Tequila’s Restaurante Cantina

I wish I could post a better review but…
We sat at the bar where someone else had apparently been earlier. There was an empty glass and a check. After about 10 minutes a bartender (I think) showed up and asked us what we’d like to drink. He did not attempt to clean the area or offer menus. I had to push the dirty glass towards him so he would take it away. My husband asked if there was a drink menu or beer menu. He gave us a drink menu and said something about not needing a beer menu and he rattled off a couple of domestic beers… we were the only ones at the bar other than numerous dirty dishes from previous patrons. The dishes sat there through most of our meal.
While we were waiting for our food I noticed that dirty dishes and racks of glasses of were in the kitchen window right next to food that was coming out to be served. Not appetizing.
We ordered second drinks and first drinks glasses were never cleared away. Oh and by the way, they were out of large margarita glasses. Not sure why, there were only about 15 people in the whole place.
I have to say that the food was very good. Excellent guacamole and salsa!
At the end of our meal our finished dishes sat in front of us until we left.
In short… great food but staff needs alot of training in food service.

Horrible!!! Do not go here. It’s not wonder they have groupons (which is what we got). I choose a salad and it was so gross, they advertised mixed greens and just gave me a heap full of iceberg lettuce, so gross I didn’t even eat the salad. They charged me $ 10 for a plate full of iceberg with a few cut up tomatoes, and cucumbers, and 4 pieces of shrimp! Biggest rip-​off ever. Even with the groupon it was not worth it. At least my mother’s meal of fajitas was somewhat decent. They gave me back $ 1.50 after they realized how sad that salad really was, definitely annoyed and will not ever come back.

Thought we would give it a try with a groupon and it had good reviews. Well not good, food very eh– service bad. The best part was the margarita and a very good attentive bartender. The waitress took it upon herself to add a tip to the bill! A 35% tip! It did not state anywhere that gratuity was added automatically to the bill. She just decide without letting us know to add it as we had a groupon. ???

We came in on Memorial Day and had a nice lunch. The place is spotlessly clean and ingredients very fresh. It’s easy to tell that someone takes a great deal of pride in running their business. We had the burritos and they were excellent and special requests handled with care. Congratulations to the owners in running such a nice establishment.

Vacationing here from AZ and have to say this is one great restaurant for Mexican cuisine, and the service was excellent… and why not, they were the owners. Had enchiladas and quesadillas and must say they were as good as those I get south of the border in «Rocky Point». Neither overpriced nor under spiced… definitely recommend.

Would have loved to give a higher rating because the food was actually good, but the service was horribly slow.
I was spoiled by good tacos in Denver was happy to stumble into this place. Tacos were great and the meats were flavored really well. Margs were solid, and quacamole was freshly made.
To be fair, it was a quiet Sunday night and there was one server and one bartender with 3 – 5 tables consistently full. That said, the server failed to really check in with us at all after taking our order, and we had to ask for our check after our plates and glasses had been empty for about 10 minutes.
The lighting was really bright as well — uncomfortably so, and there wasn’t any kind of general background music so we were practically whispering to have any sort of privacy.

Mmmmm. I frequent Tequila’s for lunch on many a weekday. The food is always very fresh and delicious. They make their own hot salsa and I can’t get enough of it. Their Mexican burrito with carne asada helps get me through the work day on a regular basis.
I highly recommend Tequila’s for fans of Mexican food. It’s my favorite place around, without a doubt! With friendly staff and owners, delicious flavorful food, and a clean, fun environment, Tequila’s is the place to go for any occasion!

This place was amazing, service was great, Couldn’t get over how fresh and made to order the food was compared to other restaurants in the area. The margaritas were fucking delicious and i pounded two because of how great they were. the environment was mexican to include good music and cleanliness at my table and bathroom. I really loved this place and bringing all my friends there when I’m in Old Saybrook.

