La Cantina de San Angel is a counter-service restaurant in Epcot’s World Showcase. The restaurant specializes in Mexican food including tacos, nachos, empanadas, salads and, of course, margaritas. La Cantina de San Angel is a part of the Disney Dining Plan as a counter-service credit. This review will cover our experiences at the restaurant, along with photos and thoughts on the value offered.

Few experiences at Walt Disney World can top sitting along the World Showcase Lagoon and enjoying a nice meal. La Cantina de San Angel offers just that. On the downside, this limits the restaurant from having much theme or decor. Across the promenade from the Mexico Pavilion’s pyramid, La Cantina de San Angel is right outside of La Hacienda de San Angel. In fact, guests of La Cantina can use the indoor seating at La Hacienda for lunch.

Like many of the counter-service restaurants in World Showcase, there isn’t much personality to La Cantina de San Angel itself. Instead, the restaurant’s ambiance is enjoyable thanks to all of the icons all around World Showcase. There are places in the restaurant’s seating area that don’t offer the best views but for the most part it’s a pleasant place to eat right along the water. Like anywhere, La Cantina can get crowded and that can make the experience a little less pleasant. I just recommend eating at off-hours to enjoy the ambiance more.

In terms of popularity, La Cantina de San Angel is likely World Showcase’s most popular counter-service spot. I think some of this has to do with having familiar food that most people enjoy. This is also one of the heartier counter-service meals in World Showcase. The location is also easy to get to, being the first pavilion on the left of the promenade.

Moving on to the menu, La Cantina de San Angel offers several varieties of tacos as well as a few other options. Here’s a link if you want a closer look at the menu.

We’ve had a decent amount from the menu and the star is the tacos. La Cantina offers beef, chicken and fish tacos. All of them are enjoyable and you can get one of each in the Taco Trio. The chicken is not dry and has a nice heat to it, albeit not spicy. The fish tacos are also tasty, with fried fish and slaw inside of a corn tortilla. All of the ingredients are enjoyable and work well together. I enjoyed the Aioli that had a little spice to it that helped tie the taste all together.

Although I liked both of those options, the beef (Barbacoa) tacos are our favorites. The beef is cooked to perfection and had a great seasoning on it, not overly salty while being a good cut of beef. This is my favorite entrée on the menu. All of the tacos are served with rice and black beans. The sides are good but not anything extraordinary.

Moving on to the Empanadas con Queso, I wasn’t as big of a fan of this dish. I liked the Empanada plenty but thought the queso filling was too rich and overpowered everything else. By the time I was through one of the empanadas, I was ready for something else. This is a good dish to share but I wouldn’t recommend it on its own, simply because of how rich it is. I did enjoy the slaw served with the Empanads con Queso, as it cut some of the cheese flavor.

We’ve also tried the Ensalada Mexicana with Grilled Chicken. This is a salad with Grilled Chicken, Tossed Romaine Lettuce, Arugula, Red and White Cabbage, Black Beans, Corn, Olive Oil and Lime Juice We’ve also tried the Ensalada Mexicana with Grilled Chicken. You can also order this salad with Barbacoa. It’s the same meat that comes with the tacos, which we really enjoy. Likewise, Melissa and I both really liked the Olive Oil and Lime Juice dressing. This was one of the better counter-service salads we’ve had at Disney World and would happily get it again.

All of these entrees fall under $14-$16, making La Cantina de San Angel a decent value if you’re paying out of pocket. If you are on the Dining Plan, this restaurant still makes some sense because of the margaritas offered. Most of these drinks fall in $15 range. I’ve tried the Blood Orange Margarita and Frozen Mango Margarita, really enjoying both. La Cantina de San Angel won’t wow anyone with value but you could do much worse both in terms of paying out of pocket and being on the Disney Dining Plan.

Overall, La Cantina de San Angel is a solid counter-service option. Like most food in World Showcase, the restaurant here isn’t extremely authentic but the taco options are really good. That mixed along with a nice setting and a decent value make La Cantina de San Angel a good option for those looking for an interesting counter-service meal in Epcot.

Overall Rating – 8.5/10

Have you dined at La Cantina de San Angel? Let us know your thoughts, along with any questions you have, in the comments below. Planning a trip to Walt Disney World?  Check out our Disney World Trip Planning Guide to help you out.  If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages.  You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email.  All of those links are on the right side of this page.  Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!