Cactus Jack's — Restaurant in Queensland

I visited this spot multiple times during my stay in Townsville. The first 2 times I went the staff was incredibly friendly and took great care of me and my party. Our waiter Alessandro was amazing!

However the final time I went there was a much different experience. I don’t recall the managers name but he had blue hair we got there around 8pm and just wanted to order a round of drinks (they close at 9) from the moment we got there it felt like they wanted us to leave. He asked if we wanted any food and we said no and he said great I can close my kitchen early. Then when we got our drinks they brought an extra one we didn’t order. When we tried to inform the girl who brought them over she said that the bar had closed and that she didn’t even work here. When I got the attention of the manager he said that we did order the drink and we assured him we didn’t. The experience left a bad taste in all our mouths.

We went back for a 3rd time because the night prior my friend made a deal with another manager in charge to buy a Tshirt from the restaurant and she said to come back to pick it up so we did. When my friend brought that up to the manager with the blue hair he said that they don’t sell them because then someone can wear the shirt say they work here to eat for free and that no one had told him about this. Eventually he brought the shirt out but it was a weird vibe from there on out.

Overall I would give my experience a 3 stars because the first 2 times I went found the staff and atmosphere to be wonderful. If I had only stopped at 2 I would have given it a 4 (the drinks aren’t all that strong here idk if that’s a cultural thing or...

Service: excellent (very personable and efficient staff) Setting: charming and comfortable with a quaint Tex Mex vibe and lovely ambience Price: not bad - moderate. $25- $35ish for a main and $10-15ish for starters. Also have a happy hour for drinks which is great Food: cactus jacks? More like Craptus Jacks. The quality was very sub-par, especially for the prices. And I mean really at the end of the day if the food is bad the service doesn't really matter

Everything tasted bland, sickly sweet or overly greasy. The chicken fajita main was very disappointing. The chicken tasted like a prepackaged frozen-dish instead of the freshly cut char-grilled taste of proper chicken fajitas, the sauce and salsa were sickly sweet and the vegetables were soggy and tasteless. The wraps tasted as if they had come out of a supermarket packet.

The potato skins were soggy and smothered in really greasy melted cheese. Grease everywhere.

The jalapeño poppers weren't authentic at all - they were spring rolls with some kind of processed jalapeño cheese filling. A proper jalapeno popper should have a whole jalapeño (albeit cut sideways) in it, stuffed with cheese (and sometimes breadcrumbed).

The Marguerita I ordered was made from a pre-mix and not squeezed fresh from lemon like the menu claimed. It tasted sickly sweet - sort of like flat lemon squash. Also it had ice cubes in it which made it watery and not how you prepare a proper Marguerita.

Definitely do not come here if you want authentic tex mex. This food just doesn't capture the true taste /...

Bombdive! In the past we would be seated and asked if we wanted drinks to start. Two visits in the last week and we had menus put in front of us and waitress race off. Long long wait, having to call out to a waitress to order drinks. Ordered food at the same time. Waited. Waited. Waited. Starters came out before drinks (2 coronas so not something needing blending) Had to stop waitress again and ask for drinks. She went and got them as the guy behind the bar was obviously extremely busy on his own. Finished drinks just as mains came out. Had to call out to waitress to order drinks again. Waited Waited Finished mains just as the two drinks came out. Great food, but for a restaurant that had many empty tables, the service was atrocious. I would normally drink four or five beers during a dinner like that but was flat out getting two. Not a place to eat drink and be merry - no focus on clients waiting for drinks. If you don’t stop the staff racing by, you will not get served. One person behind the bar was absolutely ridiculous. Then…. When leaving We see a small post it note on the credit card machine saying 15% surcharge for public holiday. This was not written at the entry door. Nobody mentioned it until we had finished our dinner and came to pay. A bit sneaky I felt, but what can you do? Well, what can you not...