Very unique Mexican food inspired Cantina hosted by Zak's Diner!! Very tasty food, just would love the sizing to be a bit larger!! I love their fish tacos, and churros! Must try if you're in the Byward Market or looking to order something new for delivery (available through delivery partners). Worth trying!! The location is very picturesque! read more

See all

I was a little nervous coming here based on the reviews, but the first 3 restaurants we tried were full and with two children with us, (one a teenager who is soooo hungry) we couldn't wait. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Really neat inside with the decor, and our server was friendly and prompt. We didn't get to sit in the bus, but it was fun anyway. Menu has fairly standard fair with a good amount of vegetarian food. My daughter and I ordered the Chimichanga with chicken, this was described as a flour tortilla, refried beans, rice, cheese, salsa fresca, topped with salsa roja & more cheese. We both picked the chicken tortilla soup as a side. While my husband went with the beef enchiladas with cheese & black beans. Topped with house made enchilada sauce, cheese & sour cream, for a side he chose fries. Our youngest went with kids macaroni. Everything came out promptly. And it was really great portions and we all enjoyed our meals. Was it authentic? No. I would say this reminds me of a Tex Mex restaurant. However it was really tasty and I loved all the hot sauces brought to the table so I could flavour things to how I wanted them. My only complaint was that the chicken tortilla soup was tasty, but throwing a handful of nachos on the side of the bowl does not make it tortilla. Any time I have had this soup, it came with actual strips of tortillas that were toasted in the oven. That being said, I definitely would eat here again. And with the kids meal came some churros, we were able to sample them. Those were tasty too! If you are not craving actual Mexican food but want a fun atmosphere to dive in some tacos, come here! read more

See all

It was a nice place. Stuff was very friendly but a little bit slow. The washrooms were not very clean but okay. We drink milkshakes and ate curly potatoes.Curly potatoes were mostly broken into pieces so was not really curly :D I had strawberry milkshake it tasted good. One of my friend had raspberry the other one had lemon milkshake. They all tasted similar. They bring remaining of milkshake with another cup beside. So 2 people can easily share one milkshake. Milkshakes were 7.99$ and curly potatoes were 10.99$ as I remember read more

See all

Overall: Instagram worthy looks with mediocre food and prices. Food: I had the chicken chimichanga with onion rings. The rings were as expected, nothing special but not bad either. The chimichanga was decent, good portion size but the sauce was too tangy and chicken super dry. Friends at the table had the tacos and seemed to enjoy them better, although did not feel the price matched the quality. Drink: I had a caesar and it was pretty good. Well made but came in a skinny pint glass that made it hard to stir, would likely skip next time Service: It started off pretty good, server was friendly but he was definitely understaffed, one server for entire patio section on a Saturday night. We waited for our bill a good 25 minutes, wasn't impressed Atmosphere: Super colourful and great Latin inspired music. Inside has a cool bus you can eat in and the temporary patio outside was a fun atmosphere. Def a cool place to try. Pro-tip: If you want to try this place out go during happy hour and try the tacos, $3 tacos at this time makes the price - quality ratio more reasonable. read more

See all

Zak's Cantina has some great deals for their happy hours including $5 drinks and $3 tacos. The food is really good - i love their tacos, they have quite a few flavours (unlike some places that only have one or two different flavours for happy hour). Those are my main things that I usually order as the tacos are really filling, having 3 (about $10) fills me up as a meal. They have a lot of space throughout the bar and can fit many big parties. The decor is quite nice and fun, especially since they have a huge bus inside! The service isn't amazing and the servers aren't very friendly, but they get the job done. In general they mostly left my friends and I alone the two times I went, but we ended up getting our food and drinks at a reasonable time. Good for summertime drinks with some coworkers or friends and great for on a budget! read more

Zak's Cantina - Fish and pork taco! - Mexican Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

See all

Not bad for a breakfast place in the BiWord Market. The meal was BIG! It was the Meat Breakfast. Place was busy but the service was good. Breakfast included 3 meats (Ham/Sausage/Bacon) all was good. They totally dropped the ball on the potatoes however. They were the the "out-of-the-bag" home fries. Not good. For a big time family restaurant the home fries weren't good. Meal was $16.00 but it included coffee & home made lemon aid which was decent. I'd go again. read more

Looking for a nice meal? Skip out on this place. Go once for pics for the 'gram and move along. Not worth your money or time. Terrible service. 0 stars for service. 2 stars for food. (Cool looking restaurant however) I was seated and ordered. Food came and it was fine, nothing memorable. I ordered tacos with a side of salad. Server didn't come to check in on me, didn't fill up my water, and I wasn't given utensils or napkins for my meal. Not having utensils wasn't an initial issue as I had my tacos first, assuming my server would be around soon to check on me. Sat there for a solid 30min post receiving my food before I gave up and just went to go find someone and ask for what I needed.. I approached my server and before I could get a word in, he asked if I needed the bill! (Smh) ... I wasn't even halfway done my meal! I got utensils and headed back. He still didn't come over, fill up my water, or ask me how my meal was. I ordered on a Monday afternoon at 2pm. There were mayybee two other small tables during my time there. No excuse for this. Really hope management sees this. read more

Great vegan and vegetarian options, lots of outdoor seating, dog friendly, helpful staff, great location.

