Eddy's Cantina, Tianmu Open (Danshui Closed)

[Formosa Fitness]

Had a great meal there tonight with the wife and kids. I highly recommend the enchiladas. And the margarita certainly wasn't watered down.

We'll be back the next time we're in Tianmu.

[AmoyMama]

We've eaten there a couple of times recently. I wasn't a raving fan of the enchiladas (they weren't bad, though, and the rest of my table loved them), but I thought the soft tacos were amazing. The carnitas were flavorful and tender, the tortillas were delicious, good balance of toppings...I could really find no fault, and I'm a New Mexican who considers herself a bit of a Mexican food snob. Quesadillas were great too, and I liked the salsas (didn't notice many onions, unlike previous posters). Overall, a thumbs-up from me. I'm happy to pay a little more for decent Mexican food that I don't have to cook and clean up after myself, and I'm glad that there is finally an Eddy's a little closer to our neck of the woods. Good luck in the new location.

[Eddy_Burrito]

Hello everybody, Eddy here. Sorry that its been a while sine my last post but time flies when your working all the time. Anyways i just want to say thank you for all of the reviews both good and bad. It does really help us to get more on top of things over here. Anyways, its been pretty decent at both locations although the rainy cold weather pushes the Locals to the Hot Pot shops. Some days when its cold and wet, and the shop is quiet , i got for a drive to check out the area and the only places that are busy are the hot pot shops. I keep in touch with many friends who also run restaurants and they say the same thing so dont forget to support your local business everybody. I recently had a good friend have to close down and move back home because of the market being flooded with imitators. "The Burger Stop" had great food and great prices but recently went out of business due to the fact that everybody is trying to pump out burgers nowadays but its very rare to find a great or even decent one.
Anyways in response to the wait times at the restaurants, we do try to turn out our food as fast as possible but because of the incredible amount of turnover in staff its a difficult task. If the place is packed we usually will explain its a long wait to anybody trying to get a table because honestly I don't wanna lie and say no problem while people are waiting for food and all the while becoming more hungry and impatient. So its best to overestimate wait time just to be safe. When a restaurant is busy its tough to tell people to rush and eat their food (kick them out) when they are enjoying it and having a couple of beers in doing so. If anybody has a better way I'd love to hear it. We are just a simple Mexican restaurant (2 actually) with simple food that we have cooked at my house for ages, and we try to provide a nice clean atmosphere and good service without a service charge. The problem with getting decent reviews is that many folks are dead set in Mexican food being bad in Taiwan that they come to my place looking to prove people wrong. I have seen it many times where people snicker at the way the kitchen cooks and at the menu and at the decor because this couldnt possibly meet their expectations. Worst of all Eddy couldnt possibly be Mexican, he must be lieing. However, Eddy's Cantina has never claimed to be the best at anything (unlike most if not all the other Mexican places) nor have we claimed to be the only real Mexican owned Mexican place in Taiwan and I've never lied about anything to do with the restaurant. All we do is cook and prepare the food the best way I know possible, the way mom does it and the way G-ma did it. Try to cook it as fast as possible and try to provide an atmosphere for people to enjoy the food and drink while they are in the shop. Many people are happy with it and some aren't. We do try to please everybody but its sometimes not possible. So if youd like to come and give it a shot, we'd be more than happy to give it a shot.

On a different note, in January, Eddy and wife will be having their first baby! Its a girl and we're pretty excited, coupled with this great news is the fact that now finally my (Eddy) mom will be comming to visit! so new ideas and new tweaks on the food and new items will definately be comming soon. so stay tuned and dont forget to like us on Facebook to keep up to date on news.

One last thing, Eddy's Cantina (Danshui only) will begin to make more use of the projector buy eventually converting the evenings into a mini sports bar for certain events starting with UFC 140 at 10 am on December 11th in Tamsui shop. So come and check it out if you like UFC!

Thanx for your support

Eddy

[milkalex]

why is it that Taiwanese are never willing to work anywhere longer than a month? How come employers in Taiwan are even willing to employ people, give them training when they know that most of them won't come back next monday?? My taiwanese friends are all the same. They look for jobs cause they need money but when they get an offer, they work there max. one month. I guess its pretty hard for you Eddy to find reliable personal? Anyways, I wish you good luck also for the little eddy (?) coming up and visit your restaurant soon!

[elektronisk]

On a different note, in January, Eddy and wife will be having their first baby! Its a girl and we're pretty excited, coupled with this great news is the fact that now finally my (Eddy) mom will be comming to visit! so new ideas and new tweaks on the food and new items will definately be comming soon.

