Review Cantina Bar Balmain - Balmain

Good place to get cocktails and tacos. Staff was very friendly. Recommend getting the elderflower martini.

When reading the menu and considering prices, I had an expectation that the dishes would be larger than received. Coming out of lockdown, it was exciting to spend some money on a bit of local take away. I felt a bit taken advantage of, like asking for a refund. I would rather have just cooked at home, the food is not fairly priced in my opinion. You give the word Cantina a bad name! My first experience here couldn't have been worse.

The best cocktails and taco's I've ever had. The calamari cocktail is my absolute favourite! Shout out to Lucas - Your customer service is always amazing. You're an absolute gem and an asset to Balmain.

Hayden & Saskia were amazing! Hayden was very friendly and accommodating. He served our table really well and his recommendations were exceptional. Saskia was very patient and kind. Thank you, we will definitely be back. Thank you for a wonderful experience! ⭐️

Service was pretty slow, but friendly. Food was okay. Cocktails were good; I definitely recommend the mango margarita.

Easy to find parking on the same Darling street. Nice restaurant with some Mexican theme around on the wall. Food taste really good and served at the right temperature. Friendly staff and great service. Highly recommended. Will definitely come back !!!

Well over priced $22 for a half sized burrito. No flavour was terrible. $60 for 2 burritos & can on coke. Didn’t have one of the desserts we ordered. I would never order from here again.

Mexican food is great comfort food. It fills you and warms you on a cold night. It can be light or hearty depending on what you order, but you know it’ll always be big on flavour and often pack a bit of a kick too. We were in Balmain’s main strip - Darling St - and heading for Cantina Bar for a Mexican feed. It’s a long place that stretches back from its street frontage and looks - unsurprisingly - very Mexican! The food was hearty and tasty. The service was great too. The place has a great vibe. We’d gladly visit Cantina Bar in Balmain again.

Mexican food is great comfort food. It fills you and warms you on a cold night. It can be light or hearty depending on what you order, but you know it’ll always be big on flavour and often pack a bit of a kick too. We were in Balmain’s main strip - Darling St - and heading for Cantina Bar for a Mexican feed. It’s a long place that stretches back from its street frontage and looks - unsurprisingly - very Mexican!

We came here with a group of 5 and ordered a bunch of cocktails and food. The drinks were OK, nothing special... The food was pretty good. We ordered the chicken and the beef nachos, chicken quesadilla, the chicken burrito and a fried burrito and fries. The fries were super delicious. However, portions were quite stingy and the prices weren’t cheap. Everything was around $20 each (including the drinks) and we weren’t full from the mains and the shared fries. I wish the portion sizes were bigger as the food was decent and I wanted more.

I went to Cantina Bar with a friend and we went on a Groupon. The Groupon included One shared entree(tacos or guac and chips), A main each & One shared Dessert. We started off with the guac and tortilla chips. A simple dish but a good one. The guac and chips were great however we both felt that we weren't served enough guac for the amount of chips so we had so we both had to ration. We then shared the scallop dish and the nachos. The Scallop dish was VERY SMALL and not at all filling but tasted great. The scallop itself was quite small but it fitted well with the other accompaniments. The chicken nachos lacked a bit of flavour tbh and again we didn't get enough meat for the chips but it was still tasty. The chicken def stuck together so it was a hard dish to share and ration out. It was very filling though. We finished with the churros. Not the best churros i've had but still good. I think the atmosphere was good but a lil small. The selection of drinks were good. Service was good and very fast but they only had three other tables so they weren't waiting on a huge amount. Probably wouldn't return as its a half hr from our house and the food wasn't anything amazing. Good serving sizes of chips though :D

A great place to start the night if your hitting up Balmain with friends.<br/>The squid tacos and the cauliflower tacos are very nice but quite small.<br/>Great cocktails bud do take a long time to come if busy so choose beer if busy.

Was pretty hesistant to order at this place given the reviews but really wanted some Mexican food so gave it a gamble. Food was surprisingly ok. Just stay away from their chicken chipotle as this was really plain and tasted like tuna. Highly recommend their fish tacos. This was yummy. Their beef burrito was also nice and chips were pretty good. Churros were also nice and fluffy. Only downfall is it is extremely expensive. I’d probably not order here again as quality wasn’t worth the price.

Really really nice place. The waitress was super lovely and made us laugh all the time. The food is absolutely delightful. I liked the lamb tacos the most.

