The Prickly Cactus

After a weekend away in Hobart we came back to Launceston. My love of seafood had been fulfilled down there so my partner booked us in for Mexican at the Prickly Cactus. What a place! Started out with some margaritas which were absolutely delicious. Then a selection of entrees and mains. The food was hot, fresh and tasted delicious. Very filling, we were discussing dessert at the start but just couldn't fit it in we were so full. Super friendly and super nice. Will definitely come back again.

Related and casual with super friendly staff.
The Avocado Mariscos was delightful and the Nachos generously served.

Always a super quick greeting, friendly smiles, great service. They have a good wait time for food considering how busy they can get. The fish bowls are a great cocktail on special between 530pm and 730pm from memory. All meals I've ordered have been a good size, quality food, and well presented. So far there's nothing I wouldn't recommend on their menu. The nachos of course is a classic and an enormous serve which is also pleasing to the eye haha.
The prickly cactus is one of my more favourite restaurants in Launceston and I high recommend stopping buy. Bookings are preferred as with most restaurants.
Remember. Nachos and fish bowl cocktails! ️

OMG! 5: 30 - 7pm = Fishbowl Margaritas $16! Food here was huge and delicious! Awesome staff and great prices!

Once you start reading the menu it starts rolling into one dish, meaning it's all the same thing just you either order it with or without meat.
Don't get too enthusiastic about the Mexican bread it is just a normal garlic pizza.
Don't rush for the excitement of the fish bowl cocktails, they are just a frozen drink with a dash of alcohol very weak indeed try one before 7pm if you want to try one you'll get it cheaper. The staff are a bit ditzy but ok.
All in all not the best

OK food. Service could have been slightly more attentive (less chit chat amongst staff).
Had the fajiyas. Quite yummy but only 3 small tortillas.

Not worth it. Don’t do it. If you’re looking for authentic Mexican and proper drinks, look elsewhere. Food tasted like it was straight out of the microwave and margaritas definitely had zero alcohol and full of sugar syrup (supposed to be fresh juice). No thank you. But hey, $200 later, I guess they’re the winner…. Never again

Worst and most expensive mexican cuisine experience I've ever had. Price/quality is by far the worst I've had in my entire life. If you are Mexican and reading this, please, never go in there. RUN as far as you can.

Two things to highlight as the utter failure:

Cactus bread, 11.95$; this is literally just a pizza. I guess they call it cactus bread as the base is thin'n crispy, topped up with tomato sauce from ALDI and cheese from Woolworth. I'd change its name on the menu 100% so that people don't freak out when getting served a margarita pizza.

3 some entree (3 dips). Frijoles dip, guacamole (feeling like the dip from ALDI) and some cheese with capsicum dip (maybe from Woolworth this one). Don't let the name of this starter blur your mind. 30$ for ALDI nachos with ALDI/Woolworth dips. Anyone can build up this platter at home for 8$ max in 2 minutes. Next level unreal.

Mains were slightly better but overpriced.

165$ for 3 people. The amount of food was good, the quality was just bad, very bad.

This ain't Mexican food. Its the classic Anglo-Saxon style ruining international cuisines.

AVOID at any cost. I really wonder what people understand by nice Mexican food with all these 5 star reviews. People taste is out of control.

Delicious! My family and I all loved our meals here last night! And the staff were very friendly and accommodating! Great Mexican feed!

Great food, good atmosphere, friendly staff and good prices. Highly recommend, worth visiting. Will definitely be back.

Loved this place! We tried the cactus bread which was tortillas with amazing tomato sauce and generous sprinkle of cheese melted on top, I even dare to say it is better than a Margherita pizza! Please do yourself a favour and start with one of these! For mains I had the sizzling fajita in chicken and prawn, the chicken had a lovely smokey savoury flavour, it was charcoal grilled to perfection. The prawns were big and juicy. It was amazing with the piping hot rice, wrapped in a DIY home made tortilla and condiments. Highly recommend trying this.
The pork ribs for us were a bit disappointing, the meat was a bit tough and chewy, the taste was bland but the bbq sauce it was slathered in gave the meat flavour. The wedges seem to have been cooked and left out for a while before the ribs were ready so they were a bit cold when they were served. It’s okay though! Looking forward to try a burrito and avocado mariscos next time!
PS make a booking if you can! This place gets busy!

Awesome atmosphere and meal. Pork ribs, prawns and calamari are awesome. Very highly reccomended.

Delicious food & drinks, very reasonably priced. Staff were super friendly and attentive as well!

The food was really good, i got a veggie burrito and it came with a side of salad and rice. The service however was not good, me and a couple of friends were waiting for two more people and the staff asked us three times if we were ready to order, we said we were waiting for more people. They then asked us twice if we were waiting for more people (this happened in the space of ten minutes). When our friends arrived, staff came straight over to us and asked if we were ready, and our friends hadn’t even opened the menu. Whilst we were deciding what to order one staff member was standing less than a metre away from our table waiting. When our food came, one dish didn’t come out at all and one of my friends got the wrong food. Wouldn’t go there again.

We visited on Wednesday night without booking but they welcomed us very friendly. I asked if we were able to bring a birthday cake and they happily accepted our request:). The food was great and the portion was generous. But what I liked the most was the friendliness of the waitstaff:) Super friendly and smiling all the time. Thank you so much!

Popped in for dinner. Food was okay, but not great. $10 for a taco is a bit steep to be honest, yes it was quite big, but still expensive for what it actually was. Ordered two fishbowls which were quite watery and I wonder whether there was any alcohol added in. Staff were friendly and attentive.

Great service and the food was amazing! I highly recommend the cocktails as they have regular size ones and fishbowl size and they are well priced and taste delicious

The food was terrible, drinks watered down and on top of that the owner was a massive sleaze towards me and my girlfriends and made us feel super uncomfortable. None of us will be returning. Yuck.

Great meals and friendly staff. Had the chilli con cactus was spicy as promised. Ribs were lovely and the mushrooms were to die for.

Excellent food and good choices. Staff attentive and efficient, nice atmosphere and appropriately themed decor. A very pleasant surprise.