Social Cantina — Restaurant in Indianapolis

My partner and I frequent the Social Cantina in Carmel quite often. We love i. ThisThe food is amazing, the music is great, the service is astounding over there so often the manager knows who we are, and he is awesome as well.

We have been to the downtown Indianapolis location three times. The first time was terrible service, and extremely mediocre food. The second time, was pretty decent and our service was good. That brings us to our third visit, this evening, December 30. The host that seated us was great. Our server was not. His name is Brent We ordered skinny Margs with no salt. We order the skinny margs. We order those to specifically not have the sour mix. We got them, no salt, perfect! They were horrible. I drink fresh lime juice, agave and tequila often. I know what it tastes like. These tasted like sour mix, no agave and a splash of tequila. It had been a rough day so we didn’t send them back. Then we ordered the guac which we love, typically. The guac was great, but, the chips had an overload of Tajin seasoning on them that was three times as much as typical. We also ordered the mushroom tacos with no cheese and no crema but sub the Korean BBQ sauce. It is the exact same order we place in Carmel each and every time.

We get our tacos and I’m upset because I realize he didn’t ask if we wanted flour or corn tortillas for the tacos as we greatly dislike the corn. What do we have, corn tortillas. Then, there is no like slices as is usual in Carmel. The server is not attentive, the place was not crowded, and our drinks had been gone for some time as well as our waters. We wouldn’t have gotten more margs but my partner would’ve liked some tea. When he finally did come back to bring our check, he reeked of cigarette smoke. I have no care or business if someone wants to smoke. I did for years. But to come to our table, where we are eating, and reek of smoke is unacceptable. I then notice a discrepancy on the ticket and attempt to ask him a question. He pays me no attention and walks away. When he comes back I question the $1.50 we were charged for crema when we had that removed and subbed the BBQ sauce. He says we were charged for the BBQ sauce but that there is no button on the station to charge for it so he has to ring in Crema and then put notes in to the kitchen that it really is BBQ sauce that is needed. Now, it’s only $1.50, however, when have never been up charged for the BBQ and especially when we have requested no crema and no cheese. He then just hurried away. None of that but made sense certainly. And any of these small things would seem insignificant on its own certainly. But, tie all of these items together and it makes for more than an irritating and distasteful evening. We spent $60 there for overwhelming smoke emanating from our server, sickly sweet marg mix drink, corn tortillas shells we had to endure, and we will not ever come to this location again. What a waste of money that would’ve been best...

Went here after going to Newfields art museum. We didn’t have to wait long for a table. The tables they sat us at was still wet from being wiped down and the menus were stuck to it.

It was extremely busy and loud. The tables were crowded together, the music was very loud to the point it was hard to have a conversation or hear the server. It felt very “fratty” even though it was majority of white middle aged people. We waited for close to 10 minutes before our server even greeted us or brought us water and asked our drink order.

Most Mexican restaurants give you complimentary chips and salsa, but not this place. For a tiny plate of chips and one salsa it was $4. My date ordered a pineapple passion and smoke mixed drink, that was actually very good. I ordered the skirt steak cantina bowl which was $17.50 and she ordered the shrimp cantina bowl at $13.50.

The food came out relatively fast but upon seeing the portion size I became very frustrated. The “bowl” looked like a small/mid size metal baking pan and the amount of food was abysmal. There was maybe 1/3 cup rice, 4-6oz of skirt steak cut up into cubes and a bunch of lettuce cabbage and window dressing taking up over 1/2 the bowl. I took 2 bites and realized that I was going to leave hungry unless I ordered an over-priced appetizer or some over-priced $5 tacos.

When the server came back I told her that we were sending our food back and just to give us the bill for the drink. The manager came back and asked if everything was alright. I told him that the amount of food they provided at the price point was a horrible value and that we would just pay for the drink and leave. His response was “we just do what our owners tell us to do”. He didn’t even ask “what could we have done better” or “is there anything we can do to make this a better experience”. I told him to relay to his GM that the food is way overpriced for the portions and his response was “I am the GM”.

He told us sorry for our poor experience and that the drink was on the house. We left and went up the street to steak and shake where we both ate and got a shake for $20. The meal of 2 bowls and drink would’ve easily cost us $60 with a tip.

This place has great food and drinks, but the portions and price points are a horrible value. The atmosphere is noisy, fratty and feels like a college hang-out bar for middle aged white people who don’t mind overpaying/wasting money for below-average food and service. You would be better suited going to actual Mexican cantina and getting a more authentic Mexican experience more...

We entered at 11:45. No one was at the front so we went a little further in. I could feel my shoes sticking to the floor. The whole floor felt like I was walking on a spilled drink from yesterday.

We were the only ones there (warning sign #1). We decided to eat elsewhere after we spoke to the first person and they looked surprised to see us (warning sign #2).

We went outside, but really wanted Mexican food. We decided to give it a shot. We decided to split one order of steak tacos with cilantro-lime rice and chips and queso. I’m not sure if it was the corn tortillas or the steak, but it seriously tasted like a barnyard smells. The rice was stale and there was no taste of lime OR cilantro. The queso was super salty and the chips were just okay. The chimichurry was salty also. Seriously the ONLY bright spot was our server who was surprisingly friendly. Literally everyone else (employees) looked like they hated being there.

Somehow, for one dish $11.50, and chips and queso (we drank water) they managed to charge us $28.00 (see attached pic). We were charged for a “Chile de Árbol” and have no idea what that is and certainly did not order it, nor did we see it.

The problem is that this place is beautiful, and should be a gold mine with the location where it is. It desperately needs some life. Maybe start with a host or hostess? It felt super weird to be seated by a lady holding a cleaning bucket in her hands.

Overall, the presentation of the food was amazing and the dishes were super cool. The food itself was not. Not at all. The restaurant is beautiful, but that was overshadowed by the no greeting, sticky floor, smell of old beer at the bar, and absolutely terrible food. It really was THAT bad. At least for now, go...