The food is great but the service leaves something to be desired. None of the beer and wine on the menu were available and when asked why the server said "sorry, we are kind of just a tequila place." So why offer beer and wine at all? While the tacos were lovely - we sampled all (chicken, chorizo, short rib, fish) the service was some of the most obnoxious we've encountered in Toronto. Will not return and unless you don't mind paying for bad service I would not recommend. read more

Phenomenal Mexican cuisine. One of the best in Toronto, and probably the best for vegetarians. Wait staff that proactively stated that one of their bean options contains pork. Not very many seats, so reservations are recommended. read more

Ceviche -yes its 'cooked' with lime juice but half the serving bowl should not be lime juice. The tortilla for the tacos al pastor crumbled in my hands -could not have been recently made and the meat was on the dry side. Overall conclusion was that this weekday lunch may not have been the best time to try this place out for the first time. read more

I was excited to try this place out. Just recently traveling to mexico, I was craving some mexican food in a mexican environment. I drove down there with my girlfriend, very cool part of the Annex. Quiet street, pretty cool idea to put a restaurant there. We sat down, it was very busy. So far so good. I liked the atmosphere. Even though our waitress didn't speak spanish. Our food came and wow was i disappointed!!! 14$ for our main course and it was 3 small mini tacos........How could they charge that and serve this as a meal......I ate it it, asked for the check and left. We were still not full and still hungry so we had to stop for pizza on the way home. read more

Was a humid evening and we decided to sit on the patio. We were lucky to get the best seats on the patio, without any wait. That's surprising given how small the place is and that we had not made reservations. Each of us got a drink and we decided to try the home made salsa and guacamole. We get our drinks and the apps and are having a good conversation. 5 minutes later, to our terrible luck, it starts pouring. We ask the server if he could move us to a table inside. The place is an converted home, so I'm worried we won't be seated for a while. Meanwhile, couple of my friends barely moved. Yes, the salsa was that good. Spectacular to say the least. Our server moved us inside within 5 minutes and we didn't complain. We placed orders and the food took about 15-20 minutes. The server spoke highly of the baja fish tacos, but I was a little disappointed. I think it could have used some more flavor. The chicken tacos were surprisingly better. One of my friends got the huevos rancheros which was an enormous portion and was quite good. All in all, a great experience. Will definitely go back. read more

This is hands down the best Mexican in Toronto with the coolest ambience. Amazing place for a date or just to kick back with friends. The service is always friendly and fast, and you can check out all the cool old Mexican decorating and paraphernalia while you wait. If you're not there-- right now-- having their fish tacos and a mojito, then where the heck are you?! read more

One of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. Attempt 1: Group of 4 with reservation waited over an hour to get an appetizer (guac) after coming for an early dinner at 5pm. We had to leave at 6:45 to get to a movie without any dinner. They did not take anything off the bill. I swore that I would never go back, but friends wanted to try it so I went for a second attempt. Attempt 2: We had a reservation for 4 and once seated were told that we had 1 hour to get out of there because they were very busy that night. I ordered right away, ate and left. I will never go there again, suggest you skip this place and go somewhere that doesn't treat customers so poorly. read more

We frequent this location as well as Hacienda quite frequently and have always had exceptional food. The chips and salsa/guacamole are great starters, as is the ceviche (super fresh!). The tacos are delicious and perfectly sized, and the drinks are always great. It's a pretty tight spot so expect to be seated very close to your neighbors! We had one experience here with incredibly sub-par service, but every other time the servers have been attentive and helpful. Great spot! read more

