ottawa foodies

Finally got to try the tacos today. 2 for 10 - I chose shrimp and ahi tuna. They were ok but not memorable and I still continue my hunt for the best fish taco in ottawa (oh mexico - u have set the standard so high for my tastebuds!). This is not fried fish as i had hoped for and naively envisioned, it was sashimi-like raw Ahi tuna with guacomole and the shrimp was also fresh and cold.

Partner and I also ordered steak fajitas (half pound portion). I would recommend full pound even for one person. Lettuce was old and the rest was underwhelming. Not good enough for the price and would rather go to lone star.

I went to blue cactus with my 2 of my co-workers and were seated near the entrance on the high tables. We ordered Sangria and waited about 15 minutes before it came. When the server showed up with our sangria, we noticed that it was made in a tall container - the ones with a thick base - smaller center and then opens up again nearing the top. I usually see these containers when I order 1/2 litre or a full litre of wine at restaurants. Anyway, the sangria was made in this container. It didnt look mixed well. She poured the drink to my friend seated across from me, then she served my friend beside me and then she served me.

So -- my friend seated across from me got poured most of the alcohol, my friend seated beside me got poured a right mix of juice and alcohol...and I got poured all the JUICE! like..

Why are they serving SANGRIA in a container where they cant even mix it right.

This restaurant has gone way way way down hill. We used to love going for drinks and a QUICK bite of food. Not anymore! Even with a reservation, we waited 35 minutes to be seated. 15 minutes later our drinks came, and then we were left to drink them for about 10 minutes before we put our food order in. We were starving, so ordered the nachos to start. BAD idea. They should take a page from Pizza Hut's book and use "real cheese". I have no idea what the orange goo is, but its some sort of spray form of what looks like cheeze-whiz.
I had the cajun shrimp salad while my fiance had the fajitas. Salad was loaded with dressing and had about 3/4 cup of mixed greens. Not really a meal, as promised by the server. My fiance's fajitas were "ok". Chicken was dry and the servers need to remember to bring the tortillas with the toppings, not 15 minutes later!
Overall, 4 drinks, 1 app and 2 mains cost us over $120 and took us 2 hours to get through.
Won't be going back here, that's for sure!

I was so unsatisfied with my visit, I ended up leaving and going somewhere else, barely touching the food.
I would only reccomend going here for drinks and thats it. The cactus size drinks are nice in the summer.
However: Don't eat here, it is very bland and boring.
This place is a pretentious St Huberts.
First the appetizer ..
The nachos were pretty awful with barely any cheese and toppings.
They were all piled on top of each other like one big mess.

I don't remember the main course as this was a while ago.

The server was not very friendly either as others have said.

Very disappointing. Was there on the Civic Monday for lunch. The place wasn't busy and we where seated promptly. I ordered the Chimichanga and my wife ordered the Chicken Fajitas. The Chimichanga had 4 small sugar cube size pieces of chicken (2 per tortilla), some sauce and that was pretty much it. But at least I got 2 more pieces of chicken then my wife did in her fajitas.

The fajatas where terrible - the vegetables where not cooked (raw onions anyone)? Two small slivers of red pepper (literally the size of toothpicks).

We would have complained, except our waiter disappeared - never even came by to ask how things where (I guess he already knew the answer).

It used to be a nice place to eat - not anymore - we won't be back and will certainly warn everyone to stay away.

The tab for 2 sodas, 1 Chimichanga and 1 lunch Fajita was $37 - pretty sure a meal at McD's would have tasted better and would certainly have been cheaper.

I ate here awhile ago and just recently.
The food here always seems a little too pricey for what it is, and service is slow.
On my birthday I once stood outside for an hour before they had a seat for 2! Outrageous. (There were no seats available at the bar either).
I dont quite get the menu for this restaurant either.

Check out my review tho at www.harringtons.ca

Today we had a going-away lunch at the Blue Cactus for a couple of our colleagues. We had a reservation for a group of 11 and we were seated at a nice table in the back corner of the restaurant on the first floor. The complementary tortilla chips and salsa are a nice touch for large groups.

The service was quite prompt for a large group, though we waited a little too long to place our orders for a lunch. Our server took drink orders as soon as each guest arrived and our meals were all delivered at the same time.

I ordered the shrimp and brie club with a caesar salad - this is my usual dish when dining at the Blue Cactus, as most of the dishes are pretty generic. While it's been quite flavourful in the past, today it was certainly nothing special. The lettuce on my sandwich was wilted and even the brie tasted a bit off. There is also some kind of weird sauce on the sandwich. The caesar salad was pretty plain (I like it garlicky!), but it had parmesan AND bacon bits AND croutons, which is not always the case in similar establishments.

I'd echo the previous posters in saying that the restaurant is good for its location and I've had good experiences with their frozen beverages. Not a bad location for big groups either, but I likely won't be choosing to eat there again anytime soon.

I went recently and had the steak fajitas. Not bad but for roughly the same price I could go to Lone Star and get (much tastier) fajitas to feed 2 people plus free chips and salsa. In general the menu is unimpressive and all over the place (why is there bruschetta and calamari on a tex-mex menu?). My $8 banana daiquiri tasted like pureed bananas without a hint of rum and the service wasn't great either. It is the kind of place that is popular because of it's look and location, not the food.

Last time i went there i had a chicken breast with fries and i think the chicken marinated. Unfortunately, it was the dryest chicken i've ever had. Defintely don't recommend that. My friend had a pasta dish. It was the smallest portion of food. Maybe i shouold try something else there, but i wouldn't bother.

Last time at the blue cactus, I ordered something that was essentially chicken wrapped in a tortilla and deep fried (chimichanga perhaps). Basically, the flavor sensations were comporable to that of a sinus infection.

People have said that they have a good veggie burger, but I wouldn't bother finding out.

The chimichanga was good but not Ahora good. I agree with many that Blue Cactus has seen better days but it is a convenient location to meet up with people.