No love in this food. Puerto Rican cooking wearing a Mexican sombrero in the dry desert sun. Photos here don’t resemble the food I received.
Puerto Rican food honors plain rice, plain beans and plain meat. This restaurant achieved decent PR style cooking in the plain rice and plain pork but, 1. this is not advertised as PR restaurant and 2. where they attempt Mexican it’s an utter failure.
EDIBLE; CARNITAS ENTREE: generous portion of plain straight up street food Puerto Rican style crisp deep fried pork. Most people will say the cut was very fatty, but I enjoy crispy fried fat. Perfect texture on the plain rice, but, not generous with sides, a tablespoon of Guac, sour cream, a mini serving of refried beans.
EPIC FAIL; INEDIBLE; THREE TACOS ENTREE: dry, bland, grey, stale and inauthentic, No lime, no spice; no cilantro, no onions, ¼ teaspoon of sauces shown in the photo.
1) Chicken; Unseasoned, unmarinated, stringy, dry white meat with teensy topping of guacamole on a hard stale shell. 2) Beef; Americanized, ground, dripping oil with teeny wink of tomato. 3) Pork; Unseasoned lukewarm and three raw slices of green pepper. 4) sides: No beans, just a large plain rice, garnished with ¼ leaf of cilantro, proof They KNOW of the existence of cilantro.
SIDES/​TOPPINGS STINGY: Slim with Guacamole, refried beans, toppings, sauces, sides. Not a dusting of cilantro, No lime with the tacos.
THEY GET it RIGHT SALSA: smokey, spicy with an even blended texture for scooping, but the chips weren’t as fresh as they should be.
DRINKS: ginger tequila drink didn’t have ginger flavor; tasted like a standard too sweet Margarita with Jalepeno garnish. Meh.
SERVICE: not observant, no refreshing of the salsa until flagged over, not nice at all until tip time, then smiles and laughs.
CUTE CHEESY DECOR: Cute bright colors, sombreros, painted chairs, lots of blankets, mosiac tables, so much care and attention went into décor to look «Mexican.» I wish this care translated to the food.
Confirms my «be wary of restaurants who give coupons» mantra.

Brought the family on a slow Saturday night and were seated immediately. First barometer is the chips and salsa. Fell pretty flat there. Tasteless chips and a half-​way decent salsa. Little smokey but have had much worse. Took a while for entrees to come out and when they did no one was overly impressed with their food. The cheese quesadillas were as generic as you could possibly get. The meat tacos were decent although again nothing special to note there either. The Taquila burrito was actually very tasty although the ingredients listed on the menu were not the same as what was in my burrito. The burrito was huge… way too big in my opinion. So wanted to love this place but just can’t do it. Overall experience was pretty lousy and was leaning towards a two star but family thought three. Sorry. The search continues…

I love this place!!! The staff is so nice. There may be a little language barrier at times, but nothing major. The food is soooo good. The margaritas are awesome and the weekend entertainment is nice. In this area most places close early, but this place is old school, they will stay open till the last guest leaves. If you are looking for some authentic food please check this place out. The prices are great and the food is even better. Please try a tamale, they are great!

I just came from visiting tequilas and I need to share this with the Unilocal community!.. the taco salad is the best I have tried in the entire state… I love the way the dish is, fresh vegetables and huge portion of meat at such a great price. I declare also the Mexican mule is my favorite drink now and forever!!! If you never have tried, please do it, it is an explosion of awesomeness flavors !!! Yummy!!! just thinking about it make me happy

Good prices and portions! The service can be a bit slow on the weekends, but the food and atmosphere are worth while!

I love this place!!! The live music on Fridays, the food, and the drinks are amazing! I love mango mojitos and their Margaritas are simply the best! You have to try Lola’s Fajitas because they are delicious! Everything is so good! The service is perfect and they are very friendly! I love Tequilas!

Ample parking. My wife and I went because of a groupon we tried the specials and they were good. The service was a little slow but the food was very good. E finished off with the Flan chocolate fudge cake and it was good.

We love it very clean place with very nice people and delicious food we have the carnitas and the burrito very tasty we go with my kids and they love the food also. we really have a great time at tequilas I can’t wait to Fiesta on 5 de MAYO ;)

OK just go for crying out loud!
This was a great food and music experience. My wife had the Fajitas and I the chiles rellenos and the seasonings were great. Guacamole was wonderful and the $ 5 house margarita smooth.
We are coming back.
Say hello to Byron the owner from Ecuador.
It can be slow at times but so what it’s a great reason to come early and have more chips.

A wonderful find. Tequila’s has very good food and reasonable prices, with good portions and an extensive menu. The restaurant is small and family oriented, decorated for fun. They have a Mariachi band on Friday nights for entertainment and it’s a wonderful place to go with the family.
The food is flavorful but not spicy so if you like your food hot this may not be a place to go. But their blend of flavors makes for enjoyable eating.
Best dip for salsa chips we’ve ever had and enough to take home for the next day.

Great place for Mexican food!
We got there early on a Saturday evening before the usual dinner crowd rolling in. The restaurant was nicely decorated and clean; the ambience was casual but not too noisy – good for all sorts of occasions.
Service was good and so was their fresh salsa. Definitely try the fried Jalapeños! I had the steak dinner, which included a juicy chunk of meat grilled to near perfection, as well as plentiful beans, rice and guacamole. The size of the entrée was very generous, leaving very little room for desserts. We will definitely visit Tequila’s again!

New authentic Mexican restaurant in Saybrook. Much needed! Went on their ‘soft’ opening night, lots of others had the same idea I guess. The margaritas were kinda small but good. They have a nice selection of traditional Mexican dishes. Our table had tacos, chicken enchilada, carnitas, and the house burrito. Large portions, very tasty! They had a mariachi band that was actually pretty good too! They did a nice job decorating the place too. And best of all, it was reasonably priced too! We will definitely be back! Congrats to the owners for filling a void!