Cicada Cantina

I have been in the business for years, you never go to a new place for at least 6 weeks. Give the staff time to get things right.
We went for lunch today and loved it, being older we like smaller portions and these were perfect.  The food was very good and the staff were friendly and out going. We will go back and have already recommended it to friends.

I stopped by this restaurant on a road trip from Orange County to Portland and was impressed by Cicada Cantina. The restaurant that had been there before, Chevy's was one of my mom and my favorite restaurants, so we were a little disappointed to find that it was gone. Craving mexican, we decided to give it a try. The service was great, and the food was delicious! Drinks were a bit pricey, but not over the top. The light, salty chips were definitely a favorite!

I've been reading the reviews on Cicada Cantina and decided to give it a try a few times before jumping on the bash Cicada Cantina bandwagon.  I would actually give 3.5* based on my now three times eating here but I also believe this restaurant does have a lot of potential.

First time - sat on the patio with hubby and shared the nachos topped with the carne asada.  The meat was excellent and I also liked the cheese, although there was a LOT of it and a little of that cheese goes a very long way.  The only thing I didn't care for was the lettuce on the nachos.  The first few bites were okay but the warm cheese and meat wilted the lettuce quickly and we both ended up picking it up.  The chips and salsa were EXCELLENT {I would like a little more flavor in the green chile sauce it was rather bland} and the prickly pear and cadillac margaritas were very good.  

Second time - sat on the patio with hubby and had the chile relleno - I thought this was EXCELLENT - I don't care for the way traditional chile relleno is cooked because I don't like the soggy/soft breading.  This is different, and I really liked it {it's my favorite so far} and I would order this again.  I absolutely DID NOT care for the green rice - not just because it's honestly not aesthetically appealing, but I didn't like the flavor of it at all.  My husband, on the other hand, loved it and ate both mine and his.

Third time here I had the lettuce shrimp wraps and they were okay.  They use butter lettuce which is very soft and made it a little difficult to eat I ended up using my fork.  These were a little lacking in seasoning and flavor for me, but the sauce it came with was very good - I added a pinch of salt, the sauce and some of the guacamole we had gotten and it was much better.  

Overall I think with a few kinks this place really does have some potential.  It's not amazing, but it's good and I think it will get better as time goes on and the chef expands his menu.

My BIG DING - is all three times I've been here - both times on the patio and one time sitting inside at a booth the tables and seating needed to be cleaned - lots of crumbs on the tables, seats and floors and that's something that really needs to be addressed.  The seating on the patio had stains, dried food and crumbs everywhere.  I was surprised to see this considering Joe was there - it'd be a good idea to keep a better eye on that!  

Finally, as I mentioned Joe was there.  He came over to our table and was very interested in knowing what we did and did not like.  This is something I appreciated that he is genuinely interested in making this restaurant what it has potential to be.  I will try it again in a few months and hopefully be able to add a *