Pequeño Cantina — Restaurant in Detroit

Gave this place multiple tries. Staff has been friendly but this place has one major issue.

The food is fine, but not special. Tried their burrito, tacos, even tried breakfast twice and nothing was bad but nothing was a standout for the price. Tried the pork chicken and steak, seasoning always seemed sub par but not terrible, again just not memorable at all given how great of Mexican you can find in this city for well under these prices.

The drinks are WAAAAAY too expensive. Cheapest cocktail on the menu is $15 and while that’s fine to have a $15 cocktail… I can go to any AWARD WINNING bar in Detroit like Sugar House, Highlands, Candy Bar, Two James Distillery, Valentines Distillery etc and they all have cocktails that start at $8-10 on their menus. There is no reason why this place can’t offer a base margarita or a margarita pitcher for a reasonable price. the avenue of fashion is great, but it’s not downtown real estate either.

Bakersfield is downtown in premium real estate and offers margarita pitchers for $30 that are great for 3-4 people to have 2 margaritas each and that wouldn’t pay for 2 margaritas here. Similarly a margarita at one of the most popular taco spots in metro detroit, Imperial starts at $8. I asked one of the pequeno owners about this and was guided to order a “well margarita” to receive a cheaper price on a margarita with a less expensive tequila…. I gave this two attempts on two separate visits and the bartenders seem completely unaware of the concept of a well cocktail. I was charged full price both times. SMH. Just put a well marg on the menu.

It’s really sad cuz this would ABSOLUTELY be our weekly spot with our neighbor friends, even with the food being not amazing. We live walking distance to Pequeño… and we are not poor by any means, but the fact that a couple can’t get out of here with two drinks each and SHARING an entree for under $80 before tip is absurd. I really hope they start to offer a more reasonable cocktail experience. Not everyone needs top shelf patron in their margarita… let alone if they’re having more than one on a fun casual night out with friends. We end up in Ferndale multiple nights a week with friends because places like this just don’t get it. You’re a fairly casual, trendy neighborhood spot, not fine dining… it stinks that rather than choosing to be the neighborhood go-to this place simply won’t be part of our rotation cuz they’re just asking for too much compared to the competition that’s out there. The only excuse I could come up with is if they paid staff a living wage and went tip-free...

A friend and I visited this restaurant 12/30/23. We arrived at 9:02 pm. There were patrons seated at a table and 2 gentlemen at the bar. The young lady at the bar didn’t greet, she just immediately asked if we were sitting at the bar. We decided to sit at the bar. She then asked were we picking up food or eating there. We said eating here. She then stated while passing us menus, “Y’all gotta place y’all orders cause we about to close.” I’m instantly turned off, with her lack of welcome and her interest to service us. It was still well before 9:15 and the restaurant closes at 10:00 pm. We chose this place, because this is my childhood neighborhood and out of all the years I lived there, we didn’t have a Mexican restaurant in walking distance. I love the happenings on Livernois. This was our pitstop before catching the game. So we already didn’t have intentions on being there more than a hour. The young lady then asked if we wanted drinks. We weren’t sure. She gave us a menu. She went to the back and came back and stated, “The bartender isn’t back yet so I guess I have to make your drinks.” We respectfully declined to order any after that statement. We received our food. It was fresh, made to order and it was really good. However we had to ask the same young lady for utensils. She appeared rushed, annoyed, and focused on one of the guys at the bar. She gave my friend dirty utensils. Still eating my meal she pulled my plate and asked if I was done. It wasn’t even 10:00 yet. The bartender, a more mature woman came out and immediately gave us a warm greeting. I appreciated her professionalism and the fact she asked us about our experience in which I expressed the service was not pleasant nor professional with Mya. The waitress we had focused more on leaving at 10 on the dot vs. making money during business hours. We intended to order more but decided not to. You never know who walks through your doors. There should be great service that comes along with great food. I’ll give this place a try again but I definitely do not want to be serviced by her nor should I feel rushed with my experience 1 hour...

Quaint little place with somewhat community style seating. It seemed to only be one server and it took about 15 min to be greeted, another 15 min to get water. No big deal as I was waiting on a friend to arrive. We ordered jumbo margaritas and another server came out to see if we had been helped. The first server brought out my drink wrong and promptly fixed it. It would’ve been nice if the drinks came with napkins. The drinks were not strong. We ordered chips and salsa, the salsa could use some salt. I ordered birria tacos with rice and pinto beans, my friend ordered beef enchiladas with rice and pinto beans. Her enchiladas came out about 2-3 min before the rice, beans, sour cream, guac, lettuce. Upon arrival of the sides we notified the server we never got silverware so we sat for a total of about 5 min just letting our food get cold with no silverware or napkins. Beans were ok but watery, rice was bland. I mixed them together and it was more palatable. The birria was good, the consome was bland. Friend said the beef enchiladas were ok. I asked for salt and hot sauce. How does a restaurant not have a salt shaker? I saw another review saying the food needed salt, it might be a good idea for them to get some of these. I was brought out a bland seasoning blend that helped me understand why most of the food was so bland. I ordered a shrimp taco, grilled shrimp, onion, cilantro. A slaw and sauce would have made it better. I saw someone who appeared to be a manager, a woman with blonde braids. I never saw her talk to any table or assist the servers. I did see her take a shot though. It took another 15 minutes to get our bill and I had to ask for a box twice. Happy to spend black dollars with black owned businesses, but I will likely...