Ixtapa Cantina — Restaurant in Watertown

We moved to the area several months ago and had considered eating here a few times, but were deterred by some of the negative reviews. To those reviewers: fie on you, and a pox on your houses! I wish we had ignored those reviews and tried Ixtapa sooner!

Service was very friendly and efficient, the place was nice inside (basic cantina decor), etc. And the food was really enjoyable!

I grew up in the Southwest, so I know what really good Mexican food tastes like. And our food was delicious.

I'll be realistic, though. It's not on par with the best restaurants in San Antonio or Southern California. But neither are 99 percent of the Mexican restaurants in the US. When it comes to Mexican food, I'm hard to impress, and I was impressed.

I did notice that negative reviews tended to be of meals that were delivered. I wouldn't order Mexican food delivered. In my experience, it just doesn't travel well. My advice is to go there. There's plenty of parking nearby in a metered lot behind the building. It's also pretty convenient to bus stops.

I had a combo with enchilada, chimichanga and taco. Got different filling for each, and it was all good. I especially loved the barbacoa taco.

One sign a Mexican restaurant cares about quality--the beans and rice were great. In a blah Mexican place, they'll basically just be there to take up space on the plate. Theirs were well spiced, seasoned, and cooked perfectly.

I'm looking forward to trying more...

Edit: Delivery mixes everything on top of the other. Immediately pick out your salad.

My family loved celebrating at Ixtapa in Lexington back when that was the closest to Belmont. Friendly, booth etc. I had a really good UE coupon so I went a bit "nutty" over ordering. Beware portions huge! Taquito bites: perfect filling and crunch. Baby Chimichangas: glad I ordered these..new fave Chicken Enchiladas plate with refried beans, "Mexican rice" , salad on plate (lettuce tomatoes), comes with sour cream and guacamole. Chicken flautas: see above. Pollo Tamales with Mole sauce: gave to neighbors from Texas who loved them. She could have had more mole but tastes differ. I loved Everything! Except for guacamole because I'm a "cilantro tastes like soap" genetic type & I couldn't pick it out. Some bits tasted a bit over ripe. I would love to order from here and serve for a dinner party, separating the bits and smiling at my compliments. Comes with homemade salsa to kick it up & modest amount...

I went there for an early bite after a day-long medical exam (fasting!). I ordered 3 tacos "pastor" and sangria. The very friendly waitress served me traditional tortilla chips and salsa while I waited. The chips were barely OK (on the stale side), the salsa also, and the tacos were just a tad above average but with abundant shredded cabbage (I'm more accustomed to lettuce). The music was not too loud and an interesting mix of international folk/pop. The place is very large and has multiple rooms which were all empty at 4:30PM. Given that I was one of only two patrons, and that this was just before dinner time, I would have expected outstanding food, which this was not,...