We decided to give this place a try since we have been to Zak's a few times (it's the diner right next door). The food was amazing and they spike your milkshakes if you ask! Had a delicious shake with rum! YUM!!!!! The service was great, the food came at a decent time and the decor is nice. We will be returning. read more

If you're walking around the market and crave something different from the everyday restaurant menu, this place is definitely my number one recommendation. The food is decently priced (the vegetarian enchiladas in the picture provided were about $15 give or take). I'd recommend hitting this place up towards the end of your day unless you're comfortable walking around with your button undone - if so, rock on. It's a large restaurant painted in bright colours and decorated with sombreros, Calaveras/sugar skulls, and a whole lot more to give you an authentic Mexican feel - it even has a bus inside which you can go into and sit in to eat - which, in my opinion, is the best option and you're crazy if you don't do it. The service is great - friendly staff, and the food is ready fast so make sure you're hungry! read more

Zak's Cantina - Mexican Near Me - Ottawa, Ontario

See all

Got a vegetarian burrito with beyond meat sausage and fries on the side. Can't complain. Everything was great. Vegetarian friendly. 3-4 Hot sauce choices at each table too (cholula, tobasco, Franks). Good portion sizes too. Service was good and fairly quick as well. read more

The service was really great and helpful when even though most restaurants would be very disrespectful just because I was with a big group of teens (15 people) for a nationals trip to Ottawa. They were kind, patient, sweet, and helped make the experience great. The cantina itself is beautiful and sitting in the bus with all my friends was a whole new experience in itself. The music spices it up greatly, and there are so many spot for cute, and bomb photo ops. Now for the food. They have this awesome deal on milkshakes, I think it was $5 for a HUGE pitcher. And you can just ask them to split it in two cups and it's actually soooooo good. I got the piña colada milkshake to share and it was great, really heavy and sweet, as could be expected, but so very good if you have a friend to help The sharing plates were perfect for some of my friends with perfectly fried onion rings, Mac and cheese deep fried bites, and some other fried goodies. I had Mac and cheese bites. They're something else, I can't say I loved them, but I know others did. 100% would go again if I'm in Ottawa, they have so many options and MORE MILKSHAKE OPTIONS and I plan on trying them all in the future. read more

I like the outdoor patio in the summer (Big part why I went)! It might not be the best Mexican food in the city, but it's good.... It's a nice, good place to go if your hanging around in the market and looking for a casual place to eat. The service I had was great... I personally like the nacho side option. read more

Gross. Ordered a shredded beef burrito. Rice was hard. Lots of sugar in the beef. Asked for it to be smothered like an enchilada- sauce tasted like it was out of the can. Not good. Waste of money. read more

This has got to be my favourite place in the market. They've got deals on tacos & drinks everyday from 4pm-7pm. The tacos are $2.50 with the purchase of a beverage They also started serving fries(regular&sweet potato), rings and soup on the side of their mains at no extra cost to the meal which is a huge upgrade to when they first opened and you only had the option on salad or the upgrade to the small nacho! Super stoked about fries!! I also stopped in for their brunch which they started last weekend. I tried the churro waffle and OMG! It's hella sugary but SO AMAZING! Exactly what I was going for! It's a waffle made to order topped with cinnamon sugar, butterscotch and fruit salsa, wish I got a picture, will update - I'll definitely be back! I love everything about this place read more

My bae and I came to this restaurant on a Saturday night and were seated on the patio right away. We both ordered the chimichanga with salad and soup, which were not only good portions but tasted amazing. The patio is cute, the drinks are good, the service was great and the food was yummy. We will definitely return the next time we are craving Mexican food. It's also in a great location in the market. read more

The only food stop my friends and I made while in Ottawa! The portions are definitely generous and the food is to die for. The chicken flautas was amazing and so were the garlic honey wings. The food was seasoned really well. We also got strawberry daiquiris that had a generous amount of alcohol in them. read more

Loved it here! Food was amazing, the vibe and design is great. I love the colours and the bus inside. They had the best horchata milkshake! Recommended trying the horchata. read more

