Cactus Rose Restaurant & Tequila Bar — Restaurant in Wilton

We’ve been coming to this restaurant for a long time - it was actually the first place my husband and I had lunch when we first moved to the area six years ago. We’ve generally found the food and drinks to be good and enjoyed coming here with friends and other family, and always liked the waitstaff. Sometimes we’d have to wait a longer than normal for our meals to come out, but other than that we didn’t have many complaints.

However, lately we’ve been finding it “hit or miss”. Today I went for lunch and ordered a salad with avocado, hearts of palm, peppers and a vinaigrette. I erroneously assumed it would have lettuce. I was surprised to find it arrived on a plate with a small piece of avocado, a little bit of roasted peppers, and a few pieces of hearts of palm - barely any food. I asked for a side of chicken with it, for a total price tag of $21 (I never complain about food prices, but this was silly for such a simplistic dish - my friend ordered a Caesar salad with salmon that cost less and was much more substantial). I asked the waitress if it was supposed to come out that way sans lettuce or anything else, and she curtly told me that the ingredients are listed on the menu. My friend overheard her complaining to other staff about my comment remarking that I should “read the menu.”

Not a way to treat...

The chef must learn to cook. No way it is a Mexican cuisine. You will not go to way too overpriced restaurant just to get some boiled stuuf. Blant, no taste, no spice. Even they charge for chips and salsa. I asked for hot sauce for my food simply beacuse it was tasteless. The waiter asked they have something prepared with jalapeno and something for $2. Hot sauce for a price. And then you have to again trust the kitchen team who served blunt food for you. I tell you I felt like going back to the kitchen and cook up the food myself one more time. The staff at the end started to be way too sweet and insisted we come back. Looks like they provide this hospitality to the local crowd. Coz they almost know by name everyone enetering the restaurant. So you got it, its not the food but the personal service they provide to the customers. Lastly after wrting everything on the menu as organic, this way too expensive restaurant gave us cheap thin plastic containers for leftovers. Thats too healthy and eco-friendly as like organic I guess. Food is nothing. There was some veggies, and the chef was confused what he did with that. A creamy mushroom gravy had some boiled mushroom floating on the milk. Enchilada was soggy, dull, boring. Never had such a tasteless mashed potato. How can someone go so wrong with simple...

Service spotty then dissolved to poor. The two women running the place manager? and hostess thought it was their place to tell us how to talk to them when we expressed our annoyance at the complete collapse of service as the meal went on. No apologies no explanation as to why we sat for as long as we did after initial courses at least an hour. And when finally they felt we pushed them to explain that there were problems in the kitchen whether true or not still no apologies or any offers to make things right. It became an escalated disagreement and the manager? actually said then don’t pay the check. Sure right and this restaurant is known to call the police on customers who have walked out not paying even though the restaurant was at fault. Rather than offering apologies even the server became defensive when it was clear there was a problem. The people running this restaurant have not learned the customer is always right and if you are in the hospitality business the onus is on you to make sure your customers have a good experience and at least inform of a situation if things are not running right...