Alberto's Cantina — Restaurant in Pleasanton

An older family member loves this place (primarily for sentimental reasons) so we continue to take them here on occasion when requested. That being said…

FOOD: authentic? No. Lots of fresh ingredients? Not even close (straight from a can on most items. The few fresh items they do have are usually old and way past their prime). Food prepared with care and attention to detail? Nope.

Most recent visit: slices of fresh avocado were brown and tasted off. The chicken tasted like it was boiled and had zero seasoning added. Mole sauce tasted like it was from a store-bought can. Rice was super salty. Carnitas was very chewy and hard to eat. From the beans to the rice, from the wilted salad greens to the watery soup, the food is a big miss. And I’m always afraid that I’m playing Russian Roulette with food safety here (they had a major issue with the health department a few years ago, and the current lack of care that goes into their choice of ingredients and their overall food prep and presentation makes me nervous).

SALSA: seriously guys??!!? Tastes like canned ketchup mixed with water, with a chunk or two of onion thrown in. Chips: so much salt to cover up the stale taste that you’ll get a weeks worth of sodium intake after eating 4 chips. If you choose to offer chips & salsa to guests, there is no shortage of amazing salsa recipes out there that can be made with a few simple, fresh ingredients. And there are plenty of decent tortilla chips available to restaurants from a number of distributors.

NON ALC BEVERAGES: I often get iced tea or a Topo Chico seltzer water. When I ask for lime wedges with the Topco Chico it usually goes something like this: first drink: comes with lemon wedges. Second drink: now it’s orange wedges (more like orange slices, not wedges, so you can't really squeeze it into the drink, so it's really just for looks). Third drink: a mix of brown, shriveled, day-old lime wedges (gross) along with the aforementioned lemon and orange slices. Iced Tea: tastes like it came out of a soda gun that has not been properly cleaned and maintained. Tap water: stay far away! Tasted like soap, and was slightly medicinal tasting as well. Perhaps the glass was dirty.

COCKTAILS: tailor-made for those that just turned 21 and want a drink with alcohol, but they need it to taste like a sugary, ultra-sweet, 7-11 style fruit slushy. If you want a classic, hand-shaken margarita made with nothing but fresh lime juice, a splash of agave nectar, and a decent 100% blue agave tequila, this is not the place. They do have a Marg on their menu that reads somewhat like a "classic" marg, but the fresh lime juice is augmented with crappy sweet & sour mix (either that, or the lime juice was not actually fresh) and then completely doused in agave nectar to the point that the drink ends up being nothing more than a sweetened margarita mix. If you want a bright, neon colored slushy with a cheesy sounding name that contains nothing fresh or natural, and you're looking for a wicked sugar-induced headache after just one drink, well...you'll most likely be quite happy with their offerings.

SERVICE: not warm, not friendly, not professional. Much of the staff looked like they wanted to be anywhere BUT in this restaurant. That is quite telling.

Need a napkin or silverware setting after your entree was served 5 minutes ago? You'll go on a hunt throughout the restaurant to find someone that will help you.

Many customers will look the other way if food and drinks are subpar but the service is good. Average food + good service = most people will enjoy their experience overall and will probably come back. Bad food + great service = again, a lot of people will still come back, despite the bad food because the service was so great. But...bad food + bad service = no more customers.

ATMOSPHERE: noisy sports bar vibe inside. Dirty tables everywhere. Outside tables constantly have leaves, pollen, dirty plates and glassware on them. Flies were everywhere.

Dear Alberto’s Ownership & Management: do better. Please. Things CAN...

Wanted to give them minus 5 stars after yesterday's visit... We have been here three times prior and the food and service were good. But yesterday was UNFORGIVABLE if not ILLEGAL... First we explicitly told the waitress "Maggie" five times that we do not touch alcohol so please get us ONE VIRGIN Mojito and ONE VIRGIN Margarita... the word Virgin was repeated five times and she actually went back to check with the bartender that could make both VIRGIN... First the appetizer came, and that was "Guacamole"...BUT first time we ever saw cheese grated ALL OVER the guacamole... since my daughter is dairy allergic we removed the cheese as much as we could and sort of braved it on... then the drinks came and though one seemed VIRGIN, the other my my very younf daughter got was 60% alcohol... she got a weird buzz.... we called Maggie and she shook her head sadly then disappeared with both the drinks to the bartender inside (we are seated outside)... she totally chickened out after that and never came back to our table to apologize and try to make us feel better... no sign! Then a preppy looking long faced waiter appeared and we were trying to order "tacos with no meat"... instead of just acceding to that he gets into a long argument almost ridiculing vegetarians, saying "we only have TWO dishes for vegetarians".... but if you wan any ingredient removed in the taco, please point to it... "all ingredients are written in the menu" ... we reminded him that the guacamole never listed cheese but we got loads of cheese and we are trying to make sure... but he stands there cockily repeating "well guacamole always has cheese on it here and so we don't have to write it"... but "for the tacos you have to point explicitly to the listed ingredients and tell me which one you want removed, just saying no meat is not enough at our restaurant...." what a jerk... all three of us had never seen a guy or service like this in 20 years in USA... we asked for another server but that took time too... so we called for the check in UTTER DISGUST... no manager ever showed up to apologize for putting alcohol in a drink served to a minor, putting unwelcome cheese in guacamole, the least they could have done is apologize and put the $x margarita and/or the appetizer on the house to earn goodwill after a series of TERRIBLE mistakes... WE CERTAINLY AIN'T...

This place is so bad, I was there last night to place and order to go, i went to the host stand, Alex was there to " help", so he called the hostess to take my order, so she took my three items order, she said i will be right back with your "ticket", i was in a rush because i work for a site that delivers food, so i handed my cc to her to make everything faster and she won't have to do many trips, that was my huge mistake, meanwhile she was doing my to go order, Alex was "helping" to a guest that was just walked in, this sir asked if can seat at the patio, Alex of course said no because there was no tables available, this gentleman said there are tables available on the patio, Alex with an attitude and rolling up eyes grab a menu and utensils to guide the gentleman to the table, this gentleman notice the attitude of Alex and said no worries i'll be right back another time, Alex said just OK, I was observing the whole thing, Alex look at me and said "i don't make the rules". Ok, so this girl came back with my bill and credit card she just charged for two items, and i ask her that a nachos was missing in my order, she said sorry went back to the kitchen to my fix my order i guess, then she came back and said my cc was declined, i ask for my bill to see the total and add funds, she said she can't because my cc was declined, so our friendly Alex ask about the problem, and it was the same story that they can't print it out because my cc was declined, i asked for the manager and Alex said he was in the and he was busy, finally the manager showed up, and he show me the total of my bill, ok Alex asked what was my problem, i was in shock because the type of question, and he said again i don't make the rules and you re not my boss, i was ok unfortunately i don't have enough room to finish the story but this hosting staff need more training and put more attention for their business, in my opinion hostess is the face of the business and they are not very...