Alberto’s Cantina

This review is not based on one visit. This review comes after such a horrible experience it warranted me downloading the ‘Yelp’ app. We reluctantly went in on Friday night. We were seated outside and waited 25 minutes before my husband went to find a server. After our order was taken it took nearly 30 more minutes for our drinks to come, and at that point the ice had melted and the soda was flat. We had to request chips and salsa, and when the chips finally came we didn’t get salsa. Took forever to get our meal! The entire experience was awful. I will NOT be going back.

Location is amazing, food is just okay, service is pitiful.

On a Saturday at 12:30. Sat for 20 minutes and never saw a waiter or waitress. Finally asked a buss boy to see if they could find someone. Finally just left.
Avoid this place if you are hungry or thirsty– food and drinks might have been ok but I will never know…

I have never been here before and brought my client, a disabled veteran, for lunch. I am a caregiver for him. They were so kind, polite, respectful and we asked for nothing as far as basic needs and refills. They were very attentive. The waiter even made his first fajita for him with patience and kindness.
The food was good and I loved the salsa and chips. Not so hot that you couldn’t enjoy the flavor, but just the right bite. My client liked it very much and wants to come back again. We both enjoyed eating outside for lunch.

Normally I am not one to write reviews, especially of negative content, but our experience warrants it.
My husband and I had lunch here on Memorial Day, enjoying a beautiful warm day. We love the ambiance of Main Street and try a different restaurant each time. Up until now, all the restaurants on Main Street have been good or outstanding regarding the atmosphere, food and service.
When we arrived, we were immediately seated and our waiter took our beverage order. So far so good. Once the drinks arrived, our waiter disappeared from site, approximately 25 minutes before taking our food order. While waiting for our waiter to take our food order, we had to flag down a waitress and ask for the complimentary chips and salsa. From the time our food order was placed to delivery, another 30 – 40 minutes had lapsed, and again, we had to flag down another waitress to replenish our beverages in the interim.
Finally, the food arrived and my husband’s order was wrong, but due to our unacceptable long 30 – 40 minute wait for our food, he decided to let it go because he was beyond hungry at this point. During this time, not once did our waiter ask how our food was and/​or if we needed our drinks refilled. We were really hoping he would redeem himself, and was willing to give him the opportunity to do so, but he could not step up to the plate. We don’t require much, but we do expect a waiter/​waitress to make sure the customer is satisfied, check in and deliver good customer service. Today was not his day and maybe he should find another profession that he will excel in. We were really hoping for a positive outcome, but it just did not happen. All in all, it cost him a 20% tip.
The icing on the cake was when we left, the two people that were seated next to us ordered their food and arrived in reasonable time (15 minutes). Not sure what happened with us, but due to the poor service, we will not be returning.

I just don’t get it — this restaurant is absolutely prime location. Pleasanton is in dire need of a quality sit down Mexican restaurant (not another «taqueria») Alberto’s meets all the requirements do what can they not get it together? Hire a top tier Mexican chef or even a highly skilled Mexican cook working on a catering truck for Pete sake. Schedule a re-​opening, new menu. You could be making a killing at this location! Either that or sell to new owners that care about the business.

STRONGLY URGE PEOPLE TO NEVER EAT HERE! I’ve lived in Pleasanton my whole life and I’m embarrassed to have such a shitty restaurant in downtown. They have always had horrible service but after a funeral, my 30+ family members decided to eat here and sat in the room to the right of the kitchen. They did not come to our table once, even to greet us and ask for drinks. As many of us got furious, we chose to wait a couple more minutes. After 20 minutes of just sitting waiting to get noticed we all stood up, talked to the manager (that didn’t care at all) and went to High Tech… less than a block down and MUCH better food. Nice job on missing out on all those tips HA. This is not the only time. my boyfriend wanted to eat here, so I decided to give this shit hole another chance and once again no service. and on a Friday night, there were 3 tables in our room being taken care of and the waiter didn’t take responsibility of making us feel welcomed. Waited for 30 mintues while looking around and happily left.