Congratulations Eddy! Also, excited to see new items on the menu from your mom.

[Steve4nLanguage]

On a different note, in January, Eddy and wife will be having their first baby! Its a girl and we're pretty excited, coupled with this great news is the fact that now finally my (Eddy) mom will be comming to visit! so new ideas and new tweaks on the food and new items will definately be comming soon. so stay tuned and dont forget to like us on Facebook to keep up to date on news.

Congratulations! And you thought you were busy before!

I've been to the Danshui location several times--eating at Eddy's is actually a highlight whenever I'm in that area. I haven't tried the Tianmu store, but I'm looking forward to stopping by someday.

[914]

We really enjoyed the food the first time we stumbled across this place in Tianmu, so decided to bring our kids down thinking they'd have fun with some chips and burritos. Mr Eddy, your restaurant needs to be run more efficiently! I asked our nice waiter to please bring the kids food out first, or please bring the chips and salsa out first because they're little kids, they can't occupy themselves for too long. Unfortunately, I didn't read the sign that said the chips were fried on the spot so took 15 minutes to arrive. Then came the kids' meals. We were there on a Saturday before 6 PM. I just read that you have a high turnover and a small kitchen. But you had quite a few staff around, the restaurant was half full, but they were not efficient. Drinks should come first, followed by appetizers/kids meals. My husband's drink came after his meal.

The food presentation both times we've been has been really, really nice. They looked appetizing, clean, and like a lot of care went into their preparation and presentation. But the system in which food comes out needs to be on the ball and efficient. A party of diners always means the kids' food comes first, even if it's not the norm in Taiwan, you have a western restaurant with western clientele, and plus, it's what I requested twice as I was ordering.

Thanks for reading. I do like eating at your restaurant, next time I will leave the kids at home.

[BigJohn]

We really enjoyed the food the first time we stumbled across this place in Tianmu, so decided to bring our kids down thinking they'd have fun with some chips and burritos. Mr Eddy, your restaurant needs to be run more efficiently! I asked our nice waiter to please bring the kids food out first, or please bring the chips and salsa out first because they're little kids, they can't occupy themselves for too long. Unfortunately, I didn't read the sign that said the chips were fried on the spot so took 15 minutes to arrive. Then came the kids' meals. We were there on a Saturday before 6 PM. I just read that you have a high turnover and a small kitchen. But you had quite a few staff around, the restaurant was half full, but they were not efficient. Drinks should come first, followed by appetizers/kids meals. My husband's drink came after his meal.

The food presentation both times we've been has been really, really nice. They looked appetizing, clean, and like a lot of care went into their preparation and presentation. But the system in which food comes out needs to be on the ball and efficient. A party of diners always means the kids' food comes first, even if it's not the norm in Taiwan, you have a western restaurant with western clientele, and plus, it's what I requested twice as I was ordering.

Thanks for reading. I do like eating at your restaurant, next time I will leave the kids at home.

I think that if you went very recently, that Mr and Mrs Eddy may have been preoccupied with their little bundle of joy, and the staff left a bit rudderless.

[sandman]

.

[Tomas]

Possibly. Then again, I've been to another Western-style eatery in which the bossman has sprouted -- twice, I do believe -- and the restaurant continues to run. Make no mistake. I love the food Eddy produces, but sorry so say, I haven't been back and can see no option of doing so until the front-of-house gets up to scratch.

This is NOT about the food. It is all about the service. Eddy, you HAVE to realize that no matter how good the food is (and it IS good. VERY good, IMO), if your staff are not up to snuff, then the impression of your food is going to suffer. I remember working as a head chef, and I remember HOW much time and HOW many man-hours went into simple front of house staff training.

You HAVE to get those kids working. You HAVE to.

Seconded. We used to go 3-4 times a month. We recommended the restaurant to many of our friends, wrote good things about it here. The service was always slow and often things came out haphazardly but we put up with it because the food is so good and we like Eddy personally. Then, on Mother's Day night in 2010, we experienced an epic string of service failures about which the people (not) taking care of us seemed to have no sense of empathy or remorse. We ended up leaving after more than an hour of frustration and no food on our table. This, after having reserved a table that night.

We haven't been back since, and we won't go back unless there is an obvious improvement in the way the service steps are carried out and in the way customers are treated. We just don't need the frustration. Eddy is a great guy and his food is amazing, but his restaurant is not well-managed on the service side of things. I really hope he figures out how to get it together. Eddy's is the best Mexican food in Taiwan.