A very popular Mexican restaurant opened a second location just north of our hood in The Junction, Playa Cabana Cantina. We were elated because the original location is always so busy they regularly have one hour line ups outside, rain or shine. About a month ago a friend made reservations and they still had to wait an hour for their table! I don’t do lines (queues), period. If I can’t get a reservation and timely seating, I just can’t be bothered to go, no matter how delicious the food claims to be. There are too many really good restaurants in Toronto to waste time standing in line!
The eclectic retro décor really suits the place.
When Playa Cabana Cantina opened in The Junction we were very happy to have a good Mexican restaurant so close to home. We’ve eaten there twice for lunch/brunch both times and I am very happy to report an excellent review BOTH times! We’ve tried going back for dinner but that’s another story.
Our first lunch we each ordered our own meal, and we knew that future visits would entail sharing, the portions are HUGE. JT had a Burrito with Guajillo-chipotle marinated free range chicken grilled over coals with fresh mango salsa which was wrapped with melted Oaxacan cheese, rice, and beans, they topped it with fresh guacamole, pico de gallo, crema, and it sat in two very colourful sauces: green tomatillo sauce and red tomato sauce $13. JT couldn’t say enough good things about it; I had a taste and it was a flavour explosion in my mouth. The red tomato sauce was delicious, the tomatillo was a bit tasteless, but I’ve not had tomatillo sauce before so maybe it is supposed to be mild. Again, there is enough food on the platter to share between two people and I guarantee you will not leave hungry. I ordered a smaller order of three Tacos de Chori-Queso; the tacos were homemade corn and water tacos filled with homemade Mexican Chorizo wrapped with Oaxacan cheese $14. Although my selection was delicious, it was a bad choice for me because the tacos were actually deep fried and the Chorizo was a bit greasy; not withstanding, it was still quite delicious, but I prefer healthier options, particularly when I’m not sharing.
On our second visit we smartened up and shared one of our favourite brunchy plates: Heuvos Rancheros and we were not disappointed. Made with three eggs, Spanish and Mexican Chorizo, rice with corn, black beans, flour tortilla, guacamole, sour cream and queso. The eggs could have been a bit more cooked (the whites were pretty runny) but the yolks were perfect. We divided the plate one third-two thirds (the larger one for JT) and it was perfect. The Chorizo was plentiful and very flavourful and it wasn’t greasy like my first taco experience; it also spiced up the plate with a bit of heat perfectly.
Service was good and both times the food came quickly, but the second time we had to ask for water fill ups. The noise level during Brunch is relatively quiet but another table (bit older than we are) asked them to reduce the volume for the music (we chose a table as far from the hanging speakers as possible). I suspect that it’s likely much more animated during the dinner hours.
Three eggs, chunks of chorizo, a flour tortilla, black beans, guacamole, sour cream, rice and corn.
We shared the Huevos Rancheros the second visit and boy were we glad we did, it was enough food for both of us.
One Thursday night, we decided to try Playa Cabana Cantina in our neighbourhood, but we knew we were playing with fire, so we called first. The gentleman said they were fully booked with reservations but there is ALWAYS seating at the bar; don’t worry, I’ll find you a seat, he said. We do bars! In fact, I love sitting at the bar because you can often get to know the bar tender and it’s always a pleasant conversation. Sadly this was not to happen that Thursday night. About 15 minutes after we called we arrived at the restaurant and guess what? No room, not one seat, not even at the bar. Needless to say we were rather annoyed and likely won’t be going back for a while (they shouldn’t have made promises they knew they couldn’t keep), not that they will miss our business because they seem to be booked every night even without us! Too bad, I liked their food.
Playa Cabana Cantina
2883 Dundas St. W, Toronto, ON
647-352-7767
| Monday | Closed |
| Tuesday | 5pm – 12am |
| Wednesday | 5pm – 12am |
| Thursday | 5pm – 2am |
| Friday | 5pm – 2am |
| Saturday | 5pm – 2am |
| Sunday | 5pm – 12am |
Overall rating of The Junction Playa Cabana Cantina (in my opinion): Decor 4/5, service 3.5/5, food 4/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 4/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).
