Cantina Diablo’s

Excited to check it out, but when you have this much décor the food has to live up to it! Sadly it doesn’t! The guacamole was good — everything else sub par. Fill up my drink man! No kids menu? Come on and seriously could you get more TVs? Oh yeah you did thats called Rosie O’Grady’s!
! I come to eat and talk if I wanted the tv with bad Tex Mex I would have gotten taco bell! Service was fine at best.

They do breakfest now on Saturday & Sunday… WOW very good!
They make Tortillas from scratch. The tacos are amazing.
I also got a fresh fruit margarita… very good.
Service was great too.

My experiences at Cantina Diablo’s in Royal Oak left a sour taste in my mouth. Expectations for the restaurant in Ferndale were not riding especially high when the beau and I settled here because other restaurants had lengthy wait times. In retrospect, I should have just grabbed an armful of groceries from Western Market or launched myself into a pricklebush for a better experience.
On the plus side, CD has a pretty building and the interior is attractive, dialed down to an intimate dimness with large booths. The bar looks quite shiny with a host of flatscreen TVs, but not quite as overdosed as sister restaurant Rosie’s across the way. The tub of salsa and stack of free chips is a welcome touch, although one badly needed and staff knows it. Your food won’t be coming out of the kitchen any time soon…
After the initial first impression, though, you’ll be devil red with anger after your descent into a bland, maddening inferno. Dante missed a half ring of Hell reserved for the hungry and unwilling to cook at home, and here it is.
The pretty polish of the restaurant cracks when you realize you cannot even hear other people in your booth, including those sitting next to you, through the din of the TVs. Shouting frat boys and well-​sauced blokes at the bar add twenty decibels to an already overwhelming noise level. The beau and I sat against the far wall, and still we gave up on conversation during an early dinner, resorting instead to writing on our napkins and texting one another to communicate. I wanted to hurl my margarita glass into a few people’s heads.
Service is abysmal thanks to indifferent waiters who wander out of the kitchen to slap down chips and salsa, take your drink order, and never return. I think I understand the scheme going on. Errors in orders don’t get to be corrected if you cannot find your server, and give up, eating the wrong appy or salted drink. Is the Bermuda Triangle back there behind the swinging doors? Are they running a Prohibition tunnel to Windsor to get their banned green chiles? I could at least tolerate the lengthy waits if I had the shred of hope of good food was somewhere on the horizon.
Lose all culinary hope, ye who enter here. Presentation counts for very little. Burritos, tacos, and enchiladas fall apart half the time. Be prepared for a goopy pink slurry that looks like Piglet fell down a food processor, black beans a la Donkey attempted a failed rescue of Piglet, and enchiladas stuffed with Owl’s upchuck. Tex-​Mex, even watered down, ought to have some kind of spice or fire to it. It’s a sorry state that sour cream had the strongest flavour mess I poked at with a fork in case it moved of its own accord. Forget authenticity, I want my food to taste like something and have a texture beyond the consistency of a terrible, terrible accident in Christopher Robin’s backyard.
All looks and no substance worth mentioning. Save yourself the trouble, park down the street and go to Anita’s Kitchen.

This review is for the Sunday brunch only. I’ve never eaten at Cantina Diablo’s (CD) any other time. I once had some of a co-worker’s takeout from there, but it was bland carnitas. Nothing like the real thing.
Anyway, yesterday I went to CD with a large group — 14 people. Many of them had been there last Sunday for brunch, and loved it. Brunch at CD is run by the same group who did the brunch at Club Bart before it changed ownership and previously at Delia’s, before it closed. Their brunch is fantastic. I’m a big fan, so I was excited to try it at CD.
Somehow, despite the place being nearly empty, they had a hard time putting all of us together (we had a reservation). Eventually, they worked it out, but we were still at two separate tables.
So, I know that a 14-​person group is not the norm. This review is probably not going to be the same as others’ experience at CD. But considering the restaurant was not busy, they easily could’ve given us more than one server. We had quite a few people taking advantage of the $ 10 bottomless bloody marys or mimosas (mix-​and-​match, actually a really good deal), and he was able to handle that pretty well. Plus the hostess was also running our drinks, and that helped quite a bit.
Between our drink orders and our food orders, chips and salsa were served. The salsa was bland and watery (already well established in other reviews), and the chips had a visible layer of oil all over them. I was really hungry, so I ate them, but I think all the oil was giving me a sour stomach.
The real problems came with the food. Because most of us didn’t know what our meals were supposed to look like, we didn’t know if we were getting the wrong food. Several people were served the wrong dishes and were already a third of the way into them before realizing they were wrong. One person never got his toast. Another was never able to order more than one «bottomless» mimosa because the server wasn’t around, or was too busy correcting mistakes. Another who had ordered hash browns and veggie sausage had to wait until almost all of us were done eating before she received her food. Plus she was charged for two drinks that she never ordered or received.
I had ordered the biscuits and gravy, which I have had many times before at Club Bart. I knew what to expect. My hash browns and eggs were delivered first. Eventually, I received the biscuits and gravy. The gravy is served in a small crock. It looked like roux and pork sausage clotted in oil. Plus it was thin and just disgusting. The server didn’t see anything wrong with it. It looked like butter soup. Seriously. So he brought out a second crock. This one looked like they whisked it to try to re-​emulsify everything. Still really thin, but better than the first try. Then, he brought out a third crock of gravy. This one was done right. But when I tried to put gravy crock number two onto the server’s tray, he almost dropped it all over me.
The two stars are for the very helpful hostess and the food that eventually was correct. Otherwise, I would try to give no stars. I hope the brunch crew is looking for another location in town. I’d love to get their brunch again, but not from Cantina Diablo’s. That place is awful.

