Lots of different taco options! Brisket is one of my favorites along with the buffalo Chicken Taco. Don't forget the queso and guacamole! read more

Cantina 76 - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

My friend took me here for lunch as people in Columbia say this is the go to place to get some Mexican food that's not Taco Bell. I must say, the place does live up to their name. Parking has to be street, so pending time of day, it can be a little rough. We ended up parking about 3 blocks down and walked over. There was also a wait time, go figure for s popular place; wasn't too bad though, we waited about 20 minutes and we're immediately seated. The staff were friendly and the facilities were clean. Covid mitigations are definitely in place, so I felt comfortable dining here. Their menu is very broad, quite the selection. Loved the chips and salsa, almost had myself full on those before my entree came out! I don't remember my dish name, but there was a lot of flavors on my plate and it was really good. Needless to say, the experience was similar to any Mexican restaurant, but what stood out to me was the attentiveness of our waitress and the quality of the food. My friend and I enjoyed our lunch, definitely will be back. Do recommend this place to my fellow Colombians looking for a great Mexican meal. read more

My jalapeno shrimp tacos were really tasty. The shrimp were perfectly fried and sauce was delightfully spicy. The marg tasted a bit off and the service was up and down, but the restaurant was bumpin for a Wednesday night. read more

I have yet to have a bad experience here! There's a nice variety of margaritas and almost everything is customizable food wise. There's always a great atmosphere and friendly staff so we keep going back! Pet-friendly, outdoor seating is an A++ I highly recommend the beef nachos if you go! read more

Very busy on a Saturday for obvious reasons, but we still got our food quickly (for a rush) and it was so delicious. Our server was very helpful with my dairy allergy and double checked everything in the kitchen before she sent in the order. I got the pulled pork, BBQ shrimp, and steak taco and it was seriously the best. The chips and salsa were very very good. read more

Cantina 76 - Chips and salsa, surf and turf (sans shrimp and feta), pulled pork, and bbq shrimp tacos all on corn tortillas. - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

I love Cantina 76! The food here is by far the best Mexican food I've had! I love Mexican food and this was just delicious and flavorful! I ordered the dirty queso & chicken chimichanga! The chips were fresh and warm; not stale! We went during busy dinner time so there was wait time, but as we waited we got some drinks. I have been back here 2 times already and I am not disappointed at all! The prices are good and you will enjoy your meal thoroughly. read more

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Decent Mexican bar food! Queso is a smaller portion than expected. We enjoyed our tacos and quesadillas -- service was fast and kind. Overall it was good but nothing special. read more

In the past, i have not had the best experiences at Cantina. However, my server Amanda changed my mind. Returned for the first time in awhile and had the brisket tacos and dirty queso and they were delicious. I have a shellfish allergy and my server Amanda went above and beyond to make sure I was safe and shellfish did not come in contact with any of my food. Amanda was caring, personable, and overall a great person. All because of Amanda, I WILL BE RETURNING! read more

Average food, good service, and a convenient downtown location. I feel a little guilty critiquing the food here, since I live in San Francisco and have access to excellent, authentic Mexican food on a regular basis. That said, I have to be honest and acknowledge that the food here simply isn't that great. I did like my beef enchilada, which was decent, but my chicken taco was not good at all. Our waitress was friendly, attentive, and efficient. The restaurant's downtown Columbia location near State offices is very convenient. Overall, a decent spot...as long as you skip the chicken tacos and aren't a snobby Californian expecting exceptional Mexican fare. read more

The tacos were good, but not great. Although Cantina 76's tacos are good and feature unique flavor combinations, an exceptional aspect was missing for me, and I've had exceptional restaurant tacos before. The guacamole was similar, good but missing an extra bit of flavor. The interior is loud and lively, and service is friendly and pretty average. The portion size is decent; one taco costs around $4 so it's a bit on the pricey side. Overall, not a bad experience. read more

Food was OK if you're a college student. Go to Real Mexico if you want the best inColumbia.

