Santa Fe Mexican Grill & Cantina — Restaurant in Kirkland

The Camarones A La Diabla were great! The platter arrived quickly and with grace, like a great many sailed frigate docking safely into port! My wife’s Tamarindo Margarita was delicious and seemed big enough to swim in. Definitely got the job done and I did the driving home. Then came the guacamole which after the abundance of Camarones was a bit of a surprise. A tiny bowl of guac that looked like a small moon circling the rich and shrimpy plate. That’s it? Looked nothing like the picture in the menu, which promised a bountiful chunky looking green treasure. What they had was tiny and, bland. So then I addressed the brains in the family (wife) upon who’s happiness all satisfaction rests, and I say, Do you like your chicken taco? And she gets a funny look on her face and my heart drops. She says reluctantly, it’s…okay. I say, what? You don’t like it? and she admits it’s bland. It’s hard to enjoy my savory Camarones when I know my wife is unhappy. She said her Enchilada was better, but I didn’t see any fireworks going off. Ok… good chips, plus 1 point. Nice waitress, definitely worth 1 point. Huge plate of tender spicy Camarones, 2 points. Tipsy wife, 1 point. Gigantic glass iced tea, add 1 point. Teeny tiny bowl of bland guacamole, minus 1 point. Boring chicken taco, minus 1 point. Funny old man who hung his coat on the back of our booth so my wife had a hard time getting out… no point loss although it was weird. So that’s 4 right? I’d probably drop just a tad more, like half a star, because when my wife is unhappy, I’m unhappy, but the are...

tl;dr - Bland, meat-and-cheese heavy "Mexican" food that leans hard on location and alcohol sales.

We got an enchilada & tamale combo ($20) and also the Al Pastor burrito ($24). Neither had any depth of flavor. Nothing stood out as freshly made or special in any way, just your standard meat filled flour tortilla concoctions covered with yellow cheese and a red sauce that was mostly tomato with almost no dried/roasted chili flavors. On the combo plate, the rice was inconsistently cooked and lacked any punch, and the beans were just OK. The burrito plate had a small pile of shredded iceberg lettuce and a smattering of pico, i guess to keep things 'fresh'. I get the feeling this place relies on its giant $15 margaritas and other drink options with the food more of a salty side show to accompany the drinks.

It seems like a popular spot, I think because of its location and lack of other options. No offense, there just isn't any good mexican food in the area to compete with it. I saw another review claiming the Al Pastor burrito was "one of the best they've ever had" — and honestly, I just feel bad for them if any ol' meat-and-cheese bomb will suffice. I cannot stress enough how disappointingly mediocre the burrito tastes — bland, heavy, and completely lacking the bright, balanced flavors that should define good al pastor.

Someone else might enjoy grabbing a drink and meeting with friends, but for me I just can't justify the price of the food compared to its subpar...

Went to Santa Fe Mexican Grill Cantina last night!

Food: We didn't get any appetizers since they have complimentary chips and I'm glad we didn't because the portion size of the entrées are MASSIVE. The chips were great, but the default salsa they bring out wasn't a hit for me (I wasn't super big on the mango infusion). Later on they brought out a spicier salsa that definitely has a kick to it and we were more of a fan of that one! For our main dishes, my boyfriend got the Santa Fe Burrito with steak and I got the Burrito al Pastor which comes with pork. Both were literally enormous and so so delicious. My burrito was definitely one of the best I have ever had in my life. For dessert we got the churro and it was also really yummy! We almost ordered a second one haha.

Service: Service was great! Our server was very kind and he was also pretty fast. He was able to answer all of our questions which was also great.

Atmosphere: Cozy and dim-lit interior. I really liked it!

I would love to come...