Cantina Diablo is an ok mexican restaurant. Really, it’s more of a sports bar than a restaurant. The place has like 5 billion TVs and a giant bar. This is more a place to visit and do shots than eat.
I tried the enchiladas when I was here and they were just so bland and uninteresting. I was completely uninterested in the food. The only saving grace of the meal was $ 2.99 frozen margaritas which were decent.
Come here, if you’re so inclined but don’t expect too much from the food. Come for drinks and fun.

The only thing good about this place is that MAYBE it will keep all the obnoxious patrons away from Mexicantown, in Detroit.
The food was almost inedible, the drinks were awful and the music was hardly latin infused.
It’s a shame that between this place and the new Rosie O’Grady’s (same owners), Ferndale has now become douchebag central.

Here’s the deal, I’ve been to Cantina Diablo’s twice before and was not just disappointed by the food and service, but actively angry I spent money on it. Angry to the point where I went out of my way to tell people to stay away. ANGRY. It wasn’t just bad food, it was lazy food served in an obnoxious way at wildly inflated prices in a location which had all the appeal of a fart in an elevator. Bad.
Then as a last ditch effort to maybe, possibly, on an outside chance on a very hot day which demanded cool food, find ceviche within walking distance, we gave Cantina Diablo’s one more try. We went in expecting the ceviche to come out piping hot with a layer of Velveeta and axe body spray on top. In reality there was unfortunately no ceviche on the menu, but instead a stunning rework of the things we’d come to despise.
Old Cantina Diablo’s was a mess — no focus whatsoever. The menu carelessly mixed half-​assed Mexican with trailer trash American and called it «Tex Mex.» This new menu, God bless it, this new menu is a breath of fresh air. It assuages the college-​binder-​sized pages of useless and confusing menu for one page, clearly laid out, and with a definite direction. This is a mix of real Texas classics and authentic Mexican favorites with a few rather inspired fusion dishes.
First thing’s first, the street tacos are stunningly good. Think Lupita’s Taqueria tacos. Steak, chicken, pork, barbacoa, all good. They’re served properly with two corn tortillas, filling, onions and cilantro. The tacos are also served with a red sauce that can only be described as a nasty-​class ticket to fire face town — skip the red sauce, it’s only hot and oily with no flavor. Instead, put the excellent table salsa on your tacos (noteworthy because the old salsa was little more than tomato sauce with Tabasco in it). Granted, they’re 2.5x the price of Lupita’s magical $ 1 tacos, but they’re good and they’re convenient if you’re in the area.
Appetizer: Avacado Eggrolls. Crazy? Sure. Tactless? Probably. Delicious? Certainly.
This was the whole meal though. Despite being bathed in sickly red light and awash in television bombardment, the unexpectedly good food and service totally set us on our heels. Never, in all my dining years, have I seen a bad restaurant so completely remake its food and approach. If you’ve been turned off to Cantina Diablo’s in the past, try it again if for no other reason than Ferndale needs some place to serve tasty, authentic tacos.

This place looks like it should be expensive, must be all the fancy lighting. I think they went a touch overboard with all the red lights but I guess it’s supposed to look like hell?
But I was so dying for texmex enchiladas that I convinced my fiancée to give it a try with me. We were both pleasantly surprised with the prices, the variety of guacs and frozen margaritas. The waitress was friendly and kept our waters full, something I really appreciate in the summer. The salsa actually had a little bite to it which was nice. The beau ordered the fried fish tacos — that he devoured. I ordered the spinach and portobello enchiladas with the chipotle sauce and the churro beans. I love chipotle. I think next time I will ordered the regular refried beans, the bacon didn’t do much for the flavor of the churro beans. But the chipolte sauce was fabulous. Too often I order items that claim to be chipotle but that don’t have that wonderful smoky kick. These did. Recommend. We’ll be back for margaritas!

