Santa Fe Steakhouse & Cantina — Restaurant in McAllen

We chose Santa Fe for our anniversary dinner out, at the suggestion of friends, who spoke very highly of the restaurant. The pros: we were able to secure an early reservation (5pm setting), thus not crowded. The ambience was generally pleasant, with live piano (light jazz). The staff were extremely attentive. Our server was excellent throughout the meal. The manager and another senior staff came to visit us, not once but a few times. Ergo, the overall customer service was very good. When the manager learned we were celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary, he brought us a full bottle of sparkling wine, on the house! A nice touch, to be sure...making the service the high point of our experience. Note: I requested "the thickest cut possible, because I want it prepared 'Pittsburgh style.'" (FYI: this is 1mm broiled exterior and very rare - just warmed - in the center) I was also careful to state "I'm pretty hungry and know a nine ounce filet mignon won't be enough." My wife ordered a medium rare ribeye.

The cons: At $40+ for each steak, the price included nothing. Everything is a la carte. Please forgive me for pointing this out, but this is McAllen Texas, not Chicago or NYC. If the food was the best I'd ever had (and it was not) it still would not have been worth the exceptionally high bill (given we paid nothing for our wine and consumed no other beverages, the tab was over $150.00!) The steak I so carefully specified ended up being the nine ounce filet (which I had already advised would not suffice), at the recommendation of the chef (according to our server). My wife's steak was properly prepared and she was sufficiently pleased. My steak arrived small, overcooked and... chewy. However, I was determined not to spoil our anniversary dinner, thus said nothing to our server. In earnest, had the service not been superior, I might have been tempted to pay our initial tab and walk out. It was that bad. Once again, this is McAllen...for the price, I've had better steak at Salt, for half the price. I had ordered a baked potato, which I'd been advised was "almost a meal in itself." I patently requested "lots of melted butter...nothing else." What arrived was an average spud, with a few slices of cold butter on the side. Once more, rather than upset the apple cart, I quietly requested additional butter...twice. Perhaps they were short on butter, and had no means of melting it? I don't know. Finally, by the time we were midway through our meal (about an hour in), the restaurant was packed, and - though one would expect people at a fine dining restaurant would know better (employing sotto voce intimate conversations), we were surrounded by people just about shouting at one another. I was reminded of a NYC diner. Seriously, my wife and I are "middle class," yet had better table manners than the most obviously upper class patrons that evening. Stunning, and disappointing. One would think adults would know better. Oh, please note: this is decidedly NOT a family-friendly restaurant. There is no kid's menu and - even at the outdoor patio - it was obvious that young children would not fare well. Garish as the later crowd was, I could not imagine bringing our daughters for a meal. Five star customer service, two star meal. I'm being gracious with a three star rating, given the adequate food at...

Well let me explain a group of 10 all family members for my daughter 27 birthday, and let me start by saying, a bit of my self, i have been a professional executive chef for over 30 years , and i have never experienced such of bad experience of dining out in my entire life, this restaurant is extremely expensive and over rated with overpriced glorified dishes, that were not even close to be a fine dining experience, let me start by saying the side salad was nothing to be proud about it , the type of salad you can definitely get it anywhere else you go to dine out in McAllen Tx , now I in particular ordered the bone in T bone 28 oz wish costs around $60 + in my opinion besides that it took over 50 minutes to get our first course, when the steak was presented to me it was extremely rare, when I ordered Medium rare , I sent back to re cook , plus the baked potato apparently has been cooked several hours prior to service, I can tell that it was not a fresh baked potato at all , I can definitely tell because of the development of the gluten in the potato, this happens when the potato sits out in the hot until gets re heat, the steak sauce was a mediocre, and let me say something about the service staff, I order I nice 2017 bottle of Zinfandel from California to share with my daughter wine was fantastic, one of the best selection on the wine menu list, price wise.. I truly recommend . The waitress didnt even come once to fill up the glasses , totally unprofessional and uneducated in food and wine service..I will inform with this review to does large group coming to dine in this restaurant, 18% will be added to the top of the final bill just be aware, quite unfair in specially when your food experience was not even close to fulfilling your expectations. And the food cost an average of $75 per person. The total average in my group was between $50 to $119 per person. Let me say that it has taken me over 3 weeks to get around to right this one, i hope the upper management gets to read this review and get something done about it to fix this restaurant . I can comfortably say that after speaking with every single family member we all agreed to never return to this restaurant again, I know how hard is the hospitality industry and particularly the kitchen staff, and I like to support the local economy, but this top the list of unfortunately a disappointment dining experience. The food quality is not good , poor quality steak probably a choice grade not prime cut , even the beef tenderloin quality was poor.

The drink menu was fairly price with very good margarita selection.

The tuna dish was fair with basic presentation The chicken dish was the most acceptable with good preparation and good value. . I hope you read this honest review before you waste your time and ruin the fun of your family. Sincerely A T Food is life when it is crafted with...

I went to Dinner at the Santa Fe Steakhouse with several friends. It's located on 10th street just South of the expressway just before La Plaza Mall. After arriving, we decided to eat in the Cantina instead of the dining room. The Santa Fe definitely scores high on ambience. Walking into the place, you really step into a feeling of being somewhere other than the RGV. Once seated we ordered our beverages, beers and teas, and our appetizers. We first ordered Crab Cakes, but they were not available, it happens and there were plenty of other appetizers to choose from. We decided on Calamari, and the Tuna tartare. I like the Asian touch in the Calamari preparation and that they use a larger Calamari which results in these nice big rings. The Tuna was less flavorful with the Avocado being the more dominant component of the dish. For entrees we ordered, two Rib eyes and two Tenderloin Oscars. An Oscar is crabmeat and asparagus served with beef, veal, or chicken, and then topped with bernaise sauce. Santa Fe serves great Beef, everyone loved their steaks, mine was super tender and cooked perfectly. I do have an issue with the presentations and the bernaise sauce, especially for what they charge. First my plate came with a small pile of fried, shredded, or finely sliced potatoes. I really didn't get how they lend to the presentation and they weren't seasoned, and with no color inducements. Honestly, they could have been left off the plate and the presentation would have looked clean. Bernaise should be creamy and a bit tangy due to the tarragon reduction that should be prevalent. As seen in the photo the Bernaise sauce melted through the crabmeat instead of being majestically atop the crab. The sauce really didn't have enough reduction in it to give it the flavor it so desperately needed. The lack of reduction in the sauce is also noticable in ramekin that's in the photo. The sauce should be laden with dark speckles of the tarragon reduction . I tried my friends twice baked potato that was baked in puff pastry, this too was lacking in flavor. Potatoes are naturally bland and need essence to kick-em up. Service was sub- par, I remember my friend commenting " I think our server disappeared". I tried to get a refill on my tea, I asked the closest server, rather than hook me up, he went out of his way to tell our server I was asking for tea. The tea was on a server stand next to our table. I could have gotten up and served myself, and it wouldn't have taken so long. Overall we had a great time and an above average food experience. So, if you are looking for a great Steak this...