What a Cantina Actually Is, and the 26 in Our US Directory

A cantina is a bar with a kitchen, not a restaurant with tequila. The history, how the US version diverged, and every cantina our directory records.

Our US directory types 26 of its 630 active Mexican restaurants as cantinas. That is a small category, and the word carries more history than almost anything else on a Mexican menu — so it is worth explaining what it means before listing the places.

Where the word comes from

A cantina in Mexico is a drinking establishment first. The classic form, which still exists in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Veracruz, is a room with a long wooden bar, swinging doors, tile, a jukebox or a trio, and food that arrives free with the drinks. Those free plates are botanas, and in a traditional cantina they escalate through the afternoon: peanuts, then chicharrón, then a caldo, then something substantial. You are paying for drinks; the kitchen is hospitality.

For most of the twentieth century Mexican cantinas were male-only by custom and in some states by law, with signs at the door to that effect. That changed through the 1980s, and the surviving historic cantinas are now ordinary bars with extraordinary interiors. The culture around them — the botanas, the regulars, the long afternoon — is what the word is pointing at.

What a cantina is in the United States

The American version is a different thing wearing the same name. A US cantina is usually a full restaurant with a serious bar program: a long tequila and mezcal list, cocktails, a patio, and a menu you order from and pay for. Nothing is free and nothing is male-only. It is closer to a Mexican restaurant with a bar at the center than to a cantina in Mexico City.

That is not a criticism. It is a format that works, and in our data it behaves distinctly: the cantinas we list skew larger, later and more review-heavy than the directory average, because a bar-centered business draws more people and more reviews than a taco counter.

The ones in our directory

Every business our US directory types as a cantina, with the Google rating and review count exactly as Google reports them. The price level is also Google's. We have not visited these places and this is not a ranking: the list is sorted by rating only so it reads in a consistent order.

Cantina	City	State	Google rating	Reviews	Price tier
Azotea Cantina	Atlanta	Georgia	4.7	7,402	$$
Juan's Flaming Fajitas & Cantina	Henderson	Nevada	4.7	5,312	$$
F&D Cantina	Orlando	Florida	4.7	1,727	$$
Encanto Cocina & Cantina	Denver	Colorado	4.7	1,128	$$
El Gran Taco Restaurant & Bar	White Center	Washington	4.7	183	$$
Xolo	Houston	Texas	4.7	100	$$$
Tequiztlán Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar	Miami Beach	Florida	4.6	1,037	$$$
Hussong's Mexican Cantina (Henderson)	Henderson	Nevada	4.6	605	$$
Kavas Tacos + Tequila	Orlando	Florida	4.5	2,882	$$
Licha's Cantina	Austin	Texas	4.5	1,668	$$
Bar Sotano	Chicago	Illinois	4.5	391	$$
No Mas! Cantina	Atlanta	Georgia	4.4	9,703	$$
Cantina La Veinte	Miami	Florida	4.4	5,829	$$$
Mezcalito's Cocina & Tequila Bar	Atlanta	Georgia	4.4	2,535	$$
Torero's Cocina Mexicana & Cantina	Renton	Washington	4.4	2,432	$$
El Chupacabra	Seattle	Washington	4.4	1,920	$$
Zapata Tacos and Tequila Bar	Norcross	Georgia	4.4	1,389	$$
Mekenita Cantina	Tampa	Florida	4.4	1,368	$$
Chayo Mexican Kitchen + Tequila Bar	Las Vegas	Nevada	4.1	5,882	$$
Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant & Bar	Newburgh	New York	4.1	19	$
La Neta Cocina y Lounge	Las Vegas	Nevada	4	1,204	$$
Red Mesa Cantina	St. Petersburg	Florida	—	—	$$
Cantina Louie	Jacksonville	Florida	—	—	$$
Cantina Louie	Saint Johns	Florida	—	—	$$
1810 Tacos y Tequila	Jacksonville Beach	Florida	—	—	$$
Rocco's Tacos & Tequila Bar	Fort Lauderdale	Florida	—	—	$$

What the table shows

Three things. First, geography: Florida 10, Nevada 4, Georgia 4, Washington 3, Texas 2, New York 1, Illinois 1, Colorado 1. Florida, Nevada and Georgia carry most of the category, which tracks the markets where bar-and-patio Mexican restaurants have grown fastest.

Second, scale. 8 of these have more than two thousand Google reviews, and the largest has several thousand — numbers a taquería almost never reaches. Third, price: 22 sit at two dollar signs on Google's scale and 3 at three, so the category is mid-market rather than expensive.

The historic cantinas this word points back to

None of them are in the United States, which is part of why the American usage drifted. The reference points are places like the century-old cantinas around the Centro Histórico in Mexico City, the long-running rooms in Guadalajara, and the port cantinas of Veracruz where the botanas arrive on their own schedule and the music is live. Those are bars with a kitchen attached, run on a rhythm that starts in the afternoon and does not hurry.

The closest analogue in the US is not a Mexican restaurant at all — it is an old tavern with a short free lunch menu, a form that largely disappeared in the twentieth century. So when an American cantina charges for the botanas, it is not cutting a corner; it is operating in a market where free food with drinks is not a thing anymore.

What to drink, and what to expect

If a cantina has done the work, the list will name NOM numbers or at least producers on the agave page, carry espadín mezcal alongside tequila, and pour blanco rather than steering you to añejo. A paloma — blanco tequila, grapefruit soda, lime, salt — is the honest house test: it is three ingredients and it is either made properly or it is not.

What to expect on the plate is bar food in the proper sense: queso fundido, guacamole made to order, chicharrón de queso, tacos, aguachile, ceviche. If botanas appear free with a round, you have found something closer to the original than most.

We have a guide to reading an agave label that covers what to look for on the bottle, and the full set of 630 restaurants is in the US restaurant directory. For the drinks that are served at home rather than at a bar, our Horchata and Hibiscus Water recipes are where to start.