Pasqual's Cantina — Restaurant in Verona

I travel to different cities around the country and find myself always gravitating towards Mexican restaurants for basically every meal of the day. As a Mexican from northern Mexico that has travelled across most of Mexico I thought that I could be of some help to the people,of this country and review Mexican restaurants for their authenticity, flavors, and overall experience. In this episode of my travels I find, myself in Madison, Wisconsin at the local eater called Pasqual's Cantina. With that said I will dive right into it and give you guys the 411 on this local establishment. At first glance the restaurant provides a great environment with Mexican inspired decorations and an eccentric mix of tequilas at your disposal. Upon entering the restaurant I was greeted with a smile and with quick service. Once at my table I began navigating through the menu and found myself reading about all the foods I grew up eating in my home country, however with a great deal of American influences. This of course was expected, as I do concede that I am sitting extremely far north from Mexico. Despite the American influences I still saw a lot of familiar dishes, but most importantly, I found the menu item that has to be one of the most difficult to execute properly...the green chicken enchilada plate! I immediately ordered the enchiladas and I supplemented my meal with my favorite alcoholic drink, the Mexican paloma, which is a grapefruit soda and tequila mix of fun. Jumping forward to when the waiter delivered my food, I immediately got a scent of some familiar spices and a similarly plated dish to the one,my mother used to make south of the border. This scent, and presentation were unfortunately the best part of my meal as I dug into the first bite, I found myself underwhelmed with a monotonous taste of unspiced chicken and tortilla. I also found that the green sauce was lacked the tang and citric flavors I came to love growing up tasting the best from Mexico. The rice and beans that complemented the meal were good, but also lacked a great deal of flavor. I sensed a lack of oregano and bay leaves in the beans, while the rice seemed rather dry and lacked the tomato influences I know and love. The Paloma on one hand was sweeter than I am used to, however it was the star of the meal. I could taste the tequila piercing through the grapefruit soda in an almost synchronous balance. The tequila was a little shy for my taste however, I do concede that Pasqual's is a family oriented restaurant and nobody wants to see a Latino tumbling out of a bar on a Monday night. Overall the environment was solid and drinks were great, however I would award this restaurant 2 stars because the food lacked the authenticity I know and love, and the environment, while very pleasant, was heavily inspired by modern American layouts. I would recommend Pasqual's to anybody seeking to eat American Mexican food, however to all of my Latino friends out there, I would advise continuing your search for great...

In my 43 years of life I’m so happy to see Mexican restaurants in Verona, WI. I just wished my gramma coulda been around to experience this and taste the amazing food. This restaurant didn’t disappoint with food, drinks and service!! Jordan was our waiter but he did soooo much more! We seen his hands and arms red and soaked, we knew he had been doing other things while waiting on us, but his service was still phenomenal! Then one of us noticed that he started wiping down the kitchen doors. This man continued to work and not sit around. He was friendly and offered more than just a kind smile. He was what we needed during our hard times with my grammas passing and our last night there. He didn’t know this, but his kind spirit sure helped! Food was like at home in Texas and the size was like feeding a cowboy ☺️ Tuesday’s was 1/2 price margs and boy they were good. Husband got the Paloma and he’s picky about his drinks and he too was a happy camper. There are many places that offer guac and street corn and can’t get it right! Great thing for you wisconsin’s and epic employees cause little do you know, you’re getting a great taste of Texas and Deep South!!! We go to Verona at least once a year and this is now a must stop for our family for...

I want to talk about something that doesn't get talked about the most reviews. I was here not that long ago and there weren't many people running it. In fact the bartender was someone quite young, and she dismissed the lone server very early in the afternoon because there weren't many guests. A little bit later another bartender joined. And at the time of the start of the shift the host who was a kid and his late teens showed up got himself ready and started working.

I've said nothing exciting, and that is very much my point. The server crew and kitchen staff all know their parts and they do it well. They are responsible and they are friendly. They are friends with each other. And they are friends with some of us regulars. This is a sign of a well run place when the crew works together like clockwork and nothing extraordinary happens.

The restaurant staff appear to be happy working there. They then make their customers and other staff feel happier.

I contrast this with places I've been who also hire late high school kids to do some work. A lot of times those places those kids are sloppy or careless or just plain lazy. That's not the case here.

Oh yeah. The food is decent. The price is more...