La Pantera in Cardiff

Had an excellent time visiting La Pantera mid-September. Staff were welcoming and service was rapid despite it being quite busy. We were able to get some seats outside and could enjoy the last of the sun with our food as it set behind the stadium. We tried the nachos as well as the two meat taco options available and were blown away! Joe, one of the owners was working and talked us through the mezcal they had available which was also fantastic. Would recommend this venue for anyone on a day out in Cardiff, as it has excellent service, great food and a wide selection of drinks.

Great vibe and setting, very friendly staff. Ordered the pork tacos and had to stop myself ordering more, they were so good!

Amazing food. I could enjoy all the food at the street food event at The Bone Yard, Cardiff.

The service is nice, but the food was awful. We ordered gluten-free tacos, and worst thing ever I had. I tried tacos from many shops, but this one's taste, size, and price are not matching. I ordered pulled pork and chicken tacos, which are very small portions and the fillings are just two. For pull pork, it's just pork and cheese, chicken with chips, no sauces, and it's not tasty. The pork was too sweet, and the chicken was salty. It took £9 each; it should be less price with that portion. I do not know what other food might taste like, but for the tacos, I would say no, honestly.

Nice little sun trap terrace for a mid afternoon drink

Great atmosphere and food, friendly staff, highly recommend. Sat outside on a warm evening with a couple of friends, perfect atmosphere for a chat and catch up. Compact menu but a good range of options, the vegan nachos and taco options I had were excellent. Portion/price was reasonable, food was fresh and prepared quickly. I'd enjoy this any time of the year but I think it's particularly great as a summer lunch/dinner option. Went down very well with a Jarritos soda. Looking forward to visiting again, thanks for the great experience.

Really lovely lively place with great soft shell tacos! Pineapple pop was very refreshing. Will be back to try more tacos soon.

Food and drinks are super tasty, made using fresh ingredients and served super quickly. Staff incredibly attentive despite almost always being busy. Staff also great at managing allergies and specific dietary requirements. I’ve been three times in the last two months and it’s consistently been excellent.

The tacos are insane!!! Amber, Joe and Chloe made my night!! They make such a stunning atmosphere we popped in for one cocktail. Ended up staying for 6 hours. Joes bum was 10/10

Food is unreal! Menu changes every month so it keeps ya coming back. The staff are legends, especially Amber! If she’s serving you you’re very lucky!! You’re in for a proper laugh. And the vibes are unrivalled in Cardiff. Go here 👌🏻👌🏻

Fantastic food and staff. Massive shout out to the bar staff which have amazing knowledge on tequila! Especially tall Paul! Fab food from the kitchen. Shout out to the chefs! Thak you la pantera team for a great time!!!

Ok we didn’t eat there, but when we were there the food looked amazing The reason I’m rating this place 5stars is the drinks and the service and Joe (he’s been to Mexico). He was so welcoming and enthusiastic he got us our first round of drinks and when he knew that we were interested in tequila he opened up to be an agave spirit encyclopaedia, he was so generous with his time and knowledge. We spent a great couple of hours drinking beer and tequila and geeking out about mezcal, tequila and Mexico (he’s actually been). Thanks to everyone at La Pantera but especially Joe

Terrible food not even worth the price

Staff very rude as soon as we walked in. Staff were loud and messing around with each other. Food was terrible and tasted off could not wait to leave. 3 of us had the chicken chip shop curry tacos and all 3 had food poisoning. Will never return here stinking dirty place.

Staff had poor attitude as soon as we walked in the door. Food was small, bland and overpriced. Ended up with food poisoning, will never go back.

Would give 0 stars if I could. Extremely Rude staff as soon as we walked in. Need to learn how to speak to customer as I am disgusted how they treated me. Walked out because how rude they was. Some of our group stayed as they really wanted tacos and have all had food poisoning since. Please sort out your manners and your food hygiene standards.

Okay food, garbage service. DONT GO. Despite having a bar-style kitchen, this place is table service only, which is quite weird for a rough-style dirty cocktail and food bar with graffiti everywhere. So I was looking at the bar only for one of the waiters to bark at me that it was table service only so i sat down. But they don't have individual menus so the waiter brought the sign from outside to show me. They had only three tacos to choose from and a lot more drinks, again really strange for a place that doesn't do bar service. I got some tacos and some drinks but they whipped up the tacos in about a few seconds but the drinks took ages so i had a small amount of food with no drink, the beer was long since poured but I had to wait for my cocktail before I could get it. The food was fine, but hardly worth the price, and everything else about the restaurant really made it feel less value. When I was done it took ages for the waiter to even acknowledge me because she was too busy just goofing off with all the other staff. Again, if it was bar service this wouldn't be a problem but I got treated like a moron for not knowing it was table service so I don't appreciate the service being completely unserious after that. So yeah don't go here, the food is fine but it's so expensive for 3 tacos that take less than a minute to whip up and you get treated like a piece of trash by the staff. DON'T GO.

