Cantina La Martina

This restaurant is INCREDIBLE! When you walk in, you're immediately greeted my friendly and attentive staff, beautiful decor, wonderful music, warm ambiance and atmosphere. We were quickly sat at our table and received the most delicious margaritas we've ever had. Made with real fruit - mango and passionfruit. On top of that, the tacos were AMAZING. We will be coming back for the food and the drinks. This place completely exceeded our expectations. Loved it here so much. Literally an oasis under the El. Everyone needs to come here!

This took me a while to get a review together, given all the positive press and accolades it has received since opening up...it felt wrong to give them a lower than average score. That said, I am going to stick to my guns, but will provide thoughtful and clear points from our experience. Also worth noting, a 3 star review is not a reason for you never visit this location, but more a point to proceed with caution. First, let's talk about the neighborhood. While this doesn't directly impact the quality of food or service per-say, it does impact the overall experience. In this instance, it is crucial, because it is the first impression. If you are questioning whether or not this could actually be in the heart of Kensington, let me assure you, it most definitely is. For what it's worth, my wife and I live 5 minutes from this spot, but seeing how the drug epidemic has taken over this neighborhood, it is just tough to immediately park your car, and see all the homeless people on the street and people under the influence right on the same block. Candidly, we were taken back and felt uneasy walking into the restaurant, but eventually settled in. You are greeted by their nice wait staff and classic Mexican music blasting on the radio. My hope is that this restaurant can become more and more of a light for this section of Kensington. We sat outside because no seats were available indoors, which was cool to see both sides. However - no thrills or frills outside from an aesthetic standpoint. Outside, you essentially had a front row to the kitchen.The food was good...just good. Am I going to recommend folks come from anywhere in the city to check this? Probably not. I will say though - the authenticity & variety of dishes on this menu really stands out. You likely can't find their entrees in most neighborhood Mexican restaurants. I didn't try a margarita myself, but it does seem like they are a crowd favorite. The guacamole appetizer and churro dessert definitely stood our respectively. We had a number of tacos, which weren't necessarily memorable, and an entree called: molcajete. This was served in a hot molcajete bowl, and had a side of warm tortillas to eat the meat with. It was filled with grilled chicken, chorizo, New York Strip, chicharron, nopales, scallions, queso fresco, molcajete sauce. I would probably try more of their tacos before having this again, but it is a heaping pile of meat and I was able to use as leftovers and make tacos at home which I really enjoyed.An unfortunate slip up from our visit was with the service. My wife ordered vegetarian tacos, and when the waitress brought out our dishes, she handed my wife the pork tacos. I will say, with all the yummy toppings on these tacos, they can certainly be hard to distinguish at face value, but that just underscores why the service team should have a system in place. Generally speaking, our waitress was nice, but did not offer much help with navigating the menu.Again - the tacos were standard. Did they leave the impression on me, that this is where I have to get tacos from now on...no. If you are local to the hood or are interested in trying some authentic cuisine, give it a consideration.

Cantina La Martina's Chef Dionicio Jiménez and team continue to do a fantastic job bringing authentic Xochitl-style Mexican food and terrific service to Kensington.Our table of 6 devoured everything we were brought. With 5 repeat guests and 1 newbie, we had some repeat orders, e.g., the Guacamole Especial de la Casa (mixed herbs, pomegranate seeds), my review of which has not changed: I could've eaten a bucketful! We meant to repeat order the Esquites (corn, queso fresco, mayo, tajin), but ordered Elote (grilled corn on the cob, chipotle mayo, queso fresco), which was fantastic, so we had to add an order of the Esquites. Oh darn, more tasty corn! We also did a repeat order of the Refried Beans. Some new-to-us dishes included:- Señor Machete (24" quesadilla, which we got with an off-menu pork)--a favorite of the table- Trio Tamales (1. cochinita, salsa habanero lemongrass, pickled onions, 2. chicken tinga, mole poblano, crema and sesame seeds, 3. zucchini blossom, requeson, arugula)- Camarones a la Macha (prawn shrimp sautéed in salsa macha, served with a side of rice and salad)--another favorite of the table- Ramen pozole (ramen noodles, pozole rojo, boiled egg, lettuce, cabbage, corn nuts, queso, crema, radishes), which definitely had linguine, not ramen noodles, and needed the kick of the cut limes- Chepilin Fetuccini (chepilin pasta in a rabbit sauce, garnished with parmesan cheese), another favorite of the table- Molcajete (grilled chicken, chorizo, New York Strip, chicharron, nopales, scallions, queso fresco, molcajete sauce. Served with a side of warm tortillas)And this time, a few had saved room for the churros! We also introduced the michelada to at least 1 diner, who loved it, indulged in a margarita tower, and got a tour of the fire pits for the 8-hour roast goat for Cinco de Mayo--sadly we had plans so couldn't do a back-to-backer. That said, we'll definitely be back again!