Service: Friendly but inefficient and forgetful<br/>Atmosphere : casual bar<br/>Portion : average<br/>Bathroom : spacious and simple<br/>Transport: close to the bus stop<br/>Parking: street parking <br/><br/>YES:<br/>✔️Salt n pepper squid taco<br/><br/>NO:<br/>✖️Beer Battered Cauliflower <br/>✖️Chicken fajita salad<br/>✖️Wine <br/><br/>*Will be back to try other dishes*

Best Mexico ever had , great cocktail ( must try)!!!! you have to try the tacos and fried jalapeño . The services is friendly, price is ok.

We've walked past this place for more than 2 years, but tonight we venture in for the first time. Decor is vaguely cool, menus are a bit hard rock, space is dark away from the door. But service is good. Various bottles of Mexican chilli sauce on each table creates a novelty factor, so too the special selection of bum burner sauce on a shelf near the bar. Good tunes.<br/><br/>Not knowing anything about the place, we order a bit of everything. First the salt n pepper calamari. Very unMexican, but well cooked. Then the nachos. Yuck. Shredded, dry beef perched on bland corn chips. Zero flavour.<br/><br/>Then the taco tasting plate of 6 small soft shell tacos. Mushroom was delish, so too what I think was pork and slaw. The chicken was killed by a morphous lump of guacamole. The lamb was weird. The fish tasted of homebrand fish fingers. The beef was tasty.<br/><br/>Then the fajita salad bowl. Kill me now. Dry shredded chicken in a strange bowl of broken pita bread and yesterday's salad. No dressing. But a separate small dish of coagulated, rank blue cheese. This will kill you. This ain't fajita.<br/><br/>The indigestion afterwards is reminiscent of a cruise ship buffet. Yuck.

A great place to catch up with friends on a Friday night, for some cheeky cocktails and good Mexican food. The decor sets the scene and there is a constant flow of customers, creating an overall bubbly environment.

i love this place<br/>nice cocktails with good price<br/>great staff and service！<br/>the deco is so warm and cozy ！<br/>wanna go again and recommend to my frds

Had the beef burrito bowl ($20) - a beef tostada dish. Although it was tasty it was fairly expensive for what it was, & not as juicy as other tostadas out there. Good if you're looking for more of a bar atmosphere to dine out at.<br/>Highlights: nice Mexican inspired interior, array of hot sauces to try & friendly wait staff.

Bar style eating on big barrels and stools. As authentic Mexican as you can get in Sydney. Definitely as place for pre Balmain margaritas and Mexican.

Very nice service and ok range of Mexican beers. But the food is super average... Pre made and uninspiring. Quite mean small serves too- tiny bowl of Guac came with stale corn chips, fish taco had the smallest little fish finger bits in it, deep fried in crumb so not authentic. Don't recommend

Bar style eating on big barrels and stools. As authentic Mexican as you can get in Sydney. Definitely as place for pre Balmain margaritas and Mexican.

A rare 5.0 from me for Cantina Bar. I had a significant purchase on the day of the visit so the endorphins were a little raised but objectively I couldn't fault the outstanding service and attention from the staff, the perfectly balanced cocktails and seriously the best chicken wings I have ever had by a long shot. We ordered a second plate they were that good but alas they had run out for the evening. Disappointing but not surprising. Next visit we agreed to order two serves straight off. The other food we had was also very good. Nothing not to like for me. Hope it's the same for you.

Came here with a few friends for a late dinner on Friday night. The place was only half full, but still had a lively vibe, perfect to chill down at the end of the working week.<br/><br/>Food wise, mostly good. We had probably ordered half the menu to share. The alpaca skewers & quinoa salad were my faves. Cassava chips & plantain were a good variant from the usual chips & crisps. However it wasn't all good, there were some misses too. Tacos came out as nachos (they got order wrong), burrito was a bit bland. The biggest disappointment were the churros, which were dry on the outside, but still raw in the middle.<br/><br/>Overall a good spot to catch up with friends, have a drink & a bite, if you're tired of the usual pub scene.

Fantastic Classic Margaritas on a breezy afternoon. Some of the best I've had in Sydney bars. Food is also tasty and fresh but not the best value for money.

Great service, cocktails, food and interior design. The passionfruit Mohito and cassava chips are the standout picks. Our waitress was lovely and was the genius behind the Frida inspired table top.