Hmmmm well we stumble into this place solely because Anita Kitchen was closed: o (
Wait time = 10
Service = 6
Chips and Salsa = 4 chips was supa thin and greasy salsa was average
Guacamole = 10++
Chicken and Shrimp Fajitas = (–12) Hair was in my damn food!!!
HORRIBLE!!!
Ironic thing is the «manager», walks over and asks is everything okay…
So i order the Chicken Tacos with cilantro and onions on corn tortillas, they were okay
Margarita’s = 10++
Pineapple Margarita = 3 I’m not really into chunky fruit drinks: o/​
If i would try this place again not really unless its nothing else open.

I love Mexican food, but not this type of Mexican food. It’s hardly authentic and a few things about the restaurant just bugged me.
First the salsa was watery and the chips were thinner than those Baked Lays things I buy at Kroger.
Next, the beans that came with my meal were awful. They weren’t refried but I wish they were. According to the confusing menu I had two choices, but the waiter never asked me. The menu was also confusing. It had my enchilada dinner listed at $ 9.99, but I was charged $ 10.99 instead and was then told it was a dollar more because I ordered the enchilada trio.
So my question to the owner is: when I order the enchilada trio should I expect only two enchiladas? Or a third enchilada for a dollar more.
Last complaint: Menu is super confusing and almost as bad as the one at Rosie O’Grady’s just a mess.

I entered Cantina Diablo’s uncertain how I would find the my reactions because of all the mixed reviews on Unilocal.I was expecting the worst: tiny drinks, bland food, sky-​high bill, and really, none of those expectations were met. I honestly and earnestly enjoyed all of my meal.
Walking in at quarter past four on Memorial Day proper, Michael P. and I were greeted cheerfully and promptly sat in a faux red alligator booth. I wish alligators came in red.. . Since it was a typical 95 degree day in the unpredictable Mitten, margaritas and daiquiris were in order. After perusing the extensive offerings of frozen drinks, I settled on the Twister, a blended frozen margarita with sangria. Hello delicious! Michael had a daiquiri which also was pretty damn good. They were prices at $ 6.50, which seemed average I suppose.
Our server, Yvette, informed us that appetizers were half off until 6 so we settled on a small guacamole just to get the party started. Meanwhile the a large basket of chips and a small cauldron of salsa was presented. I think we were done with both in under 5 minutes. .. we must have been hungry.
For dinner, I ordered the spinach/​portobello enchiladas with green sauce served with refried beans (Vegetarian) and rice. I was actually really quite pleased with the flavors. Everything tasted fresh and just what I would expect from Tex-​Mex. I know that many reviews have belabored a lack of unathenticness, that I have no comment on. I will say that I enjoyed every bite I took and was gluttonously full by the end of my meal.
Michael ordered some large fried appetizer platter that was more food than I would ever expect to see as an ap. It was mounding, and it was only the small size! He commented on everything he tasted from flautas to jalepeno poppers to tamales. Michael also ordered a second drink in the form of a prickly pear margarita. I thought it was a little floral tasting, but it had the most lovely mauve color. It’s also worth mentioning that we jokingly gave the manager who stopped by to check on our meal a hard time about them removing the blue raspberry margarita. Within 5 minutes the manager brought us samples. For the record, blue is incredibly sweet and can still be made.
When our bill was presented I was completely dumbfounded. It was under $ 29.00. Seriously. Three drinks, small guac, enchilada dinner, and the grande mound of fried food that Michael ordered. I am guessing that there must be a happy hour deal on drinks too? The many glowing televisions did advertise various specials including $ 2.99 frozen margaritas on Thursdays, and Mexican bottled beer for $ 3.00? on Tuesdays. And kids eat free on Sundays.. . I wonder what the age limit is? Maybe if I bring my mom I can eat for free?
The décor is like a red LED cantina with tequila bottles holding fake flowers and 22+ huge televisions. I guess if you’re on a bad date you can always watch Judge Judy. There are a lot of tv’s, but then again, it’s not trying to not be a sports bar too. Sure I’d like it better without, but whatever. The menu says the beer is the coldest served in MI and that they have icy topped bar tables which we did see on the way out. They also sell t-​shirts. I don’t know why, but they do.
I think that the nay sayers might give Cantina Diablo’s another go. I think I will to make sure it wasn’t a fluke! I guess though, they have been open for a year now and might have figured some things out. We were also there at a really hour on a holiday, so that could have played into it to. I’ll be curious for the repeat experience, but in the meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised and happy.