We had all 3 starters, Padron peppers very disappointing and over ripe, nachos were very basic with all ingredients being shop bought. Definitely wouldn’t call it authentic. Wouldn’t go back to eat but would for a drink. Staff could have been nicer, didn’t get a welcomed vibe.

Great atmosphere. Very small portions and rather dry and not tasty tacos. Nachos are good.

Absolutely amazing tacos, some of the best I've had in a while. Really nice cocktails as well. Service was great as well - finished our food and drinks and realized we'd only been in there about 20 minutes. Highly recommend.

Delicious food and drinks, cool vibes and lovely staff

Lovely place to sit outside, eat some delicious tacos, have a beer and munch on padron peppers. Service was spot on and so was the staropramen

Our favourite place in Cardiff. Such a fun atmosphere, caring staff, and delicious food and drink.

Authentic Mexican tacos at the best….. octopus (bit chewy but that’s the norm) or lamb both amazing so tasty…. Freshly cooked and their homemade cheese sauce is to die for…. Definitely recommend this independent restaurant

Great food, the drinks were good too, though a little on the pricey side for them. Would defo visit again.

I love La Pantera. I like that the menu changes, I like that it's all about packing flavour into a set of three bite wonders. The largeritas are a little expensive for how much you get and you'll want to add sides if like me you're a big bugger who gets hungry but honestly the tacos are worth every penny. I've had middling and good service different times when I've been in and usually it's only off a tad when it's busy and folks can't get round to you as fast. Only other critique is that a couple of the booth backs are broken and so I had a strange kind of see-sawing going on with the lad sat behind me but it's a bit of a nit pick. If you're into a quirky vibe you'll love it, those of an overly serious disposition maybe less so...

The tacos and the nachos are delicious. Super chill and relaxed staff that adds to a friendly atmosphere. Excellent playlist. Will definitely visit again.

Excellent food, cool setting and a great vibe. Service is relaxed, but it suits the place.

Stopped for a quick bite, recommended by the guys in SWYD. Great service, great location, great music great staff Did not disappoint

Great service, mellow atmosphere, mostly Stella music and fantastic food and drink, I try to pop in whenever I'm in Cardiff.

Amazing food great service I was sat and eating in 5 mins. Order 2 sets of tacos minimum go on its 18 quid u deserve it. Drinks were great food was Brill staff were sweet

Second visit to this little gem, simple and unfussy menu , Mexican with a twist. Friendly staff lovely atmosphere. Fresh cooked to order will definitely be back

Oh wow! I'm so glad I ate my first ever tacos at La Pantera. We came here based on a recommendation, and I thought "eh, tacos, they'll be a bit boring" but wow the vegan tacos were so yummy! And so were the nachos!!! Thank you La Pantera

Its like they stole my music playlist, tacos amazing, cocktails dangerous

I visited with a group of about 10 friends, we found the server was very rude to us. When we went to check that all the bill had been paid for our group, she tried to charge us £136 remaining on the bill. We said there was no way we could owe that much after everyone had paid - there were only 10 of us and many of us had soft drinks. The server then (in front of us) asked her colleague how much another group who had walked out without paying owed, he said £122….so we owed £14 (one member of our group had left and forgotten to pay) and they wanted to recoup their losses on the other table by asking us to pay it. A terrible customer service experience all around.

Food was amazing...staff very friendly ..attentive and welcoming..venue cosy..location ideal...seating superb

Left hungry. Tacos are £9 and you get three tiny ones. Really not worth the price. The prawn ones were half empty, though the pork ones are filled. The flavour was okay but kind of lacking, especially for the price. Nachos are okay and I liked the salsa but flavour still lacking.

Went there for a date a couple months ago and staff were off their heads, felt like a challenge trying to get served even though the bar was dead because the waiters were too busy taking shots at the bar at one point, only decided to make a review now after hearing my sister also had a horrible experience with a rude waiter the other day. Sounds like there's a pattern.