Chilli heat is measured in Scoville units, and this new Balmain entry is so hot, it blows it right off the peninsula into Surry Hills - which is actually where I’d expect to find a bar this good! Returning to Wilbur Scoville’s helpful scale, it basically tells you how many times you’ll need to dilute the capsaicin oil until that red-hot burning sensation ceases. Which is why, in hindsight, reaching for a Jalapeno Margarita ($16) after delving into the epic chilli sauce collection... ...here, was a particularly bad idea (even if it was the best one I’ve tried). I suggest keeping a Portuguese Super Bock ($8.50) beer chaser on hand at all times. (They have a great list of international beers to choose from.) I’m blaming the seductive passionfruit and vanilla allure of the Twisted Margarita ($16) for inciting me to... ...throw caution aside and douse the already jalapeno-enhanced Cantina Quesadilla ($12) with Sudden Death . Turns out it was actually a misnomer - it’s more Creepin

Wait was reasonnable despite the place being packed. Food was great (pulled pork nachos, burritos and churros), service was friendly! We'll be back!

Crowded & busy always, very packed inside.. Not enough moving space. Food was disappointing as well as the dessert.

Overpriced. Overrated. Under expectations.. $50 a litre of sangria? Menu says "not for drivers". After finishing it my friend & I could have just had a glass of water each. Upon asking the alcohol content the waitress said "maybe 2 shots? 2 and a half maybe?" That's one bloody expensive jug of juice and ICE. SO MUCH ICE!!!!<br/>Chimichanga had NO CHEESE in it whatsoever. Zucchini flowers (apparently a HUGE serve) was 4 flowers with some jelly-like substance stuffed inside. Thank GOD they had 4 types of chilli sauce is all I can say. Wont bother again.

Fantastic. Was surprised to find such a funky little place in Balmain. I felt like I had stepped into another world, great atmosphere. Go there!

Anna_89. Would definitely recommend cantina bar! Waitresses were lovely and the whole vibe was great. Had a taco share plate with my friend which was awesome because you got to build the tacos yourself. Beer and tequila is my favourite combo and they had beers on the menu which I hadn't seen anywhere else and a tequila list with descriptions of each one, very handy! Loved it :)

I love this place had dinner and drinks it was all great service is outstanding will be going back

My husband and I were on our way elsewhere on Darling St last Friday night, but we were stunned by how lively and busy Cantina Bar was! We had to see what all the fuss was about, so we were happy to sit at the bar while we waited for a table to come up. The cocktails were to die for, the bartender delightful, and we were seated at a table after our first drink. What I loved about the menu was the blend of South American flavours. What we had was a tapas-style experience that was a pleasant change from boring Tex-Mex.. from the prawn-stuffed zucchini flowers to the octopus salad, our meals were beautiful and a pleasant surprise. The waitress was warm and attentive, and I will definitely be heading back to Cantina Bar soon for a boozy dinner with my girlfriends!

Delicious!. This place, while not inexpensive, has really nice service, awesome atmosphere and scrumptious food! I can highly recommend the Veggie Quesadilla- it is flavoursome and moreish. The Cantina Burrito was also very much liked by the person who ordered it, and the garlic prawns were delectable.<br/><br/>So if you're in Balmain and looking for somewhere good to eat and hang, I highly recommend Cantina, and I personally can't wait to return soon!

Terrible. Went there for lunch today, was told after we ordered that they had no pork left from last night, which makes up half of their menu. After 10 mins conferring with the kitchen the waitress said we could have beef in our burritos instead, then came back and told us the 'apple slaw' that comes with pork burritos wouldn't go well with beef and offered us lettuce as a replacement, which to my mind is a bit of a rip off. What we got was basically a cheap salad wrap with 4 or 5 little cubes of tough beef, a couple shreds of lettuce and a little bit of capsicum salsa for $18, we could have gone to a 7-11 and gotten something similar for around $5. Avoid this place.

