Episode #206: La Cantina de San Angel Live Dining Review, Kind of!!!

Looking for honest Disney dining advice? We're cutting through the magic to tell you what La Cantina de San Angel in Epcot's Mexico Pavilion is really like. After battling World Showcase crowds for a table (while a medical emergency unfolded nearby), we put this quick-service spot to the test.

Our dining adventure quickly turned complicated when promised customizations created confusion among staff. Despite assurances that modifications were no problem, our simple requests resulted in deconstructed meals – cheese served in cups rather than on tacos, and chicken delivered separately from nachos. The $15.75 Aros bowl with breaded shrimp offered generous portions but questionable value, while the $16.50 Tacos de Barbacoa disappointed with dry meat that couldn't compete with Chipotle's juicier version. Nolan's $15.50 nachos earned the tepid review of being "just all right" – hardly the enthusiastic endorsement you want when spending Disney prices.

The verdict? Skip La Cantina and opt for either San Angel Inn (the sit-down restaurant inside the Mexico Pavilion) or head to Connections Eatery for better quick-service value. We're already eyeing China Pavilion for our next Epcot dining adventure. Whether you're planning your first Disney vacation or your fiftieth, our candid reviews help you maximize both dining credits and out-of-pocket spending. Have you tried La Cantina? We'd love to hear if your experience matched ours or if we caught them on an off day!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to Circular Parks Podcast, episode
number 206.
On this episode we are doing adining review on La Cantina de
San Angel in Epcot.
There is far too much to seeand do.
We are here to help guide youthrough and here's our take on

(00:22):
this quick service restaurant.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
No merch this time.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
No merch at the moment.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Not in the same day.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Not in the same day.
I did one a little while ago.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
So we were going to do this live at the restaurant,
but unfortunately there justhappened to be a medical
emergency going on while we'reeating.
Everything appeared to be okay.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
But we didn't think it would be appropriate to.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Be a few tables away doing this and but the person
was responsive and everythingI'm thinking maybe dehydrated.
It was really hot today, somaybe the heat got to them.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I don't know and they were older, so you don't know
exactly what all health,pre-existing conditions they
could have had or whatever,right?
uh?
And then if you've been to theworld showcase in the evening,
you know it can get pretty crazy, yes, and so we just decided,
uh, we were going to wait untilwe got back into the room.
We split up, me and ryan wentto hollywood studios and y'all

(01:16):
came back to resort to relax.
But we are back now, and sothis is going to be our take on
this.
Brittany, what did you get?

Speaker 1 (01:26):
I got the Aros bowl with shrimp and it was priced at
$15.75.
Now this rice bowl, it hadshrimp, tomato, salsa, pickled
onions, queso fresco, cilantroand corn and some cabbage and

(01:46):
shrimp and the shrimp was abreaded shrimp.
It was a little different so Iwas kind of like, ooh, I don't
know how breaded versus grilledis going to be, but it was
amazingly very delicious.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, and Ryan and I both had the tacos de barbacoa,
shredded beef on homemade corntortillas, topped with red salsa
and cilantro, served with riceand black beans and queso fresco
.
So before we walked up, thegentleman I guess the manager
that was telling you whichstation to go to to order,
because they do not do mobileordering here Right.

(02:21):
I asked if you could customizethe stuff and he said, oh yeah,
it's all customizable.
I said okay.
So me and Ryan both wanted thetacos de barbacoa with the beef
and shredded cheese, becausethat's what we always get when
we go to Chipotle.
And when I went up to the guyto order and he was like, yeah,
sure, no problem.
And then Nolan had the nachosand instead of the beef he

(02:46):
wanted chicken on it, correct.
And when I we ordered all thisstuff, the the guy taking order
was like, okay, got it all, noproblem.
And then when we went, when youand nolan finally fought, you
know, elbow to elbow to get atable, yeah, had to keep an eye
on when people immediately standup for tables.
We'll talk about that more whenwe get back on our trip report.

(03:09):
But one of the gentlemen Iguess one of the expo people
that gets all the meals togethercame back and questioned three
times what our order was.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Oh wow, Didn't they have a receipt?