Disclaimer: We purchased our meals for full price and my opinions just that, my opinions.
Kitcheninspirations 
Well, I consider Playa Cabana a “noisy place”. That’s good when I want to have a great evening with some friends, but for a family dinner (or a date) I would prefer Fonda Lola. Both of these restaurants have great food, but Lola’s atmosphere is more familiar and I would say their service is better. I’m not the only one who thinks so, some recommendations even say that Lola is better (OK, I don’t agree with this at all, but there is something with Playa Cabana’s service, isn’t it?).
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Hi Anne, welcome to my blog and thank you for your comment. I find service these days can be a bit slow and the wait staff not as attentive (I think most restaurants try to cut costs with the wait staff, which is a huge mistake) not withstanding, service for brunch and lunch service was not at all bad. I tend to agree about the noise levels and Playa is a very happening place so it does tend to be quite noisy at night…brunch and lunch wasn’t bad at all in terms of talking over other patrons but the music was a wee bit loud as I mentioned.
We have gone back to Playa Junction a few times and one particular times was during the blackouts just prior to Christmas and they were very accommodating, in fact we sat at the bar and they very generously plugged in our phones while we had dinner. And they were absolutely SWAMPED! It was a good experience.
I will check out Lola, thank you for the redo, we adore good Mexican food and are particularly thrilled when one comes with a recommendation.
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I’m with Norma about the runny egg white… I just can’t stand it… all gloopy over my plate and seriously, egg whites cook super fast if the pan is hot enough! They always break eggs over pizzas in France as they come out of the oven, expecting the pizza to cook the egg (which it doesn’t :p) so I’m sure to get it “sans-oeuf” these days.
Aside from the egg issue though it all looks and sounds wonderful. I love Mexican food… so fresh tasting and filling and delicious. France doesn’t really “do” Mexican food sadly. There’s a few places, but not that big or good.
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Thanks Charles, I love an egg broken on a pizza but would always want it cooked properly too. There was a lot of other things to mix the egg with so it wasn’t too bad, but next time I’ll make sure they do the egg over easy.
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This sounds like an excellent place to eat brunch, that’s got to be my favorite meal of the day. Sharing’s becoming more of an option for us these days. I guess we just don’t eat the amount of food we used to (and that’s a good thing!). If I ever make it to your neck of the woods, I’ll be going through your restaurant review list ahead of time:) xx
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Thanks Barbara, if you ever make it to our neck of the woods, I would love to meet up! Sharing makes so much sense from portion sizes and economy.
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Eva, I totally agree: I don’t queue up in front of restaurants either. (Although I was tempted to do it in Tokyo in front of what our Japanese described as “the best tempura restaurant in the city”, since there are hundreds of restaurants serving tempura there and it’s extremely difficult to get it right). If I make a reservation for a later service (I mean 9:30 pm or later), I don’t mind waiting with a glass of wine at the bar though because I couldn’t imagine how the owner would plan precisely at what time the first service leaves.
I have never been to a satisfying Mexican restaurant (always much too greasy, food warmed in a microwave or taken out of the jar…), so I envy you this nice lunch. We stopped eating out Mexican food for this reason. The only thing I have never been disappointed with were cocktails 😉
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Thank you kindly Sissi, yes the queues are rather annoying but fortunately the hipsters don’t come out for brunch, so it’s always easy to find a seat. I don’t mind waiting for a late service either and a glass of wine at the bar is a nice way to spend a little more time together, plus it’s fun chatting with the bar tender.
Too bad about your experience with Mexican restaurants, we’ve gone to one Argentinean restaurant in Vienna many years ago that was pretty good. Not sure if it’s still there.
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Thanks for the review Eva – we sure love our Mexican food in this family. Good to know about the portion sizes (impossible to predict these things and we’ve been caught both ways). I too enjoy Heuvos Rancheros and it sounds like Playa Cabana Cantina delivers the goodies here. (Do you remember MiMi’s on Bathurst? She made great HRs too…). But for me, the mark of any excellent Mexican joint is measured in the Margaritas 😉 – (my husband and I were regulars at La Hacienda on Queen – loved the fringe spirit, outstanding food and Margs on the rocks!). I’m so curious about the Junction area… can’t wait to check it out!
