Reviews for Cactus Grille

02/11/2025 - Bianca F.
I usually grab breakfast to go, but this time I went out for dinner with friends and had an awesome time singing karaoke. The quessabirria tacos were perfectly seasoned, and the service was great; I can't wait to come back and enjoy my favorite Oaxaca omelette!

02/19/2021 - Hannah Clarke
I was really impressed with the food, but unfortunately I'll never be able to eat here again.

While I completely understand the complaints about the owners, I don't get the complaints about the food. They sound less like actual complaints about the quality of food and more like the complaints of people who expect to get absurdly huge portions of bland-enough-for-the-most-sensitive-palate dishes for very low prices. If that's what you're going for, the world is full of chains and fast food joints that can do that for you, but it seems very unfair to hold a restaurant of this type to that standard. That's clearly not what they're here for, and that's not a bad thing.

A friend who adores this place (and is just as sad as I am about never eating here again, but after hearing about my experience with one of the owners, she's also no longer interested in doing business with them) and I ordered a spread of her favorites, and I can't complain about a single thing we tried. Given how often food quality suffers in takeout orders, I would have LOVED to have dined in sometime when it was safe to do so post-pandemic. The fish tacos are so good that I'm legitimately really sad I can't order them again, because they're in the top three I've ever had. The ingredients seem fresh, the food was well-prepared, and it's obvious that time and attention was put into the recipes. If it weren't for one of the owners, I would have been very happy to eat here regularly.

So. Why won't I be doing that? Because one of the owners, Christen French, lied to me and stole money from me. She made a deal with me through another one of her businesses, took money for a deposit, failed to uphold her end of the deal after not even making an attempt to do so, ignored repeated polite requests over the course of many weeks to refund my money (read them, just ignored them) and then behaved terribly when I told her I'd go through my bank for a refund instead. We'd had nothing but wonderful interactions prior to that, and I honestly really liked her and was completely shocked by her awful behavior. I still have no clue why she behaved the way she did, but reading other reviews for this business makes it clear that mistreating people who try to do business with her is a pattern, and it looks like it might actually be a family affair...

As a customer, I care about a business owner's character in addition to how well they run their business. No matter how good someone's food is, I don't want to give money to people who lie, steal, or treat other people badly for no reason. I know I'm not alone here, so I thought I'd share my experiences for the benefit of other people who feel similarly and would rather not support people who behave this way. Christen has gone out of her way to try to hide reviews I've posted about my experience with her, but I'll keep posting them. It might do her some good to not be able to run away from the consequences of her own actions. I wish her luck in improving her character in the future, and would be happy to talk to her about what happened in case there was some legitimate misunderstanding, and being a liar and a thief wasn't her goal.

If you're okay with doing business with people who behave this way and you're into Southwestern/Tex-Mex food, Cactus Grille is a great choice. If you'd rather not give money to people who lie and steal, go elsewhere.