This was really excellent. The neighborhood is what it is but we loved the food and the staff. The aguachile de macha is a Hall of Fame dish for me -- incredible salsa macha, perfect shrimp, and small chips and an avocado on top to round it out. We also really loved the salsa macha that came with the chips & salsa trio. The tacos (we got camerones and pastor), tamales, plantains, guac, and elote were also great. We weren't as crazy about the vegetarian ceviche.

I've been to Mexico twice and lived in CA for over eight years. I never expected to find the best Mexican food of my life in Kensington, Philly lol. But my goodness, I'm so glad I did! I was skeptical given the location, but as soon as we walked into the warm, welcoming, smallish restaurant, we were asked if we had a reservation (we did not), but luckily there was bar seating available. Every other table was just about filled, and for good reason!We asked the bartender what she'd recommend and she suggested the entrees. "Everything is amazing, but the entrees are phenomenal" (something along those lines). She wasn't wrong. I ordered the cochinitas tacos and my husband got the entree, the bistec sinaloense, and while the tacos were so effin good (best in Philly, hands down), the bistec blew us away. I especially loved the nopales salad. Often, nopales is mushy and slimy, but the nopales salad had a fresh crunch and delicate citrus flavor that I absolutely loved. The strips of medium steak were a bit chewy for a taco, but the flavor of it was unspeakably good. Same with the thin fingerling potato slices and the cauliflower. Even the tortillas. All of it made our tastebuds sing. The trio of guacamoles was a great way to start. Awesome base guac topped three ways: crab meat, goat cheese and pistachio, and crickets with mango salsa. All were delicious, even down to the freshly fried chips.The level of care with which each dish was prepared cannot be overstated. Every single morsel tasted deliberately crafted. It's not cheap, but a thousand percent worth it if you're looking for a great, possibly memorable meal. Excited to go back and try more!

This place is GREAT! I definitely recommend checking it out. We tried a bunch of the dishes and liked every thing we had. The Tinga is really good.

Overall, I would recommend for a large group dinner or brunch. It serves large portions, has pretty good services, but the food isn't great.

Food is incredible! The Giant quesadillas are incredible and are literally GIANT. Staff is friendly and service is quick. Cinco de Mayo is so much fun here. The restaurant is in the heart of Kensington, but I've only ever felt safe here. I've also heard that they're great neighbors to their Kensington community!

Outstanding food drinks and service. Don't be put off by the location. Just be attentive and smart. We parked on the street near by. The interior is welcoming and cozy. It's beautiful. Colorful and representative. Drinks were outstanding. My compadre got a margarita. I had something else from the cocktail menu. I can't remember the name. But I remember how excellent it was. Well worth the money. The food exceeded expectations. We got a lot of different things and shared. Nothing was even remotely bad.

You have to try the horchata!! I came here with a friend for lunch on Friday and it was absolutely delicious, I can not wait to try for dinner another time!I got the horchata and we shared an order of plantains as an app (even though they are listed as a side), delicious and crispy yet soft at the same time. I got the chicken tacos and she got the shrimp enchiladas, her green creamy sauce was so tasty, and the chicken tacos were really flavorful. The chicken was marinated and they had cabbage for a little crunch and avocado so the flavors blended together really well.Highly recommend it, people were coming in for happy hour as we were leaving which also sounds amazing! We were so hungry and excited to eat I forgot to snap a pic before we dug in.Its very cute and the server was friendly but if you are checking it out be aware of your surroundings when you park/ get out of your uber/ the subway. If you do drive make sure you dont have anything visible in your car someone could grab. Totally safe inside and you will be fine outside as long as you stay alert of what's happening around you :)