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We only started loving Mexican in the last ten years, so sadly I don’t know the places you mentioned, but they sound great. The Margarita standard sounds like a lovely way to measure a place!
The Junction has a couple of really good Indian restaurants too and some great antique stores. Check out Cornerstone (mix of old and new). If you’re in The Junction, you’ll have to pop in for a cocktail, we’re a stones throw away. JT makes a damn good Mojito. Hopefully we’ll have home grown mint!
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LOVE Mojitos! You bet we’d look you up Eva 🙂
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I don’t know that I would have been happy with runny whites OR being told to come when they had to have known it would be full. People don’t normally queue in Australia and my husband wouldn’t have waited.
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It’s an annoying habit of the Hipster generation. Fortunately brunch has no line ups yet, so that’s when we go there.
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I hate waiting…especially when I have a reservation…and I would have been bummed to be all set for Mexican food only to find no room at the bar that night. Hope you get back for lunch…the food does sound fantatic.
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Thank you kindly Liz, it’s become a favourite spot for brunch. The food is quite delicious indeed.
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I do hate to queue for a restaurant. However, I’m a huge fan of great Mexican cuisine and this food does look very good and the prices don’t seem to bad either xx
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Thanks Charlie, sadly many of the really cool places in Toronto don’t take reservations — I think they must feel more popular when there is a line up.
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Great little restaurant. My teenagers are big on Tex Mex food so this would be right up their alley.
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Thank you kindly Bam, it’s really great to be able to introduce different cuisines to your kids, and it’s fantastic. That they like Mexican style food; the flavours are so bold.
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I like Mexican food except for the corn tortillas which I simply cannot have – it’s an olfactory issue. But the dishes look awesome, and any dish that has eggs sunny side up wins brownie points in my books. Excellent review, mouthwatering photos.
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Thank you kindly Minnie. I don’t mind corn tortillas at all, but I can see why you wouldn’t like their smell. This dis has so much going on that you might not even notice them.
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This sounds like a delicious restaurant. The kids are warming up to Mexican food – Mr. N more so than Miss A. Mike and I would be all over this for sure though! 🙂
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Thank you Kristy, I can see where the bold flavours of Mexican food would be difficult for a kid to enjoy. This would make a great date night place for you and Mike.
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I can see why there are queues although I’m like you Eva and don’t enjoy queuing. I don’t mind eating very early though so we usually try and do that to avoid queuing 🙂
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Thanks Lorraine, I prefer to eat later on a weekend, even though I know it’s not great for you. I’ve heard it said that woman under 165cm should eat the bulk of their calories before 7pm.
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Another great, thorough review, Eva. The restaurant sounded like a great place to frequent — until the overly optimistic host. It does no one good to say there’s room for your party when you know there’s a wait. It’s just plain bad for business. I do have to say, though, that huevos rancheros is a favorite. I can overlook a lot if a restaurant knows how to make it well. 🙂
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Thanks John, the second time we went really ticked me off. But it’s a great brunch place, particularly when JT and I can share a plate. Huevos Rancheros is my favourite.
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I love real Mexican food when I can find it so I’d enjoy a visit … never tried huevos rancheros so I’d try that first though I have runny egg white issues so I wouldn’t be happy with the undercooked ones you got. You shouldn’t have to mix them into the rest of the food to be able to eat the dish.
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True, but I didn’t hate them, just not in love with the texture.
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Your review makes me feel like I was right there with you 🙂
Delicious dishes and wonderful honest writing! Love the photos 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU, that’s very kind of you to say.
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Delicious and good value meals, no wonder dinner line is long, but to have a reservation and still have to wait an hour? Something is not right with their system.
Dishes sure look delicious, I have problem handling runny egg white so would send back the dish.
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Hi Norma, I almost did but then mixed it up with the rest of the ingredients and it was fine.
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