Cactus Restaurant

04/06/09

It had been a while

by juanalonso at Citysearch

It had been a while since I had been to the Cactus Restuarant on Madison so reminded by the Rachel Ray Vacation show, we headed down on Sunday around 4pm. I remember how great the food used to be and still is. The butternut squash enchiladas are genius! The food is top notch. What it suffers from is what I find in a lot of Seattle restaurants; bad service and weak drinks.

Our waiter would have been more at home guiding a Universal Studios tour bus. He kept repeating exactly the same routine in the same tour-bus style at every table but I'm not sure he listened to anything the customers said. The first thing he pushed was the guacamole. We said yes but he never brought it. He later said "Oh yeah, that was totally my fault". Duh, it sure wasn't mine. There was no attempt to make it better. Also, the tamales were being "pushed" as well because they were "made fresh daily". does that mean the rest of the food is stale? The "Cactus" margarita was super weak, perhaps the bartender also "forgot" to put tequila in it. The table next to us also complained among themselves about the poor service and weak drinks.

It could have been a great experience but the lack of care from management, (and yes, it's the management's fault if you have lousy staff), made the experience more like mediocre inspite of the excellent food.

I'd like to give it another try, but I won't take anyone there that I'm trying to "Seattle impress".

• Pros: Great food.
• Cons: Weak drinks, "phoned-in" service

06/16/08

DON'T BOTHER!!!

by c3b at Citysearch

I have heard for years on how great Cactus is.... NOT!!! The food was lacking in flavor , the drinks where just OK??? and the service person was not very freindly.

03/12/08

Good Drinks

by justin70 at Citysearch

I live close by the Cactus so it used to be my spot in the hood to meet friends. I still go there occassionally because the Mojitos and Margaritas are great but the food has really taken a turn downhill. My recommendation is to go for a drink and the nachos for an early happy hour. If you go later you will end up waiting for an hour or more for mediocre food and will be disappointed.

07/18/07

Good Food - Horrid Deafening Environment

by seattletim at Citysearch

Eat here if you like quality Mexican food with a twist - and enjoy eating in an echo chamber with people yelling in your ear all through dinner. This restaurant is crowded and unbearably loud. To me, this takes your mind off the quality of the food that they serve. THe server we had was excellent - the food good - the room tastefully decorated. Why do they not seem to care about the noise level when so much attention goes into everything else? Why pay this much to be tortured? A few drapes and acoustic tiles and the problem would be solved. As it is now, Cactus is unbearable and not worth the wait. There are many other restaurants with pleasant and caring environments nearby. Please fix this - I want to enjoy your restaurant.

06/29/07

mouthwatering food

by irritatedatcustomerservic at Citysearch

Cactus has simply succulent food that will make your mouth water when thinking about it. I've been there several times and everytime they have outperformed themselves. The prickly pear mojito is refreshing and their margaritas delectable. It is a little bit pricy for me, but definately worth it for special occasions. I think they would do really well if they opened another location downtown, because Madison Park and West Seattle are a little out of the way for a lot of people.

• Pros: food is heavenly, drinks are divine, interesting and fun space
• Cons: sometimes is quite busy and seating may take awhile