I have heard much hype about this place and thought I'd try it out, and to be honest I was definitely not impressed at all. If you are looking for something authentic, you won't get that here. The food wasn't horrible, it was ok but nothing to rave about. We went on a Tuesday night, the place was super busy and we had to wait a while for a table. The restaurant itself is really small, if your claustrophobic I wouldn't go there. The tables are so close together that the back of your chair is touching the persons chair behind you. Service was a 2.5/5 for me because after the long wait, once we did sit at the table no one had come over for a while. Once our server came over he seems frustrated, which i guess is understandable because it was busy but he could have been more friendly. I had ordered a sangria and was unaware that it was grapefruit based, and he switch it for a glass of wine which I appreciated. We ordered Nachos a la Plancha for an app (not actual nachos, it was two pieces of tortilla), which took some time coming out, and the beans were a bit burnt. I had taken maybe 3 bites before the server came over and said our mains our ready and needs to clear the nacho plate, too which we grabbed our piece and he took the plate away so fast that we didn't even get a chance to take the jalapeños that came on the side. We didn't even get to enjoy our app because we were being rushed for our mains. Again, because of how small the place is, the table wasn't large enough to hold 3 plates at once. For our mains we got Tacos de Pollo al Carbon ( 3/4 because they were super small and not filling at all for the $, and there was more red onion than anything else. Once i picked off most of the onion, there wasn't much left at all. Ordered a side of guacamole to make it more filling, it came in a 2oz cup and was over $3!) and the Toluca Choriza Burrito (4/5 because it was filling for the $, tasted the best out of everything we had ordered) For dessert we tried the Churros and Tres Leches cake, which were the biggest disappointment. The Churros tasted like nothing but oil, and they had dolce de leche on them, but the sauce was really runny and watered down, not your usual thick dulce sauce. We couldn't even finish them. The Tres Leche was the most non authentic. It tasted like a regular boxed sponge cake, super dry and the only milk it had was on the plate. We were almost the last people in the restaurant and we definitely felt rushed throughout our meal. I'll give points for the decor because it was pretty cool, but other than that I wouldn't spend my money here again. read more

I've been to all of the locations, this is the original and the BEST location. Resos are a must here, it's a tight space. Fish tacos and Pastor are the way to go! read more

Love the food, drinks and atmosphere! Great place for a date night, or meeting up with friends. My favourite is a tie between the fish and brisket tacos. You won't be disappointed! read more

Amazing burritos drenched in sauce, great friendly service, and cheap drinks! Will definitely return to try other food on the menu. I also love how their patio has the option to be under an umbrella in case of rain... Which almost happened when I was there. read more

DELICIOUS!! I have tried the tacos, guac/chips, ceviche, quesadillas and they are all fantastic! Make a reservation before going. This is the best mexican food in Toronto! I refer the Playa Cabana and Hacienda locations to Barrio Coreano. read more

Their Guac and hot sauce can do no wrong - really enjoyed it. Beware, you can get carried away with the chips and indulging in the guac and may be stuffed by the time your Entree arrives read more

We had been craving Mexican food for what seems like forever and I can honestly say I was so incredibly impressed with Playa Cabana! Started out with the chips & salsa and the Tacos de Pulpo (Octopus Taco) and the flavours were out of this world! The Octopus Taco was packed with so much flavour and meat I wanted more instantly! For the meal, I decided on the Ancho Braised short Rib Tacos and yum yum yum. I think I was full after the first one but couldn't put them down! All in all I can definitely say we'll be returning here. The service was fantastic for a very busy sunday evening, the food was delicious, and the overall ambiance was great. read more

This is by far the best Mexican Restaurant in T.O, it should have 5 stars. Make sure you book a reservation the day before there always booked solid. But you maybe lucky and get a table the same day. I am very picky about Mexican food as I was raised with a Mexican family. The food is amazing the service is amazing and so is the ambiance. PLAYA CABANA ON DUPONT STREET IS THE BEST... read more

Great patio for warm weather! Had a great time with friends enjoying good tacos, amazing guac, and yummy drinks. The outdoor patio sells this place! Especially enjoyable in the evening with decorative lights and relaxing music. read more

Amazing restaurant with delicious food and a great atmosphere. It's a great go-to spot that my boyfriend and I love! The Short Rib tacos are amazing and the guacamole is out of this world! Definitely my favourite Mexican restaurant in the city!! read more

