Cactus Grill — Restaurant in Leawood

Wow, what a decline! For close to a year I would frequent this place 3-4 times a week for lunch and the occasional dinner. Service was always ABOVE & BEYOND...food has always been decent to good. (It's the service that always brought me back.) Roughly 6-8 months ago, changes started to occur. Now I understand, and am no stranger to attrition, but some of their BEST people disappeared almost overnight and practically any decent level of service along with them. Changes occurred to the menu, but didn't drastically effect the overall quality of food that you've come to expect. Now, that was 6-8 months ago...I have given them more than enough time to find, replace, and properly train new staff....but every time I go back, the level at which they fail astounds me. Today for example, I come in for a late lunch and sit at the bar. (New person taking care of the bar, I've never seen him before.) One other person sitting at the bar and possibly 5-6 of the booths are taken and looks as if finishing up their lunch. The bartender/server is quick to ask my drink order, but slow to fulfill it, and brings along chips and salsa, which I do not care for. (he simply assumed everyone wants these without asking)(not that big of a deal, all things considered) I don't need to peruse the menu, as I have ordered many many times, so after a few menu minutes he asks if I am ready to order and he seems like he has somewhere else he needs to be as he leans in to take my order, but his body is facing away...like he's in a big hurry (remember, there's only 1 other person sitting at the bar) I start my order, but need to customize slightly...and before I have a chance to tell him my substitutions, he's already walking away?...we finally got the order in...and after an appropriate amount of time, someone brings a plate of food to me, tries to sit it down while she tells me what it is....I claim that it is NOT what I ordered, only to be responded with by a very confused look...she takes the plate away and discusses the issue with the bartender, who tells her it is supposed to go to the one other person at the bar...who has already been served MY order, and has started to eat? Again, there's two of us at the bar, and by now roughly 3 of the 6 booths have left...I would think getting an order correct with only half a dozen people to choose from, wouldn't be that difficult, especially since 4 of the six are getting ready to leave after they have finished their meals...After I get the corrected order, the only time anyone (the bartender) asks how things are is about half way through my meal, just after I have taken a bite, and while he's on his way to do other things...(more of a courtesy 'ask' than a real care as to how my meal is after finally getting it severed properly.) So now that I'm finished, I'm looking around to pay for my 'experience', no one to be found....oh wait here comes the bartender to ask if he can refill by beverage for the first time...no, I think I'll pay and get out of there for probably the last time.

If anyone is confused, feel free to ask how I really feel about the level of service you now get from what used to be a great little local spot for a quick...

Ok so this is not fine dining but certainly more than a fine dining experience. My wife and I ate here yesterday (late lunch/early dinner) and I have to say I was EXTREMELY impressed!

First of all, I have to echo Bob D’s sentiment about Karen the manager, because before I committed to eating here, I asked her about the gluten-free options, since my wife has a gluten allergy, and she surprised me with a gluten-free menu that went into some depth of explanation, which I REALLY appreciated! We got the heck out of a very nearby dining establishment that we thought had offered good gf options but sadly, no, and found ourselves loving Cactus Grill!

And believe me, had the food and service not been great, I wouldn’t have cared that much about the gluten-free options. But both food and service were excellent.

We ate at the bar, and Ryan, our bartender and server, could not have been more gracious, personable, helpful, and kind. This guy treated us like royalty. He didn’t have to go out of his way to be so accommodating but he was really on his game, acknowledging us quickly, giving us just the right amount of time to look at drinks and order them without waiting too long, and just timing everything perfectly.

And since we are talking about a bartender, I completely disagree with the usual “margaritas are too sweet” criticism that I’ve seen in previous reviewers. I am one of the people who usually dislikes a too sweet margarita like everyone else, but I didn’t find the margarita too sweet here at Cactus Grill, I found it just right. And let’s add not too salty as well. It may have come out of mix, I don’t know, but it was good.

The Espinaca Con Queso was one of the best ones we’ve had in years. Not too thick, not too watery, not too spicy, great flavor, I’m still thinking about it. I mean, we’ll definitely return to this place and I’ll want to try other appetizers but I’m going to find myself asking “how could we not order the espinaca?” It was memorable. And the tortilla chips were warm and crispy. Even the salsa was good.

I had the enchiladas with New Mexico Red Chile sauce (one cheese and onion, one chicken) and both were excellent. Just the right amount of cheese, just the right amount of sauce atop (not drowning in sauce like some restaurants serve them), great flavor, they really hit the spot.

My wife loved her chicken tacos (yeah, Cactus Grill can serve them in a little aluminum taco holder just like the fancy places, take that!) too. I thought both the black beans and the cilantro rice were excellent side dishes.

The great service and excellent food stand on their own merit. But pushing this restaurant over the top is the EVERY day happy hour, making it an incredible value.

So to summarize, great food, outstanding service, gluten-free options, and daily happy hour. This could easily become a go-to...

If I could rate this server less than a star, I would. A friend and I went to eat lunch here this afternoon and we sat down, she took our order and right after she brought our food to us, she dropped off our ticket without asking if we were ready for it. We were having a few margaritas but felt like we needed to leave since she already gave us our ticket after being there for only 20 minutes. After we asked the manager for another drink, the waitress came out grabbing my friends plate saying she will take it from her. My friend said she wasn't quite finished and so she walked away. She came back another time asking if we were doing okay and we were, but never saw her after that.... 40 minutes later still no waitress after we asked to get our ticket from another server, she never came out. So finally we went to the front desk to ask for our server to bring us the ticket. She argued with a poor attitude saying she already gave us our ticket, but that was the ticket that was not updated with the additional drinks. We could have easily skipped out on paying for the extra drink and paid the ticket she dropped off earlier, but she still argued that she had everything right. When she finally dropped off our updated ticket, she didn't apologize for our wait or miscommunication, she just walked off with a huge attitude. Mackie 866...