A SOLID option on the East Side of Iowa City. I don't quite know what the difference is between the handful of 'Cactus' restaurants in town... but this one is worth popping in to. It is deceivingly large inside and can accommodate any size of group. On a random weeknight, it was relatively full, you can tell it is a local favorite. They have drink specials on the daily, so we enjoyed jumbo margs -- they were great! (Could definitely taste the tequila, which I like.) The chips and salsa were fresh! Kiddos shared a cheese quesadilla, rice, and beans-- they inhaled all of it. (My eight-year-old is a rice/bean connoisseur and dubbed the ones served up at El Senor Cactus 'some of the best around.') I had Verde chicken enchiladas, they were tasty but I definitely am going to order a burrito next time. BOY did those look good. Service was prompt and friendly. Pricing was on point. We will be back! read more

Delicious food, good service and reasonable prices. Their margs are made quite well. Not too sweet, just enough tequila not overpowering. I highly recommend trying this spot. read more

10/10 horchata LOVE U DOWN!! The birria tacos were amazing as well , service was nice and quick read more

El Senor Cactus - Horchata - Mexican Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

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This is the best Mexican food restaurant in town. The staff are wonderful and always treat my family well, no matter how busy.

REALLY REALLY wanted to love this place. Not sure I'll ever go back. The service was nice but the food was super bland, unseasoned and lacking any real flavor. I got the mole chicken enchiladas and the mole was watered down, the chicken was dripping wet and super bland. My brother got the quesadilla and it had some sort of non-descript flavorless cheese. Maybe we came on an off day (it was cold and snowy) or too close to closing time (we were there an hour before close). The only saving grace was the guacamole. read more

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I convinced my friends to try this place for cinco de mayo because I prefer my Mexican food to taste better than what you get just off the highway. Everyone was so happy. My carne asada was so tender and delicious plus plenty for me to make two meals. We went early to avoid the crowds but still got in on the free shots of tequila they were serving. Tucked in behind Natural Grocers, the restaurant is much larger than you might imagine and bright and cheerful inside. On a side note, the owner catered the meal at a friend's funeral years ago. Free. Proving that good things happen to good people, his restaurant seems better than ever! read more

This is our absolutely favorite Mexican Restaurant. The food is all authentic and everything is delicious. The staff are polite and all of the service is excellent. The prices are very reasonable, more affordable than other "Mexican" restaurantsaround the area. It's nothing fancy, small and cozy, very comfortable atmosphere. Great drinks, fast service, delicious food and good prices. What more can you ask for? read more

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Great food and taste, love the enchiladas verdes, quesabirria tacos etc. friendly and fast Service easy to park and plenty space

This was our first visit here and it did not disappoint! Beans are authentic and not straight out of a can! We ordered the house dinner: it had a taco, tostada, burrito, tamale, Chile relleno, beans and rice. A lot of food for $12.99 and it allowed us to sample many items at once. We also ordered enchiladas and a side order of beans. We will be visiting again soon, I am sure. Chips and salsa complementary. Noticed a lunch menu served M-Sat till 3pm read more

El Senor Cactus - Enchiladas Tapatias and side order of Refried Beans on the far side House Dinner two plates closest - Mexican Near Me - Iowa City, Iowa

My go to Mexican restaurant in Iowa city. Always good! The $1.25 tacos(hard or soft / beef or chicken) are always tasty and a great value! read more

Out of all the similar options in IC this one is consistently the best. Friendly staff, quick service, hot and delicious!

This place had some really good Mexican American food. It's a larger restuarant with quite an extensive menu. The staff are all pleasant and the portions were large. You can't expect much more than that. read more

Best Mexican food in Iowa city, hands down! Great service and huge portions! We will definitely be back!

Hello Maria and all the staff working last Friday evening. We worked with you to plan a dinner for 20 of our Thanksgiving family and friends in your perfect party space in the back corner of the restaurant. Our family has a revolving Thanksgiving reunion - traveling to one or the other of the three cities each year to celebrate the holiday. Every third year is our turn to host in Coralville - family from Texas, New York, Chicago, and Coralville gather on Wednesday, feast on turkey Thursday, and the Friday of the long weekend is topped off with dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant. 2018 was the first time we had celebrated at El Senor Cactus, and it was fantastic. This year the family demand was strong to return to El Senor Cactus, so we contacted Maria who helped us to plan a delicious Taco and Fajita bar! The food was excellent. The setting and seating arrangement made conversations warm and easy. When it was time to wrap up the evening, all left with the hopes that we will have another family Mexican "fiesta" at El Senor Cactus the Friday after Thanksgiving, 2025! Susan J. read more

Our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Iow City area! Good food and good service! We've tried the chimichangas, scopes, enchilada, fajitas and gorditas. All good! read more

Oh my goodness. I can't pronounce what I had for lunch but it was amazing! Seasoned chicken avacados, verde sauce and two eggs on top! The flavor of it all had myself and co worker in awe. Best I have had in a long time. Always, always great food and service. read more

This establishment is ready to work under the covid standards. Hand sanitizers accessibility. Good table spacing. I've been here on 3 different occasions and my wait time has been 15 minutes or better. This is my fourth time here and the Cook in the back (I assume) accidentally dropped a wing the manager sent out to the wing offered to give me boneless or make the missing wing. I denied of course, one wing never hurt‍. So she sent over 2 free vouchers. read more

