Gus’ Mexican Cantina

Been there several times. Spacious, well decorated, large bar, nice party room. Good sized menu with variety. Wait staff almost always available when needed. Excellent food. Can’t say enough. Read other reviews that were somewhat negative. Couldn’t disagree with them more. Definitely will return. Nice job guys !!!

Gus has brought back the lamb on the menu. Oh my god it is amazing. For anyone who likes lamb it is a must have and if you have never tried it before, it may change your life. If you get the lamb and someone wants to try it you will not want to share. You will want to tell your priest about it because it’s so good you will feel you sinned. It was so satisfaying I had to go have a smoke and I don’t even smoke. Highly recommend!!!

Bad experience twice. Never again. Owner tried to yell at some little girl for touching his obnoxious décor and was constantly scolding all of his employees for nothing. Total ass. If food was good, I could justify the horrible attitude… but it is below mediocre. The owner was beyond bad, what an ass… how is this place open?. I was informed I could not pay to upgrade my tacos on taco wednesday. Taco Wednesday is $.50 off 3 tacos. Avoid this place. You will know who the owner is… because his picture is on the wall EVERYWHERE!

Good family atmosphere with a wide selection, courteous staff, and good value. Very responsive to dietary restrictions. Large dining room with plenty of space for strollers and high chairs for young children. Gus’ has become our go-​to, nearby Mexican restaurant.

You are in for a treat!
I met Gus back in 1992 when his restaurant was in the Sydney HiH building. The thing I remember most, aside from his magnanimous personality was his salsa. After 23 years, I have never forgotten the taste of his salsa and I have never tasted anything like it since. But I moved away from Milwaukee in 1993 and lost touch with Gus’ Mexican Cantina… until last week. My husband and I were up for a visit and I decided to track him down and found him via Google operating business in Franklin, WI. Well, I’ve got good news. It’s still Gus and the salsa is still the same, delicious creation! And the margaritas and chorizo quesadillas were amazing. I’m looking forward to our next visit. Well worth it go get yourself out to Franklin. You are in for a real treat!

I’ve been to Gus’s twice, the first time I was there I had the enchiladas, which were great. The second time I was there I had chile rellenjos and it was pretty bad. Very bland pepper, the chicken had a very strange texture and was very bland. My wife said her tamales were just so-​so and the tacos were below average. The worst part was the chips and salsa. And just like everyone else on Unilocal says, stale chips and horrible salsa. It was also strange to see Greek food on the menu, very strange. The waitress was very nice and somewhat prompt, but did not speak a lick of English, which made ordering difficult. I hope Gus is on Unilocal,i really wanted to like this place

My experience here was very sub par, and could be one of the worst Mexican restaurants I’ve eaten at. While ordering, I was informed I could not mix the meats in my tacos. Food was bland with no real taste. The chicken in my fajitas were a toxic looking orange/​red color. I was here at 6 and the place had three tables full. I now know why.
Salsa was a watered down tomato paste look and tasted the same.
Price was pricey for the quality. I can can 10x better food in Milwaukee at the same price or lower. This is the one and only time I’ll eat here.

We have been to Gus’ multiple times as it is a good place to get decent mexican food in the area. We stopped on Cinco de Mayo and the place was packed. Typically it is not busy at all, but many others might have had the same idea.
We were seated promptly after a few minute wait. Our margaritas from the bar were great, and we ordered a quesadilla to share as an appetizer. We were specific to order without guacamole, as my wife is allergic. When they arrived, they had guacamole. The server apologized and returned a few minutes later with a new order without guacamole. When I had my first bite, I noticed a green residue on the bottom of the quesadilla. When I turned all 3 of them over, you could clearly see that we were re-​served our original dish. The only difference is the kitchen had scraped off the guacamole and flipped the quesadillas to the other side. That is very low for a restaurant to do, especially when we are dealing with a serious food allergy.
The server did apologize again, comped it from our bill and brought out a new one. Everything else was great, including the fajitas. One of the managers also came out to apologize.
We have always gone here for convenience and the fact that the food was pretty good. Based on the last experience, we may be looking elsewhere for mexican dining options.

Never again! «Gus» — the owner/​server barely said 2 words to us the whole entire time, besides very rudely asking what we wanted. We felt very un welcomed, and quite frankly like we were a bother to have there.
The food was almost as bad as the service. I have had better rice a roni! I work with a lot of people in the area and will absolutely discourage anyone from going here. So disappointing. I guess this explains why it was so empty… especially on Cinco de Mayo :(

We have tried this place numerous times, and each time I go there expecting that the previous trip (s) were just a fluke. Unfortunately, that is not the case. It seems the owner wanted to open a restaurant and please everyone. It seems silly to me to serve crab legs, burgers, and «mexican» cuisine. Pick a theme, and stick to it. A solid restaurant should be able to have a one paged menu of entrees, and serve them well with confidence. This is not the case at all. Chips taste stale, salsa is atrocious, and the meat in the tacos tastes bland.

