Javelina Cantina — Restaurant in Sedona

I was super excited to find a vegan menu at this restaurant! The food looked and tasted amazing! Would be a 5 star hands down but in my experience the food was not vegan, it was not even vegetarian. I ordered the mushroom fajitas and someone else at my table ordered the steak fajitas. To my surprise, there was a sizable piece of steak in my mushroom fajitas. While that did not deter my appetite or upset me. It did make me wonder how much flavoring my mushrooms received from the steak. They were very tasty! It was obvious that the preparation was not separate. While my decision to not eat meat is purely by choice it is not a big deal as long as I don't accidentally ingest meat. However, others may have religious reasons or allergic restrictions to validate this situation as unacceptable to most and definitely if they are under a Vegan Menu as they are here.

It's an easy fix to bring this up to a 5 star. Better preparation practices need to be observed by the kitchen staff. And higher importance needs to be given by owners or managerial staff.

Again, the food was delicious, the presentation was excellent, and portions were large, just poor preparation in my experience. Everyone else at my table who ordered from the regular menu truly loved their food.

VEGAN SELECTIONS

Chorizo Queso Dip & Chips Cashew Smokey Queso, Soy Chorizo, fresh corn chips

Loaded Nacho Board Cashew Nacho Cheese, Olives, Pico de gallo Black Beans, Sour Cream and fresh Guacamole add Chorizo - extra $

Grilled Street Corn Chili Lime Butter, Cashew parmesan

MAINS T hax's Black Bean Quinoa Burger Greens, Tomatoes,Pickles Served with Southwestern Side Salad

Carne Asada Mushroom Fajita Mushroom Asada, Peppers, Onions, Cilantro Served with Black Beans, Rice, Guacamole, Pico De Gallo & Tortillas

Fire Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas Green Tomatillo Sauce, Cashew Cheese, Black Bean Mango & Avocado Salsa. Served with Black Beans, Rice, Pico de Gallo

Chipotle Mac & Cheese Skillet Chipotle Cashew Cheese, Pico De gallo add Chonzo - extra $

Vegan Crunch Wrap Supreme Black Beans, Cashew Queso, Sour Cream, Pico de Gallo

"PLEASE, NO SUBSTITUTIONS ON THESE SPECIALTY MENU ITEMS* Created by Eileen Elizabeth, Vegan Chef and Recipe Developer Prepared and Served by our...

Great little cantina on the 179 coming into town. We had an exceptionally conscientious waiter, Craig, who handled everything with accuracy and a great laugh. Never mind that he could also speak some Russian to one in our party who was from Ukraine. :) In total, he was outstanding. Attentive and communicative. I will not forget his name for the next visit.

Food was well-prepared and yummy. I had quesadilla con pollo machaca, primarily because that's what I sample across the U.S. - it's my gauge (the machaca was new). They scored pretty darn high with flavor and presentation of the dish. Excellent. And I live in the area billed as "23 miles of the best Mexican food in the U.S."

Let's talk about drinks. I try to get beers because of this issue, but there was a $20 flight of 5 margaritas that seemed awesome. And indeed the flavors were exceptionally fresh because, well, I believe they use all fresh ingredients. What happens most of the time with bar-mixed drinks is that the tequila is skimped on and, regrettably, that's what happened here. Seriously, hardly a buzz, so I got 5 $4 glasses of mostly juice. Exceptional juice.

I get it. We've been through the pandemic. Labor costs are up. Other costs are high, and alcohol prices are up. Although for 55 bucks I can get 750ml of pretty good Tequila down here in Tucson. So, I get a little annoyed with skimped-on drinks, and it's why I usually get beer most of the time - to avoid the annoyance.

I'm sure the bartender is following a formula of what s/he's supposed to do but, to the dismay of most of us, it just feels slightly, well, inadequate. Not bad, just scarce. I'll be the raucous mouthpiece but, trust me, others are feeling the same.

In the end, I think that restaurants in general would do well to create return customers by providing exceptional value. Because Sedona is very transient, this is likely not high on the list of priorities. But when I return to the area, something in my head will say "less than" when I consider Javelina. Sorry folks, it's just how I feel about the state of restauranting post-pandemic.

Never doubt the memory of past customers, or the power of online media to express opinions. You have all the power you need to do...

We booked a reservation more than 24 hours in advance for Sunday at 4:30pm for a party of five. It wasn't terribly busy when we arrived, but perhaps they were short-staffed a bit. Maybe that's giving them too much credit though...

Food - The shredded beef tacos were bland (tasted like pot roast on flour tortillas, with little to no Mexican seasoning). The chile rellenos was bland, and the tilapia tacos didn't taste the freshest. A youngster with us ordered a plain cheeseburger and it came cheese-less (how do you miss 33% of the ingredients). On a positive note, the chips & salsa and french fries were very good.

Service - We got seated and it took over 10 mins to get us water. C'mon, we're in the desert. We ordered two drinks from the bar (one of which was a beer) and it took an unusually long time. Our order was messed up 3 ways: (1) One dish was ordered with a side of rice, and fries came out. Probably a miscommunication, and they did bring out the rice afterward, but still annoying when coupled with the rest of our negative experience; (2) as previously mentioned, we had a cheese-less cheeseburger; and (3) the order of chile rellenos was forgotten and did not come out with the rest of our order. All that said, our waiter was friendly and recognized the problems we were experiencing. He apologized politely and credited the appetizer, our two adult drinks, and one soft drink.

Atmosphere - The music selection is very interesting here. Instead of southwestern, or Mexican music, we were serenaded by Boyz II Men, and other '90s and early 2000's hits. BTW, how is there not a variety of hot sauces on the table?

If you're looking for authentic Mexican food and a fun experience, save yourself the time and headaches (and some extra cash) and don't come here. If the food was great, I could excuse the service and atmosphere. At least give me one of the three. Enough said when the french fries were the best thing that I tried out of 5...