Cactus Flower Cafe

Went here had a chimichunga it tasted great didn’t care for the lime rice. Also had the queso dip tasted grainy. But service was good would definitely come back again.

Awesome food lime rice chicken tacos salsa and guacamole Great service Chicken tacos were awesome. Even made fried flour tortillas!

Disappointed with this location having had much better food and service at the east hill Cactus Flower. Took an exceptional long time for food to arrive and just average. I live on the beach and probably will never go back.

Food was quick and good. Drinks were strong. Our hostess was really courteous. Overall a good experience.

The hostess seemed perturbed when the two of us arrived. After she seated us, no one came to even offer us a drink. We left after 15 minutes. A local told us it was bad food.

So, admittedly, the food was pretty good. The Mahi tacos were on point, and the lime rice was outstanding. However, the server was inattentive and disappeared for long periods of time during our entire visit. The worst part was how exceptionally expensive the food was. I’m from Atlanta where these boutique type Mexican places are a dime a dozen, and they typically have good reasonably priced food. I paid $ 17 for three tacos here — nearly twice what I’d pay in a large city. I also paid seven dollars for kids quesadilla which is basically some cheese smashed between two tortilla shells. We could’ve had steak and lobster somewhere for what we dropped in this joint. Did I mention that a soda was $ 3.25?

Bad service when this place was empty. The general manager claimed they were busy, however there were more empty tables than people. Plus my food was cold. 45 minutes to get my food when the place was half occupied on a Tuesday.

Ate at the bar on a slow Monday night. Had a top shelf margarita, but should have specified fresh lime juice instead of crappy limeade. It was way too sweet for me and ruined the El Jimador tequila (100% agave) and Cointreau. Oh well… my fault as it was clearly listed that way on the menu.
The meal was great, however. I ordered the enchilada special of the day, chicken in a light cream sauce with refried beans and cilantro rice. I love to find a Mexican dish with a unique taste, and this fit the bill. It was outstanding! If I rated based only on the meal, the restaurant would have been a 5. Unfortunately, the chips were a little stale and the salsa was very average; and that along with the disappointing margarita brought it down to a 4.
Still, I recommend this as a stop when visiting Pensacola Beach.

Very disappointed … Sat there for over 10 minutes and didn’t even get so much as a glass of water… It would have been understood if the restaurant was busy but it was on a Sunday evening and it was drizzling outside and the hostess and two waitresses were talking at the hostess stand and there were several empty tables… When we walked out (and I told them why) they made NO effort to fix the situation. I would rather walk out hungry in the rain, than eat there.

Maybe it’s because we’re from Texas and are used to Tex-​Mex, but we really weren’t happy with the food.
Service was good and fast. We were seated quickly.
We started with chips and salsa with queso blanco. The salsa was good, if a little chunky. The queso was great but toward the bottom of the bowl, it got really floury tasting. My husband said it’s like they made a rue and mixed it in the cheese, but didn’t mix it well enough.
One kid got the chicken fingers, which she liked. She really only eats chicken fingers though.
The other kid and I shared the mucho nachos. We got shredded beef, which was good. But there were too many olives and not enough cheese. The guacamole was okay. My daughter just ate all the shredded beef.
My husband got the flautas which he said were okay. Nothing great.
He got a beer, which I wish I’d gotten too. I decided on the house margarita which was really gross. I drank it but had to chase each drink with chips and salsa. It was really sweet and had a weird aftertaste.
We wouldn’t eat here again. Again, it might be because we are Tex-​Mex people.

We were finally able to check this place out after hearing so much about it and having read many good reviews. The place is average to above average when it comes to Mexican food.
The location and atmosphere (which I guess you can say that for many restaurants in Pensacola Beach) make this restaurant a nice attraction. The staff was very pleasant and helpful and the restaurant was pretty clean.
Most of us got the fish tacos which were pretty good! You can order them with a choice of either hard or soft shells (we went with the soft shells). The fish was very well-​cooked and succulent, with lots of veggies and cheese, which were not too overbearing. The rice and beans came as a side, which were nothing special, but not bad.
We came here for lunch and the wait wasn’t long and it wasn’t that busy (even on the 4^th of july weekend).
Overall, a nice spot with a good location, but the food was pretty average.

Went for lunch, food was really good. I had chicken enchiladas, my friend had beef enchiladas. Food is fresh made so don’t come when you are in a hurry. Very clean, good waitstaff. Queso Blanco was really tasty, and can be ordered in different heat levels.

Not the best experience. Beef tacos are mediocre at best with ground beef. Chicken tacos were shredded and not impressive. The smashed pinto beans were great at least…

Very disappointed in the food. Chili con queso was like water & barely warm. Chips were cold. Tortilla soup was white with very little chicken & rice. Very tasteless. Macaroni & cheese was watery. How can you mess that up? Only thing that was any good was the mango shrimp. The waitress who wanted on us acted like she was doing us a favor. Never came back & checked on us. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

Food was excellent and our server was great. Went here on our last night here in Pensacola Beach. Recommend it!
Cydney was our server and she was so nice and very accommodating. Tortilla soup was so great!