I did not like Mexican food. where ever we went I always try to eat nothing until i found this place. love their guacamole, the chicken taco and that giant burrito. thank you for making me love Mexican food. read more

I have probably been to this restaurant about 5 times now, so that just goes to show how much I love it here. If you want some awesome tacos,you need to make your way to Playa Cabana. It's about a 10minute walk from Dupont station, so it's pretty convenient to get to. Quick take: - $$ - amazing guac & chips - delicious tacos - good portions - good vibe for a date night - clearly I will be back here What I like about this place is that even though they are of the more trendy Mexican restaurant style, their portion sizes are still reasonable. My biggest qualm with a lot of places in the city that serve tacos is that the tacos are too small and too expensive for what you get. Here is not the case. I've ordered their lobster taco on more than one occasion and every time it's a solid 10. They actually give you real and sizable pieces of lobster. Not like other restaurants where when you order seafood anything, they give you like two minuscule pieces which you would need a magnifying glass to see. If you like lobster, get these tacos. They're amazing Their quac and chips is also a good size appetizer. The guac is fresh and the chips are homemade and perfectly crunchy. The guac comes in a mortar and you can get different levels of spiciness. They also have additional hot sauces you can add at your table which are pretty freakin' hot and I do have a decent spice tolerance. When I come with a friend, we usually get the guac & chips to start and tacos (which come in a set of 3) and by the end of it we're pretty sufficiently stuffed. I had their sangria once and it was delicious! It's a little expensive by the pitcher but for a glass it is decent and definitely tasty. Word to the wise, this place is pretty tiny. Tables are pretty close to one another so if you are really big on private dining, this is not the place for you! It also fills up on a weeknight. The times I've gone at night I made reservations and every time as I'm leaving there is a lineup of people. Definitely recommend making a reservation. It's worth it especially in the winter time. The service here is hit or miss. Sometimes I come here and my water glass is always filled and I've been asked how everything was going, got some good suggestions. Other times, I'm pretty much left to my own devices to ask for things. To me the food is the most important thing depending on the price point and I'm more than willing to come back here (obviously) even if the service is sometimes lackluster. The lobster tacos are that good. read more

The margarita was mediocre. Definitely not the best I've had. I had the carnitas burrito, my burrito was really good and huge. My sister had the fish tacos, they were ok, certainly have had better. My sisters bf had the chicken wings (I know who orders chicken wings here but he is always a bit iffy about trying new things) the chicken wings took forever also they were the worst chicken wings I have ever had. We waited for our whole order a long time probably 30 mins. What really left the worst taste in my mouth was the server. He never checked on us, he delivered the food and the next time he came he was packing up the food. He didn't ask why only one chicken wing was eaten. He just gave us the bill. We asked for it to be split into three, and then I realized he had added a side of beans on the bill, he took it off and that was no problem. After my sister had already paid her third and left him a decent tip, and her bf asked for his change when he gave him a 100 dollar bill. He came back and asked was there anything wrong with the service? Cuz now he has to pay for our meal because the kitchen takes 16%. Honestly I'm a server too and it sucks when people don't tip, especially when you go above and beyond. But my sister had already left him about 8 bucks and he had the nerve to say anything because he asked for his change. How did he know how much he was gonna leave on the table. I hadn't paid yet too, it was the worst ending to a nice night we were having. Also I think he charged me more for the burrito, it said 19 and now that I think about it I'm pretty sure the carnitas burrito said 17. I guess that's why he took the receipt away right away. In conclusion, not coming back here again read more

I had to post a review on this restaurant. Please do not judge this place by their cover/curb appeal. As soon as you walk inside it's diff. The service and food was amazing!!! Ice cold beer. Good prices. Wife and i shared a burrito and was plenty. read more

A group went to Playa Cabana for a birthday and it was a great night. The service, food and value was great - would definitely go back!