We are frequent flyers at Cantina on Devine, and this was our second time eating at this location on Main Street. We walked in on a Saturday afternoon, and the hostess promised a 15 to 20 minute wait for a table, so we went to grab Margaritas from the bar and lo and behold, some seats opened up. So we dined at the bar with a very nice bartender who was extremely efficient and working hard. We started with the guacamole (as usual) and it was amazing. For lunch, we each got three tacos, all of which were awesome. I had a Chicken Teriyaki, a Peruvian Shrimp, and a BBQ Shrimp. The Peruvian shrimp is always my favorite, but the bbq shrimp was pretty good too. I love their margaritas and the cool, casual vibe in all of the cantinas. I love that even though they have quite a few locations now, the original concept didn't get lost in translation: Fairly priced gourmet tacos and delicious drinks in a Californian comfy environment. We love this location and will definitely add it to our Main Street rotation. If you haven't been, GO! read more

Cantina is an excellent example of the solid Tex-Mex staple restaurant. Is Cantina doing anything really unique or envelope-pushing? Not really. However, what they offer is solid, yummy food at a reasonable price with good service a great atmosphere. Pretty much anyone can find something they can eat and enjoy here, which makes it a truly great pick when you're going out with some of your pickier friends who may not be super adventurous food-wise. They have two locations, if that gives you any indication of how solid and mass-appealing their cuisine is. First of all, I measure all Tex-mex joints on their chips, queso,and guacamole, which Cantina hits out of the park. The chips are crispy, crackling perfection and their sauces don't disappoint: the queso is rich, thick, and creamy and the guacamole is chunky and refreshing with a great lime pop! I would recommend ordering up the "tres hombres" so the whole table can share in the chips, salsa, and guacamole fun! I've never had a bad pick off of the menu, to their credit. All of the food I've had come out pretty much exactly as you'd expect. Here, the magic is that you receive exactly what you assume you will when you look at the menu. You won't be surprised by flavors, for better or worse. I like to pick two tacos off of the menu and mix-and-match. My particular favorites are the chicken pesto and the jalapeño shrimp. Both pack a lot of flavor wrapped up in a tortilla! All in all, Cantina's value comes in the fact that it is always a safe bet. When you walk in the door you know exactly what flavors you'll be tasting, that you'll have good service, that the food will be good, and that everyone can easily find something off of the menu. And that makes this a great restaurant to have in your back pocket! read more

This restaurant is AMAZING! The mild salsa was easily the best I ever had, it was so good that I asked for some more to go. I was skeptical to get the chimichanga at first because it was only with chicken but I'm glad I did because it was AWESOME. The outer shell was so good and crunchy and the chicken was just amazing. The only thing I could have asked for to be different is more queso on the chimichanga. Parking was an issue during peak hours and was hard to find but I will be coming back! read more

Cantina 76 - Chimichanga - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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Sofia gave us excellent service during our quick lunch visit. Our food and drinks arrived unbelievably fast and everything was delicious!

Great place to eat. Very comfortable atmosphere. Joy was awesome! The food came out piping hot! If your in the area a must stop! read more

The cuisine is great. I enjoyed the tacos and the bold flavors within them. Customer service is friendly. Personally to me it's not kid friendly. It caters more to professionals who work around the area and the happy hour crowd. read more

Value a 5. Food a solid 4. Good service too. Carnita Taco good Fish Taco great Peruvian Shrimp Taco best. Competent quest and good but perhaps a little old guacamole. read more

Cantina 76 - Cinco de Mayo in Columbia SC - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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First time here but will return the next time in Columbia. Cute restaurant with a decent amount of outdoor seating. There were no more tables outside so I sat at the bar. Fast, friendly service! The bartender was pleasant and knowledge. She recommended the cantina margarita with house tequila and it was great! They have a nice selection of tequilas to choose from too! I ordered the dirty queso and it was like nothing I've ever had. Delicious! I ordered the taco special - Cackalacky (I love the name) but they all come on a flour tortilla and I forget to request corn. The taco would have been better on corn. For dessert I had the fried ice cream and it was perfect mix of warm and cold and sweet. I highly recommend it! read more

Cantina 76 - Cantina - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

First time here, great place of you want tacos, limited menu. But all in all it was very tasty. I had the shrimp tacos. My friend had the beans, said they were a bit spicy. Definitely worth a visit read more

