Cantina Louie — Restaurant in Asheville

This is a tough review to write. We went to this location as part of Restaurant Week in Asheville. It's a great way to try a new place at a slightly lower cost. We've found several favorite places this way and remain loyal customers to them. Cantina Louie, however, is a place we will not return to. First, the good. The location is bright and cheerful, with plenty of space between tables. For us, the "Day of the Dead" motif was overdone but it was well-executed and is popular with others. Also, we had a fabulous waiter who did everything within his power to make sure we enjoyed ourselves without being ingratiating. We liked him a lot. Now, the not-so-good. The Food. When the tortilla chips are the best thing on the table in a Mexican restaurant, you know you're in trouble. While both the salsa and the queso dip on offer are both very tasty, they are so incredibly thin and watery that they are quite tricky to eat. Don't wear nice clothes if you're planning to try them! As for the entrees, this was without question the blandest food we have ever been given in a Mexican restaurant. If not for the sauces on the food (which tasted like they came from bottles) there would have been no taste to them at all. The fajita items were chopped finer than you would get in a Chinese soup. But a total lack of any seasoning whatsoever made them even less fun to eat. As for the chimichangas, apparently no one has alerted the kitchen that these are supposed to be deep-fried and crispy. It was a soggy mess that may have been passed over a deep fryer but was never actually in one. Part of the reason for the sogginess was that I had requested a veggie filling, and they used sauced veggies - mostly tomatoes - to fill it. Tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. That was it for the filling. It would have been so much better if they had just said they didn't know how to make it vegetarian. Anyway, they were very kind and responsive to my obvious disappointment and provided me with a replacement entree. I chose what was described as the "very popular" cheese and avocado enchiladas. While there was a generous amount of avocado, the enchiladas themselves were undercooked, with cheese that had not melted and again, a total lack of seasoning in anything but the sauce. The black beans served with the entrees were fine, but nothing you would look forward to having again. And the rice was just close enough to room temperature that you couldn't call it cold. So, all in all, 5 stars for good service and negative stars for the food. A disappointment, but we'll try this location again when it inevitably becomes...

Arrived just after 6 on a Sunday and the place was almost empty. There were two waitresses visible and eventually a third waiter. It was an absolutely lovely late summer evening but we were not offered outside seating even though there was obviously room - no big deal.

The dining rooms are large, clean, comfortable and well decorated. Unfortunately from the host station all the way to the waiting staff, no one showed any real sense of interest or attentiveness at all. Our waitress was pleasant but seemed barely familiar with their menu, and despite the restaurant being mostly empty, rarely checked in with us, and even getting a water refill took a long time. Complementary chips were fresh and decent, the one salsa offered was very watery but too spicy for my companions. My wife asked if there was a milder salsa and was eventually given a small plastic cup of chunky tomatillo salsa that (although completely mispronounced by our waitress) was very good!

We ordered two flights of margaritas, which were somewhat interesting, but most of them were far too sweet and there was barely any tequila detectable in any of them. Unfortunately there was no way for my wife to substitute an avocado enchilada to her Enchiladas Supreme even though the menu also offers avocado enchiladas and we would have gladly paid an upgrade fee - also not a big deal, but seems awfully inflexible of the kitchen on such a slow evening. My wife was very excited to see elote offered on Sundays and eagerly ordered some.

Our three meals were well prepared but extremely average and pretty low in flavor. Louie apparently doesn't know that elote (street corn) is supposed to be grilled - their's was wet (possibly microwaved), and had way too much mayo and really suffered from lack of flavor and texture. (I got a street corn salad with my entree and it was actually too gross to eat). The rest of my La Parrilla entree was a good portion, but mostly onions with some chicken, a little carnitas, and a scant showing of the skirt steak (good thing I enjoy onions). My son had the same dish and finished it but was not overly impressed either. My wife's enchiladas were OK, and she brought leftovers home, but doesn't think she'll end up finishing them. The prices seem just a little high for the quality, but the portions were generous. Overall not much reason to return and it's a shame since it's such a...

My family and I have been here a few times. Once for dinner and twice for lunch. The staff seem too concerned about wearing a mask. We were snapped at all 3 times upon arrival for not having our masks on while entering the building, including my 4 year old. The staff also act like they're too busy and they aren't observant to your needs; making sure the table(s) and chairs are clean before bringing you to be seated, refilling drinks, why you're not eating your food, what you might need, etc. Most places come back after a few minutes to make sure your food is correctly made, if it's good, if you need anything - not here. And when they do come back, they just check in, aka: walk by.. they just seem too busy for you, like we're not important or that they don't want to be there, like we're interrupting their day. That's how we felt.

2 different times of being here, the staff was so checked out, they ran my card for someone else's bill and vise versa and brought me back someone else's card. I couldn't believe it. So double check to be sure they charged you for the right things.

I have kids, so we always need extra napkins, or ketchup for their french fries and all 3 times, it was at least 30 minutes before we got either one of those things cause they didn't come back after delivering our food, so that was frustrating.

My husband and I have ordered different things each time and it's good but to pay a little more for Mexican cause it's treated like an upscale Mexican restaurant, it's not the best where we'd say, we would return. We always visit a restaurant a couple different times because we understand people have "off days" but it's been the same every time. I eat a lot of salad and the salads haven't been equally portioned- too much lettuce, not enough dressing or toppings and to me, that's a huge let down cause I'm usually apart of the clean plate club lol

I also wish more restaurants offered free kids meals because my youngest is 4 and she eats like a squirrel; very little and she won't eat leftovers so we end up paying a lot for a child to eat and their whole meal ends up going into the trash. I know my kid isn't the only one who eats this way. Typically, if a restaurant offers free kids meals, like O' Charley's offers free kid meals after 4, we will definitely return because we have more than 1 child and saving money right now to eat...