Yep, one star…
Decided to go after passing by the place & seeing a deal ($ 40 for $ 20) on some local site.
After placing a reservation and arriving (on time) the hostess let me know that it would take another 5 to 10 minutes to get the table set up. We let her know that we would be @ the bar, not even one minute passes and she was ready to seat us. A drink order had been placed (for margaritas that were supposed to be W/​OUT salt!!!) not yet billed but they refused to shift the tab over to our waitress.
Diablo’s is VERY loud, between the televisions and the guitarist it was hard to hear what my dining companion was saying. (The guitarist was shredding the acoustic just outta nowhere)
We ordered soup to start off with, I had a poblano corn chowder, lil buddy settle on the chicken tortilla. FAIL, both orders were luke warm at best.
For the main entrees two shredded chicken tacos & I had the fish tacos. DOUBLE FAIL, they both were not seasoned well and totally uneventful.
Dining partner’s direct quote: «worst restaurant experience ever»
This whole review could come off a lil gripey but take into account ownership is launching a second location just down the road. I hope they get their stuff sorted. On a positive note I’ve visited the other venue owned by this group & it was just great so I cannot understand the disconnect…

This place isn’t meant to be authentic. Just like most ethnic restaurants.
I went for lunch on a Tuesday. Got there a few minutes before noon and employees were scrambling around getting ready for the lunch crowd. Sat at the bar, but being lunch I was only drinking water and thinking about margaritas. Joe, the bartender, was friendly and did a nice job of customer service.
Some random comments. The frosted drink sill was kind of cool. The many TV’s were too high up above the bar — you’ll hurt your neck trying to watch them. The music was terrible — not even sure how to describe most of it. Not Mexican and not pleasurable.
As for the food, after reviewing the long menu binder, I decided to go with the design-​your-​own burrito. Nice concept — let me decide exactly what I wanted on it. Went with the 1 lb version, which was plenty for lunch. I enjoyed it. The Mexican Rice side dish was kind of like fried rice without the egg. Nothing special, but it helped fill me.

Ah, Xerox Gringofied Mexican Restaurant. You’re just a copy of every other Gringofied Mexican Restaurant I’ve every eaten at*. Cantina Diablo’s is basically the same as every other bad Mexican chain (complete with a new location opening up in Royal Oak soon). I knew I should’ve ran the moment I saw a frozen margarita machine, complete with about a dozen flavors that didn’t really resemble a margarita in any shape or form. I didn’t. The menu claims to be Tex-​Mex, but its really just an American restaurant with a few Mexican dishes in the name of diversity. While they offer an Al Pastor option, the street tacos are from the same street Vanilla Ice comes from – Boring and Tasteless Way. The margaritas were served in pint glasses, which would have been great if they weren’t so watery.
Do yourself a favor, and avoid this one.
*With apologies for my own bastardization to the great Richard Brautigan.

If you’re looking for elevated or a slight twist on Mexican cuisine, try El Barzon in Detroit, or possibly Rojo in Novi. If you want to stay in the suburbs and/​or are looking for value, try one of the Grand Azteca locations. I have no idea what niche Cantina Diablo’s is trying to fill. My best guess is «Inconsistent-​meets-​inauthentic.»
It’s truly a sad state of affairs, especially since I can walk to this restaurant.
No más.

I try not to review a place when it has a ton of reviews, but between foursquare and Unilocal,this place has some pretty awful reviews that I don’t agree with.
The reviews on Unilocal and Foursquare were pretty consistent saying that they had terrible service. A few of them also said that the food wasn’t as great as they thought it would be.
We went this weekend, and we had awesome service! Our waitress took her time to explain things, made sure that we were enjoying everything, and was quick to respond to drink refills and other things we needed.
It was happy hour when we came, so we both got margaritas. I know it’s pretty lame, but I love blue margaritas, and when I saw it on the menu, I had to have it. It was awesome– and I posted a picture of it. Someone said that they come out of a machine (which I didn’t see), but who cares, it was delicious and strong. They had half off apps too, so we got the Ultimate Appetizer, which came with all kinds of deep fried goodness. We ordered the small, and it was enough to feed a table of four. Some of the things it included were deep fried jalapenos, steak fingers (like chicken fingers but with steak), floutas, guacamole, and the best thing ever– queso cheese sticks. Yes, just like a cheese stick, but with queso inside. Awesome.
We also ordered the queso with taco meat in it. It was good, but I don’t think it would’ve been as good without the meat in it. Others have said that the guac is awesome, and it is. It’s really smooth and spicy. I loved it. We had enough food left over to fill a large carry out box, and they gave us an entire bag of fresh chips to take home to finish the queso. We didn’t even order dinner because we were so full. But of course, we had fried ice cream, and it was good as well.
Yes, the décor is a little weird with a ton of tvs and posters of country stars. But again, who cares? The food and drinks were really good and that’s all that really matters. Maybe the bad reviews were from when it first opened, and if so, they’ve definitely made some improvements since then.