Cantina Bar has failed. We will never go back to the Cantina Bar, except to try to redeem our money. I almost bolted at the sight of the prices and menu before we ordered but my partner was still up for it. We learnt the chef is apparently from Perth but definitely knows nothing about Mexican food, fresh food, flavours nor food safety. I ordered the most basic and staple of any true Mexican Cantina-- Soft Tacos but he couldn't even get that right. The corn tortillas were freshly unpacked out of the supermarket bag of Coles Mission Foods preserved corn tortilla (3 little ones) and chef had not even warmed them through to freshen them. He then had lined them with what looked like cat food (so called pulled pork), one slither of a day old wilted red pepper/capsicum, some pieces of dried and wilted green shallots pieces and a single piece of a coriander leaf. Yes not even a full leaf! That's it. No salsa, no avocado, no taste, no flavour, no texture. I feared I would get food poisoning. I looked again at the sliced green shallots and they were desiccated, browning and showed no evidence of chef's knife skills. My partner was more courageous and ordered a Chimichanga which can only be described as having been deep re-simmered in cold fat. A meat pie of unknown denomination, slung onto the plate, swimming in a pool of oily sludge. We could not identify what type of meat it was, there were no Mexican flavours at all (even a tad of cumin would have been appreciated) and it looked hideously unappetising. We actually ordered one of their over priced beers which they served in a mug lined with rock salt which ruined the taste of the beer. So dear readers, don't waste your money on the food. The server was nice and efficient but that really is the best part of the Cantina Bar.

Miz Mez and Dr. Honey. What an insult to anything Mexican or even Tex-Mexican...or even just fresh. Very poorly cooked food with the obvious feature being no knowledge of history, flavours or the hard work that goes into serving well thought out food and executing it with care..Outrageous. Bubbling cocktail mixes we spotted behind the bar...Report to the Health Department is perhaps in order. <br/>We are so upset we paid instead of objecting at the time.<br/>Better off going up the road to the bakery and getting a chicken pie and dousing it with green habernero sauce. Is that Mexican? No! No! They don't know how to cook and shouldn't be doing so.

Good for alcohol, food was overpriced and lacked flavour which is unusual for Mexican food , service was fast and friendly .

Outstanding!. My wife and I love this place! Food, service and the cocktails are just superb. I've met the owners several times- really nice blokes. <br/>For the keyboard critics that rate this place Mexican- how ignorant you are. Its Latin. If you had any idea, you would probably know that. If you want good ambience, quality service and excellent food/beverage, cantina is for you. If you want sizzling fajitas, frozen margaritas in plastic cups- try one of a million Mexican restaurants in Sydney! Ive been living in Balmain for 10 years. I'm glad morons like Tristan don't frequent my local.

The word appalling is not enough to describe the crime this restaurant has committed against Mexican food. If you want to eat flavourless slop washed down with cheap overpriced wine this is your place. They cannot even get chicken wings right. The service was fine and I am sure the waitress was embarrassed by the food she had to deliver. We didn't complain but will never be coming back to this joke of a Mexican bar and restaurant and should be closed down.

Bad wine and bland food. For a Mexican restaurant that should serve dishes full of flavour this did not hit the mark.

Mobile Review. I eat out at least twice a week and Cantina Bar would have to be one of my favorite places to dine at. The drinks are tasty, the staff are friendly, and the food is portioned correctly to compliment the selection of drinks. It's not a restaurant, so it's the perfect place to go for a social drink and a snack. We ordered 3 different dishes between the two of us and found we were really full. I was very impressed with the food and drinks and would recommend anyone to go meet the lovely staff and experience their incredible menu!

Really impressed by this resturant. Love the food, creative, and tasty.<br/>Good ambiance, and great service. <br/>Would definately recommend and will be back :)

The service is excellent, very friendly staff and a great atmosphere. My food was delicious however I went with my vegetarian friend and she had trouble finding any main dishes suitable for vegetarians. Seriously its not that hard to make a great vegetarian burrito, why can't it be added to the menu?? Also the salads need to be more than just green leaves and the amount of chicken that you can add on was ridiculously small when we went. Some additions to the menu would be greatly appreciated by most I believe.

Great food & service, couldn't fault it!

Doesn't deliver on the promise. Cantina looks like a place where you'd get good Mexican food & drinks and settle in for a good time. Unfortunately it doesn't deliver. The menu is very limited and although filled with traditional tex-mex meal names, the actual food is nothing like what you'd get in even the most basic Mexican bar/restaurant. Our food was deep fried and almost tasteless. The portion of guacomole that came with our meal was rediculously small. They were out of most of the beers on their list and I had to settle for a Tacate beer in a can (for $8!!!). They could learn a lesson from Beach Burrito at Bondi Beach, where the food is consistently good with fresh and plentiful ingredients. Cantina certainly has the potential to be a great place to hang out, have a few drinks and enjoy mexican snacks, but the food needs to equal the promise of the decor. I hope the owners can rework the food offer so we can have a good local mexican destination.