We’ve been here a few times. The food is hit or miss. Three stars because the sauces are generally good and the burritos don’t suck. My real issue is the service. Waited 20 minutes for the check the other night and then 15 to get our cards back. Both times one of our group had to get up and find the server. Probably won’t be coming back.

$ 15 chicken burrito was horrible. Chipotle is much better and cheaper. So disappointing.

Service was terrible!!! You should train your wait staff to ask if people would like another cocktail or refill on that soda, ask them how their food is as they are eating, check to see if they need anything, bring them/​ask if more chips or salsa are needed, see if they need a box or refill that glass of water. And in the end their check in a timely manner. Too bad none of these things happened. I should NOT have had to ask another waiter to bring my check. My one Margarita was spectacular and the food was good but wont come back because of our terrible waiter.
p. s. Your salsa/​water server was busy in the empty dining room too busy texting!

Not sure why this place has such a low rating. I have to admit the place is a little overpriced but the food is good. We came in with a party of 5 on a Saturday night and was sit immediately. This place is pretty big with a lot of tables. We ordered the fish tacos, Mexican tacos, vegetarian fajitas, Linda’s super burrito, and shrimp enchiladas. Everything was pretty good except the fajitas had way too many onions and the fish tacos were lacking some seasoning. Our server was not great but all the bus boys/​helpers were amazing. They were attentive and friendly. I would definitely come here again.

First of all our server Diego was great and friendly. But thats about it!!! The price you pay for the tasteless food is outrageous! ! No flavor… no authenticity at all and very poor quality! ! The table of 4 behind us got up and left because their food never arrived and after asking twice the server let them know that the food was never put in the computer so it will take a few more minutes. .so finally they just got up and walked out. Too bad the food is so awful because it is in a beautiful location! But in my opinion the owner is taking advantage of the people willing to pay those prices for that type of quality. Its not that hard to bring it up a notch!

Seriously if you’re reading this please listen to the other reviews. Don’t eat here, it’s terrible. Service is awful, food is awful, customer service is awful. No one offered us anything to drink and it took 15 mins to get chips & salsa and another 15 minutes before any of the staff even acknowledged us! No greetings, no kindness, nothing. Staff were very inconsiderate. My burrito looked so gross I had to send it back, I’ve never done that at a restaurant before in my life. Was covered in grease and Kraft cheese. The sauce looked like it was definitely from a can and like it had been sitting out for a while. Super overpriced for extremely bad food.

This is a case for kitchen nightmares I am sure of it. I’m sorry but I have given this place two try’s now. And I will never return unless you change your ways. The first time I got violently ill off your pizole soup and had to miss work not to mention have my boyfriend miss work because I thought I needed to go to the hospital. The second time was last night I came with coworkers and ordered a mole burrito… thinking that’d be safe… what was up with the chicken, Alberto’s?! This was nothing close to fresh! The chicken was pre sliced frozen pieces of rubber! Absolutely HORRIBLE. I ate one piece and pulled the rest out. Your a Mexican restaurant! Ever heard of shredded chicken? It’s just as easy. Even from just eating the rice and beans my stomach was upset all night! Not to mention the OVERWHELMING smell of B.O. in the restaurant that I swear was coming from the carpets. I don’t get it… there are plenty of customers (for now) and your way over priced! Whats with all the cheap crap food?! Even the salsa tastes like its from a jar. The chips are obviously bought too. For those prices I except at least edible food. Absolutely disgusting.
Let’s talk about service… Your page says you close at 10:00 pm –mind you. Our group was seated in the back so we had no clue what was going on in front of house. At 9:03 they shut the lights off everywhere and started flashing the lights in our room. (Wtf) And hovering around the doorway talking about us to each other. When exiting the building the restaurant staff was seated throughout drinking beers together and hanging out. So what was your hurry? We had already paid and were making our way out the door already! Rude.
If you need someone to train you in customer service and how to make salsa I’d be happy to show you.
I hope you read what your customers are telling you… You can’t beat the location.