Cantina 76 - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Taco crazy! A bit of a mash-up fusion style tacos-so don't go thinking you'll be eating a traditional beef or chix or lingua taco. This place offers the best fusion version tacos we've had so far! read more

So so. This is the first Mexican Restaurant that did NOT serve complimentary chips and salsa. I skipped these when the waitress described the salsa as rather thin and with no chunkiness of veggies in it. I ordered my regular beef enchiladas with a side of lettuce, tomato and sour cream. It was a non existent amount of lettuce and tomato. The tortilla was flour. I expect corn tortillas with my enchiladas. I ordered queso sauce as the topping sauce and the enchilada was swimming in the cold sauce. No real flavor to the queso and I left most of it on the plate since it was cold. The shrimp taco was okay. The waitress forgot silverware and was not that great. (cold food, no silverware until after the food cooled and another waitress dropped off our food and took drink refill orders). I was a first timer and I won't be back. Just yucky and a waste of money. The music choices were good although the speaker sound was muffled. read more

I love both locations of Cantina as both are convenient in their own way. I love getting the dip trio; comes with delicious salsa, guac, and queso. There are so many unique tacos to try, as well as a good variety of other options. It does get a little crowded and loud, but the food is awesome! read more

The dirty queso and fried chicken taco was life changing. I could just eat the queso as a meal. Not to mention the staff were incredible read more

Cantina 76 - Fried chicken taco - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

CANTIIIIIINNNNNAAAAA!!! This spot is not to be overlooked. The space is on the smaller side and it is definitely a popular spot so if you're planning on going for dinner on a weekend, or to watch a big game/event be sure to get there early, or not already incredibly hungry as you'll probably have a little wait. Other than that though this place is fantastic. Great food, fusion tacos that you probably wouldn't normally expect to see on a menu. I swear though, they are all delicious. The drink menu is equally as great, pick any margarita and you will not be disappointed. $2 PBR's during happy hour and $1 off all liquor drinks is spectacular too. Take visiting friends or relatives to this place and they'll thank you for the rest of the night for the great dinner! read more

My coworker said, "it's been packed every night this week, it has to be good!" Uhm. No. Really cookie cutter inauthentic Mexican food. Their salsa was good, cheese dip and guacamole were good, and I was starting to think it might not be that bad. But then an order of enchiladas in green sauce... They basically took cold tortillas out of the package, put the filling in (which then got cold right away, and which lacked any kind of seasoning or interest) and then drowned it in a really weird green sauce. That's...not how you make enchiladas, and they're not exactly difficult to make properly. The sauce particularly was kind of bewildering...definitely not anything like I've ever had, it was a light spring green color and had a texture that I am hard pressed to describe...Like if you took that mint coriander chutney from an Indian restaurant, pressed all the water out of it, and then just took the kind of fibrous plant solids and smothered the enchiladas in that. The overall appearance drew...unfavorable comments from other diners at the table. And although it wasn't horrible, it wasn't any good either. Just really disappointing. I should also note a curious interaction - coworker ordered a michelada...and the waitress was not familiar. Had to go check to see what it was, but proudly came back to inform us that it wasn't on the menu, but they were able to make it. Translation: "We have beer, limes, salt, and hot sauce at this Mexican restaurant, and we can put all those things in the same glass, so you're in luck!" Uh...way to go...I guess? Otherwise, nothing wrong with the service, prices were fine I guess. Really just...not the food I am looking for. I know, I'm in South Carolina eating Mexican food in a trendy Main Street neighborhood, what do I expect. Let's just say...I wouldn't have picked this? And I certainly won't in the future. read more

So this is the second time this happens to me and my husband, (I should have told the owner when I met him in greenville.) We love cantina 76 in Greenville but we visit columbia often and This cantina 76 is verrrrrrrry verrrrrry racist !!! I rarely feel this way. But all the girls in this location are the worst, mainly the host in front , there was two yesterday. And they don't hide it. Next time I will record and show proof. This was yesterday, April 21 2023 at around 6:30 pm.I hope this will be fix asap.I will be coming back for a third try , just to see if this happens again and I will keep making reviews. read more