Friendly service and great potential but the guacamole was terrible and there is absolutely nothing vegetarian in the main meal section. It was suggested to me I should order corn on the cob! Never been to a South American restaurant / bar that doesn't have beans, isn't that their staple? I had an easier (and better!) time getting veg food in a non-English speaking town in Mexico than I did at Cantina Bar. Won't be back until they update the menu.

Mexitastic. Absolutely great experience. No bookings but waiting behind the bar was great fun with friendly bar staff and great cocktails. We were seated shortly and enjoyed absolutely delicious food, the chimichanga being especially mouth watering! <br/>The staff were amazingly friendly, nice and attentive! Would highly reccomend!

Will it last?. Friday night dinner was really tasty, this place does not feel like Balmain at all. We are locals and love it's young and quirky style and food. No bookings so we waited at the bar for half an hour which was actually really fun. Cocktails were great and customers can order the same sharing plates at the bar as at the (scarce) tables. What really struck us was how little we spent in the two hours we were at Cantina. Two cocktails, a beer and a glass of wine and three sharing plates came to less that $100. No complaints here but we really hope this place stays afloat, unlike so many good little Balmain places. <br/><br/>During our long stretch at the bar nobody offered me a second cocktail ($16) which I would have accepted. No sides or desert were offered or suggested with our meal either. With a little persuasion we could have eaten and drunk much more. However, we got the impression that they wanted the table free for others in the bar queue (silly as the cocktails were keeping everyone happy and were by far the most expensive things on the menu! ) As the menu is just sharing plates, there is no real need for a table at all <br/><br/>Service was really friendly, sliders and quesadillas were really delicious (with freshly made rolls!) Good chilli selection if you like things spicy, didn't quite get to the churros and choccy but they looked good as we left... Altogether a fab little place and we will definitely be going back. Far too greedy not to.

Great Mexican Food. Went for a walk in Balmain last Saturday night to look for a place to eat and what a nice surprise when we came across this place... The fod was excellent the atmosphere was fantastic and the staff was very friendly. It's very tiny but we were able to sit at the bar and sip on some margaritas while we waited for our table to be ready!!!<br/>Will definitely return and reccommend to my friends...

Food very average!. Was very excited to visit being a Balmain local. The bar has a great vibe and, though the drinks are expensive (around $10 for average mexican beer) they are not too bad. It is always busy and so we were pretty excited and had quite high expectations.<br/><br/>However, we were really disappointed with the food. We ordered the guacamole, the chicken wings and the pulled pork soft tacos. I've had better guacamole from the dips section of Woolworths - at around $8-10 a serve I wasn't was almost as though there was no avocado in it at all. The corn chips also were pretty average which was really disappointing.<br/><br/>We followed with the chicken wings were really oily and didn't have great flavour. We finished with the pulled pork tacos - the pork itself was quite good but the portion size was really small.<br/><br/>We would really like to love this place and if it was good we would visit every couple of weeks. The food needs a lot of improvement!!!

A vegetarian's nightmare!. My other half and I LOVE Mexican food! If we're not making it at home, we're out getting our fix at one of the many awesome Mexican restaurants in Sydney at least once a week. <br/><br/>Even though we're vegetarians, we usually have no troubles getting a good feed...until now.<br/><br/>We were super excited to try out the new Cantina Bar. <br/><br/>The deco is awesome, the vibe is great and the staff are fast and friendly. We were a little shocked when we looked at the menu and saw the lack of choice for vegos. If we didn't want sides like hot chips, deep fried peppers or corn on the cob, our only other choice was corn chips and dips... while the meat eaters could choose from tacos, nachos, quesadillas and the like. <br/><br/>The friendly waitress, however, reassured us that most things on the menu could be prepared for vegos. <br/>PHEW! <br/><br/>So we ordered vego nachos and vego soft shell tacos (which, according to the menu, were around $16 each when served with pulled pork).<br/><br/>Our food arrived quickly and while it tasted fine and fresh, we were surprised by the fact that there were no beans, tacos, mushrooms or anything else to replace the pulled pork that would make the meal a little more vegetarian friendly...just a tangy slaw, some cheese and sour cream. That's it!<br/><br/>Worse still, when the bill arrived, we were charged full price – exactly the same amount as someone who got a good helping of meat with their dishes.<br/><br/>It's one thing to leave vegos out of the equation when planning a menu, but it's another thing entirely to expect us to pay full price for a dish that has simply had the meat taken out of it.