Navajo Joe

Myself and friends dined at Navajo Joes for a birthday. We had the 3 course Christmas Dinner Menu for £30 a head. For this price, we were expecting something special.

Sadly we were very disappointed. The Goats Cheese Tart was average, and the turkey dinner was cold consisting of half cooked vegetables. When we mentioned this to our waiter he shrugged his shoulders with no hint of an apology. To make matters worse, when they confused our desserts the reply from the waiter was "whatever" in true Vicky Pollard style.

After making over £450 from our table for disgusting arrogant service we proceeded downstairs to the bar area. Two of our friends left the bar area to visit the toilet in the next corridor. On return they were then promptly told they could not re enter as the establishment was apparently full to capacity. This seemed somewhat ridiculous as there was plenty of space.

This seemed like the last straw so we finally approached the manager and gave him our feedback. He apologised and gave us a free bottle of wine, However in hindsight this only goes so way to rectifying a really disappointing experience. I would NEVER recommend this venue to anyone and would strongly advise people reading this to go elsewhere.
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Louise
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Sunday, December 09, 2007

This is probably one of the best restaurants in Covent garden, maybe even London. The place is so atmospheric, with the choice of music and some of the very individual art pieces on the walls. The service was spot on, I wasn't rushed, the staff were polite and the always checked if everything was all right with your food and more than willing to change something if it wasn't quite right.

The first time I went there was there for my birthday. I easily spent we easily spent more than a few hundred on the mix of food and drinks.

I went through nearly every item on the Amusements list including Coxina Chicken w/ Tabasco and lime dressing, Sticky BBQ wings, Hoi-sin duck nachos, Kangaroo meatballs, Thai beef sausage rolls and the Steak Teriyaki. The food was absolutely outstanding. I've never eaten food with such taste before

We shot straight on to our Starters including Roast Duck Quesadilla. Mains Consisted of Various dishes, I in-fact ordered 3 for myself. With highlights such as an 8oz Sirloin, Peri Peri chicken and slow roast crispy pork. Among the 5 of us we practically bought the whole menu, along with many, many cocktails such as Clockwork Orange, Mexican Wave, Espresso Martini, French Martini's, Manhattan's and Mojito's. It was an outstanding Drinks collection with an amazing Wine collection, including a very special Quinto Di Verona 2000 red.

Overall this is one of the best restaurants/bars I've been in, and I now visit there regularly, for either a few drinks with friends, or a quick and easy lunch, and coincidentally I'm recognised and appreciated for being a regular customer, boiling down to there excellent customer service. I personally think everyone should visit this restaurant at least once. You won't regret it.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, December 06, 2007

It was my friend's birthday, and I have to say I was dubious, and, as it turned out, with every reason. The cocktails were seven pounds and average. I'd rather pay the same amount to go to a decent bar and have proper cocktails. It took about half an hour to get served any drinks. This was particularly annoying as we eventually managed to order at seven on the dot and then were promptly told "happy hour" was over. We were shown to our table a while later and were promptly ignored. Eventually a manager came over to check that we were indeed the booking which we had already confirmed with the waitress who showed us to the table. My friend had to get up to order four bottles of wine for the table, they took an age to appear. The service was rude and cursory. We eventually managed to order and then waited more than half an hour for the starters. In a word, inedible. Utterly revolting and tiny portions. The pork and prawn dumplings were unspeakably bad, although vying with the asparagus tempura for this accolade. Another forty minutes passed while we waited for our mains. I can honestly say I would have got far more joy from an Old El Paso dinner kit. The chicken was reformed meat. And the guacamole and salsa etc came in tiny pots and we were staggered on checking the bill to discover we had been charged extra to supplement the paltry amounts we had originally been given. We were missing two mains which took a long time to remedy.

I don't think I can use enough derogatory adjectives to describe this miserable establishment and I have not encountered such appalling service, I am glad to say, for a very long time. The loos were also a total disgrace. It honestly is the worst meal I have had in London, with not one redeeming element.
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Stella
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

-Rude Staff

-V. Rude Staff

-Disorganised staff

-V. Disorganised staff

-Food is average, it took 1.5 hours to get our main courses and were made to feel like whinging brats by the rude and disorganised staff - why bother?