Our friends suggested this place to us when we went to visit them in Toronto as this is their go-to spot for great Mexican food and I can definitely see why ! The food was so fresh and flavourful and the portions were very filling and for a great price ! we shared the spicy shrimp bucket to start , the shrimp were nice and big and very fresh but if you're not a fan of spicy this may not be the choice for you. butttttt if you like spicy food like I do then these are a great choice - muy caliente ! We also had the octopus taco which I was very excited about since I love octopus but I never really had it in taco form - it was delicious (also spicy) the octopus was grilled to perfection and the fresh corn and fresh toppings made it even better. As the main course my boyfriend and I shared the chorizo burrito which came topped with a fried egg, salsa Roja, salsa verde and cotija cheese. The burrito is pretty big and pretty freaking delicious ! (Though not really spicy but very flavourful). For dessert we shared the tres leches cake which was so light and not overly sweet. Also worth mentioning is the fact that they offer indoor and outdoor seating and do serve a variety of beers and cocktails. My only complaint is that the indoor seating is a little bit tight so there's not much room but as soon as the awesome food came I forgot all about that ! All in all I really enjoyed playa cabana and think it's a great spot to go with some friends or a date for some great Mexican food ! read more

We were there a month ago with another couple...wonderful food overall! We shared all of the dishes which included: the grilled corn (was good but not memorable), short rib tacos, chicken, pork and fish tacos. The tacos were great...our favourites were the short rib and the Baja fish tacos! We also tried their guac and chips (would pass on this next time). As noted, it can get very warm in the small restaurant. We will definitely go back! Remember to make a reservation in advance as they do get busy. Service is great as well. read more

wow... i love their food a lot... so much! just a bit cramped but i don't mind... it's better to have a reservation than walk in...

Amazing tacos! Go there all the time, mostly for dinner. There's usually wait unless you've made reservations before, but they have space at the bar sometimes if you're just a couple of people. Would recommend anytime. read more

This place is a total gem. Plan in advance if you don't want to wait in line! My friend and I had to make a reservation about two weeks ahead of time to get a reservation that was after 5PM and before 9PM. Food was excellent, service superb. I will definitely be coming back!! read more

One of my favourite restaurants in the Annex. This place is amazing, their fish tacos are the best I've had. Waiter was friendly and guided us through the menu. Been going here way too much lately but it's always a great time! read more

I had planned on spending my birthday at this restaurant because we heard the food was great. We attempted to make a reservation online, but were prompted that our party was too big to book online and asked us to call. We called and were told to use the website. Eventually we were able to make a reservation for 9:00pm. We arrive at 9:00pm and were told our table would not be ready until 9:30pm. We came back at 9:30pm and were greeted by another individual who told us we were supposed to be at the restaurant at 9:00pm. Obviously, the communication between staff is not great here. The woman then told us to wait and she would figure this out. We watched her remain on the phone for over 10 mins. I don't think there was anyone on the other line ... At 9:50 we were told to hover around a table for two until the table beside us cleared out. 20 mins later this table was still occupied, which is their right, we were not going to fault them. In the meantime the waiter took our drink order and brought us out some chips and salsa. At 10:30pm, after no progress was made we put on our coats to leave. The waiter said he would provide the chips and salsa free of charge but still wanted us to pay for our drinks (....). We did not have a chance to try the food; it could have well been very good. I would not suggest trying to find a table here for dinner, maybe lunch. However, this restaurant needs to review their reservation process and customer service policies immediately, they are poor. 1 star out of 5. read more

I've come here a few times and I really enjoy it every time. The servers are always really friendly and the food always tastes great. I really liked the appetizer nachos. I added chorizo to them which I would definitely do again. I've had some of their burritos, tacos, and enchiladas, and I'd say I liked the enchiladas the most. My absolute favourite thing to order is their tres leches cake dessert. It was amazing and I highly recommend it. read more