Very disappointed! My boyfriend and I love Mexican food and Zak's Cantina seemed like such a cute and fun place! The service was very slow and unresponsive... we had to ask to order drinks and then call someone over to order our food. Then everything we had was extremely greasy and borderline unedible. The nacho plate was covered in grease, the hard taco shells were soggy with grease as was my quesadilla, which I couldn't eat. It's really too bad given the great location and fun design. read more

Zak's Cantina was recommended to us as a good authentic Mexican food place in the Byward market area. We got there late afternoon, lucky for us it was happy hour, 16 oz beers on tap for $5, all taco's $2.50. We ordered two beers, our server recommended the Kichesippi 1855 amber ale, malt flavour with a clean bitter finish. We tried four of the five tacos on the menu, Gringo, Barbacoa beef, fish, salsa verde pulled pork, to add to that we both had the chicken tortilla soup. Service was fast and our server Kimberly was very friendly. The food was delicious, the fish taco was our favorite. One thing I liked about Zak's, four different types of hot sauce at the table, and an extra-hot, hot sauce behind the bar. I would recommend Zak's Cantina. Free street parking on Sundays. read more

More 3.5 . Nice locale in Byward market in downtown Ottawa. This restaurant shares it's kitchen with it's sister restaurant, the Dinner, owned by same owner Zack. Where else do you get to eat in a tourist bus inside a restaurant? Popular with the university and college crowd due to its pricing $-$$. We ordered fan favs of chicken chimichunga and a bowl of rice and burrito fillings. We toped this off with Zack's Banana Chocolate Milk Shake! We forgot our calorie intake on this night. The Good: You can find your typical Mexican meals here @great price and the service was great; The Bad: if you're a tourist or you want to get that experience sometimes that bus is crowded so you may not be able to dine in it; The Ugly: this food joint is like located where there's lots of competition to chose from, so you can easily miss this place. Even it's sister restaurant is even more popular. Tip: their Milkshake is a lot so if you're dining for two, they can divide it into two smaller shakes great for those watching how much they spend especially targeted for students and the younger clientele. read more

See all

Amazing food that fills and feeds the soul. I highly recommend the Cantina burger. It also comes in a vegan option. The drinks were also delicious and everything was well priced. read more

Cute little extension to Zak's Diner. The atmosphere of Zak's Cantina was as cool as a cucumber. They have friendly staff members, tables bug enough to hold larger groups and an indoor bus to eat in. The menu is on the smaller size but I think that is a good thing. There is still so much to choose from including single order tacos so you can customize how much you actually feel like eating. Their nachos...probably one of the best nachos I've ever had. Their version of queso sauce was amazing. I may go back to get a dinner sized serving of nachos for myself haha. They still offer their famous Zak's milkshakes. Prices were good and the same as most other places. read more

Found this place while looking for somewhere to eat supper in Byward market. While the atmosphere was beautiful and the staff extremely welcoming, the food honestly fell short for us and was very disappointing. The chicken enchiladas were fairly dry and under seasoned, and the rice was extremely plain. It feels like they are trying to hang on to their American diner Concept while also opening a Mexican restaurant, and the result is far from authentic. Another person in our party said the beef tacos were decent, although it's a shame that they don't have any soft corn tortillas. While a decent concept, I think this restaurant still has a long way to go food-wise. read more

This is a very good bang for your buck. Great atmosphere, service and the food we had was amazing for Mexican food in Ottawa. We had the Enchiladas, Quesadillas and Chimichanga. read more

I don't normally leave reviews but will read reviews when selecting a restaurant. However I feel compelled to let others know that on March 16, 2018 my family and I tried to eat what we were served at this restaurant. The chimichanga was a soggy mess (unable to eat most of it), and the burrito was served cold (second one was better). The best thing was the banquet burger. Sorry to say this but hope it leads to improvements. This was a huge disappointment after walking all through Byward Market in the cold to select a place to finally eat. read more

Haven't had a burrito in a long time, filled me beyond belief. Recommend the beef burrito for anyone that doesn't know what they want

If you don't like fresh food, you may like this. Food was not good at all. No flavour, clearly came from a box on a truck. I gave it two stars because the Margarita was very good and the decor (bus) was cool. Service was unfortunately not great either. Too bad, really like Mexican, unfortunately this was not good. Would not recommend. read more

Super friendly staff, good food, plenty of vegetarian options (which is why I chose here rather than Zak's Diner next door) and fun atmosphere! read more

If I could give this place negative stars I would. If you like pre-made frozen re-heated half hot half cold tasteless 'food' that is neither Mexican or Texan accompanied by a diluted bland margarita this is the place for your. Besides the polite server and bottled beer there is nothing to this place. I feel sorry for the waitress having to smile and serve this 'stuff' to people. You can do better going to the grocery store buying a frozen dish and heating up your self. There should be a law to force places like this to state 'we serve frozen microwaved food only'. I feel violated and ripped off, If I could only get my money back. read more