Steel Cactus Mexican Restaurant and Cantina
| Address: | 5505 Walnut St, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA |
| Phone: | +1 412-709-6444 |
| Site: | steelcactuspgh.com |
| Rating: | 3.8 |
| Working: | 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
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Jeremy Nuzum
We have friends that live in Shadyside. We have visited Steel Cactus multiple times and always been happy. Eight of us went in for taco Tuesday last night and we all left highly disappointed. We made it clear that we were interested in the taco special and whatever the drink special was. Our server said that any flavor margarita and Dos Equis were the drink specials. I ordered the plain margarita and my fiance pointed one out on the menu. We ordered our tacos and after a long wait, with no crowd to speak of, and bit of confusion where we didnt get our full order we ordered a couple beers because the margaritas were terrible. My fiances tasted rancid and mine tasted like straight watered down tequila. The tacos were great as usual. However, we get them regularly during happy hour and they are much cheaper but also much smaller. I dont like it when restaurants say that youre getting a discount but then give you a smaller portion. The tacos we received last night were a generous portion and tasted great but were not much cheaper than their regular price. When we got our bills we all noticed that our totals came up much higher. First, we were all charged for sauce. We all ordered different things and there was no mention of up-charges. We have never been charged for sauce before. Then we noticed that we were charged full price for the margaritas. We brought it to the attention of our server. She wouldnt comment on the sauce up-charge but she said that we ordered premium margaritas. When she told us the drink specials she said any flavor and we made it clear that we were ordering them because they were the special. Nobody wanted to argue with the server and we had other plans that night so we didnt bother get the manager involved. Its a shame. This was our go-to spot in Shadyside and visited frequently. I feel like I was being deceived with the half order tacos during happy hour and by the time you add on for sauce taco Tuesday is no cheaper than any other day. Weve had good experiences in the past so we will probably give it a break and give them another chance further down the road. There are a lot of good options in Shadyside.
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Luke Uppergraff
Worst experience Ive ever had in any establishment. DO NOT COME HERE!!!!!! My colleagues and I went to this place around 11pm yesterday (28th). We were allowed through the bottom door after showing our IDs. Then we get up to the upper portion of the bar where we were harassed by a bouncer for our IDs again. Granted we thought this was a little outrageous but we complied again. The bouncer refused to believe we were 21 even though we are all 22 and 23. He asked to see our facebook (of all things) to match with our ID. Then he asked to see our credit cards. I have never had that happen before in any place. Three forms for people who are 22 and 23. We were getting a little agitated as you might imagine. Especially since we were cold sober at this point, which makes it even worse. The bouncer who obviously had an agenda decided to kick us out anyway. He physically assaulted two of us. Unfortunately for steel cactus this happened to me, and probably fortunate for all the other people this might have happened to. I work for the Pennsylvania AGs office, and you better believe there will be an investigation into this, and whether this is a pattern. Due to the sensitive nature of those investigations, I wont specify the exact reason I filed the report. Two of us have also filed police reports against the bouncer as well for harassment and assault. All the owner has to do is look at the cameras and he/she will see his/her worker was in the wrong. I hope they take this seriously as you better believe I am.
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John David McCloskey
I I Please follow my live updates of Steel Cactus! [8:09pm] Seat called, Corona in hand. Lets start this ride. [8:24pm] Dude. They charge for salsa. SALSA! Even taco bell doesnt charge for salsa. Taking advantage of gringos. [8:32pm] Now, they refused to add jalapeños to my fajitas, because the "noxious gases would knock the whole restaurant out." [8:42pm] Salsa is okay. Not worth $3. However, Ill increase to 2 stars for shiggles. [8:44pm] My beer was just almost stolen like the Alamo. Back to one star. [8:52pm] Side note, theres some hot chicks to our left. What up doe? Get of your phone girls, talk to each other. [9:06pm] My fajitas arrived smelling like la comida de mi abuelo...but it took 57 minutes to get our food. ¡Tres estrellas! [9:10pm] The hot girls left... [9:11pm] and were back to 2 stars...amature hour. [9:25pm] Ehh. Im digesting and Omi "Cheerleader" is hurting my brain. Done with this experience. Two stars overall because it wasnt dog food.
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Ashley Andrews
The guacamole ($7) tasted like... old, or bad, or something. I dont think Ive ever left guac uneaten before in all of my eating years, but I did today! Weird. The chips were semi stale and unpleasurable to munch. The tofu tacos ($11) were unfortunately quite bland and somehow watery. Like, water streamed out the side when I picked one up. Ick. Black beans were served in a small plastic cup on the plate for some reason, even though they were super hot. Plastic + hot = leached chemicals. No thanks! I poured them out onto my plate immediately. And saddest of all, the mojito seemed to have just a tiny dash of actual liquor in it. Definitely not strong enough for $8. In conclusion, it was a bummer. I was really hoping it would be great. : (
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Michelle Burgess
I bought a Groupon "apparently" for the wrong location. The manager refused to use that Groupon because it wasnt for that location even though they are all owned by the same people. The Groupon I bought covered food and drink. The one the I needed to get the discount did not include drink. Therefore we got drinks that were not covered under the coupon. Instead of the management saying "dont worry well cover it this time" she proceeded to make us spend extra money to cover the full cost of the Groupon. Needless to say we will NEVER go back to any location. The waitress and the food were great but the management was AWFUL and prompted us to never dine there again.
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Michael Vey
The waiter was in a big hurry! He rushed us through the drink orders, appetizer orders and main course orders. It was odd because the other waiters were taking a leisurely approach with their customers and the restaurant was about 1/4 full around 4:30pm on a Friday. It didnt seem like he was finishing a shift and we certainly werent taking anymore time to place orders than anyone around us. My family and I have eaten at this restaurant with in the last 30 days and had a pleasant experience. I dont know why he behaved as he did but his actions made the whole experience unsatisfactory.
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Jason Minock
Do I have to give it one star??? Service was great and courteous, but the bouncers are terrible! Not only did my group mind our own business, but we were approached twice by a "less-than" gentlemen to say the least. We were casually talking when this man decided to choke slam my friend into the wall then claim he was attacked. The bouncers were called over and required one of the parties to leave. After explaining the situation, they made no resolution and required one of the parties to leave. We took the higher road, but unrightfully so. I will never return to this establishment.
