Cactus Cafe, Glen Cove — Restaurant in City of Glen Cove

Consistently and reliably superb at all times. The ingredients are always remarkably fresh and expertly prepared & assembled by their warm, friendly and informative staff. Special thanks & heartfelt commendations to Collin and Cynthia who were both amazingly helpful and kind when I had a last minute catering emergency earlier this week. Based almost entirely on their sincere & professional guidance in selecting items of the menu for a party of about 60-70 people, EVERYTHING they recommended was a massive hit with all the party goers who devoured the ALL the food with the kind of ravenous gusto one would only expect to see from people or animals that hadn’t been fed in over a week. After I placed my catering order the previous late afternoon, I ordered a chorizo burrito to go which I ended up eating while driving home. Simply put, not only was it the best burrito I’ve ever eaten (by far) it also somehow magically managed to defy the laws of burrito physics in that I was able to consume the entire burrito while driving without a single bean, grain of rice, drop of sauce or any of the magic burrito’s super savory & delectable contents falling astray. Remarkable! I typically avoid the type of foods that one normally ends up wearing to some extent so this was a revelation. I went back to the Glen Cove location specifically to express my thanks and praise in person. They apparently run a special where Burrito’s are $5 (50% off) after 10:00PM which is a great deal but personally, I’d have no problem whatsoever paying $20 for their Magic Burritos. They’re that good!! Lastly, when I visited them today to express my gratitude and tell them what a huge success their food was last night, I picked Collin’s brain for both his personal and their customer menu faves. I mentioned my son is a chicken wing aficionado and that one of my futile ongoing pursuits has been to find wings that surpass those prepared by another establishment that have been his personal favorite for over two years. Collin urged me to get him to try their Tex Mex wings with their homemade yellow sauce which is made from a Peruvian pepper and infused with a ton of fresh garlic. As of tonight, there is a new Wings Champion (by 1st round/bite KO) in our home...TEX-MEX...

Cactus Cafe Glen Cove. New to town. Loved the friendly staff and my friends who brought me. My friends raved about this place. We arrived late in the evening, 9:50pm. Surpisingly, it was more than a few people there. So, we pretty much all knew what we wanted. After ordering we grabbed a table. Good thing, it was about 9 people in this small tight quarters of a restaurant. Wait, it is called a cafe for a reason. Well, 5 mins later, there's about 15 people crammed inside and a line is forming outside. What's happening? I say to my friends, this is pretty impressive. The food must be really good. They explain, burritos are $5 after 10pm, and there really good. Our food is ready, I can't wait. We ordered smoked chicken wings, burritos, tacos and I believe rice. Shocking, the food looked and tasted dreadful. Rice overcooked, clumpy and dry. Wings were tasty. Tacos had a filling I still haven't been able to figure out to this day. It wasn't beef, chicken or pork. Was it tofu?? No, not a selection on the menu. My friends balked. The dishes were returned, except the wings. They were devoured as soon as the yumminess hit our palette. Staff apologized. My friends said, this was unusual for them. But, when the replacement food came. My friends began to inquire by name if certain people were working and if they could speak to them. Even customers on line joined the conversation by anwering, yes, so and so is in the back...LOL. This place has a following, how cool, everyone seems to know the staff. The replacement dishes didn't look any better than the first dishes. Well, after my friends spoke to the people they knew, we then received dishes that clearly looked better in terms of presentation. My friends were so elated with how everything tasted. They wanted me to try. But, after seeing the previous meals and tasting that first taco, it ruined the experience for me. I've never been back. Every great restaurant has an off night. Why can't Cactus Cafe? Because, unfortunately, mexican food and chinese food fall into the same catagory of public perception. Which is, you have to be in the mood for this specific type of food. The other is, you either enjoy eating this type of food...

I've been a regular here for years but after today I won't ever be back due to today's racist experience.

The burritos in particular used to be really good but now are just mediocre with very little flavor. What makes the burritos are the yellow and green sauces. With the exception of tonight, service has been relatively the same.

Today, we placed an order for three burritos for a late night dinner. When I went to pick up my order I noticed that the sauces were no longer available. I asked one of the girls at the register what happened to the sauces. I was told that if we want sauces we would need to pay for them because people were stealing the sauces.

I didn't think much of it but after I paid for the sauces. There were a group of caucasian women, loudly saying that they got two free sauces each. I immediately asked the girl at the register why is it I have to pay but they didn't. Her answer was one that the other workers gave it for free but I have to pay because I went to her.

I walked out and almost immediately turned around to return the sauce out of principle. When I walked back there was another caucasian man who got... wait for it... two free sauces.

When I returned the sauces at the same register, I received my money back but not before she counted the sauces she gave me. So I suppose because of the way I look I need to pay for it but no one else does? It seems like I was indirectly told that I am responsible for the stolen sauces. If everyone else around me is getting special treatment I could only think and feel that it has to be racist.

No one should leave an establishment and feel discriminated against...