This is by far one of my favorite Mexican places in Iowa City. I have never had a bad meal there. I usually get the quesadilla fajita with steak and it's one of the best things on the menu in my opinion. Also their margaritas will get you right where you want to be. The service is decent pretty quick and their English is better than most. I eat here regularly because it's my favorite so far... only one other place I haven't tried yet. The portions are pretty generous as well so keep that in mind if you like to order appetizers. read more

El Señor Cactus recently opened in a newly renovated part of the former location of Aldi in Iowa City. This new location feels very familiar if you have ever been to another Cactus location. We are happy this restaurant opened. I had the al pastor tacos dinner, and they were tasty! Family friendly, and the actual space is huge. We will come back. read more

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Garlic chicken was really good! A bit too much garlic but overall, great flavor. My boyfriend had the crazy chicken and he really liked it. Out of the 4 Mexican restaurants we've been to since we moved to Iowa City this was by far the best. read more

I was in town visiting my Grandpa and decided to give this place a try for lunch. Just getting in the door is a bit confusing as they have multiple doors and doors inside of doors with now "in/out" signs. Once we got in, we were seated promptly. Chips, salsas, and queso was first to come out. There were three different kind of salsa's that we tried - mild, medium, and spicy. All appeared to be fresh and flavorful - the queso was delish more on the thicker side than thin. We put our orders in - my girlfriend ordered Carnitas, I ordered chicken breast with chorizo covered in cheese, and grandpa ordered shrimp/rice covered in cheese. Food-wise everything was great. However, the service side of things could of a bit better. For a place that wasn't very busy - the server was not attentive as he should of been, we had to ask for additional chips and drink refills multiple times - a server who was on-point would of noticed those things. Overall, we'd give this place another try - after all, didn't get a chance to review the margaritas ;) read more

Horrible experience. We ordered cheese and chicken nachos, and after putting lettuce on by mistake the server took the food back and started picking the lettuce off the lettuce with her hands. Another worker came by and took a chip off our plate and ate it. They then proceeded to bring us the same plate. We could see the kitchen and watched the whole thing! read more

We come for taco Tuesday. I mean who can beat delicious dollar tacos! The food is really good but the service is awful. They don't come to check on you hardly ever. You literally have to flag them down to get refills and your check. If they improve their service then it would be a solid 5 stars in my book. read more

Great service!!! The atmosphere was happy and friendly! I would highly recommend the chimichanga and the flan for dessert! Good for any casual or special event. Owners are very nice. You should give this place a chance! read more

this place is a puzzle to me. let me say first that i like the food. their mole poblano is wonderful. not many Mexican restaurants have mole sauce and this has the right balance of spice and chocolate. the restaurant is nicely decorated and spacious. now, i have been there two times. the first time was mid afternoon. there appeared to be only one server and there was only one other table of people there. we were seated right away, given the chips and salsa and menus and then we waited, and waited. i saw the server walking back and forth but after 10 minutes i had to go find him and say we would like to order. the food did come pretty quickly, but it's that weird lag time before someone comes to take your order that makes no sense. today i returned because i wanted the mole dish again. we were there at 6 on a weekday. there were two waitresses and 6 booths of people. same weird timing. got the salsa and chips and waited and waited before someone asked us about drinks. couldn't even see our waitress anywhere around. another 10 minutes for the drinks and finally got to order. the same dish was not even fixed the same way. the first time the shredded chicken was generously covered with the mole sauce and 3 tortillas came wrapped in foil on the side. this time the chicken was in the tortillas with half as much sauce. still good but why was it served differently and what in the world is going on with the delay in service? other older reviews stated the same problem so why has it not gotten better? it may be awhile before i return because the long wait times seriously bother me when i'm hungry and there is no crowd to explain it. oh well... read more

Worst service ever. Server asked husband his drink order and than walked off without taking it. Server never checked in on us throughout are meal. I had to find the server to order dessert and ask for boxes. The server than came up to out table (all managers and servers) and told us that he hoped we tipped him cause that's how he makes his money. He than proceeded to stand and hover over are table making us all uncomfortable. Never is this an ok thing for a server to do! read more

I don't know what happened to the service here. A year ago service was amazing but the last time we were here it was horrible and we were the only people in the restaurant. Kept waiting for our server to come and get us a drink or more chips but she just kept talking to the cook in the back. She couldn't even be bothered enough to bring our check when we were ready to leave as we then observed her eating in the kitchen. What gives you just opened eat before you go to work! Tried to place a carry out order last week because I did not want to deal with service issues again. Phone was answered and I was asked to hold, over 10 minutes later I got sick of holding and hung up. Had to walk in to place carry out order. Your food is delicious... but sadly I am done. read more

I have always enjoyed this restaurant until today. We were greeted right away and seated. Chips and salsa came right away. Then we sat there waiting and waiting for someone to take drink orders. Finally, the girl on duty came up behind the register and began checking out her phone. I had to speak up and ask if someone could please wait on us. Finally, a yawning, uncaring, rather not be here, girl came over. Our order took over a half hour to come to our table. The restaurant was not busy and it was very unlike past experiences. We might try again in the future because the food was good, but today's experience was not good. read more

Very very good.. wonderful margaritas. Fried ice cream was delish.. waitress attentive.. just tasty!

Food was gross, service was not even acceptable either. He never came to check on us, for refills or even asking us how the food was, we had to stand at front counter because it took so long to get our bills. 1st and last time coming here. Do not recommend it. read more