Urban Cantina — Restaurant in Tampa

The food was decent at best... Other than that, absolutely the worst service I have ever had. I would be more understanding if it was busy but this was not the case. We walked in as a table for two and were not acknowledged for at least 10 minutes, we weren't even looked at. Finally, the bartender greeted us and sat us down. Upon being seated the server came to take our drink and appetizer order after sitting there for another 10 minutes, to then wait once again for our cocktails to be made and served. The chips and salsa arrived minutes later, we had an accident and spilled most of the salsa while our server was at our table. She asked if we wanted more since most of it had spilled we said yes please. We cleaned up our own mess, not a problem but were still waiting for the salsa we had asked for. Finally the server reappeared after about 15 minutes, and I asked for second time for more salsa which she finally brought out right away. At this point I really considered paying for the drinks, salsa, and walking out since tables that came in after us started receiving their food. Finally, our dinners came out which were delicious. From that point we waited again for our check at an unreasonable amount of time. From the start we were never given any silverware, plates, or water; as all of the surrounding tables had. The server was less than attentive, we probably would have ordered more drinks but we were never asked. Overall our experience was extremely disappointing, as we were looking forward to enjoying a nice dinner. With so many of these types of restaurants in this area, we will...

We were a group of 6 people and we were looking for a Mexican restaurant for Saturday night dinner. We searched near us and by seeing the reviews we decided to have dinner at Urban Cantina. It is a small restaurant in Tampa downtown with a nice decor. When we went to the restaurant it was full being a Saturday night and we had to wait for 10-15 minutes before we were seated. Once seated we were greeted by our server Meztly with the menus. By exploring the drinks menu first we decided to order Mezcalita, Classic Margarita and La Tina. We got our drinks in 10 minutes. All the 3 drinks that we ordered were amazing and it made our day as they have open bar and provides different drinks. Then we ordered the food from the food menu which included the combination of tacos, Cantina Nachos, Street Corn, Cantina Bowl, Tostada Salad and Churros. First we got Street Corn. The street corn was delicious and it was perfectly cooked with good amount of spices. Then we got our Tacos. The Tacos were good and perfectly cooked with the ingredients. Then we had our Cantina Nachos, Cantina Bowl and Tostada Salad. The Nachos were good. The salad was also delicious with fresh ingredients and spice. The Cantina Bowl was delicious with amazing ingredients. Then we got our Nachos which made our day with the desert. Amazing desert to end the day. Definitely try the Urban Cantina in the...

I had high hopes for Urban Cantina, but my experience left a lot to be desired. I ordered the El Rey burrito for $16, expecting something worthy of the name. Instead, I got a cold, uninspiring burrito that only got worse with each bite. The flavors were bland, and for the price, I expected much better quality.

When it came time to pay, the total for three meals was nearly $50—not exactly a bargain for what we got. We chose not to tip, which is our choice, yet our server made it clear she was unhappy about it. As soon as the payment went through, she pointed out that the tip wasn’t included. We acknowledged it, yet she continued to stare at us, looking visibly upset. She then turned to the other person at our table and repeated that the tip wasn’t included before they even had a chance to pay—clearly hoping for a different outcome after our "offense." After they also selected no tip, she walked away angrily, only to return and slam the receipt down.

Look, I get it—tipping culture is what it is. But trying to guilt-trip customers and then throwing a passive-aggressive tantrum? That’s not how you handle service. Maybe if the food had been hot and worth the price, I would’ve felt differently. Instead, I left with a bad taste in my mouth—literally and...