Navarro's

We are visiting from Canada and have rented a flat on Fitzroy.St. Looking for dinner at 20:30 and walked in to a very busy Navarro's. They, fortunately, had one table for two available.

The staff were extremely friendly with heavy Spanish accents but we worked through it good naturedly. The menu is well laid out separating vegetarian, seafood and meat. We ordered one from each column along with olives, bread and a couple of glasses of a very nice rosé.

We highly recommend the Chipirones a la Plancha (char grilled baby squid) and the Ensalada Arabe (chick pea salad with olive oil, mint and cumin). Both were outstanding. The chicken and chorizo were standard Spanish fare.

We were lucky with our walk up but groups of 4 or more definitely require a reservation. They appear to have a function room which emptied as we were leaving and this entire group seemed well satisfied also.
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David and Candace Cunningham
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I can see why some people may think the service in Navarros is bad, however I think its being picky.

I rang at 6:30 on a Saturday night for a table of 4 at 8. There was nothing available, however the girl said she thinks there will be a cancellation, so she took my number to call me back. I didn't think she would, but presto 20 minutes later she did.

We had a great meal. The waitresses have a think accent that can be hard to understand. But what do you expect, an Irish one? When they bring the food out just ask them what it is the are putting down. Otherwise they will assume you heard them. Our waitress put the first lot down, said what it was and walked away. We were a bit confused, so the next time she came we asked her. And she apologized and took her time from then on. She was a real treat and recommended places for my parents to stay when they go to Barcelona next week. Will i go back? Yes
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, July 21, 2008

Contrary to what everyone else thought, I thought the service was quite good. We came here at lunchtime. The Pulpos was a touch on tha salty side; big bits of rock salt were a bit too liberally sprinkled over it, but that was the only gripe I had. The squid dishes were delicious, as were the meatballs, and patatas bravas (although it could have been a little spicier). It was a nice atmosphere, busy and lively.
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Beff - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, July 08, 2008

The take home message is this: Navarros - The food is good, not exceptional, but good and the service is a joke. A complete joke.

I'm totally british - I will sit through bad food, bad service, slow service, you name it. I'm not a complainer - I will sit and smile and say nothing, in fact I frequently tip when service is less than okay. So PLEASE believe me when I say I have NEVER had such bad service ANYWHERE. EVER.

Words fail me. The staff and navarros are too rude / lazy / appalling bad at their jobs (delete as appropriate) for words. Staff CANNOT speak english - words like "beer" "menu" "where is the toilet?" "bill" etc totally excape them. One insisted on talking to us rapidly in italian got angry and actually poked one of us in the chest! WTF?

Diabolical is an understatement - There are literally too many things wrong with their service to write.

Highlights of my visit included: The waitress taking *one* drink order then leaving ignoring the rest of the party(literally ignoring our calls) she then took 10 minutes to return with a vodka and mixer. Total time for two bottles of wine and a vodka minutes 25 minutes (I am not joking)

Staff standing and chatting while we sat with desserts for 15 minutes with no cutlery despite requesting it three times

Being forced to "steal"cuttlery from another table to eat said desserts.

Being informed the tip the waitress tacked on my bill was mandatory.

I was out with clients and it was really really embarrassingly bad - the staff just didn't care AT ALL - beyond laughable....40 minutes for coffee and there were 5 members of staff waiting on 3 tables. MInd-blowing that a restaurant that could get service so wrong.

Take my advice save your money go to Salt Yard instead - nicer restaurant, nicer food, nicer waiting staff.
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Claire
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Having read the reviews & a regular at Laxeiro in Columbia road, I wanted to find a good tapas place in central London. Try something new.

I went here last night. I thought the food was good, cheap (for London prices even though tapas should never be expensive or at the prices we pay!) and varied. We ordered a range of dishes and they were all fine except the cod which was a little under cooked (but not dangerously). The puddings were not good but then I dont think ive has many puddings in Spain - particularly, Madrid which were delicious.

I think most people are in agreement that the tapas here are tasty but what appears to be lacking is in the service. Come on people - if you want traditional Spanish accept that service is going to be a bit slow & not the English mentality that the 'customer is always right' when actually sometimes, they are just wrong. Looking at some of the reviews it appears that customers have experienced rudness which is not acceptable. I did not experience it so i cannot really comment.

Getting the bill did take some time but the place was busy & so, unless you’re in a rush you should perhaps not make this restaurant your first choice. But then, if you’re in such a rush you should not be eating tapas when every plate traditionally eaten separately with wine & good conversation to wash it down.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Friday, May 30, 2008

Really looking forward to trying this place as the reviwes were reasonable and people had told me it was good, but sadly I was quite dissapointed.

I would say there were too many of us, but 6 isnt unreasonable for a London restaurant on a Saturday night - is it? Selected a couple of set menus and a couple of dishes off the main menu, food was OK but I expect better. Its location is prime and for the number of people that go there I'd expect the fussy Londoners to command more for their cash.

Service was OK but again nothing to rave about, or even write about. Spent far more than we should have and think there must be far better Tapas places out there.

Sad but true...
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Thursday, April 24, 2008

At last a ive found a real Spanish Tapas place to eat in London. The food is great and reminds me of life in Seville. Yes the service is not always the best but then its very traditional Spanish. The waitresses are very busy so give them some slack at least they have a smile on their face while working.
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Monty - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, January 25, 2008

Basically the food was great, the service dreadful. We had booked, so didn't expect to be shuffled in grumpily like late arrivals, or to have to ask 3 times for the garlic dipping oil for our bread ( it never did arrive) It was distracting and noisy throughout the meal seeing the waitresses hurtle past our chairs with centimetres to spare- but then occasionally they would dump some dishes in front of us and march off again. We tried several dishes and the house red and these were very good, we also tried the desserts which were ok. But the atmosphere was not very relaxing.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Like some of the previous reviewers I am flabbergasted about the negative reviews. I have been eating in Navarro's since 1993. At that time the restaurant was hardly half full whereas today you tend to need to book to eat even during a weekday. This is well deserved as the quality of the food has spread by word of mouth. Tapas is one of my favourite foods and Navarro's is the best tapas I have had in London and I would say better than the tapas I had in Madrid or Barcelona. But don't just take my word for it as I have taken Spanish, Portuguese and South American friends here - all bar none have raved about the food. My Portuguese colleague told me the next time he has business associates vistiting he will take them here, etc. My particular favourite dishes - stuffed pimentos, totilla patatas and lamb brochettes - but they are almost all good.
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Simon Jaffe
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, December 06, 2007

I've just got back from Navarro's and, despite the food being ok, the service was absolutely terrible and actually quite offensive. The manager is absolutely terrible - he was very rude to us when there was confusion over our ordering of a set menu, and then refused to talk to us about the problem. The whole thing needs a big rethink.
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Sara Harris
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, November 21, 2007