What a pleasant surprise. I was hesitant to go as I'm not a ran of Zaks diner (it's sister restaurant) but we were looking for a quick tasty meal. We had nachos (which were huge) and a burrito bowl. It was very tasty and a decent portion. It needed a little bit of spicy seasoning to put it over the top. The bus inside the restaurant was very fun and with an elevated view of the bar a great place to people watch. The bartender looked like he was making some yummy cocktails. I would go back. Might just give Zaks diner a second chance.

This is a great little place right in the heart of the "food and drink sector" of the Market. If you like cantina style Mexican munchies, look no further! The ambience and atmosphere were enough to make the trip worth it, and of course the food was spectacular! I couldn't believe how amazing their chicken tortilla soup was! I'll go back just for a huge bowl of that! It came as a side to my 3 delicious tacos. My girlfriend had a burrito, it was a very big one and the fries that came with it were very excellent. The prices were fair and the service was very good. We actually ate inside the bus, which is quaintly parked at the entrance facing you as you enter. Hilarious and adorable! There are a few seating options, not to mention the bar. The decor of the whole place is just wonderful and charming, along with the oldies diner music. It will be a place we will return to many times. 😊✌❤

Friendly service and a nice atmosphere. However the quality of the food could be better. Most Mexican restaurants that I’ve been to usually have house made salad. At Zak’s the salsa tasted as if it came Costco. Also it would have been nice to have a greater variety of hot sauces to complement the food. Overall, not the best value for your money in my opinion.

Edited- Love the extended section to the old diner. This has a very nice, chic and aesthetic vibe to it. I loved loved LOVED the milkshakes and it's portion 😍 the food was perfectly cooked and the quantity is a lot for a single person so please share your meal!! Zak's is the kind of place that you cannot get tired of. It is a little pricey but worth it as their portion is large. Friendly staff that keep checking on you and make you feel instantly comfortable. 💯 recommend!!

The place is a good experience...especially if you have kids and want to sit inside a bus. Covid protocols are in place. Food quantity is good and the service being covid with reduced staff was good as well

More for the aesthetics and atmosphere, but the food tasted average. My friend said it was the best nachos she had though. Also I feel like the best part of the restaurant was because you get to sit in a bus and eat your food. The bus does not sit big groups so if your group is bigger than 4 than you'll have to separate.

Eclectic by design and bursting with colours. The idea of having a school bus you can dine in, inside the restaurant was absolute genius. The whole theme of the place makes it a fun experience. The menu offerings match the aesthetic appearance, and the friendly staff bring it all together. Great place to come with kids as well. Our daughter enjoyed playing in the little kitchen while we waited for our food.

Worst place I have eaten. Chicken Taco was nasty, tasted like chicken out of a can. Fish Tacos were no good. Veggie Tacos were filled with oil. Getting the opportunity to open up in a pandemic and you serve such nonsense, I would never eat here again.

Their is nothing that I dont enjoy at the Cantina ! Weather it's eating a chimichanga inside a bus or having some chips and guac on the patio, this place is great ! The decorations for Día de los Muertos are amazing ❤️ Staff is always super friendly and the service is always quick ! 👌💯

If there were zero stars, I would give zero stars for service from the gal behind the bar on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022 at around 1pm. My husband walked in with our 2 kids and ordered a chicken nugget and a pogo stick kids meals. On the menu, it says that the meal includes a drink and dessert. My husband didn't ask for the drink and dessert when ordering, thinking that the waitress would ask later. When the food arrived, she didn't bring drinks and ice cream with the meals, and my husband asked about them. Then the waitress said you should have asked when you're ordering the meal. She proceeded to prepare the drinks as if we did something wrong. Then we asked for the dessert. She checked the menu to see if it came with a dessert. Shouldn't she know? She couldn't see the dessert so she said "what do you know? The meal doesn't come with dessert anymore." turns out she was looking at the breakfast menu. She begrudgingly gave us the ice cream. Before we left, we asked her for take out spoons but there none so we got forks. The last thing she said to us was," next time, you should tell me in advance because I can't read your mind!" how rude! As the host, shouldn't you be a little more polite? Also, you should ask the customer if they want the juice or dessert instead of chiding them for asking for it later. It's the server's job to clarify the menu. Not the customers. It just made me so mad that she was rude too. We will definitely not go back again. Everybody in Ottawa was nice until we came here. Shame on her.