Very uneventful experience to say the least. Last night me, my boyfriend and our friend intended to have a nice night out for dinner but it turned out to be very upsetting. We were long time customers but after what we experienced last night we are never going back. A group of men were very drunk also using swear words very loud. All tables were complaining so they were asked by the restaurant manager to bring it down a bit. However their reaction was to swear at him aggressively and they continued to be disrespectful. At this point Playa Cabana's manager should have asked those people to leave. Instead the restaurant manager LEFT and to make things worse the staff kept serving them alcoholic beverages for free. It was obvious to see that all the tables in the restaurant felt uncomfortable as well with the whole situation and the staff didn't do anything about it. It was SHOCKINGLY AWFUL to see the manager leave the restaurant not doing anything about it and allowing the staff to serve them shots on the house. As a manger, he should know that from the moment that people walk in to the restaurant he is responsible for everyone in the place. If anything happens to their customers they are held accountable for it. Most importantly they must know how to serve alcoholic beverages responsibly whether customers arrive at their restaurant already drunk or not. Responsible serving is extremely important for the safety of customers. It was horrible to watch how dismissive the manager and staff was. We will make sure to share this unfortunate history with everyone we can. We will not be recommending this restaurant to anyone nor will we ever be going back there. read more

oh man I used to really love this place! went there on saturday for a friend's birthday and it was just rude, rushed, and uncomfortable. the waiter's attitude set the tone for the entire meal - seemed irritated when we were ordering, asking him questions (even easy ones, like hey a lot of your drinks sound great, which one would you recommend?), or taking too long (i.e. 5-10 minutes) to look at the menu before ordering our meals/desserts. I know there is a time limit, but that doesn't mean that it should be okay for restaurants to make you FEEL THAT every second of your time there...the waiter was clearly trying to force us to order as fast as possible to have enough time for the next seating. I think I'm done with places with the 'time limit' -especially when the bill ends up being $300 for the 4 of us. We ordered a pitcher of the house margarita. Our appetizers (ceviche and guac) came out hilariously fast - like 2m after ordering - also a gross "are both of these just sitting in big vats at the back of the restaurant" feeling. Our pitcher didn't come until we finished the appetizers (lol) even though we ordered it as soon as we go there. Fail. Fail, Playa Cabana. Had a good time because of the friends I was with, but man...everything else almost ruined the night. Luckily, food was good, although we had to slurp down our coffee and cake because were almost out of time. Maybe have longer reservations for groups 4+. Maybe just enough with the timed dinners now that you have a zillion other locations. There are just too many other good restaurants in Toronto to put up with that. Sad times. BTW - although they're not as hipster or whatever, Mexi-Taco and Rebozos both have equally delicious food without the B.S. My boyfriend is Mexican so I have some cred in this department, lol. read more

Came here with friends on a Friday evening. Starters were blah, ceviche and guacamole. For the catch of the day, ceviche had a strong fish flavour. Tacos were good but not as good as Seven Lives at Kensington Market. Milk cake, amazingly moist and delicious, my favourite. After our meal, host rudely asked how the food was and asked us to leave because we were holding their table and need it for other patrons! Extremely tacky! Really! It's a warm Friday night on the patio. They should open earlier or informed us when we arrived that there is a time limit. read more

The quaint atmosphere and super friendly staff were fantastic. Great margaritas, good price, great food. Tacos were sobgood we ordered twice. It is a bit tight between tables but everyone was very kind about it. read more

This place deserves its great food reviews. Their shortrib crispy tacos are about the most flavourful thing I've had in any Mexican restaurant in Toronto (including all those places open in the past couple of years where people like to line up for tacos) - assuming you like the idea of moist, saucy meat, freshly deep-fried shell, oozy cheese and creamy cool crema and guac on the side. I'm not an expert on "authenticity", but it's definitely delicious and not watered down for gringos. They always have a daily ceviche and the fish tacos are great too. It tends to get really busy and may not be a good place to bring squirmy kids, but it's not hard to get a seat for two at off-peak hours. Their nacho chips are also freshly deep fried and crispily addictive. read more

