Prima Cantina & Tacos — Restaurant in Santa Monica

As long as they retain their current manager, I will not be eating at or ordering from here. This is a regular favorite for me and I recently placed a to go order where I requested their corn tortillas (as I mentioned previously, the handmade tortillas here are a highlight). When I arrived, I found they had substituted in cheap, store bought tortillas on my tacos. Previously my waiters had only ever mentioned that the restaurant had 2 types of tortillas (flour and handmade corn), so I was confused, and asked why this had occurred. Apparently their new policy (which is written nowhere), is that you need to include the word "Handmade" with the request for "Corn tortillas" in the ordering instructions box. I asked what I would need to pay I would need to pay to have the order switched over to the handmade tortillas (this was really the only reason I had chosen to order from here). The manager (a large woman with an Eastern Bloc accent) refused to remake my order or told me they'd need to recharge me for the entire order (including the cost of the appetizers and sides). She insisted I could purchase handmade corn tortillas and just "flip" the contents of the taco over myself at home. Sounds fine, but 1. I don't want to assemble tacos at home. That's why I'm ordering takeout. 2. I ended up having to do this and the tacos were super dry because none of the sauce is retained when you "flip" them, and 3. How hard is it to just "flip" the tacos yourself for a customer and add a little more sauce? After much back and forth with this extremely rude and condescending woman, she eventually gave me some tortillas, and I was left with dry tacos that needed to be assembled at home (as mentioned above). Note to Owner: It would be much easier to revise your online menu to allow customers to select tortilla options than to berate your loyal customers in order to enforce unannounced policy changes. I've been a regular here since they opened and have recommended it to a ton of friends. The food is great. But after this experience, I will not be back. I can't imagine how awful this woman would be if you had a food allergy. We have a lot of choices in which restaurants to support in coming out of this pandemic. This will not be...

We are regulars here because the food is the closest I've had to my Mexican mom's cooking this side of the border, and the service is usually great.

This review is not rating the restaurant but the server who was working last night, because he should get fired. This was our 3rd encounter with him. The first time, we asked for a table one Saturday afternoon and he told us they were closing between lunch and dinner; after walking around the block we noticed a different server seating a table so we asked him instead and were sat immediately. The second time I was with my mom and had him as our server, and he was terrible; he took our order and then for the rest of the meal we only saw the manager, who brought us our food and checked in with us while he hung out at the bar watching the soccer game and chatting, ignoring those of us sitting out on the patio until he brought our check. Then he complained to my mom in Spanish about the manager, calling her lazy and claiming he has to do all the work, when clearly it was the other way around. Totally unprofessional and a desperate attempt to get pity from my mom and get a better tip. Then last night we stopped in at 8:04 and he told us they were closed, when the sign on the door says they close at 9 (and there were still tables eating). I'm sure there are plenty of other people who would appreciate having his job more...

OK..I'm looking at the menu and I'm thinking.." at these prices, this place needs to hit a major home run. chips come to table...like they were out of a grocery bag..very common. salsa...nothing special. service good, not many people there.

ordered a pomegranate margarita for a million bucks...comes doesn't taste like pomegranate at all...sent back. drinks come with a ton of ice, a no no for expensive drinks. food comes, asked if they had black beans...no, just pinto..? but i must say presentation and food were excellent

buy 3 enchilada plate for 24 dollars...are we in Paris....Tokyo i mean at most most it should be 16--17

so overall i wouldn't come back cause the bill came to like 80 something and i was given like a 40,00-50 dollar experience. i say to owner which I'm told owns spumoni ...get your experience up to your price points...its definitely not there yet. The Montana crowd will pay crazy money but make the whole experience a fantastic one. i feel like your trying to go 70% there and get away with something..laughing all the way to your nightly bank deposits

food is a 5 but all the little things that make the rest of the deal compensatory with the price isn't there. get on it right away or you wont be on...