If you are a big fan of Mexican food, and happen to be in Halifax, Nova Scotia, then Antojo’s is the place for you! Greg and I are always looking for the perfect place for Mexican Cuisine and we most certainly found it.
Location:
1667 Argyle Street, Halifax Nova Scotia
Ambience:
The ambience in Antojo’s is gorgeous. It’s dimly lit, (perfect for that date night!) full of your fun, but classy Mexican decor.
Food & Drink:
Definitely make sure you are hungry going to Antojo’s, because you are going to leave STUFFED! Our meal was probably one of the best I’ve had out in a long time. Everything was delicious.
To start, we both ordered a margarita, because why wouldn’t we? We are at a Mexican restaurant after all! I ordered the “Classic” margarita, which is Jose Cuervo silver tequila, with cointreau and fresh lime. It was perfect, just the way a classic should be! Greg was a bit more adventurous and decided to “spice things up a bit”, he ordered the “Deal with the Devil” margarita, which was Jose Cuervo reposed, cyan, sombre mezcal and chipotle lime syrup. His was delicious too, but be warned, it lives up to it’s name and definitely has that spicy kick!
His was delicious too, but be warned, it lives up to it’s name and definitely has that spicy kick!
Before your food comes out, the waitress will bring over their selection of hot sauces for your table. This was right up Greg’s alley as he definitely enjoys his variations of hot sauces (our cupboard at home is full of them!)
They have four selections to choose from, starting with the least spicy, ending with the most spicy. The first one is your usual Valentina hot sauce (this is something that we ALWAYS have at home, so we didn’t use this one), followed by Roasted Jalapeño, Habanero & Carrot, and finally, the spiciest one Chile D’arbol. My personal favourites were the Roasted Jalapeño and the Habanero & Carrot.
For our appetizer, we ordered the Beef Taquitos. These were AMAZING! They are beef, crema, avocado salsa, and roasted red pepper sauce all fried in a wrapped tortilla. They were crunchy and delightful.
After our delicious appetizer, I had ordered the Nachos (okay, okay I know, there are probably better things to try but I’m the Nacho Queen, and I know if I want great nachos then ordering them at a Mexican restaurant is a great place to do that! And NO REGRETS!) The nachos were piled high in a skillet with pork carnitas (you could also order grilled steak, chicken, chorizo or sunny side eggs instead), with black beans, crema, guacamole, cilantro, cheese and fresh tomato salsa. I wasn’t able to finish these on my own, so we took the rest to go (even after Greg helped out!), but they were absolutely amazing. Probably in my top 5 nachos at restaurants.
For Greg’s entree, he went with a selection of four different tacos. Each taco is served on a soft corn tortilla, and there are tons of variations to choose from. Greg chose:
- Pork Carnitas – $5, pork confit, pickled onion, cilantro with roasted jalapeño sauce
- Beef Tongue – $5, slow braised beef tongue, cilantro and onion
- Al Pastor – $5, spit-roasted marinated pork, morita chile salsa, grilled pineapple, cilantro and onion
- Pork Belly – $6, Crispy pork belly, crema, housemade inferno sauce, Valentina battered onions and cilantro
Greg’s thoroughly enjoyed all four tacos, with surprisingly the beef tongue being his favourite. Greg is very adventurous with food and always excited to try new things, therefore the “Beef Tongue” definitely caught his eye. I ended up trying a bite as well and to be honest, the beef tongue was surprisingly delicious – despite what it is. So if you can distract yourself from what’s in your taco, I really do recommend!
Service & Hospitality
So, if you noticed in the list of tacos above, the pork belly taco mentioned BOTH “housemate inferno sauce” plus “Valentina battered onions”, that’s already two hot sauces on this one taco, (one even being an “inferno”). Greg just say “pork belly” and ordered it, and I can’t blame him, because he adores spicy foods so why would he ever worry about the spice content? Well, this time he probably should have read the description because he also ended up. putting EXTRA hot sauce on this taco. That’s right, this one little taco now had inferno, Valentina, and Chile d’arbol (which was the spiciest hot sauce they gave us for the table). Greg was suddenly sweating and tearing up from the heat of this taco (as I was laughing hysterically and whipped out my camera to film it – oops!) The waitress was so sweet, she ran right over and brought him more water. When she realized that didn’t seem to do the trick, she ran and grabbed him a few packets of sugar and told him to eat those and it will help counter the heat. Who knew? Well she was absolutely right! Greg started throwing back “sugar shots” and chugging back more water and then felt way better. It was hilarious, but the waitress was so sweet and helpful and the entire time she made sure Greg was okay.
I was basically no help, we were both crying. He was crying involuntary tears from the spice, and I was crying from laughing. Again, trust me he knows I love him, but it was just too funny! I never thought I would see Greg suffer from spicy food like that!
Besides Greg’s little hot sauce incident, our server was absolutely great the entire time. She super attentive, always stopping by our table to see if we needed anything, or to check how our drinks and food was. She was really sweet and everyone there was pleasant and attentive from the time we walked in.
Social Distancing
Much like other establishments right now, Antojo’s is following proper social distancing and sanitizing procedures. We made reservations just in case ahead of time, but they didn’t end up being necessary for the time of day that we were there. However, I highly recommend getting reservations in advance as this restaurant is on the very popular Argyle strip and can fill up fast (especially it’s lovely patio outside during the summer months).
As Nova Scotia now requires masks while in any public buildings, this is the same for restaurants. You need to wear a mask going in and out, or to the washroom or anywhere that requires you to leave your table, however while at your table you are able to remove your mask. All staff are wearing a mask and sanitizing tables regularly. No one was seated anywhere near us and everyone seemed to be properly distanced.
Conclusion
This was our first visit to Antojo’s (on August 1st, 2020) and it was definitely amazing. It is now one of our favourite restaurants in Halifax to eat at, and Greg and I will most certainly be back! Anyone who likes Mexican food or just wants a great Margarita, we highly recommend. If you don’t like spicy, don’t worry, your server will be helpful in directing you on any ingredients you aren’t sure of and for example, my nachos were definitely not spicy because I even added some hot sauce to them. There will be options for whatever your taste buds are, but just be a bit more cautious in reading the menu if you aren’t Mexican lovers like us!
If you have eaten here before, what did you have? We are always looking for recommendations on what we should try next!
If you want to learn more about Antojo’s check out our Vlog here on our Halifax Staycation, to see our delicious meal at Antojo’s:
For more information on Antojo’s Tacos & Tequila, check out their website here!
Maritime Meg & Her Sidekick Greg 