El Cantarito Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Fuquay-Varina

We stopped in for an early dinner this afternoon. Had never been before so we thought we would try it. I will say the atmosphere and decor was awesome, my husband said the chips and salsa were good, but that’s where the good review ends! I ordered the fajita taco salad, it was decent but lacking in flavor. My husband ordered a pick 2–cheese chili relleno and a shredded beef burrito which comes with refried beans and rice. Our waitress brought our meal in good time, but… My husband’s came out on 2 separate plates with no rice and beans…told waitress he had ordered as a pick 2 but he didn’t get beans and rice—she stated she thought he had ordered from Alacarte section, asked what kind of beans, refried or black beans, he chose refried. While waiting for that to come out, his chili relleno was not warm and the shredded beef burrito had cubes of meat, not by any means shredded. When the rice and refried beans (aka) bean soup arrived. Never seen such runny refried beans before. Rice was blah. Most of his meal was Luke warm at best, but he ate the 2 entrees and didn’t bother with rice and beans—no bueno.

Once finished waitress brought our bill and I placed my cc in slot of holder and she took it to process. She brought it back and I signed their copy and went to grab my cc and it wasn’t with the bill. Told waitress and she went to look for it and couldn’t find it.

I looked all through my purse and pockets just to be sure.—NO CARD!! Waitress looked all over for it even in kitchen with no luck.

She took my phone# in case they find it and said manager would call me. In the meantime, I have canceled my card and now have to wait for...

Yeah, so came in here earlier today. It looks really nice form the outside and is on the inside. However, don’t judge a book by its cover. Sat down and had chips and salsa brought to our table. Waitress acted as if we were an inconvenience. I get it that people are going through stuff but please, I don’t want to feel belittled while I am trying to have a lunch with family. Felt like we were rushed when trying to order food which was really uncomfortable. Food comes out. Presentation is okay? The one dish someone got in my party looked hideous in appearance and they couldn’t eat the rest of their meal as it tasted so bland. Food had little to no flavor. My only conclusion is that due to it being in predominantly white area, and customers prior possibly complained about not being able to tolerate the flavor or spice as they are used to food with little to no flavor. Meanwhile, in Angier, which is populated heavy with Hispanic background, the food is absolutely amazing and has an abundance of flavor and they are not afraid to add spices and incorporate traditional flavors most Mexican dishes have in them even if most are Americanized. The whole experience was bad, not to mention the waitress hovered over us and kept attempting to grab our plates from us while we were not even done with our food. Mind you, we were eating there in the middle of the DAY and this was not ten minutes to closing or closing or whatever. Please, save your money and go to Angier if you’d like to get really good...

Edited to add that there are clearly several fake reviews on here now from brand new Google accounts raving about the place. Suspicious that they are faking reviews instead of addressing their customer’s concerns.

Unfortunately, not impressed. We went on Sunday around 4:30pm, so it was an off time, and there were not many people there. The hostess didn’t say anything to greet us and just ushered us to a table. Two things turned us off pretty quickly, 1) my wrapped silverware was dirty, and 2) we found a chip at the bottom of our chip basket with something on it. Not sure if it was melted shredded cheese, sour cream, or what. My husband and I then ordered the same things: Two Pick 2 combos: chicken quesadilla, beef soft taco, rice, and beans. The only difference between our orders was that my husband ordered black beans and I ordered refried beans. When our meals came out, neither quesadilla had chicken in it, we were both brought refried beans, and my husbands taco came with lettuce and shredded cheese and mine was just a tortilla with ground beef. Needless to say we had to send both meals back, and the waitress was not apologetic. Only giving 2 stars because I know they’re new and hoping these are just kinks that need to be worked out, but it’s unfortunate since we had heard good things about this place. I’ll update my review if we decide to give them another chance...