Great food, love the fresh chips and salsa. I don’t know how Gus makes the quesadillas but they are so good. Margaritas are good and food is fast. Great service.

New to the area, stopped in on a Saturday for lunch. Food was great, staff was great ! Décor tropical feeling ! Drink well was a little weak. But will definitely be going back as a regular ! And by the looks they have an outside patio we will be trying out this summer. Highly recommend this spot

Went there for lunch, service was immediate because it was our table and one other. The salsa had lots of cilantro, which I love, however the chips had some kind of seasoning all over then that ruined the salsa. What a disappointment. I had the 3 taco lunch special for 8.50– a little steep.
The food was just bland– had ground beef bland tacos and very bland rice. I would go again for lunch but probably not dinner

Not my favorite mexican place, actually not even a place i go to on a regular basis. I’ve been here on a few different occasions and was never really that fond of it. The décor in the restaurant is nice, just wish the food was a bit better, and if you’re not going to make the food better make the prices inline with what the food you’re going to get is worth.

Not sure why this place gets so much hate on Unilocal.It’s your average, run of the mill, strip mall Mexican food joint. No complaints with our stop in tonight. Our water glasses were always full, our food was out in the blink of an eye, and the décor is bright and fun. The enchiladas were a little bland, but I was already full from the chips and salsa anyway. Seriously, for $ 20 my husband and I were full. The beans were tasty, the rice was delicious, and all in all it wasn’t a bad night — at least not as bad as most of the Unilocalers would have you believe!

This is definitely an above average Mexican restaurant. The food is tasty and service pretty good. Had the no. 1 combo and my guest had the mini chimi’s. No issues what so ever. The service was fast and friendly. We keep coming back.

Wow! Really surprised to see bad ratings on such a great restaurant. First I have to say that I love Mexican food and have eaten at hundreds of Mexican restaurants in the Midwest (MO, KS, IL, WI).
I believe that Gus’ is the BEST Mexican food in Metro Milwaukee! I personally have sent him at least a dozen new customers and every single one of them have enjoyed their meals. I always go at lunch and I always have the chicken/​beef fajitas. I eat here probably 4 times a month. I am there so much that Gus knows exactly what I am going to order and get’s it started right away.
The vegetables are always fresh and the meat is well seasoned. I always ask for hot and spicy and their use of spices is fantastic! I also ask for fresh jalapeños cooked in the fajitas as I like it spicy. My sizzling fajitas have so much flavor and spice that often tables near mine are affected by the strong spicy steam emanating from the plate.
You have got to try this place and you have got to try the fajitas! Excellent.

STAY AWAY. 15 – 20 minutes wait to get a table when there was no line and the tables were ²⁄₃ empty… we gave up after being seated and STILL had to wait 20 – 25 minutes without so much as a waitress even bringing us water… we walked right out the front door after being there for 40+ minutes on a slow night without having a chance to place an order. We DID notice before we left that they stick you for $ 5 on extra chips /​salsa… who the heck does that??? We won’t be back; don’t waste your time /​money. It won’t surprise me when when they’re closed for good in the next few months.

I am coming out of Unilocal hiding to review Gus’.
I should preface by saying that one of my biggest fears about moving to the suburbs was that there would be no decent restaurants anywhere (hashtag first world problems). We stopped by this place today and it confirmed what I suspected — basically everything sucks infinitely worse here than in the city.
We sat at the bar to have a drink and to contemplate if we wanted to eat a meal or just do chips and salsa or guac. We ordered margaritas and the bartender slammed them down and walked away without saying more than two words. We decided to just do chips and salsa and asked if we could be served… to say Gus is kind of an asshole is to say that Whitney Houston kind of liked crack (too soon?).
We were charged almost $ 5 for chips & salsa, which is the first time I’ve ever seen that in any Mexican restaurant ever. That wasn’t even the issue so much as the fact that the chips were tasteless and stale and the salsa tasted like marinara sauce with cilantro. We did eat it (tequila, ammirite?) but damn, it was kind of gross. We thought about asking for guac but basically, the bartender — who I came to assume by reading other reviews was probably THE Gus — was such a jag off that we just wanted to leave.
I would never go back here and I would never recommend it to anyone. It’s embarrassing that someone would own a restaurant and treat customers like scum for no reason. Stay away!

First thing I noticed was that it was 1230pm on a weekday in a big place and I was only the 3^rd table. Eeek! Bad sign?
Chips came out warm. Nice. There was seasoning on them, but not too much. The salsa was VERY mild so I asked for hot. Green came out and whoo-​wee that’ll put hair on your chest! I found it best to mix a little of each :)
The worst thing was the rice.
It had zero flavor.
The taco meat and/​or shells were greasier than my liking.
I am indifferent about the diced green peppers. I don’t mind a place being different but I’ve def not seen that atop tacos in any Mexican joint.
Beans were ‘ok’.
Was in & out fast but again, there was barely anyone in there.
Overall just kind of average.