Rosie’s Mexican Cantina, Florence

Rosie’s Mexican Cantina operates a location on North Court Street in downtown Florence, Alabama, part of a small North Alabama restaurant group that traces back to a single restaurant opened on University Drive in Huntsville in December 1995. The Florence location is one of three Rosie’s Cantina restaurants currently operating, alongside a University Drive location in Huntsville and a South Memorial Parkway location in South Huntsville.

The restaurant was founded by Rhonda Martin, BJ Fratesi, Tod Craig, and Sergio Artiga, united by a shared passion for Mexican culture and cuisine, and named for Martin’s grandmother, Rosie Terry DeWhitt, who lived from 1922 to 2006 and owned and operated small cafes for most of her life. DeWhitt welcomed patrons like family and shared her wisdom, philosophy, and encouragement with her granddaughter, including a belief in serving good quality food alongside hard work and respect for others, values the founders have said the restaurant is meant to carry forward under its original founding group rather than outside ownership.

The Florence dining room is decorated with what the restaurant describes as unique works of art and antiques sourced from Old Mexico, alongside fun music, giving the space a fuller, more decorated feel the restaurant characterizes as “fine and festive” rather than a typical strip-mall Mexican restaurant. Patio seating extends the dining room outdoors on the North Court Street side, part of a downtown Florence stretch built around outdoor and street-facing dining options.

The menu is extensive, running from appetizers like chili con queso, priced $7.25 for a cup or $9.55 for a bowl, crab claws, and jalapeño mac and cheese bites through a long list of quesadillas, enchiladas, and burritos. The Mexican Flag Enchiladas, plated in the colors of the Mexican flag, run $16.55. A dedicated section called “Specials of the House” includes dishes like mahi-mahi fish tacos priced $16.95 for a medium portion or $23.25 for a large, a baja fish taco at $17.49, a raspberry chipotle salmon at $22.95, and a Mexican lasagna built with either chicken or beef, options that go beyond standard Tex-Mex into more composed plates.

Fajitas make up a large section of the dinner menu on their own, available with chicken, beef, shrimp, spicy sausage, vegetables, or combinations of proteins, priced for both single and two-person portions. A separate lunch menu, available daily until 4 p.m., offers smaller versions of many of the same dishes at lower prices, giving the restaurant a practical option for a midday meal downtown.

Margaritas are as central to Rosie’s identity as its food, offered frozen or on the rocks, with or without salt, and in sweet or spicy versions, with a house margarita list that includes a strawberry version, a Mambo Taxi, a gold margarita, and a top-shelf tier, alongside a Rosietini and a spicier Jorge’s Hot Rita for guests wanting something beyond a standard frozen margarita. The dessert menu runs separately from the dinner offerings, with sopapillas served two for $6.75 or four for $8.75, a fried ice cream made with vanilla ice cream and strawberries rolled in a flour tortilla with cinnamon sugar for $8.95, churros served with a vanilla brandy sauce in medium ($7.95) or large ($9.95) portions, a tres leches cake soaked with cherry cordial, Bailey’s, and three sweet creams for $10.95, cinnamon nachos for $6.95, and a classic Mexican flan for $6.95. Beyond food and drink, the restaurant sells gift cards and branded t-shirts, and accepts online ordering through ChowNow, along with curbside pickup and DoorDash delivery at the Florence location.

The Florence location is open Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday, with hours running from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and extending to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. As one of only three Rosie’s Cantina locations, all under the same founding ownership group three decades after the first restaurant opened, the Florence dining room carries the same menu and atmosphere that built the brand’s original following in Huntsville.