This review is not based off of one time here! I have been here about 5 times now and I know that the only time I will come here is if the whole group votes to come here, but I will not be ordering ANYTHING!!!
Here is the ONE single PRO of this location:
1. The seating outside is great when it is a nice beautiful day. It is in a cute part of Main St in downtown Pleasanton.
Now for the Cons:
1. Service was TERRIBLE. They take forever to come to your table, but when they are there they want the order in a hurry and then they take off fast! If you order a normal drink with free refills, good luck getting those. However, if you order a drink from the bar they will then hound you for more! However, if there is a problem with the drink, they then ignore you!
2. Margarita was terrible!!!
3. Two chicken enchiladas with rice and beans is around $ 16. Way Way Way overpriced! The chicken tasted like it was frozen and old. Very very rubberish!
4. The chips and salsa tasted like they were store bought and jar opened. .
5. Food was flavorless!
6. The restaurant has a horrible smell to it. Almost like the carpets haven’t been cleaned in years!
There are to many other places to eat at in Pleasanton to get your value for!

I think I have given this place about as many tries as I can in good conscience. The atmosphere is great, and the patio is a fun place to dine when the weather permits. I have just never enjoyed the food — WAY too much cheese put over everything. Watered down enchilada sauce. It’s a bummer. I suppose if one would like to go out for happy hour margaritas and chips & salsa, this would suffice.
We live in Livermore and have had much better experiences at Casa Orozco or La Casita in Fremont, which are both comparibly priced. Casa Orozco has outdoor seating, but La Casita doesn’t.

I’m very surprised by all the negative reviews! This place had great service and pretty good food. We were seated right away and our waiter was very attentive to what we wanted. They were quick to order and get us our order. Boyfriend and I had Fajitas and a Burrito, respectively. The food wasn’t out of this world, but it was pretty tasty. The watermelon margarita was also very refreshing. Later on, we shared a piece of chocolate cake to finish our meal and it was gooey and perfect. Because the Burrito I had was massive, I wanted to take some of it to-​go. I didn’t even need to ask and our waiter brought over a box and a bag. I guess it’s luck of the draw on what kind of service you get, but I had a great time!
Atmosphere: 3.5÷5
Food: 3.5÷5
Service: ⁵⁄₅
Overall Experience: ⁴⁄₅

Came for dinner but after having some chips and salsa (which were horrible) and seeing the food come out to other patrons we decided to finish our cocktails and leave.
Drinks were okay.
The waiter disappeared for awhile after we asked for the check. We waited at least 15 minutes for it.
The place is loud and we were seated in the back room away from the bar area.

Went here today for a lunch/​dinner.
1. Seating outside is great. Beautiful weather. Cute area of town.
2. The food tastes okay (nothing amazing, nothing bad)
That’s the pros
Cons:
1. Service was terrible. I think our waiter had tables inside and out which made it tough. But I just started going into the bar for what I need.
2. Watermelon margarita was terrible!!! and even though I returned it, he still charged me $ 11 for it — malarkey.
3. Two crispy tacos with rice and beans is $ 16. Way over priced for what you get.
There’s tons of cute places in that area so I’ll pick another location next time. Won’t be returning.

**This review is just for the bar**
Come for the drinks, «eh» to the food.
So my friend and I came by for drinks last week and we had an awesome time! :-) We decided to sit at the bar and have a drink. We actually didn’t eat that much, besides flour tortillas and chips and salsa (we needed something to eat while we drink! lol).
Caitlin was our bartender! She was so cool and very attentive. She made our drinks strong and just hung out and was super chill. My friend had just as much fun as I did. Plus, it’s in walking distance of post-​drinking ice cream adventures (meadowlark dairy).
We’ll definitely be coming back when she’s working again. :)