Mercado

ive been to mexico several times, not just to cancun and have eaten at some of the best and worst restaurants in mexico city. firstly i found the decor nauseating and disorientating. it seemed to have been inspired by someone who had spent a lot of time in cancun drunk and thought it would be a great idea to repeat their hallucination in london, a kind of disney mexico, far from the taste and style found in mexico city and xoacaca.the colours seemed thrown together without any appreciation for what colour means to mexicans living in a sunny environmemt. the service was appalling the poor waiters did not seem to have the will to live never mind any enthusiasm to serve food with any degree of cheerfullness or skill. the food was tepid and even cold. we were a party of 4 and my friends were also dissapointed, though they had never been to mexico. the sauces were bitter, the chiken was scrawny. the manager seemed lost in a reverie behind the counter. we tried in vain to get some attention and were served by different staff at different times who had not a clue what to do. when asked about the foood and what to reccomend the waitress said she was not sure she would go and ask. she was replaced by another who was equally vague.

i did go back to try the breakfast and it was cold, incorrect and ide rather go to a greasy spoon.

avoid at all costs.
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katherine evans
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Friday, December 08, 2006

Stoke Newington is full of restaurants, every single one of which is better than this place, in terms of quality of food, service and value for money. For a start I can't think of any that think it is fit to serve cold or undercooked food. A real shame, as MErcado has a really interesting menu and manages to avoid the Tex Mex cliche of endless burritos, fajitas and chimichangas.

Mercado needs to seriously up it's game if it wants to survive in a very competitive area.

Bad service, bad attitude, really bad food. Avoid.

Oh, and don't you think it's interesting that after a string of bad reviews from dissatisfied customers that there are a whole rush of 10 star reviews?
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, November 27, 2006

I really like the look of this place, sweet, fun, fairy lights etc.

Unfortunately the food is terrible and the service amateurish.

I don't know how a restaurant thinks it is acceptable to serve meals that are overcooked, yet lukewarm or cold in temperature. They quite clearly cook a lot of food in advance then leave it sitting under a heat lamp, spoiling.

When I complained about my food the waitress just smiled and said sorry, but she didn't do anything at all to compensate me. Rubbish.

I'm very surprised to see that Mercado is owned by the same man as Yum Yums - which is an excellent Thai restaurant.

I won't bo going back to Mercado. Interestingly, when I told a couple of friends about my bad experience there, they also said they'd had poor meals and that the staff had done nothing about it when they complained.
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Sarah Sutcliffe
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Sunday, November 19, 2006

After reading the mixed reviews here we decided to risk going since I've been waiting to have proper Mexican food outside of Mexico & Spain for many years.

Well, on the positive, our drinks were fabulous. I got one of the sipping tequilas & it was fantastic. The fresh sangrita to go along with it was also impeccable. My partner's ice cold, chilled beer with lime & salt was also perfect.

In respect to the service, it was fine. Not great, but not the worst I've ever experienced. The manager was trying to be as attentive as possible - asking us if we had any questions about the food, asking us if we were enjoying our drinks - and the waitress herself was okay. It was quiet in the restaurant on the non-smoking side, so she was able to do one thing at a time. But It was evident to me that the waitress would probably not be able to multi-task if it got busy.

Where we got seriously let down was the food.

Although the guacamole was good, the small quantity for the price was disappointing. The quality of the other starter, cheese with chorizo, was horrid. It looked like it had been left under a heat lamp, didn't have that freshly prepared taste at all. But at this stage we were still remaining optimistic about our meals since Carlos, the manager, assured me it would be "proper Mexican food".

Our main courses arrived. The Pipian Verde (tomatillo mole with a pumpkin seed flavour) was less than lukewarm i.e. cold. And although the menu says 'Chicken Leg or Thigh' - which would give the dish flavour from the benefit of the fat & the darker meat - it was breast. But it wasn't moist succulent breast, it was the driest, most overcooked chicken breast which I've ever taken a bite of. I took one bite & that was it. Sadly the sauce was not flavourful either - I tried a bit without the shoe leather chicken. I figured it was because it was cold too...