Great food and staff, Joe is a legend, will be coming back.

The food here was fantastic! So delicious, fresh and hot. The drinks were great, as was the music and service. Don't let anyone or anything put you off visiting, it was supberb!

Fantastic venue, great food and the staff are amazing. Chloe is brilliant x

It’s expensive but a lovely chilled atmosphere for a small group of friends.

This is possibly a great place for food but sadly we can't comment, as we were forgotten about twice and unable to order food. We decided to choose this place to celebrate our wedding anniversary as we had a Mexican wedding and have a love of Mexican food and drink. We arrived and was told to sit outside and wait for a table, and was left with a menu for a good 10/15 mins. We'd made our selection and was waiting for oir order to be taken, or be taken to an indoor table first. We saw numerous groups leave, so were confident we'd be next, before seeing other groups enter and get seated straight away, leaving us still table-less. We politely queried and soon after we're given a seat in the window area. Again, we waited patiently to have our food order taken and numerous tables around us who came after we had, were served straight away, while we kept trying to get the attention of the staff. After another 15+ minutes, we gave up and left. Poor service, and disappointing as we were so excited to come and visit to celebrate. My husband summarised the night: "don't meet your heros".

Fantastic food, service was exceptional. Can not fault anything at all. Lagerita was lovely, we will definitely be going back.

The atmosphere of this restaurant is honestly fantastic. One of the best Playlists I've heard in ages and the ambience is really built with all the decorations. The service was also really good and the tables were nice and clean. However, one of my criteria is always portion and price. For £9 the Tacos you get are disappointing. The meat tasted unseasoned and somewhat tasted of literally nothing. The nachos however are really good. If you're considering going get the Nachos and just add some meat. Not horrible but not great either.

My favourite place in Cardiff. The best tacos and the best margaritas in town!

Visited here Saturday while the rugby was on. This place was almost completely full. I tried the largerita which I didn't rate at all tbh. The food was nice but the tacos were very wet. Very small menu. Overall the experience was just ok

Small mexican spot with great tacos and nachos. Smiling staff too!

Bit unwelcoming. Food was good but very small portions. Had a lagerita which was half a pint of white froth. Not a proper one. Told it was £5, charged £9. But did take them off the bill.

Amazing atmosphere, fantastic food. Loved this place, the “unauthentic tacos” are a nice niche concept done and delivered really well. Made for a really interesting experience we really enjoyed. Having spent quite a while in Mexico, it felt quite familiar as well. Really refreshing to see they mix up the menu every once in a while, but if you can get in there whilst they’re doing El Suico Pork Tacos then definitely don’t miss out. Will definitely be back when in the area.

Sadly I’m from Yorkshire so it won’t be a regular visit for me. Best tacos I’ve ever had. You can tell the staff are passionate about tequila and mezcal too. Gem of a place

Awesome spot, delicious food, great drinks, and amazing staff, can't recommend highly enough! A truly amazing place for food and drinks in the city centre.

Brilliant bar! Very authentic and fantastic staff; couldn’t be more helpful, fun or friendly! Really enjoyed our time here and can’t recommend it enough! If you’re in Cardiff definitely pop in for some great tequila!

Popped in for a Jarrito and a Tequila after a very good meal in Asador 44. Arrogant little barboy made ordering a contest. Please don’t spend your money here.

Amazing tacos, but the tequila and mezcal is the best. I love a lunch here, but 0refer a late night drinking session with dipping gravy!

Lovely food and great atmosphere. Staff were really friendly

Bought a couple tacos and got told we can’t sit down because we had a drink in our hand. To which we said no problem. Even after asking why we can’t sit down and eat after spending over £20 he said we can’t share tables so we got takeaway. Male Staff were super unwelcoming and rude and the one guy got aggressive and said “Is it not normal where you’re from ?” Implying we were foreigners and made us feel super unwelcome to the point where half of us didn’t bother ordering food because of how rude the guy was being. The ladies were lovely and service was good, food is good too.

Food was wet and just warm, Staff are inattentive and distracted by the quest of trying to be hip and fun, factor in the offensive language being thrown around by them in such a small venue, no good for children. Could be so much more.

Awesome little place. Not loads of choice on the menu but that doesn't matter as the food was incredible. Can't wait to go back.

Cool, fun location. Very good food! Extreme selection of Mezcal (200+), rare ones as well. Owner knows his Stuff! Friendly Staff.

