4.5 stars for drinks, 5 stars for food. If you are downtown Madison you must eat at Bel Air Cantina. It's new to Madison but they have a few locations in the Milwaukee area. A friend suggested we try it, an I was a bit hesitant since I already had 2 favorite Mexican (taco) places I enjoy. Well..... let me tell you, I think this may be my new favorite taco joint.
We arrived on a Friday around 5:30. The hostess said we had about a 15 minute wait so the 3 of us went to the bar. I ordered the Kiwi margarita which to be honest wasn't that good, I wouldn't order that again. My friend ordered one of their mules (I can't remember which one) and it tasted like my grandmothers attic... it was not good at all. BUT they did redeem themselves with their classic margarita on the rocks, it was pricey but good.
We were finally called to our table 15 minutes after our wait time they told us. We must have beat the rush as the place really starts to get crowded. 30 minutes was not horrible of a wait but double the wait time they mentioned was slightly frustrating.
The food. o.m.g! Hands down amazing. You get complementary chips and 3 types of salsa. All were good but didn't have a whole lot of heat (spice) to them. We ordered 2 appetizers the queso and and their corn. Sooooo yummy!
The taco menu was impressive and there were a lot of different options. I tried 3 different kinds all were amazing. An added bonus if you order 3 tacos you get free rice and beans. Score! Not that I needed all that food but what is tacos without rice and beans?
I was pretty impressed with the menu size and taco options. It also looks like they have a decent happy hour during the week and taco specials Tuesday AND Thursday.
I did try and take my family back here to eat last Saturday around 7pm. The place was packed! When I went to see the hostess a guy who had been waiting for his table was a bit frustrated. He said he was told an hour wait and it had been well over an hour closer to 1 1/2 hours. The hostess apologized to him and told him it shouldn't be much longer. Unfortunately I knew that was bad news considering I had my children with me. We ended up leaving. Until the next time... I am still craving those tacos!