Cantina Mexicana — Restaurant in New York

With a diner-like appearance and colorful plates to add a southwestern palette, this place is like a Mexican / Diner hybrid. Upon entry, I noticed a cozy enclosed outdoor seating area, followed by a few steps up to the main entrance. Evening street parking was a breeze. Famished, we sat toward the back and commenced with two appetizers: guacamole with hearty tortillas chips (they don’t break when you scoop up the guacamole), and Choriqueso (melted cheese, chorizo, Picolo de gallo, guacamole, flour tortillas), I wasn’t crazy about the salsa, however, the guacamole was very good. I decided to try the Toro Narteño (grilled steak, jalapeño, pico de Galli, Monterey cheddar cheese). Which was very tasty, I found the jalapeño to be very fresh and crunchy, and My husband ordered the Enchiladas Suizas (pulled chicken, green salsa, corn tortillas, cheddar cheese, Monterey, Avocado, pickled red onions, rice & black beans). I didn’t like it at all, the tortilla tasted like it was made with all-purpose flour and the chicken was soggy. Rice and beans were ok. Our friend ordered the Burrito Classico (ground beef, shrimp, steak), he liked it. Our waiter was very friendly and attentive. His recommendations for desserts that were made on premises were everything on the menu except the ice cream and mexican coffee cake. So we ordered the tres leches and the Mexican coffee cake (because I heard it’s made with mascarpone cheese! So it’s like tiramisù without the coffee). They really aced the Tres Leches. As a side note, if you have a sensitivity to msg, you should let them know because they do use adobo in their cooking.

4 stars are for cleanliness, wait staff, appetizers...

Have been here a total of 3 times now and each time the service gets worse and worse. Was there last Friday with my date and it took us almost 15 minutes to get served water and chips. It started with the waiter sitting us down and with no menu or water. We kept looking around and finally he caught our eyes. Finally drops 2 menus and ask what we wanted to drink, we said water. He comes back in like 2 minutes and asks us if we're ready. We give orders for appetizers and asked for that water again. About 10 minutes into this he comes back and takes our order for main course. Still no water. We continue to look around for another 5 minutes or so until the bartender catches our eyes and notices our table is still barren, and finally gets a different waitress to get us some water and chips. We also assume he didn't put in the orders for appetizers first because it took soooo long to get them. Eventually we decided that we were just going to take our entrees to go because we waited so long for them and got full from munching on...

First time going, heard great ghings about it, so had to try. Food was authentic, large amount of choices. Its small, so prepare to wait, especially if large group -party of 6 waited an hour, so they hung at the small bar. (If you dont like waiting, go off hours-call ahead.... but its worth it) Becsuse of the size of the restaurant and extensive choices, the food is prepared fresh, a must for me. We ordered the nachos, then built it up! Ordered spicy chicken, it was shredded! Was easier to eat! For dinner, I ordered the burrito. Normally you'll get mostly rice instead I got mostly beef. The pulled pork option is one of the best Ive had in a while. Others had tacos, and they raved about it ! Definitely...