It's ok. I was in town for a graduation which finished around the lunch hour so a few of us decided to stay in the area and grab a bite since downtown areas of every city usually have good food options. There were a lot of parties waiting for a table when we arrived. The hostess gave us a 30 minute wait time but ended up getting us seated in 20. I like the new system restaurants have nowadays with texting the person when the table is ready as opposed to a buzzer. More up to date option. The server immediately came over to take drink orders. We hadn't looked at that portion of the menu yet so just ordered waters for the table until we did. She brought them over and zoomed off. Didn't come back for a good 7 or so minutes; enough for me to notice she hadn't came back. I had to call another server over to get our server. She was heavily entertaining another party and got distracted. Thankfully she apologized and made up for it throughout the rest of our experience. For starters, we ordered the chip trio which has the guacamole, salsa and queso dips. The guacamole was really good. Queso was a bit runny; similar to a soup consistency and too cheesy. I didn't taste the salsa so I'm not sure how that one was. Their focus is on tacos; not many entrees only taco salads, a quesadilla, burrito and chimichanga. And they don't have steak; only ground beef for beef options. For my main meal, I ordered the bbq brisket - the only beef option on the menu besides ground- and bbq shrimp tacos. They both were ok. Nothing special that I'd come back Oh, I like the different types of tequilas they serve. It ranges from Don Julio to Mezcal. I ordered The Jalapeño with Don Julio tequila and it was aight. Definitely a kick in the back of your throat! Haha! read more

The customer service here is phenomenal. Sat at the bar and had dinner. Tacos are amazing. Madison the bartender was so friendly and knows here drinks. Thank you Catina 76 for making bmw feel welcomed. read more

Tried many different tacos and every one of them was phenomenal! I could get VERY FAT here. Drinks were very good , had beer and house margarita, which was better than most. Queso was very tasty and would highly recommend, in visiting from ATL, and will be back. Above all, the wait staff did a great job. 10 out of 10. Friendly, attentive, manager checked on us, nothing bad to say. Bravo, buen provecho! read more

I went to cantina for the very first time today. They have a variety of choices on their menu and they offer outdoor seating. The food was really good unfortunately, my service wasn't. read more

Cantina 76 - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Stopped by here for a quick lunch during the weekday and it was packed. We lucked up and got seats at the bar where we had great service. The tacos were pretty good and were priced fair. I ordered the fried chicken taco but didn't taste a lot of jalapeño creama. I also had the surf and turf taco of the day which was good. It had feta cheese which i thought didn't really work with the fried chicken and steak. I'd recommend for "upscale" Mexican. read more

Cantina 76 - Fried chicken taco in the front and a special surf and turf taco in the back - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Out of towners, looked up the place and gave it a shot. Pulled in and it was so crowded we thought we'd never get in. Got a spot at the bar right away, even with it jam packed our bartender was on point. Tacos were amazing! Great vibe, awesome music. Our drinks were wonderful! GO HERE! read more

THE BEST!! Gimme 2 tacos, an enchilada supreme, and a dirty queso, PLEASE!! The salsa and quac is made fresh, and the sauces and aioli's are full of flavor. Oh and don't forget the margaritas!! All shaken, never stirred- with fresh ingredients. One of the best places to dine in Columbia, S.C. with delicious food and cool atmosphere! read more

The jalapeño margarita is DELICIOUS and you'd be a fool not to order the Tres Hombres!

I decided to try cantinas for the 1st time today at lunch and I'm glad I did! I really enjoyed it. Nice and clean establishment with very friendly staff and my server was really sweet! read more

Cantina 76 - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Very well done food and moderately priced. Tacos are excellent as well as their house-made Mexican BBQ sauce that comes on some select items. Some of the best food I've had in Columbia, SC! read more

great vibe good foodvery friendly and effecient staff

The servers here are really friendly and super fast! From the tone I sat down to the moment I was munching on tasty tacos, I waited maybe a total of eight minutes. The tacos are everything you could want from an artisinal street taco joint and their guac is to die for. This place is great for a quick lunch that'll keep you full for hours read more

The best fried okra I've found in Columbia, when they have it. (About once every 2 months). The chicken pesto taco is also great. There's usually a line/wait at lunch on weekdays so either get there early or call in your order to go. read more

Cantina 76 - Chicken pesto taco - Tex-Mex Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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