Cactus

Price: $$
Thoughts: ☆☆☆☆
Cactus: Menu

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So I needed to help pass time for a friend, what better way to do it than with food. With the weather as warm as it was, the last thing on my mind was wearing anything that was not shorts, sandals and a t-shirt, so as casual as you can get without dipping into the dangerous realm of fast food. After much thought I settled on a Tex-Mex restaurant called Cactus. And picked the furthest one from us, which was all the way in front of Alki Beach, which is a good drive away.

The place was literally packed from inside out with customers. If there's this much activity, it must be good. When we placed our name for a table the hostess informed us it would be a 45 minute wait, which was fine, killing time was the mission. The buzzer they provided us went off after 15 minutes so we were seated a bit earlier than expected.

As most Mexican restaurants go, we were given complimentary baked tortilla chips with some very delicious fresh salsa. We ordered some drinks, a prickly pear and Mexican lemonade.


Complimentary tortilla chips with fresh salsa

One of the interesting things I found with the Mexican lemonade is the chopped jalapeño pepper inside it. Other than that, the prickly pear lemonade was a nice and fresh feeling.


Prickly Pear Lemonade


Mexican Lemonade

Our server asked us if we had eaten here before. We answered no, and got a quick rundown of what the recommended dishes were. He suggested a few of his favorite antojitos of the menu were. One of them being the spicy Mexican prawns; Camarones D’ El Diablo. We ordered that along with the grilled scallops con tocino; We're very partial to scallops.


Camarones D’ El Diablo- Crispy white Mexican prawns, spicy Diablo sauce, mango–pineapple mojo

These were definitely worth trying. The spicy prawns tasted great as they were without the help of the mojo. Will remember to get this next time as well.


Grilled Scallops con Tocino- Bacon–wrapped natural sea scallops, smoked Fresno aïoli and cilantro oil

Quite juicy and the smoky flavor from the bacon works nicely. Although a bit on the salty side (scallops + bacon can definitely do it), it was still good. But it was no contest against the spicy prawns we just had.

The main entrées were my Cactus fajitas with grilled natural Harris Ranch Angus skirt steak and the grilled skirt steak.




Cactus Fajitas- Served in a sizzling skillet with Spanish rice, cumin black beans and caramelized onions. Guacamole, sour cream, Jack cheese, lettuce, pico de gallo and warm flour tortillas on the side (skirt steak)

This was a lot of food. Despite the warmth from the weather, I had no qualms with eating from a sizzling hot iron skillet. There was a lot of food, and I found myself running out of the tortillas even after heavily stuffing each one with as much meat and beans as I could.


Grilled Skirt Steak- Harris Ranch natural Angus skirt steak, guajillo mole, sautéed hominy with corn and rajas, and crispy fried sweet onions

As a steak should be done; medium-rare. Juicy and looked quite filling. There was nothing left to take home by the time we were ready for the check. I was debating on getting dessert despite feeling a little full, but I saw one of the other customers eating a flan with a birthday candle in it, and that seemed simple enough.

When the waiter came to us, he surprised us with a flan on the house for being first time customers.


Three Milk Cuban Flan (on the house!)

This trumps my previous attempt at making flan. I would definitely suggest coming to the Alki location while the summer weather is still here. All-in-all, good food and passed a good amount of time for the day.