Not quite a corporate conglomerate and certainly not mom-and-pop, the restaurant group model has been tightening its grip on Kansas City dining. You see this when you read about another Third Street Social opening (the newest one in Olathe makes that four total across the metro) or another local establishment being swept up in the arm of the W. VinZant restaurant group, which acquired Cafe Trio, Heritage by Bo Lings and Waldo Pizza over the past couple of years. No doubt it’s efficient, scalable and becoming increasingly the norm, but the opening of each polished new restaurant raises a question: What gets lost when restaurants are built to succeed on paper first?
The Rockhill Restaurant Group has taken a seemingly slow and intentional approach, having opened its flagship restaurant, The Rockhill Grille, in 2016, The Wise Guy eight years later and, in December of last year, Crossroads Cantina. The Rockhill Grille has marked its spot in KC as a pretty solid, somewhat upscale American fare restaurant while The Wise Guy offers the Italian-American red-sauced comforts of pizza, pasta and, let’s face it, an oddly overwhelming amount of TVs. Crossroads Cantina advertises itself as a “Mexican joint” via a painted sign on the restaurant’s west exterior.
The mint-green building will catch your eye from the outside and the inside. Formerly home to a telecommunications company, the building has been nicely reworked. Eucalyptus and blushy pink colors wash the walls. There’s a tile-lined bar, flickering tabletop flames and, on the west side of the building, a pretty stellar dining room that can turn into a patio with its retractable roof when weather permits. With a happy hour menu and the opportunity to come in for lunch, it’s clear the restaurant is positioning itself, as many do these days, as both a classic date night and a place to pop in for a casual bite. A $59 ribeye from the woodfire grill, fueled by pecan wood, is a choice, but so is a nice big platter of nachos that will feed the table. Overall, the menu is based in the Mexican familiars of fajitas, enchiladas and margaritas with classic Mexican ingredients like cotija and Tajín worked throughout many of the dishes. You know the deal.
As it stands now, there’s a disconnect. With all its sophistication, the atmosphere sits in contrast to the food, which feels restrained and overly reliant on low-lift dishes.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with sticking to the hits, and national food conversations have finally moved past the idea that “authenticity” is some rigid box to check. Not every restaurant needs to reinvent the wheel, and not every diner is looking for a chef-driven meditation on the process of nixtamalization or al pastor. But familiars still require execution, and it’s there that Crossroads Cantina is currently lacking.
Drinks are an easy place to start. Margaritas dominate, as they should. There’s a nicely balanced mezcal variation with strawberry while another, frothed with egg white and agave, is tart and smooth. The house margarita does its job without much fuss. The much-recommended seasonal coconut version has become such a hit that Crossroads Cantina is adding it as a regular on the menu. Beyond margs, La Granadilla, brightened with prosecco and passion fruit, is a highlight.
After you arrive at your table, you’ll be greeted with a complimentary bowl of chips and garlicky house-made salsa. Other dips include a green chile queso and slightly creamy Tajín-dusted sweet corn. Among the appetizers, the birria taquitos are a welcome variation in a world that is constantly trying to work the stewy taco into everything (which I’m not complaining about). The taquitos offer a nice crisp contrast to the sopping, cheesy birria, and it’s a dish that feels considered.
On paper, the elote deviled eggs with grilled corn relish, pickled jalapeños, cotija and Tajín are hard to have an issue with. The filling is nice, but it’s the egg whites themselves that land with an oddly rubbery bite and it’s hard to ignore. The Catina’s egg whites echo the same texture I encountered at The Wise Guy’s more than two years ago. Whether it’s a matter of prep or holding time, it’s a rare case where consistency isn’t working in the restaurant’s favor.
Seafood, in particular, also seems to struggle to find its footing. Tuna tostadas are overwhelmed by guacamole, burying any clean, briny flavor the fish might offer. A redfish entree arrived dry, even when topped with the smoky, nutty glory of salsa macha, while shrimp, tucked into enchiladas, somehow managed to register as nearly flavorless. The restaurant says the redfish will soon come off the menu as part of a broader refinement of dishes already underway. Fajitas come piled over zucchini that reads more as filler than enhancement, despite the restaurant’s intention to make the dish feel more vegetable-forward and elevated. I’d recommend ordering it with the hanger steak, not chicken. Tacos, whether filled with steak or portobello mushroom, pass without leaving much of an impression.
On more than one occasion, as my entree sat in front of me, I kept reaching for the more consistently satisfying chips and dip.
The uncomfortable truth is not that Crossroads Cantina’s menu lacks originality; it’s that it feels like it was opened by a restaurant group, as if it were sort of reverse-engineered for reliability: Give people a great space, pour some tequila, and let familiarity do the rest. But Mexican cuisine, for all its comfort, isn’t a guaranteed win.
The other problem Crossroads Cantina runs up against is that Kansas City isn’t lacking excellent Mexican food. Far from it. Across the metro, you can find tacos, birria, tortillas, pozole and more worthy of national acclaim tucked into an otherwise forgotten strip mall or slung from food trucks. In KCK, stretches of State, Central and Kansas Avenues pack in these Mexican joints and taquerias block after block. Even on the outskirts, Burritos To Go turns out some crazy-good red pork burritos, and A & J Molcajete, a real hole-in-the-wall, serves some of the best cactus tacos in the city. Even spots like Tiki Taco have their own niche with the option to pile curly fries into most of their fast-casual plates. On the fine dining side of things, T’ähä earnestly serves the flavors of Hildalgo, Mexico, where owner Jose Gomez and his father have roots. Mexican food can be presented in many ways, so this isn’t about a need for innovation, dishes with “twists” or advanced techniques. These places succeed because they feel specific and intentional. They know their lane, commit to it fully and offer something that feels distinctly their own—and often at a price point that makes an average $6 taco elsewhere feel like a stretch.
The restaurant group model doesn’t inherently lack creativity or a commitment to the food, and even your favorite chef has to learn to successfully navigate the business side of things. Shared resources, centralized operations and wholesale discounts make it easier to expand while reducing risk, and this is an infrastructure independent restaurants simply don’t have. All this efficiency, however, can blur identity, and the result is a restaurant that looks the part and plays the part but doesn’t quite inhabit it.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a path forward. The bones are there. Crossroads Cantina has a prime location, a beautiful space, very friendly and well-trained staff and a menu that could, with sharper execution, meet the expectations it sets. The restaurant says additional menu refinements are already underway, and an upcoming courtyard space with its own lighter food and drink menu may further shape the restaurant’s identity heading into warmer months. It’s clear Crossroads Cantina has set the scene for a good time. Now it needs food memorable enough to carry it.
