they handled complaints.
We celebrated my husband’s birthday here and they have a birthday special called «Sip, Sip, Hooray» where they offer you (and up to 5 guests) a glass of bubbles for free. You have to mention this promotion when you make the reservation. Naturally we were thrilled and enjoyed our food and drinks. However, when we received the bill they had charged us for the drinks. The server was unable to resolve the issue, and we paid the full amount.
Afterwards, I emailed Fred (aka Mr. Bossman) a complaint because I was annoyed about the whole thing. He replied promptly and apologized. Not only did he offer me a refund, he also offered as an alternative method of compensation, a meal for 2.
What a generous offer! But we chose to take the refund and when we picked up the refund, his assistant Arthur personally apologized again and offered us free drinks the next time we visited.
What amazing levels of service! This is a restaurant that truly cares about their customers and take feedback seriously.

The BAD:
The food was quite the disappointment for me. As someone that grew up in California I’ve been spoilt with countless great taquerias and Mexican restaurants seemingly available on every other block and have been enjoying this cuisine since I was a child. Unfortunately, Rose’s version was a 2 out of 10 stars. My nachos were almost burnt to a crisp. First off, the dish itself was scalding hot and the cheese melted on the tortilla chips was DRY meaning the entire dish was left in the oven for way too long. The sour cream was slightly watery and not creamy enough, almost like yogurt.
The tortilla used on the quesadilla was also very dry and really didn’t have much in it. Overall very lacking in flavor. While I was eating, my husband noted I was eating the most crispiest quesadilla he’s ever heard, like I was was eating tortilla chips. Enough said. And… no burritos on their menu. Yes, I know. CRAZY.
The GOOD:
Our server was sweet. He made us feel welcomed and took care of us and made sure everything was okay. My husband had burgers and fries and he enjoyed his order. My glass of rose which was only € 4,5. Even with the weaker Dollar, it’s still cheap and they had great Margarita options.
The place was buzzing and lots of people hanging out drinking and socializing with friends. A good place to catch up with friends. Just be sure to have reservations. We just got lucky snatching up the last table.
Despite the lower than average Mexican food I still liked Rose’s. I didn’t come here looking for authenticity, I came here because I was curious to see Amsterdam’s take on this cuisine. You can hardly get decent Mexican food on the East Coast (of the US) so I can’t really complain Rose’s didn’t get it quite right.

Warning: New Owners
Not necessarily a bad thing, but all the reviews and pictures before 2013 are from the old restaurant. That being said, I did not have a chance to visit the old restaurant, so this is a review of the new.
First I will make note of the décor. It is very stylish and modern inside. Lots of dark colors and a tattoo parlor sort of feel to it. Very hip place and since we came early, it looked like the bar was starting to get going by the time we were leaving. The lighting is a little but dark though.
We had a wide variety of starters. Including shrimp cocktail, guacamole, and nachos (well does beer and tequila count as starters?). These were all quite nice and the ingredients seemed fresh.
As for mains you are really quite limited. We were told that the menu will increase in size but for now there are only four options. For vegetarians, which we had one in our group, this option is limited to enchiladas. I decided on the burger for my main, even though at € 18 it must be the most expensive burger I have tried. On the plus side, even though it looked quite small the taste was rather big. It was right up there with the best I’ve ever had. I still can’t decide if it was worth the price tag though.
On a down side. They had some guy doing construction at the door almost the whole time we were eating and people walking in and out of a service door right next to our table. Now I certainly understand a business would want to get as much work done as possible but when they don’t open in 17:00, I would think that work could have been done before opening. Bad project management there.
It was a pleasurable experience but needs a little more work.