El Barrio Cantina

Mexican restaurant · Long Beach

El Barrio Cantina

Mexican restaurant · Long Beach

1731 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90802

Highlights

"Bringing modern Mexican tapas and delicious craft cocktails to Long Beach's Retro Row by featuring seasonal ingredients and innovative recipes. Chef Ulises embraces the many cultures that make up Long Beach and Los Angeles and uses it as inspiration to create his modern but still authentic Mexican dishes. He has created a tapas style menu that is meant to be enjoyed with friends and loved ones in our hip, airy space. Our unique craft cocktails also draws local cultures from the neighborhood and uses seasonal fresh ingredients to delight and surprise our guests. Come enjoy our night life events through out the month. Life is more fun when you have uno mas at El Barrio Cantina."

1731 E 4th St, Long Beach, CA 90802 Get directions

elbarriocantinalbc.com

@elbarrio_cantina

Reserve

@infatuation

"El Barrio Cantina is a self-described modern Mexican restaurant on Retro Row that reimagines traditional dishes without getting too carried away. There’s a fantastic carne asada-style ribeye with roasted tomato salsa (ask for a side of the homemade Sonoran flour tortillas), fresh Peruvian scallops on the half shell in spicy aguachile, and crunchy fried potato tacos doused with crema and salsa verde that are simple and straight up delicious. Don’t overlook the clever “Sea(Sar)” salad, which ups the umami with seaweed and a cilantro-anchovy dressing. The high-ceiling dining room is breezy and bright, but as the sun sets the place becomes moody enough for date night. Cocktails mix tequila and mezcal with lots of fruit and spice, plus there’s a solid list of affordable wines by the glass. " - garrett snyder, nikko duren, brant cox

The 25 Best Restaurants In Long Beach

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@infatuation

"The Deal: A three-course lunch or dinner with a cocktail, and chips and salsa for $35 per person. Why We Like: El Barrio Cantina is one of the best restaurants in Long Beach. They serve great drinks and snacks in a fun, busy dining room. You have a couple of options to choose from on the Dine LA menu, but we'd go: taquitos de papa (they're amazing), carnitas chile verde or the Mexican hot chicken, and a house margarita. They'll throw in dessert, too. " - Brant Cox, Garrett Snyder, Sylvio Martins

The 18 Best Deals for Dine LA Restaurant Week, Fall 2023 - Los Angeles - The Infatuation

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@infatuation

El Barrio Cantina - Review - Long Beach - Los Angeles - The Infatuation

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Jasmin Hussain

Google

We came here for a friend's birthday. The food was a nice fusion Mexican style. However, we got the wrong order and had to argue with waiter that this was not what we ordered. So not impressed with Service. I came here before for events which were great and well organized. Bar service at those events was friendly.

Jazz S.

Google

After 2 visits I can confirm that the flavors of this place are beautifully crafted and well worth the visit. This is the type of place you want to bring your parents to. I sat at the bar both times and thoroughly enjoyed both bartenders I sat with. One shared his worldly experience, one shared her passion for beauty in food/drinks, and both enhanced our experience! Bring a date; bring your parents; bring a friend! There's something for everyone here

Matthew Subin

Google

This place has a really good vibe walking in. We came just as they opened. The food was amazing. Had the loaded fries and street tacos. All really fresh. Was the guinea pig for the homemade orange soda and that was really good as well. Recommend the churro donut. It does have nuts in the scoop of ice cream so be careful people with nut allergies. Service was a bit slow at times but I think at that point it was a one person show. Overall definitely do not pass this place up.

Coyote Blues

Google

Simply the best Mexican food around. Margaritas are also top notch. Chile verde was amazing. Smokey grilled pork. Melts in your mouth and served on handmade tortillas.

Frank Morrissey

Google

First off just know that their website is a work in progress. Our server had to let us know after we were seated. He also let us know about 10 times through our meal that he was new and didn't really know anything about the menu. They do NOT have an all day menu. They only offer a lunch happy hour menu until 5:30pm and then it's their dinner menu from 5:30pm on. The lunch happy hour offerings are minimal. We ordered tacos and cocktails as we planned to order from the dinner menu at 5:30pm. Worst tacos ever. Dry crumbly tortillas, dry meats, dehydrated nopales and no salsa on any of them. They also charge for chips and salsa. The salsa was super bland and had zero heat. Came to find out this salsa is served with everything on the menu. We were tempted to just leave after the tacos, but decided to stay and try some of the items from the actual dinner menu. The birria ramen was actually just a mediocre ramen with "birria flavored" chashu. The carnitas chile verde was actually just two chunks of carnitas with a drizzle of green sauce over black beans. Super disappointed with the entire experience especially after looking at the gallery photos on their website. Do not recommend.

Joshua Palacios

Google

The atmosphere was amazing. Their decor and music was top notch. Its great being able to have an upscale Mexican food experience. By far, their best thing are the drinks. We were a group of 4 and got 2 round of drinks. The flowers for bunny was the best and most recommended. The food was good. Definitely an upscale experience, so expect to have tasters and order appetizers to fill you up. All of the food was flavorfull and very cantina style. Expect tacos, appetizers, drinks, and mezze over it all. Don't be afraid to share. The only thing was they had a busy night. The only downside, a large party of like 15+ people came in, so at no fault of their own, on a busy Friday, things were a little slower in terms of service. But honestly, it was just a great opportunity to get more drinks in 🙈. Fun experience overall and I was pleasantly surprised.

Chan Chuckwow

Google

1 pm Sat/7 Oct. I sat at the bar and had the $35 Dine LA Restaurant Week menu. Great deal with their ELBC cocktail, carnitas chili verde and dessert was a churro(?). Friendly bartender, elevated dining and aesthetics.

Century S

Google

We tried this place few days ago with group of friends. For Tapas, their sizes were bigger than expected. Lani was our server and he was amazing! We ordered spicy margarita which wasn't on the menu, but they made perfect glasses for us. Food was mostly really good. Squash pasta was fresh, soft, tasty, and Zucchini was super fresh. Cauliflower was really good. Chiviche was fresh and tasty. Small short rib was of very decent size. It was tender and soft. I didn't like the fact that the tortillas that came with the short rib were super oily. Fat from the meat would have done it and the condiments that came with it also had enough fat. Potato tacos were ok. They were deep fried which I didn't like, also potato filling was very less. We also didn't care for cream cheese empanadas, it was pretty bland. Chimichuri that came with empanadas was really good. I'm dairy sensitive so I only took a bite of it, but my husband had it all and he also experienced some discomfort in his tummy. Spicy chicken wings was not that great either. You can taste the hint of spice, but it was bland. We had more food and they were all great besides the ones mentioned here for my personal taste. Overall experience was great.

@infatuation

The 25 Best Restaurants In Long Beach

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@infatuation

The 18 Best Deals for Dine LA Restaurant Week, Fall 2023 - Los Angeles - The Infatuation

View Postcard for El Barrio Cantina

@infatuation

El Barrio Cantina - Review - Long Beach - Los Angeles - The Infatuation

View Postcard for El Barrio Cantina

Jasmin Hussain

Google

Jazz S.

Google

Matthew Subin

Google

Coyote Blues

Google

Simply the best Mexican food around. Margaritas are also top notch. Chile verde was amazing. Smokey grilled pork. Melts in your mouth and served on handmade tortillas.

Frank Morrissey

Google

Joshua Palacios

Google

Chan Chuckwow

Google

Century S

Google

El Barrio Cantina

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