Omg this place is UTOPIA for tacos!!! Make sure you get all the choices…. Don’t miss out on one.. and the nachos are to die for, real FRESH guacamole… no ‘smashed avocado’ in this place. If you’re looking for AUTHENTIC Mexican food with a great atmosphere… you’ll find it here!!! You can thank me later …..

Always an amazing time, great people and wicked food and drink.

A gorgeous taco place - the staff were so lovely & knowledgable about both food and drinks. The vibe was great and the food was absolutely amazing. I had the vegan tacos & shared the vegan nachos with my friends who had the meat options & we all thoroughly enjoyed it! Would definitely go back! Wish we were locals!

A great taco place, with a rotating menu of interesting tacos. I had the jerk chicken tacos (you get 3 for £9) and was thoroughly impressed, really flavourful and slightly fruity, the atmosphere was great too, with very friendly staff. Will definitely return.

Always wanted to visit this place when I go to Cardiff but never had the opportunity until now. The food I had here was really tasty but extremely messy to eat, especially if you had it to take away. However, the staff were really lovely and accomodating to me as they were just about to close the kitchen. I do wish I tried other options as the value was really good! This review is purely based off that takeaway I had then and just off that I cant wait to return. Until next time!

We arrived around 6pm for dinner and cocktails before the QOTSA concert at Cardiff Castle after walking past them previously and liking the atmosphere but our experience was less than favourable despite the potential for a good experience being there. We walked in to amazing music (if not slightly too loud) and were sat promptly despite being busy which we appreciated, but following on from that it all went slightly down hill. The menu was 75% sold out, leaving only the nachos, vegetarian taco option and jerk chicken tacos available which didn’t give us much choice. The cocktails were decent but took a long time to arrive and were priced slightly too high for the quality and at no point did any one ask us if we wanted any second drinks. Once the food arrived it was clear the nachos themselves were shop bought and not fresh or made in-house. We saw someone carrying bags of them through the bar to the kitchen. I have been to much cheaper places who fry their own nachos, it should be the minimum requirement for a place that specialises in South American food. The tacos were slightly above average and the jerk chicken itself tasted traditional and had a huge depth of flavour, but the taco was way over powered by the huge blob of gremolata on top and sloppily put together. We were also given no cutlery or napkins despite all the food being finger food. Ignoring the food issues the main complaint of the evening is towards the staff working, especially the bartender who was unnecessarily rude to people coming in looking for tables. I heard him berate a couple for sitting at a dirty table even though it was clear they were unaware it was dirty. I’ve never seen staff so dismissive towards people coming in wanting to try their business. I also find it wild that bar staff we doing shots at the bar at 6pm on a Friday evening during what is clearly a busy service but each to their own. I’d be inclined to believe this is a one off experience going off other reviews but unfortunately we were massively let down by ours.

Rude and obnoxious staff. I asked for a glass of water and was told I was rude. I asked again and got shot down with anger.

Had a bite to eat on a sunny early Sunday evening, nice sheltered spot. Just off main drag and nice indie feel with good value vegan options. Proper, wholesome, tasty food too.

Fabulous tacos, and some of the best agave spirits from Mexico 😍

Phenomenal vibe. Feels like a proper neighbourhood bar with an AMAZING selection of agave! Staff are fantastic with delicious food to match. Will return to smash the ever varying menu.

This place is absolutely bangin

Best atmosphere in central Cardiff, with good food and welcoming staff.

I first attended this establishment shortly after it opened. Those running the place came over to our table to inform us that they were inspired to open the establishment following their "incredible gap yar" in South America where they "really found themselves" and laughed at anyone who hadn't heard of Mezcal. So cultured! So well travelled!! They then proceeded to allow all of the posh boys inside to urinate against another building next door when they queue for their one toilet was too long before removing a homeless man who had come to sit next to our group for drinking his own bottle of wine. They then, and I am deadly serious, shouted "I will fill you in" at us when we tried to protest and ask that the homeless man be allowed to stay before physically removing us. On my most recent visit it seems the same people are running the place with the same attitude as I had discovered before.

Went on a saturday…Music too loud. Slow service, okay food.

Vegan and gluten free options. Superb service. Absolutely loved it.

Visited for the first time this week and will definitely be returning. The tacos were incredible, particularly the chicken and pork. The nachos also tasted really fresh. Would highly recommend the lageritas too! Staff were super friendly and the decor was great, though the toilet could use a bit of an update.

