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| - I have very mixed feelings about the Cantina. My roommates and I frequent Round Corner, especially in the summertime, and we've had both positive and negative experiences there.
Cantina has the opportunity to be one of the coolest restaurants around in my opinion; the location is absolutely on point right in the heart of Lawrenceville, not to mention the fact that they have one of the best patios in the 'burgh for hanging out in the summertime. At the end of the day though, my review has to be more based on the food and the service than on the location. The food is good, but not great. Mexican is one of my favorite genres of food, and I have never been overly impressed with the food quality here. The guacamole and chips are very good if you are lucky to get them fresh - on a few occasions, we've had stale chips, which is a huge let down. The tacos are mediocre at best. I usually get the pollo tacos, which are good in a pinch but I'm not rushing back for them, especially when Smoke is a short walk away. In all honesty, I come to Cantina more for the great atmosphere than for the quality of the food.
The real reason why I give Cantina three stars instead of four is due to the service. Rarely have I had a positive experience with the wait staff at Cantina. The employees do not seem to have a high level of knowledge about the menu, and most of them have a snippy demeanor. You usually seat yourself at Cantina, especially on the patio, and I find that we often have to wait at least ten minutes for an employee to notice us and come over with menus. Also, I have now had two experiences at Cantina where items were listed incorrectly on the menu price-wise and I was charged more money on my bill than anticipated. When I mentioned this to my waitress, she apologized that the menu was wrong and assured me they would update the menu but did not change the amount on my bill, which seemed strange to me.
All of that being said, I still like to come to Cantina for happy hours and for the patio. I really hope Cantina steps up their service, because if they did they could easily gain another star in my book. At this point, in spite of the hip atmosphere, I can't go above three stars.
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