Kinda just OK.
The Queso was the thinnest that I’ve ever had. Asked for a spoon and ate it like soup. Not served overly warm, either. Maybe it’s just their way.
The beef burrito was very rice and beans filled, and pretty stingy with the actual beef. Moe’s does it better!
Dos Equis on tap was delivered fast and with a smile. I had to laugh when we got the «thank you» waitress that another reviewer mentioned. But when you took the time to chat with her she does indeed know more words. In fact, the only reason that I’m bumping this review up from 3 stars is that from what I could see, ALL of the waitstaff were incredibly pleasant, chipper and helpful.

Hey, CFC,
You really need to work on a few things. You tout yourselves as «California Mexican cuisine» — it’s not even close. You are just simply Americanized Mexican cuisine and nothing more.
The specials were sold out by 6 pm? Come on. That’s just wrong.
We ordered tortilla soup and a taco platter. Chips came out big and hot and tasty but when we worked our way down to the next layer, they were all broken and crumbly. Did you put nice big chips on top of an old basket? Makes me wonder. Salsa was good. Guacamole was good, but how bout those 2 pitiful pieces of pita chips you stick into it? Leave them off next time.
Service was fine, but our waitress needs to learn to say something other than «thank you» after everything that’s said. Kinda weird.
Tortilla soup was cold. Tasty, but cold. Tacos were ok, too.
With a few changes, this could be a nice spot for Mexican. You’re in a prime location & you’ll probably do fine with the peak season crowds who don’t care about cold soup & crumbly chips & weird servers.
But I don’t think we’ll be back.

The adage is «location, location, location». Tonight it was «timing, timing, timing,» and «service, service, service.»
Stepped into Cactus Flower around 6 pm. Loud, raucous party going on in the bar across the patio (too early for food for them, I suppose). Fewer than half the tables were filled in the dining room. However, by the time we left, the place was full.
We were greeted warmly and seated immediately. Within two minutes a server took our drink orders. And within another brief minute or two an additional server brought us complementary chips and delicious, chopped tomato with onion, garlic, and cilantro house-​made salsa.
Our original server returned soon thereafter with our drinks and asked if we were ready to place our order. When we inquired about the Mahi Mahi fish tacos (with soft corn, soft flour, or hard flour tortillas) the server politely offered to bring some of each (splitting the order to our liking.)
We finished about half the basket of chips and most of the salsa when a second server brought our entrees.
This was probably the fastest service I’ve ever had in a restaurant. Not rushed… just über efficient.
I also had the Mexican Salad — an enormous, dressed up plate of fresh greens, lettuce, and romaine, topped with lime-​cilantro rice, seasoned black beans, lightly breaded and fried Mahi Mahi, plus pico de gallo. The plate also came adorned with a few taco chips on the edges of the plate. I asked for the slightly spicy Sante Fe dressing on the side (and used about half of it.)
Speed, efficiency, courteous service, and delightful, delectable Southern California Mexican-​style food. That’s a combination that could not be beat tonight.

My sister and I went here because she said I had to try California style mexican food. I live in Texas so I wasn’t real sure what that was. We started with drinks that included sangria. Wasn’t really impressed as it was very plain. The queso with smashed beans I will say was great but I will say I think they use Tostedo’s chips or some other store brand. The service was not great and there were only three couples. Not sure what’s up wuthering that but if I was in a pinch I’d go again but not really.

I don’t understand how this place keeps such a high score.
After waiting for a table, they couldn’t seat our whole party together so four of us had to sit at a table separated from the rest of our group.
One of the customers slipped on a lime and almost hurt herself when she fell into the table of patrons sitting near by. After watching the incident happen, the staff left the lime on the ground for our entire stay at the restaurant.
Our party had to wait 15 minutes to get a drink order taken. Then they never refilled my tables drinks for the remainder of our visit. The larger table in our party had to go to the back and track down our waitress to ask for a refill. They refilled the larger table’s drinks and not my table’s. Like really?!
We had to wait 40 minutes for our food. When we finally received our food, they forgot one of our party member’s meals. When she finally received it, it had olives on it which she specifically asked not to be on there.
At one point I went to use the bathroom, the bathroom was horrendous! It was almost 10pm and the last time someone had checked/​cleaned the bathroom was marked at 5pm!
On my way back to my table, I noticed an open table that could have easily sat my whole party that was covered in plates and one cup that had fallen over and a puddle of water was left on the floor where I and other guests could have slipped if we weren’t watching where we walked.
Aside from the terrible service and poor hygiene, the food was horrendous! It was bland, tasteless, and just plain inedible! None of us finished or took our food to go.
I wouldn’t go back to this restaurant if I was PAID to! Someone seriously needs to call Gordon Ramsey or John Taffer on this place! They would have a field day!!! I wish the owners of this business the best of luck. They seriously need it!