Stopped in for happy hour tacos. I ordered the Gringo, Fish and shredded beef tacos and have nothing but good things to say about flavour. It was definitely just the right amount of food for me and, at $2.50 each, not bad for a meal. The only catch with the happy hour deal is you have to order a drink in order to get the tacos. The service was incredibly friendly, we were seated and got food quickly, however, it took a while to get the receipt and pay (which was a bit frustrating as my friend and co-eater had to get to her shift).

I went here few days ago w my friend and the place was super busy and loud. I understand it is a place to be like that with theme but the thing is none of the staffs cared about us so we waited for 10 minutes standing front. Finally had chance to sit and I ordered chicken wrap with garlic sauce, and it was very salty. All I could taste was SAUCE. Fries were nice though… BUT it took 40 minutes to wait and got this result… I paid about 25 to 27 dollars including tips and taxes, and I think it is overpriced for this sauce depended fast food…

My server is amazing, great suggestions. we are lucky to have a great server. makes a big difference. the environment is amazing. it just started to rain while we sat outside and we moved inside the school bus. other servers said they will inform my server. but no one did. my server was amazing looking for us with a full tray of food on her shoulder. food is ok but generous portion.

Maybe their food tastes like heaven, but we wouldn't know because they didn't even let us line up for it. When we went to line up at the reception, nobody was attending to us for us to even ask how long the line up was gonna be. And then it started pouring rain, and we were all told to leave. I asked if there's a place we can go and still keep our place in the line, the waitress repeated multiple times "I don't know, but you have to leave RIGHT NOW". So we left and went to another restaurant where the staff actually knew how to treat customers nicely.

Good flavourful food, decent quantities and a reasonable amount of variety. Slightly pricey but you can get drinks which is a plus. Very peppy interiors and responsive staff.. would go back!

It's a bit of a misleading google posting. Zak's Cantina doesn't appear to be its' own restaurant now. I guess looking at past reviews it once was, but it's not anymore. It's really disappointing. My family and I went to the city specifically to eat at this restaurant around 2pm on a weekday to try to get to eat in the bus shown in the pictures, but we were told by someone cleaning inside about how Zak's Cantina is only open when Zak's diner next door is really busy, and maybe on the weekends. I don't know why it has its own hours listed here, when they aren't true. They also said that the menu at the diner is the same as the Cantina one, which is true now, but there are like two or three things you could say are TexMex on the menu with a whole bunch of diner food. Also, the decor at the Diner does not compare to the decor at the Cantina. There is a bit more that could be said about this posting not matching real life, but it is what it is. I personally think they should update this posting or just delete it entirely and write something about the Cantina on the Diner's posting. It would probably save some trouble.

If I could give it a zero, I truly would. I had the beef quesadilla and chicken taco. The tortillas were dry, falling apart and had an odd taste. I ended up getting food poisoning. I do not recommend!!!!

Rather confusing experience. I wanted to go to Zak‘s Cantina but it seems like the Cantina is closed and only Zak‘s dinner is open. The employee told me it’s the same but the menu is different than Zak‘s cantina. Not what I expected but the quesadilla was decent.

It was fine. Every order at the table had an error, albeit small; Was quite a wait too.

Good food and nice ambience.

Enjoyable breakfast. good service and food!!

Great location, good customer service. Love the old school decor.

We came for dinner last night. We had veggie nachos and a club house sandwich. It was so good and plenty! We came back for breakfast today! Zak’s omelette and Zak’s big breakfast. Delicious but couldn’t eat all of it. Service is great! Servers super friendly. 5 stars all the way! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️