The Claw was unimpressed.
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The Claw
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Monday, November 26, 2007

I have been coming to Navajo Joe's since 1997. I can remember a time not too long ago that this was an awesome bar and restaurant. Although I still love the bar (which is a hard thing to do after yet again another horrible experience at the restaurant) I will struggle to go back.

The restaurant does the best fajitas in London - but you need to be ready to wait two hours as the wait staff are completely unorganised and rude. The last two occasions that me and my girlfriend ate there have been horrible. First we went for brunch on Sunday. We were one of five tables in this large restaurant. It took ages for anyone to even offer us drinks, when they did we had to ask for them three times as we did for everything including the bill. The staff were rude and the eggs Benedict mediocre.

On Saturday we went again with some friends. We promised them a great venue with great food. We arrived at 10 minutes to 9 for our 9 o'clock reservation. Unfortunately the staff did not want to free up our table which was occupied with the previous sittings diners and they gave all the other tables away. We were sat one hour late and did not receive our main courses until 11. We were constantly made to feel like it was our fault.

If you want a great Patron Margarita go to this place. But I would never go there to eat again!
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Matt Smith
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Monday, November 26, 2007

went 1 Sept 2007 and not a great place. i love loud music but not when i'm eating. food took ages to come out and i would have rated the service even less had it not been for the fact that the eastern european waitress was so nice and polite and she advised me that i shouldn't have the salmon because it is so small. i had sword fish for main which was fairly nice but my girlfriend didn't like her piri piri chicken at all. there were people complaining all around us and the bill wasn't that cheap and we hardly had anything to drink.
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Philip Turner - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Friday, September 07, 2007

Dined at 5pm for pre theatre family meal. Location excellent, right in the heart of Covent Garden. The atmosphere at that time was pleasantly quiet. We booked specifically because this guide describes it as 'Kid Friendly' - hardly. They don't have a kids menu or portions - although the kid loved the fajitas. That said the shrimp fajitas only came with 6 on a bed of cooked onions to be used to make up 4 tortilias - not good value. The bill wasn't very parent friendly (£30 per head) and poor value compared to similar style restaurants. The alocholic cockails we had were delicious and reasonably priced £6.75. The service was friendly but they seemed to have a lot of staff doing nothing. Won't go again.
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Steve
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Friday, August 31, 2007

I have been to this resturant twice both at lunch times as I work round the corner. The first time I had the Cobb salad which was chicken and bacon and a few other things, when it arrived after quite a long wait considering the place was empty my first question was 'where's the chicken' there were litterally 5 little cubes! I complained and said £8 for a salad with such a megre portion of chicken was a complete rip off! The staff were quite rude and it was all a bit embarrassing but they eventually bought me another chicken breast to add to the salad!

The second time last week the service was terrible - there were a group of 30 of us and they actually forgot 3 of the meals althogether - that is 10%! I know it's a big number of people to deal with but apart from us the place was empty - not great for a resturant in Covent Garden on a Friday lunchtime!

All in all the portions are little - you don't get enough accompaniments with the fagitas for example and we all had to order sides and it was only lunch time!
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Louise
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, August 07, 2007

My boyfriend had booked us a table at Navajo Joe's as part of a package with theatre tickets. We were booked in at 6 but arrived a little early to enjoy a couple of drinks in the bar first. Cocktails were nice and prices weren't too high considering the location. Theatre package menu was quite limited (4 starters / 4 mains - only one vegetarian option on each) and there were supplements on what we'd already paid for some of the more interesting options. So managed to spend £20 on a meal we'd already paid for! Atmosphere was good and the staff were very friendly and helpful. Would recommend this package as service was quick (without feeling rushed) and we had no problems getting to the theatre on time. Good way to start the evening.
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Vicky S
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Saturday, June 09, 2007

Booked a table for 6 on a Saturday night and we were sat up on the mezzanine level overlooking the bar. It is definitely geared for those on a night out rather than a quiet romantic evening (music and noise) but great atmosphere in a central location, if that is what you're looking for. Cocktails are great, and was pleasantly surprised about the food. Ordered the chicken with lime and mango salsa and it was very very good. It came with a burrito sliced in two. The presentation was great and the service was friendly. Others ordered fajitas, crispy pork and all were impressed with their meals. It's a fun night out with good food in such a touristy area!
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Kyoko
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, May 07, 2007