Cantina is the Spanish word for bar. It also happens to be the name of a Mexican restaurant in Denver International Airport. My bottom line: friendly service, but avoid the tacos.
Cantina Grill Denver Airport (DEN) Review
I was hungry and the pre-packaged snack selections in the United Club simply were not enough to satisfy my hunger. My visit was last month just after the American Express Centurion Lounge opened up. Why didn’t I go there? The lounge closes at 3:00PM.
Cantina Grill has two locations at Denver Airport, one in the Jeppesen Terminal prior to security and the other on the mezzanine level of the B Gates (United terminal). I tried the latter location at abound 5:30pm. It had been a long time since I dined indoors (still not allowed in California) and I quite enjoyed sitting down inside to eat. The restaurant also has a to-go area. Since I was alone, I sat at the bar.
You can review the full menu here. I ordered three “street” tacos for $12.50, opting to try one pork, one chicken, and one beef.
The waitress was very friendly and attentive. She came over to take my order moments after sitting down and checked on me often, even though I just ordered water to drink.
It took only five minutes for the tacos to arrive…oh how anemic they looked. They were on corn tortillas, which was fine, but only one was used…proper street tacos use two tortillas precisely for what happened next: they break when you pick them up if you use just one.
I ended up eating them with my fork and knife, which was not such a bad thing. What was bad was the beef and chicken lacked flavor…I did not taste spices of any kind. The pork taco was the best one, but still a far cry from what you can expect from an authentic taqueria.
And these were tiny. I was left still very hungry and wishing that I had gone downstairs for some falafel instead at the Mediterranean restaurant in the food court.
CONCLUSION
Well, it was worth a try….
Cantina Grill is probably best used as an actual cantina and not as a restaurant. Service was friendly, but the tacos are not recommended.
> Read More: American Express Centurion Lounge Review Denver
Hard to find authentic food at an airport. Although I will say OC airport has a very good Mexican restaurant near the Southwest gates.
Nice looking niblets
My rule still holds true – the further away you are from Mexico, the worse the food becomes. Try Mexican in Paris, France – it’s horrendous.
In England, the knock-off Chipotle chain “Bar Burrito” used marinara instead of salsa. North of Paris it gets worse, I assure you.
Tacos are a mess pretty much anywhere outside of California or a few places in Texas. I just never bother anywhere else. It always leaves me disappointed.
This whole area of the terminal was vacant back in mid December when I flew LH DEN-FRA. My wife and I were traveling with our toddler and used that area for him to burn off energy — he tried to take those escalators next to Cantina down way too times lol. In fact, Cantina wasn’t open nor were really any other places in that back area. We opted for Chick-fil-A.
I feel bad for your seatmates if you really ate this right before your flight.
Appalling slop…the falafel would have been a much better choice, as you acknowledge…
There was a good Mexican restaurant in Amsterdam in the 70s. 🙂 I think they opened another one in London in the early 80s.
@Stuart – in fairness, though I greatly prefer Tex-Mex, you can find decent Santa Fe-style Mexican food in Colorado. This place just appears to not be one of them.
I’m from Austin, but I’ll even admit that Denver has pretty good Mexican food. Too bad that’s not on display at DIA.
You should’ve tried their green chili stew. That’s my favorite and a MUST when I fly through Denver.
The only place to eat at DEN other than the centurion lounge is root down, also in terminal C.
Matthew, are you interested in some AMEX pics? I was there on Friday, took a few pics of the facilities and the food.
Hi Jared,
Did you get some afternoon pictures? See my review below:
https://liveandletsfly.com/american-express-centurion-lounge-denver-review/
Sad to hear. I went there a couple of years ago and liked the burrito I got.
HI Matthew,
Nope just morning, same as what you had, I forgot you reviewed it even though I read the article before, haha guess you won’t need my pics.
You should try City Wok. I hear the City Chicken is good.
I disagree. I think this place has good food
I haven’t had their tacos and your critique sounds valid. Perhaps they will add another tortilla and the recipe could focus on flavor.
I always get a bowl of the green pork chile which is rather unique to this area of the country. It’s a great flavor combination and a fair price considering it’s inside an airport.