Kus van de Cactus — Restaurant in Haarlem

We went on a midweek night. Two staff members were super friendly, really helpful but really slow and inefficient. The other girl was basically useless. To illustrate the inefficient: the waiter spilt red wine all over me (& most of the rest of our drinks on the table and floor) They said 'if your dress is stained we will pay for it to be cleaned' The fact that the meaning of a 'stain' is that you tried to clean it and it didn't work was ignored despite me doing my best! I've been calling to find out what they will do - it is stained - but they don't answer the phone & have no voice mail (I know I repeated that I'm unhappy)! The place is very popular & although well laid out tiny inside. We had to sit outside they provide heating and blankets but the blankets were damp and didn't really work very well and the heating was only felt by the people on the other side of the table. I was chilly. The portions are tiny, that makes it expensive. We ordered extra portions of guacamole, refried beans and habañero salsa. The salsa was nicely spicy and bigger than the other extra portions The beans & guacamole (unexceptional) come in egg cup size containers (not even a desert spoon). They put the beans on a different plate (not mine although I ordered them!) to the other extra portions, with one of the (miniscule) main courses without saying what they were, so we didn't know. Of course the person whose plate they were on ate them. When I said I hadn't received my beans they brought back the egg cup (€4 possibly 4.50 per extra portion) and said yes you did! It is the best Mexican food I've eaten in the Netherlands BUT I have tended to avoid it here so that's not saying much. It's so geared to the Dutch palate. So it's bland. Not very authentic even for CaliMex. Imagine Mexican without coriander, garlic, spice and 'flavour'. You get a free (mini) frozen Marguerita when you arrive, I wasn't even tempted to order a 'proper' one. The non alcoholic cocktail was in the smallest glass I've ever seen used for anything except a shot & cost €8! We tried to pay with €100 notes, straight from the machine. They refused them! Doesn't tell you the policy anywhere we could see. Money, is money, buy a machine to check FFS if you're worried, don't make your issues the customers problem! Ultimately my experience left me just wishing there was a way to get decent service in this country! The food is above average, pretty tasty. Avoid if...

After finally getting a reservation I was really excited to have dinner at Kus van de Cactus! It was my birthday, my Iftar moment after fasting the whole day and date night with my husband after a very long time.

After we arrived the owner asked if we could wait a little bit longer, because the people at our table overstayed and she was going to pressure them friendly to finish so we could be seated. We didn't mind that at all and waited at the bar. It was really noisy and packed inside, but that didn't bother me because this was a big night for us!

She said it was going to be a bit longer and that we could sit outside, but told us it was cold outside. We respectfully decline and waited a bit longer. After waiting for half an hour I turned around and saw that she was taking an new order at the table that we made a reservation for. We told her that we already been waiting half an hour for our table. What was the point of making a reservation if she can't manage the tables? She said it would probably take another 15 minutes but wasn't sure and that she couldn't send the people away.

We couldn't believe she was willing to make us wait for 45 minutes for the table we made a reservation for on my birthday!

We left and said that we were very disappointed. She said "she understood, but could not help it and that we didn't want to sit outside".

I could not believe that she handled the situation so poorly on a night that was very special to me/us. She really ruined our night and experience.

After that we went to Oliver at Spaarne 80 who just opened on their first week. We had such a lovely and warm welcome there and the food was excellent. This helped us a bit in forgetting how Kus van de Cactus screwed us over.

In my opinion the owner is not capable in running...

I was so disappointed with my experience here. The food was beautifully presented but there was no flavour or spice in any of it. For example, the chicken inside the enchiladas was plain grilled chicken breast, not even marinated! The artichoke tacos, the guacamole, everything we tried was bland.

Like many others have pointed out, the portions are miniscule, because "tapas", yet the price for each dish is still at least €12-€15. Two small taquitos, two small enchiladas etc. So to get a full meal for two people, we needed to order at least five dishes between us and we still left hungry. The quality and quantity of the food doesn't reflect the price at all.

Besides the disappointing food, the alcohol in both cocktails we tried (the frozen margarita and hibiscus margarita) was so overpowering that we couldn't taste anything else in the drinks.

The restaurant itself is nicely decorated but loud and claustrophobic. If you're looking for good Mexican food and a relaxing atmosphere,...