La Cantina Restaurant Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Gloucester Township

This one's tough, I really wanted this to be the place with all of the super good reviews on South Jersey Food Scene. Opted to go here instead of our regular go-tos of Mariachi San Lucas or Los Molcajetes.

The Margarita flight was not available which like everyone on SJFS really was what got my attention and dialed me in. So I'm sure those who were successful in getting it had a very different experience than us since we weren't able to get it.

For starters, when you enter there are two doors. No idea which way to go. No host. Off to the left is a bar, to the right a dining room. So, we saw open seats at the bar and figured let's go there. (Worth noting there is also a side door with no host stand, not sure if you can go in there too or not, needs some signage)

Walked in, servers were SUPER busy (awesome for them). Assumed it was safe to pull up to the bar and grabbed a seat. Took a little bit for the bartender to get to us but once there she was very polite. We asked about the flight and was told they don't have it. OK, Plan B. Individual Margaritas? Yep, got those so moving along.

Margaritas were excellent. I give those 5 stars. Great choice of house tequila, balancing and rims. If you like a simply good Margarita, BINGO! They are worthy.

Ordered a Guacamole App and Bistek Mexicano and Alambre Al Pastor.

The Guacamole app took 25min. That's a long wait for a side of Guac but I do have to say it was fantastic! Not overpowered by lime juice, the tell tail sign of guac being prepped in large quantities. Disappointing, the chips... bagged flash fried chips so many Mexican restaurants have switched to. I get it, cost/convenience factor. Just disappointed when the Guac is so darn good.

About 15min later we had already murdered the Guac and Chips and were getting full and dinner came.

The Bistek Mexican veggies and sauce, excellent but the steak super super super chewy. Rice and Beans - I approve, they're good.

The Alambre Al Pastor, the Al Pastor is moreso pork chops with pineapple chunks, not fresh cut from aTrompo. Had ok fresh taste but not what my wife and I just had in Torreon, and we had better from a hole in the wall pop-up Mex Restaurant in a restaurant supply store a few weeks back. If that place can make super super good food, I just expect a little more from a place this packed and getting so many reviews.

The Tortillas, 99.99% sure they were just the packaged Chinantla. Having run a Mexican restaurant for many years I know em well and they're one of the best but this place and it's menu and all the folks talking about it being the best I was really expecting hand pressed.

So, not bad, not the best Mexican in South Jersey, but if these guys stay this busy and invest the volume back into improvements, they very well could be the Best in South Jersey very soon. I will be back to try them again some time! Probably not during...

We usually go to this restaurant every other week. Since it is so close to our home. Decided to go on Cinco de Mayo. It was a mad house. They usually do not have a hostess, but they needed one on this day. Big crowd. So much confusion when you walked in. I get it they are never this busy but if you hired a DJ and it is Cinco de Mayo prepare and expect the volume. We walked in and someone seated us took our order for drinks and appetizer, then I guess the owner was also seating people he came over and asked if we had a reservation we said no but the other gentleman sat us here. Owner proceeded to ask us to sit at the bar but there was no space available. Since there was nothing available at bar he said we could stay at table he then asked to take our order we told him the other gentleman took it already. We sat at the table for 45 mins no drinks or app and he took the order when he sat us. The owner came over and asked someone had gotten our order. We said not the main course only drinks and apps and we had not even gotten that. Owner grabbed the guy that took our order and asked where was our drinks and app? He said he would look into it. Another waiter comes over and try to take our order again. 😑😳 we said someone else took order we are waiting on them. Another 15 mins go by and nothing, I decide to inquire again, our waiter kept walking by not saying anything. Finally after an hour got drinks and app! Now the drinks were served in a small plastic cup, drinks are usually in large glassware. I got what we usually get when we go there. App was apanadas and those came out and they were tiny. We usually order these too! Price gauging is what I think what was happening here. When he brought our drinks I asked him to take out dinner order. I wanted to order a combo platter, waiter says our kitchen does not have the time to cook that pick something easy. Like tacos. Wow!!!! I said ok. Finally after another 40 mins our food comes out and it was served nice and hot. We ate and then headed out. Before we left I heard the waiter stating that he usually is the worker in the kitchen, the staff never expected it to be this busy. That’s why it’s such a mad house. I am sure that they we not just busy on Friday Cinco de Mayo. They should have hire staff for at least that weekend. A hostess at least!!!! Also wanted to mention that since crowd at door was not controlled people waiting were pouring into the restaurant and blocking the aisles and servers could not get food to tables. I will not stop from going here again just not on Cinco de Mayo. Again I know that you do not usually have this volume but is best to prepare for the worst...

We went to this restaurant for the first time Friday night at 6:40pm as a party of 5. As expected, it was busy. There are 3 entrances and no hostess stand, which is strange. We had to figure out who to check in with. There were people standing by the front doors and a group lined up along the wall in the back. We found a waitress who said it was “first come, first serve”. It was chaos trying to figure out who you were waiting after. We asked if they could at least create a sign in sheet to organize. Eventually a woman came around with a notebook and asked names and party numbers. While waiting in the front which seemed like the natural place to wait, we were then told to move to the back. We had to line up against the wall as it was an area where servers were walking back and forth with food. There was a random table in the front area by the door with customers eating which didn’t make sense. We waited about 30 minutes to sit which was great. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very typical of a Mexican restaurant. Our server came over pretty quickly and took our drink order. By this point it was 7:20pm. We were told they were no longer serving margarita flights. We each ordered individual margaritas of different flavors. It took a long time before those margaritas were even brought to the table and they were brought in plastic cups. We were told they couldn’t find any cups. The flavors were all incorrect except one. They were also VERY strong. Tasted like straight tequila. We ordered basic apps. Queso, guacamole and chips. When that got brought out, there were barely any chips on the plate, the queso was cold and tasted like it came from a jar. The guac was ok. We got the chicken flautas. They were hard and overcooked. The waiter came back over to check on us and we had asked for more chips. He came back with the check instead. That was our cue to leave. Will not...