Tequila Cantina — Restaurant in North Vancouver

Update October 2025 Tequila Cantina is such a favourite of mine and my family! The food is so delicious and very well priced for such quality and generous portions. My favourite has always been the grilled fish tacos (Estilo Baja) - I love the other dishes too - but I must always satisfy the craving for these. I decided to try the Estilo Baja with grilled prawns on a recent visit and OMG they are so delicious that now I need to order both fish and prawns every time. Hubby's favourite is the Chicken Enchiladas, and we enjoy sharing the Ceviche! All of the staff are sooo nice and the service is always excellent! I must give a shout out and thanks to Nadia, Sara and Diego for their wonderful friendly service during recent visits. Thank you and see you again soon!! January 2025 My new favourite restaurant!! I have been craving fish tacos recently but have been resisting as I am needing to avoid deep fried foods for health reasons. Today my daughter told me that she had a craving for Tequila Cantina and when I found out they had fish tacos I went immediately! I was so happy to find that they have fish tacos (Estila Baja) with the choice of grilled fish! I ordered 3 of them since my experience at other restaurants they are small and 3 would be needed. The portion size turned out to be so generous, two would have been enough, but I was happy to have some extra to eat later!! OMGosh they were sooo good - the best fish tacos I have ever had and so healthy with the grilled fish! And the service by Coral was wonderful - she was so friendly and took great care of me while I was waiting for my takeout order. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed her order of Quesabirrias as well - I managed to take a photo of my Estilo Baja so you can see the very generous and beautiful serving! Thank you Coral and Tequila Cantina for the wonderful service and food - we will be back!! Update January 26, 2025: After such a wonderful takeout experience I had to share with Hubby and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the restaurant! He agreed the fish tacos were delicious! Our daughter was unable to join so we ordered takeout for her and this time she had Estila Baja with prawns and Carnitas and told me they were delicious as well! I forgot to take a photo of my fish tacos until I had already taken a bite 😉. It was also a treat to have our meals in-person with the wonderful Coral and her extraordinary service!...

I’m a big fan of Mexican food and also a foodie. My best local Mexican hangout is La Taqueria Pinche Taco Shop in North Vancouver, but it closes at 6:00 pm. Cinco De Mayo Mexican Grill (this one closed and I was sad)………, there are new ones which have opened as well and I will try them as well. I had seen Tequila Cocina open on Lonsdale and had always wanted to eat there but some how it got postponed. I finally had a chance today and placed my order for a takeout over the phone. When I got there I was told my order was not placed. I asked for a reason and they said my order was above $50 and needs to be verified. I was a bit surprised here, the person who got my order over the phone could not even get my name right after 4 tries, based on that I had spelled my name, gave my phone number 3 times and verified my order twice. I was told they tried calling me 2 times. I showed my phone and advised I had never received a call. I was frustrated and advised the person who had said had taken my call she had lied. It became a bit awkward, but I still wanted to try the food there and asked them to get my food ready. I paid in advance and waited outside. I was told the food would be ready in 15 minutes. The person who had taken my order just crumbled and threw the bill I had paid. I went in after 15 minutes the food was not ready, I asked for the name of the person who had taken my order and the General Manager Anna stepped in and said I could talk to her for any concerns I had. I told her I was not happy as I had never gotten a call on my phone. Anna and another staff member came over and told me they know she had called me. I got my food after 25 mins; the General Manager came over to hand over the food. She apologized and said the phone number they had might have been a mistake and for the inconvenience. When I came home and tried to eat the Flautas it was burnt and the chicken was charred on both ends, believe me I have had fried food before but this was horrible and did not have the green salsa which I had requested (it comes with a choice of green or red salsa as listed on the menu). Even though I had a bad experience at this place, and it was just a takeout, I still left a tip. I have a lot of respect for people in the food industry and empathy. I have working experience in the food industry as well. However, I will never ever go to this place again as the service I received...

2nd Updated 2022 review: Ok, never again. Went back yesterday and me an my wife ordered enchiladas. Once we got our order it looked great, but as soon as my wife and me had the first bite we looked at each other- the enchiladas were cold. We called the waitress and asked if they could reheat them. She took them and when they returned, they had been blasted in a Microwave for 5 minutes at high and they were lava hot, and completely dried out, almost no sauce left (my wife had explicitly asked when ordering that they were generous with the sauce). Since the original plate was metal they had been transferred and in the process the lost part of the portion, the cream, the cheese, the picked onions and they looked and tasted absolutely awful, like dried day old leftovers. For some reason too my plate came back with 2 enchiladas instead of three, even though I had only had one bite of one (maybe they dropped one in the process of transferring to the other plate). No attempts were done to offer a discount or anything. Sorry for expecting a recipe to be warm, even hot on a cold winter day. This was our fourth time now in the restaurant and now the last. No more chances. Avoid.

Updated 2022 review: Came back and my experience was way better in every way, good service, and decent value for money (for Vancouver standards). The desserts are still amazing!

Original review:

Wasn't impressed by the food and way too expensive for what it is ($18 dollar veggie enchiladas aren't even served with any side like beans and rice). Service was pretty bad with many mistakes, but I can forgive it because it's new. However, we were charged a mandatory 18% gratuity on a party of 4 adults and 2 small kids, and because they didn't tell us we also paid 15% plus on top of it. We noticed just before leaving and called them out on it, so they reimbursed us with cash for the extra tip, but kept the original 18%. Also, they messed up the reimbursement giving back the wrong amount to the 2 parties.

In conclusion, the food wasn't bad, but mediocre and over priced, and with a lack of attention to detail (iceberg lettuce comes in chunks instead of diced for a pozole). I have to admit though that the deserts were really good, but not enough to get...