Faultless food, largaritas are second to NONE and bar staff are literally lush.

Waiter with moustache very rude

We love this place - the banter of the staff, food is delicious and cocktails are lush (just make sure you like tequila / mescal) highly recommend for a quick pit stop, lunch or dinner. The photos of all the wrestlers create a great drinking game too !

Lovely food, brilliant service, bustling and lively atmosphere. Would definitely go back👌

Really rude member of staff. Wish we’d got up and left at that point.

Brilliant little bar, fantastic service from attentive staff despite how busy they get and the best unauthentic tacos in town, just as promised. First visited Thursday, had to come back Friday after work for more of the pork pibil tacos and tater tots. You've just acquired a couple more regulars, that's for sure!

La Pantera is the self-declared Home of the Unauthentic Taco. And it does exactly what it says on the tin. This is not a 'fine dining experience' but it's certainly an experience and the people here know what they're doing. A super casual setting, informal but staff who know what they're on about is something I can really get behind, and is something I think should be taken more seriously when it comes to dining out. I've had great nights out here including our works Christmas party but with the most delicious fresh tacos and Mezcal tasing flights to boot. Both their food and cocktail menus change weekly - what more could you ask for? Because of this no visit ever delivers the same experience but it's always good.

Arrived with barely enough time to eat before a concert. Staff were amazing, gave us recommendations, were quick with everything and extremely polite. Food was lovely, so much so that I could have easily eaten it all and left my wife to starve. Wonderful atmosphere, bustling crowd, music, it all made for a great experience even if we were only there for 45 minutes.

As someone who dines with a Vegan who is into their food, we tend to single out places to eat at; we both loved Mexican food as well but wanted to try something different to Wahaca. We both had been meaning to try out La Pantera for a while and it was really cute in there, really nicely decorated and the background music was mostly Tool and Deftones (which was pretty cool). The waiter who took our order was really nice and was enthusiastic about the menu (specifically the vegan stuff). It's a small spot so it's easy to feel a bit squished if the table behind you decides to move around a lot, but otherwise a really cute setup and the menu was ace (I think it changes a bit as well which is pretty cool as well). Definitely one of the more flavourful places to go if you're a Vegan in Cardiff.

Great little taco place. They have three varieties at any point. When we visited we had the pork one and the jackfruit one which were both delicious!

You have to stop here if you’re in Cardiff. The food is amazing and super fresh and I had the best spicy margarita I’ve ever had here. No doubt would recommend!

Food and service were great. A tad expensive (£4.50 for a very average soda) but the menu changes every so often, so plenty of choice and will revisit.

Disappointing. We had two pulled pork tacos, a portion of sweet potato fritters, and two margaritas. £42. The tacos were very bland, and very wet (so that they were almost impossible to pick up without everything leaking out), and only just warm enough. They were served with a sauce (which was hot, but frankly you couldn't add any more fluid to the tacos unless you wanted a soup). The potato fritters were very good. Crisp, well seasoned and tasty. The margaritas are not good value for money. They were served in a sort of jug (the waiter apologized), full of ice, but very little actual drink. The staff were helpful. I genuinely fail to see how they have such good ratings for their food. Perhaps we caught them on an off day without the usual kitchen staff but we won't be returning.

First visit, hopefully not the last. Lively little place with pleasant helpful staff

Can't fault the food or service! We ordered nachos, chicken and fish tacos, and churros, along with a cocktail each. The server was very accommodating for our dog and of us giving an easy to follow explanation of the menu, cocktails, and range of drinks...

Best place to get mexican spirits by far. The service is amazing and the decor is great. Coming from a true mexican, this place feels a bit like home.

So tasty, personnel are quite lovely

Polite friendly staff, yummy tacos and nachos. Definitely coming back one day!

Good beer, tasty tacos, friendly staff. Love it 😊

I love this place so much, it's always a solid choice when in Cardiff. Their menu changes which is awesome and great to try new dishes. Their tacos are obviously amazing but I love their cocktails too, the hot pickle marg was my absolute favourite!...

Love exploring my way through Cardiff food places. Told by a friend to try La Pantera. Good tasting food, good service, with a bit of rock music thrown in. Fab lunch 🤘😋

Best tacos in Cardiff and great drinks!

Unconventional tacos and boatloads of tequila, prepare for great food and a superb bunch who truly love what they do!

Really lovely people in this bar as we discovered in so many places in Cardiff. We had a couple of cocktails and would have eaten here too had we discovered it earlier.