Spicy Cantina — Restaurant in Seaside Heights

I have to share this experience. Myself and my four other friends who are all 23/24 went here to grab a drink and dinner during our first night on vacation in NJ. Upon arrival, we sat at the bar and were quickly asked for our ID'S. Three of us had NH ID'S, one Vermont and one Jersey. Next thing we knew, three men on staff came up to us accusing two of us, including myself, that our ID'S were fake. They stormed over "WHOS GOT THE FAKES LADIES, SERIOUSLY USING FAKES HERE?". Telling us 2 out of the 3 NH ID'S were fake. We of course let them know that was false, we infact were 23/24 years old. One of the staff members started telling me I needed to leave the bar immediately and that the police on the bikes had been called. I look out and the police on bikes are at the entrance talking to one of the gentleman with my ID. We asked why one of the NH ID'S were ok but the other two not. They had no answer, just kept asserting their dominance. Even though I had done nothing wrong, I was in sheer panic mode. I started crying, shaking, pleaing that I had done nothing wrong in the middle of this god damn place. Everyone around us could hear/see what was happening. My friends and I stayed put knowing infact our ID'S were real. They decided to try to scan them at a different scanner in the facility. Another gentleman then came over, told us all the ID'S scanned and we could stay. He said 'the fact that yall were persistent and didnt run away was a big hint." ......DUH. NOT ONE person who accused us apologized, came over to talk to us, our food/drinks were not paid for, NOTHING. We never saw them again. Not only was an embarassing scene caused, these men were wrong, intimidated young women and never came back over to talk to us about the mistake that had been made. I understand they have to be very cautious about outsider ID'S but the manner in which it was handled was disgusting. My friends and I never had this issue anywhere else we went. Some other bartenders took our ID'S and kindly said "you know what, im not familiar with NH or VT id's let me check this out" which is completely appropiate. I just could NOT believe this experience here. It threw off my friends and I for the entire rest of...

If I could give zero stars, I would. My family and I visited Spicy’s Cantina on August 6th and sat upstairs at the bar. Our total was $58.22 before tip, and we chose to split the bill between my debit card and my partner’s credit card. After running the cards, the bartender returned saying their system was down and they could only accept cash — something we were never told before ordering. We didn’t have cash on us, but she said we could return later and even wrote down our card info “just in case.”

When we came back around 8 PM, the system was working again. My partner paid the entire bill in full on his credit card, no problem. But three days later, on August 9th, I checked my account and saw that Spicy’s Cantina charged me seven times — one charge for $58.22 and six charges for $29.11, totaling $234 for a meal that had already been paid for.

I called immediately and was told it was a “POS system issue” and that the charges would “eventually clear.” No one ever called me back. I had to follow up multiple times, and it took 14 days for those charges to finally fall off. For two weeks, that $234 was tied up, leaving me without access to my own money.

Then, unbelievably, on October 26th, the same exact thing happened again — seven new charges in the same amounts. Another $234 pending on my account. Now I’m out nearly $466 for a single meal that was paid in full months ago.

I’ve tried calling Spicy’s repeatedly, but the line just loops into endless hold music. No one answers, no one calls back, and there has been zero accountability or apology. My account even overdrafted because of these duplicate charges, and the restaurant has done nothing to help.

What was supposed to be a nice meal with my family ended up compromising my bank account. I have never dealt with such unprofessionalism or lack of care from a business.

This entire experience has been a nightmare. I will never dine here again, and I strongly advise others to avoid this place unless you want to deal with unauthorized charges, zero communication, and complete disregard for...

The one word for our visit is disappointing. It has been several years since our last visit and I can’t believe this is the same restaurant we used to enjoy so much. It is obvious they are now going for premade food with minimal effort to maximize table turns. With the choices they have made it is obvious they don’t take pride in their food anymore. The first bad sign was the round yellow store-bought tortilla chips that start the meal – think Herr’s chips from the grocery store. For a restaurant that claims to be specializing in Tex/Mex this is inexcusable. Our drinks were also disappointing. Our Jalapeno Margaritas was simply a premix margarita with a few pickled jalapenos dropped into the drink. Honestly if you are not willing to make a real Jalapeno margarita then just don’t offer one. Our meals came out less than 10 minutes after we ordered. My wife’s pork enchiladas were almost good, but the pork was a bit of a salt bomb. The cream jalapeno sauce was very nice but the enchilada was lost in the salt. My chicken quesadilla was solid. Plenty of charred chicken and cheese – simple but done well. The most disappointing part of the meal were the beans and rice. The refried beans are canned Old El Paso and the rice is probably boxed but it was so dry there is no telling. How canned refried beans is even considered at a “Mexican Restaurant” is a disgrace Both the beans and rice were served in plastic throw away single serve cups. Is it that hard to plate a meal? In the end I take more pride in my Tex/Mex than Spicey’s does. I wouldn’t serve guests at my house the food I got at their restaurant. Instead of oing to Spicey’s I would recommend the food huts at the south end of the boardwalk. Sad thing is I remember Spicey’s as a solid place and spending several evenings there. I will be back if I hear they make some changes, but I guess they will have enough tourists cycle through they can make a business out of it. The Staff was friendly and fun. They are the only reason for this not...