I was really impressed with this place. I was in town visiting a buddy and we stopped in to grab some awesome Tex-​Mex and I was super happy with the result.
The service was a bit slow, but we did sit at the bar and my friends and I are the type who constantly order more and more food. We started with chips which were very light and wonderfully tasty, utilizing what we dubbed as the Trifecta of Awesome which is Salsa, Queso and Guacamole. My favorite of the three was the Guac, which is made fresh to order and comparable to some that I have had in Texas. The salsa is worth a serious mention as well, not super spicy and very tasty.
I had Tacos al Carbon with beans and rice, the meal was pretty good (I poured some salsa on it for a bit more flavor) but overall the experience was great.
The atmosphere is pretty unreal, the devil theme is pretty fantastic and there are TV’s everywhere. Also, for some reason there are pictures of random country singers everywhere? I did get it, they were really out of place and almost laughable. I would defiantly come back here, too bad there aren’t any local to me…

If I had to sum it up in one sentence, I’d have to go with «overpriced overhyped restaurant with mediocre food and a faux-​trendy atmosphere.»
I’ve been three times now. I was kinda hoping the service would get better, but it just seemed to get worse. Wanna know where all of the self-​absorbed jocks go when their high school football careers are over? That’s right — they become waiters at Cantina Diablo.
As for the food, it isn’t Mexican. It isn’t even tex-​mex. It’s a resurrection of Chi-Chi’s. Grilled. Bland. Covered in a weird sauce with a sprinkling of cheese. With a bit of cilantro on top.
The chips are decent. Real thin (maybe too thin), salty and yummy. Enjoy the basket, because it’s like pulling teeth to get a refill. Salsa? Not great. I’m pretty sure it’s a can of diced stewed tomatoes with a bit of onion and the ever-​popular cilantro garnish. You can pay more for designer salsa off the menu, but why the hell should I have to?

Wow, I was so disappointed. Our server was absolutely horrible. Very unfriendly and inattentive, almost annoyed by each request we made. He also was very late on drinks, no refills on non-​alcoholic beverages, and messed up several of our orders.
Very cool atmosphere, but it comes with a price. Everything seemed overly expensive. I ordered a 16oz Labatt draft that was $ 5.00, more than what I would pay at their sister restaurant just down the street – Rosie’s. The guacamole was good, but kind of thick compared to the strength of the chips they provide. The salsa was very fresh, tasty, and not too hot for those who don’t care for spice. I ordered a combo that included a taco, 2 enchiladas, and a tamal, all pretty good. The rice and beans that accompany the dish were very bland and felt pointless to continue eating. Total bill for a beer, guacamole, and a dinner combo: $ 29. I just don’t feel like the food was that amazing for the price.
I didn’t order a margarita because I had already been drinking beer but my friend says they’re quite good.

Not good! I ordered a seafood burrito which was supposed to have, fish, scallops, and shrimp. It had a fish stick type size and quality piece of fish in it and ONE small rubber shrimp. No other fish/​seafood to be found. The peas that were in the «mexican rice» were the frozen dehydrated kind, and speaking of rice can someone say rice-​a-​roni chicken flavor.
I have one positive thing to say the chips were good and the guac was good once it arrived without CILANTRO. I expressed to the waiter my hate for cilantro and we asked for the guac to be sans cilantro. It arrived at our table full of nice big leafy shreds of cilantro.
The mojitos were off. Something about this mojito was not good. The whole fresh muddeled thing threw me off because all their «fresh» margaritas were behind the bar in what looked like a row of slurpee machines. I don’t know about you my friends but that is not FRESH! A Fresh strawberry margarita includes the sound of a blender and some effort, not the pull of a lever on a slurpee machine.
So for the slow ineffecient service and the not so great food the price was way off base. This was just a smidge over taco bell service and about the same as far as quality.
Don’t go!
Oh and honestly the TV’s! What The Heck! How many TV’s are in this place? And what was with the cold wind blowing through this place. It was 55 outside and 45 inside this place!
I honestly do not think my boyfriend and I will be back to give this place a 2^nd chance. The first impression was jsut too bad.