L.A. Cantina — Restaurant in Los Alamos

I was in town for work and wanted to try a new restaurant in the immediate area. The last time I was in Los Alamos was in Oct 2023 and since then, I've noticed a couple of new restaurants that either opened since my last visit, or were there before and I just never realized it. A co-worker suggested this restaurant so I agreed to try it since I enjoy experiencing new businesses. Needless to say, I went to this restaurant 2 days in a row (7 Oct 2024 and 8 Oct 2024), because the food was good.

The restaurant's décor was nice; the interior looked clean and organized. The restaurant wasn't busy at all during both visits which was comforting because I didn't feel like eating at a busy/loud restaurant - I get enough of that in my home city of Las Vegas (Nevada). I know some may not find it useful or a big deal, but this restaurant has one of those robots to help bring out the food which is always pretty cool to see. I know a lot of bigger/busier cities in this country utilize those robots in their business, so it's comforting to see a smaller city/town like Los Alamos keeping up with modern technology.

I ended up ordering the Guacamole and Chips; Chicken Wings (Korean BBQ and Citrus Chipotle sauces); and Grilled Picanha Taco Plate with an extra El Pastor Taco during my first visit; and the Cantina Burger w/Bacon and Fries for my second visit. As I mentioned earlier, the food was good. I was especially amazed at how flavorful the Chicken Wings were, including their wing sauces that I ordered (Note: they offer more sauce flavors than what I requested). The burger flavor was adequate; however, I wasn't a fan of how cold the hamburger bun was. The tacos tasted wonderful and the guac was served fresh.

The service was inconsistent between both visits - I thought it was weird that it took longer to get my burger during the second visit than it did to get all the other food during my first visit. The price-to-quantity ratio was adequate for the most part; however, some of the entrées could probably use a reduction in price (i.e., the Taco Plate was a little on the pricier side considering you only get two small tacos). After ordering/adding one extra taco to that plate, the total ended up being $20.45 for three small tacos. I don't think I've seen prices like that unless I was at a more upscale restaurant back home. I felt it would be more respectable if the total was ~$15.00 for a 3-taco plate. Regardless, the food hit the mark with respect to quality so that made up for it...slightly.

Overall, I recommend this restaurant to everyone. If I'm ever back in Los Alamos and can't seem to figure out what I want to eat, it's comforting to know that I have this restaurant to fall back on since I'm confident I'd receive...

When we arrived, two young boys looked at us briefly and then ignored us, leaving us to stand there for a bit before deciding to seat ourselves at the bar. Then they followed up behind us with menus. The thing I noticed almost immediately after the service was thar the restaurant was absolutely filthy and messy. There was a water bottle in the rafters, the bar area behind the counter was probably violating health codes with the open containers and overall mess, multiple tables had been left dirty for at least 30 minutes even though the restaunt was practically deserted, there were menus all over the bar and the bar clearly had residue on it that meant it hadn't been wiped down recently, there were packages of unopened supplies on the counter, multiple open bottles of alcohol outside of anything to cool them, it was just so gross. The bartender was nice enough but seemed more focused on shining the glasses than doing anything else. The food was honestly the best part and it was still just "meh". Edible, but could have easily gotten similar at a less expensive venue for similar quality. Overall, not a great experience and definitely wouldn't recommend coming in until they do a full deep clean. The shiny glasses don't make a bit of difference when you see the absolute mess...

So disappointing! Online says open until 9 so we chose this place since it was almost 7 by the time we checked into our hotel and almost everything closed at 8 in town. Got there about 7:15 and there's a typed/printed sign on the door that said dinner over at 8. So, out of consideration for the staff, we decided to order quickly. From the minute we finally were asked how many in our party (there were 4 people in the entire place at the time other than the 3 staff members we saw) we felt like an inconvenience to the staff. Our server, who acted like he hated the fact we were there and was less than disinterested while taking our order, repeatedly checked his watch. When our food finally arrived we were missing our appetizer and the meal for my Grandson. The server who brought it literally questioned us on both when we said these items were missing. It was clear neither were on the ticket. It took a good 10 minutes for the chicken nuggets to arrive (likely being cooked). Meanwhile, my daughter and I ordered the same thing...Lobster and Shrimp tacos. Hers were packed with seafood... mine were packed with cabbage. My husband's fish tacos were tough and my Dad's burger was literally raw inside. No apologies for anything. Would have given zero stars if it...