This was the best Mexican i've had to date. The atmosphere was good and the staff was very friendly and timely. We were hungry earlier so there was only one table seated on our arrival but come 5pm the place started filling up quickly. Each dish was well constructed with clean bright flavour and was well presented. My boyfriend and i split 3 dishes, Mar Y Tierra was there surf and turf burrito loaded with big juicy chunks of rib-eye steak and prawns was very good. I would have to say there tacos stole the show thou we had the Tacos de Pescado this was there fish taco that day was snapper and we choose to have it grilled, this was my favorite of the night, the filling was big pieces of the grilled fish tossed with corn and some kind of creamy sauce that was amazing along with guac and onions in a soft shell, the other was Tacos de Chori-Queso a chorizo and cheese taco, this comes out in a crispy shell on a bed of lettuce was very good as well thou quite greasy. We also had Margaritas which were perfectly exacuted read more

This was going to be our second visit to Playa Cabana. I had booked a table for 5 for Friday night 2 days prior... the person who picked up the phone reassured me and confirmed my reservation. When my friends arrived, they couldn't find my name on their reservation list. Apparently, the restaurant thought I cancelled my reservation when I actually didn't! They told my friend that they left me with a text message asking for my confirmation when I have not received anything from them! It was a Friday night and it was going to be very difficult for me and my friends to find another table at restaurants. I will not be coming back for sure. Very disappointed. read more

I loved the food and drinks! But was a little disappointed about a few things. First off, I made a reservation a week ago just for two people. When we got there, the patio was full (no surprise there) and then there was a short line up inside. When I told the hostess I had a reservation she said she has two spots at the bar for us. I was a little shocked because why in the world would you put a reservation at two tiny spots at the bar? I asked if there were any other tables and she just said no. Fine, we ate our food and drinks at this tiny spot at the bar squished with other people. Thank god the bartender was amazing and friendly. then when we ordered a pitcher, we wanted to finish our drinks on the patio. I asked the hostess if there were any tables and she said no but when something opens up she will let us know. finally she told me we got a table outside. when i went she said oh it was raining so a few tables are wet...do you still want to sit here. I was like uhhh what. then she said she can get us a table inside. Seriously, i just wanted to finish our drinks outside without all the confusion. the hostess made us pay our tab and when i got outside there wasnt actually a table. beside this horrible experience with clearly an unexperienced hostess, the food and atmosphere was great. Will definitely try the other locations! read more

We made reservations for 5PM and when we arrived we were told by the hostess that our table was not yet ready. She pointed in the direction of "our table" and said that the people there were just finishing up their dessert so it shouldn't be long, but we could see clearly that not one table had dessert on their table - strike one, the hostess lied to us. The only people we could see finishing up soon was a couple who seemed to just be having drinks. We figured this HAD to be our table since it was the only one that was finishing up soon. We took a seat at the bar while we waited and when the couple finally got up to leave (half an hour past our reservation time) the hostess seated a group of 3 at "our table" who came in after us - strike two. At this point I was getting fed up so I asked the hostess when our table would be ready. Without so much as an apology or explanation as to why our table was just given away (she didn't even look me in the eye) she said that the couple at "our table" was just finishing up (they had at this point JUST received their dessert, 45 minutes after the hostess told us they were finishing up their dessert). Luckily, our server (who also happened to be the bartender) saw that we were frustrated and did his best to make up for the hostess' obvious indifference. The food here is great (though pricey for the portion size), but half the experience for us is the service and in this case it was just unacceptable. We're not unreasonable people. We can understand when a restaurant is busy, the kitchen sometimes gets backed up and we are willing to wait for good food. What we don't appreciate is being lied to, completely ignored, and then waiting 45 minutes only to have our table given to someone else who came in after us. They really need to teach the front of the restaurant how to organize and prioritize under pressure and to make sure to keep patrons updated and informed, especially when the restaurant clearly messed up the reservations. If you live in the area it's a great place to eat, but we definitely will not be wasting our time and effort going back. read more