Golden Cactus Mexican Grill — Restaurant in Calgary

I had to change my previous 5 stars from over a year ago down to 2 stars. Our first visit was great, amazing food and good service. However, we have come here twice since then and our experiences have not been good. Specifically, we came last night with our 3 year old. We were shouted at across the restaurant to come sit at a table at the back of the restaurant instead of being greeted. Then, the waitress tried to pawn off an extra molcajete that the kitchen had made by mistake on our table, and when we refused, she insisted that "it's fine, it's fresh" etc. Eventually we said no, we planned to order a different kind of molcajete anyway and she walked away. Then no one came to our table again until they brought out the molcajete, despite the fact that they hadn't even taken our order for our child, or drink orders, or anything else. We hadn't even finished looking through the menu to decide if we even wanted appetizers, they just dumped it on the table. Eventually we ordered for our child and recieved it. Then no one came to our table at any point again for over an hour. This is not an exaggeration. We arrived at 5pm, had our food by 530 and did not leave the restaurant until 630. Our empty dishes were sitting on the edge of the table and my toddler was falling asleep on my lap and no one came to see if we wanted to order anything else (we HAD been considering dessert) or to bring the bill the entire time after receiving our food. Eventually I got up and left with my child and finally then, one of the waitresses asked "if we were good". So my husband said, no, we have been waiting for someone to bring the bill for nearly an hour. Just terrible service from beginning to end. This was so disappointing as the food is always so delicious but I just don't think I can come back after two bad experiences in a row. I have never recieved such poor service in a restaurant. Just very, very...

The best flavoured Mexican food in Calgary! Authentic vibe and food.

The atmosphere is a colourful Mexican style, lively Latino music which was perfect -(don’t change that!), and the staff is warm, friendly, and accommodating. (Don’t lose your warm friendliness! That is the biggest difference between you and other Mexican places here!👍🏼)

They gave us free nachos and pico which was so nice and made us feel welcomed, and that also gives us preference to come here over other Mexican restaurants in Calgary. (Sort of like when an Asian restaurant gives you free hot tea when you arrive? Feels so nice. 😊)

My wife ordered the 🌮 Tacos Al Pastor and she couldn’t get over how awesome they are! She said you could taste all the fresh individual flavours.

They were so good, I had to order my own second entre plate of food to get them after seeing how much my wife loved them. 😂

I first ordered the Pulled 🐖 Pork 🌯 Burrito, It’s flavour was vibrant, 🎉 dancing in your mouth in every bite. You should def try it if you are a burrito fan. I only wish that it was a larger burrito though, or that it came with rice and beans on the side, as I was still hungry.

The second plate of food, the Tacos, was nice and full of meat -not skimpy at all, places on double homemade delicious tortillas. Very flavourful.

They gave us three types of salsa and they were also homemade and delicious.

I look forward to visiting this restaurant again and as they grow, I hope they some day will open up in Cochrane where...

As most reviews mention, the food is delicious but unfortunately the service is beyond slow or non existent. Had lovely experiences here last year, the servers were attentive and the food was delicious.. Well today we had reservations for 10 at 5:30 on a Tuesday, it was steady but not swamped and yet we had to practically beg to get service.. the waitress didn’t address the table for around 15 minutes and when she did, she asked to take food orders when we hadn’t even ordered our drinks. When we finally did receive our drinks and food they were good so at least the kitchen is doing something right. I had ordered a horchata near the end of our meal when the gentleman working cleared some plates, after waiting 30 minutes I asked about the drink and he told me he’d forgot. At this point the restaurant was quiet and closing, we were waiting again for our server to bring us our bills when she sat down to eat and browse on her phone. We chatted at the table to pass some time when eventually someone from our table had to walk over and interrupt her meal so that we could settle the bill. Just strange to have your server sit down for a full meal instead of waiting until the last table was settled and left. Hope you guys can make some customer service improvements, that makes or breaks...