Speaker 2 (03:20):
They did, and the receipt wasn't very Detailed,
accurate, well, not reallyaccurate, but just not.
It didn't communicate reallywell what we wanted, okay,
gotcha.
So the expo guy came back to usa few times and was like you
don't want ground beef on nachos?
I said no chicken.
He goes well, chicken doesn'tcome on the nachos.

(03:41):
I was like, well, can we getchicken?
He's like, yeah, chicken, okay.
And then he asked us about thetacos de barbacoa.
He was like no cilantro, no redsauce.
We're like no, no red beans andno rice and black beans.
We're like no, I just want meatand cheese.
He said, okay, okay.
So he comes back with the foodNachos, chips, cheese, with the

(04:07):
chicken in a side bowl.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
And then the tacos, just the barbacoa with cheese In
a little cup, in little cups.
I just kind of looked at themand kind of smiled and we walked
away.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Why can't they just put the cheese on the tacos and
why can't they just put chickenon the nachos?

Speaker 1 (04:31):
I guess they just have protocols they have to
follow and since they normallydon't do chicken nachos, I get
that.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
but it doesn't Anyway .
So for the tacos de barrocothey're $16.50 and the nachos
were $15.50.
Brittany, do you think we gotour money's worth here?

Speaker 1 (04:54):
I mean my bowl.
It was a lot of food.
I couldn't even finish it, tobe honest, but we'd been
snacking and stuff too prior tothis.
But I don't know if I would pay$15.75 for it.
Again, I mean it was our quickservice credit, but I would

(05:14):
maybe pay $10 for it $10?

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, I did like the corn tortillas.
I do like corn tortillas overflour tortillas.
I think they are better.
The barbacoa was dry, it wasnot.
I mean, it was fine.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
I thought you had told Ryan you like this barbacoa
better.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
No, I like Chipotle's way better.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Chipotle just keeps them in the juice.
I misunderstood.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
It just sits in the beef juice.
They're so moist and tender.
I'm sorry, chipotle's better.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
And Nolan, what did you think of your nachos?
They were all right.
They were just nachos, theywere all right.
They were just all right, theywere all right.
So, with this review, brittany,would you recommend coming back
here again?

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Probably not.
I think I prefer the sit-down,the San Angel Inn that you can
see inside the Mexico Pavilion,because when we went there
before I think we we thoroughlyenjoyed that it.
It surprised us where this one.
Again, it wasn't bad, but forthe price and everything, if we

(06:22):
didn't have the quick servicedining plan, it wouldn't have
been worth the money yeah, Iwould agree.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
I I think we got much better value for the money at
Connections Eatery.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
I would recommend that over this.
I know it's not Mexican food,it's different.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
But the amount of food you got and how it tasted
and everything we thoroughlyenjoyed lunch.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yes, I would say that for sure, I think, because we
kind of had gone back and forthabout maybe going to the China
Pavilion and eating there,because the food we stopped by
there to take a little bit of abreak today it looked really
good.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
It did and I just wasn't sure.
Nolan's a little bit picky so Iwasn't sure if he would do the
sweet and sour chicken or not.
So if we can get him used totrying that type of chicken,
like that type of breading, thenyou know that might be
something when, when we go backto epcot, you know, to try there

(07:22):
yeah, I think that's wheneverwe go back.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
I think the china pavilion is a place that we will
go back to eat.
Um, and I do.
I didn't mention this lastepisode.
I'm sorry, erica, I apologize.
This podcast is sponsored byTravel Planner Erica.
Go check her outwwwtravelplannerericacom.
She's on Instagram and Facebook.
At Travel Planner Erica, wedon't have the sound stuff here
with us.
We don't have the jingle, butthis podcast is sponsored by her

(07:47):
.
We appreciate it, thank you.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yes, and sorry for our episode episode.
Earlier too, there were a lotof things going on around us at
the restaurant.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
And the audio is horrible.
We have cheap microphones thatdon't do that good of a job, so
we apologize for the audio.
But again, thank you Erica.
We do appreciate everything.
She booked everything for us.
So thank you so much and we'regoing to be doing a down and
review tomorrow from dockingbase seven.