Tia's Cantina Mexican Kitchen — Restaurant in Solomons

St. Mary's County has finally got a real TexMex restaurant! Tia's Cantina is absolutely amazing, the staff is very friendly, the atmosphere is upbeat and refreshing, and the food... Yeah the food is the best in the county! I had my first visit (definitely not my last) on 2 Jan 2025 around 130pm for a late lunch. Tia’s was just coming off the lunch rush so there were still a lot of filled tables but no wait to get my own table. The staff was pumped and everyone had a smile on their face from the host to the wait staff. My waitress Joy was… well a Joy! I sat at a high table in the bar area so she was doing double duty as a waitress and a bartender. She was awesome, her attitude definitely showed that she wanted to be there and was happy to attend to my table. I couldn’t be more satisfied with her and the other wait staff that stopped by to make sure I had everything I needed and was happy with my meal. Once seated I was promptly served chips and salsa and had my drink order taken (just water this go around). The salsa was perfect, the best, never had salsa as good. It had just enough heat to give you that warm feeling on your lips, and the perfect tomato flavor that blended well with all the other ingredients and I’m not ashamed to say it was so good that I had a second bowl. Once I crushed the salsa and an entire thing of chips my appetizer arrived. I started out with the chicken flautas appetizer, I don’t even know how to begin to explain how amazing they are. Crispy golden-brown tortillas stuffed with a creamy chicken filling paired with an out of this world dipping sauce. They had the perfect fry on them and the best part is the filling on the ends were not burnt and hard. This appetizer is a must when you visit. Next came the meal, I had the Super Burrito and super it was! An extra-large tortilla stuffed with steak, chicken, beans, and rice sliced in half and topped with a cheese sauce on one side and a ranchero sauce on the other. The steak and chicken were both flavorful, juicy, and tender with a blend of spices that makes your tastebuds dance with every bite. The Super Burrito is super filling so if you’re hungry and think you can handle this monster give it a shot! I do have one con; the guacamole appetizer is made ahead of time so there are no changes to be made to it. An option for table side/to order guacamole would be nice, not everyone likes cilantro, and some don’t want the heat of jalapeno’s so being able to order guacamole to order would be incredible, just an idea. My over all experience was a 10 out of 10. There is nothing to complain about at Tia’s. If you haven’t visited yet you defiantly need to make eating at Tia’s a priority, you won’t be disappointed. Oh, and a plus they do offer military discount! Thank you to the entire staff at Tia’s Cantina for a wonderful meal and I can’t wait to visit again to try some of the other amazing items on your menu! Josh

TL:DR - Just go to Tia's you...

Honestly, this place doesn't deserve any stars but they're getting one star as their server seemed OK and the management attempted to make up for the inedible swill they tried to pass off as food.

Shall we start from the beginning? The drinks were absolutely terrible and this includes the sodas, water, and liquor we were served. Both diet sodas and regular sodas were entirely syrup, the water actually tasted dirty, and the island whatever drink we ordered was so terrible that the drink was left mostly full. The server warned us the drink was strong but with seasoned drinkers at the table, we can easily guarantee that the bar was attempting to pass of “bad” as “strong.”

Two of us ordered carnitas tacos, but can anyone explain why the carnitas came out on two separate plates and two very different colors? One of us had a plate of clearly overcooked and recooked dark brown carnitas while the other's carnitas did not share the same dark brown pallor but definitely looked off, dry, and overcooked. However, I digress, that wasn't our biggest complaint about the carnitas. It was the fact that the carnitas was clearly seasoned with the entire salt content harvested from the Dead Sea.

One of my favorite things to order at Mexican restaurants is the chorizo cheese dip. I’d been looking forward to this all day and I wish I had a picture to show what was served to me. It was off-white with a sprinkling of chorizo and tasted like melted flavorless, gelatinous cheese substitute. The chorizo had no redeeming qualities either, providing neither flavor nor the desired kick that people look for when ordering chorizo.

The rest of the food could easily be described as below average. My husband does not complain about food, ever. And he had nothing good to say, his tacos were mediocre at best and the rice that was served to us clearly came from a box, which if that’s the case, we should be charged accordingly. Next time, I’ll just roll down to target and pay $1.49 for boxed Rice-A-Roni Spanish Rice.

Tia's Cantina boasts that their food is all fresh and all they have is a tiny freezer. Perhaps, Tia should consider a larger freezer and refrigeration for their cantina because the food that was served to us was not acceptable. Somehow, all five of us left with upset stomachs and two confirmed cases of food poisoning with a late night hospital visit. I’m not blaming Tia or her Cantina outright but that was the only thing we ate that day. And ultimately, while management comped us $15 for the 5 carnitas tacos (that we didn't even finish), it certainly doesn't make up for the fact that I've been peeing out my butt the last three days or that my husband dropped more than $100 for 3+...

I would give 0 stars on service if I could. First of all the young blonde in the front rolled her eyes when we told her there would be a party of twelve and we were willing to wait, waited an 1 hour and 20 minutes which again was fine we expected as much because they seemed somewhat busy (not as busy as I’d expected it to be), our party got separated which was okay we were still fairly close, but the server..I don’t even know where to start, she brought all of our tacos out on 3 separate plates for 6 adults who weren't even at the same table and myself and our party were to figure out who’s were who and she literally didn’t even know so just laid them down and literally walked away …the worst part was when she was as trying to figure out which tacos were which the server then GRBBED THE TACOS WITH HER BARE HANDS and put them on my sons plate which I said nothing because the kids were so patient waiting for their food, she put 2 orders in wrong and then tried to say that’s not what we said, she then forgot one of our children’s chicken tender and fries which we didn’t get until we were leaving after asking multiple times, she had a very nasty attitude and we showed her nothing but grace. We still tipped her well because we understood it’s the holidays and it’s hard but if I ever see her again Im 100% asking for a different server. The owner was sweet but one thing that kinda turned me off was she didn’t offer a discount or anything even though we were missing items/didn’t get some items and she actually over charged us for things which then took another 15 minutes to fix on the bill. We ended up being there 3 hours and the experience just wasn’t pleasant. I will say the food was as great. We got tacos, kids meals, and chips/salsa and the tacos had some excellent flavor. Again, food is good but I think I get just as good at any other Mexican place and I’m definitely a lover of all things Mexican. I really hope this business does okay and maybe hires some staff that has a little kindness in their heart and has somewhat of an idea on dos and don’ts when dealing with people’s food. I’m huge on customer service so being that my experience was like this I doubt I go back and will encourage anyone else to go to salsas in LT because they are always so kind and their food is...