I tried the accompanying rice, it was fine, not as cold as the chicken. But it was a miniscule portion to accompany the 3/4 of a plate of dry chicken.

The black beans were sadly also tepid. It was more of a black bean soup than true black beans. It made me think that they were trying to cost cut by thinning down using less beans.

My partner had the spicy mole sauce with chicken. His chicken was identical to mine - horrible! But his mole sauce, although cold, was very tasty & would have been great on something succulent &, oh yes, HOT (temperature wise)! His rice & black beans were the same as mine.

In a nutshell: Great as a bar for drinks, not good for food. Avoid the food if at all possible!
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Diana
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Friday, November 17, 2006

I heard this restaurant served authentic Mexican food. If this is so, I feel sorry for the Mexicans. The food was unappetising, tasteless and luke-warm. As each person in our group was so disappointed, we felt that there was no point in complaining; we just decided to order another margherita and resolve not to return. Service not too hot either. Best avoided.
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Ben
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Saturday, October 21, 2006

I'm surprised at the number of negative reviews here. Ever since I discovered this restaurant on Church Street (about two months ago), I've been back about 5 times, bringing more people every time. I've even stopped in for breakfast one morning.

I suppose I may be a bit more open to different tastes than your regular poster on this site, since I find the food here absolutely delicious.

I expect this is because I have family in South America, visit often, and therefore am accustomed to less traditional European tastes.

Every meal I've had here has been excellent. I absolutely love the Mole sauces, the refried beans, the homemade totopos. I was a bit dubious about the "corn fungus" initially but never regretted testing it. It's pretty much just like mushrooms, albeit with more flavour.

THe only dish which I though a bit boring was the Carne Asada (steak) since it didn't come with any sauce. Still it was a decent steak.

The beers are great, and the sipping tequila's quite different to the normal fare you get over here (they don't make me gag which is a good thing I think). Though I suggest trying them with the sangrita, helps them go down easier.

The desserts are all pretty fantastic. OK I've only tried the arroz con leche, the flan and *always* order the cafe de olla (coffee from pot) which is coffee boiled with cinnamon and other spices. Delicious I haven't tried the the two others, but I do plan on them one of these days, when I can manage it.

The bar next door is pretty great as well and has a very good atmosphere and some good cocktails. My only complaint is that it's getting way to busy of late. They even had a DJ in there last night. :-(
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Martin
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Sunday, September 24, 2006

The food is amazing - chocolate mixed into chicken and chile sauce and the best guacamole I´ve ever eaten. The cafe de olla is out of this world and the flan is as real as it can get. Every meal I have had there has been outstanding - and nothing like anything else that I have ever eaten before. The atmosphere is buzzy and everybody seems to be mexican or spanish speaking. I could spend too much money and too many hours of my life there...really, really worth a visit.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, September 22, 2006

I was so surprised to read the reviews of Mercado which complained about the service and food. I went there last month and thought that it was a fantastic experience. I lived in Mexico for some years and this is the only time I have eaten Mexican food in London which resembles that of Mexico in any way. We ordered a selection of starters, the guacamole in particular was delicious and the quesadillas were perfect. I love the decor and the music. I found the staff very friendly and efficient and had no problems at all. My boyfriend did complain that the portion sizes were small - but we did only order starters - and he thought it was rather overpriced, however it must be considered that some of the ingredients must be extremely expensive, for example the nopal in the salad, I have never seen this vegetable in London before. For those who have complained about mushy brown beans and bitter mole sauce - that is Mexican food! Perhaps it is an acquired taste... for those of you expecting chile con carne and kidney beans (neither of which I have ever seen in Mexico) you would be better off going to a Tex Mex.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

I've just read through all the reviews here and am a little surprised to see

such mixed reviews of Mercado, a restaurant in which I had an overall pleasant

experience. I suspect there may be some truth in what some have said about

local diners expecting something akin to Tex-Mex, and getting passably

authentic Mexican fare instead--a pleasant surprise for some, but a shock to

others. As a native Losangeleno, I'm most familiar with the norteño cuisine you

get in California and Northern Mexico. This isn't that. Central Mexico is much

better represented in the menu.

I enjoyed my mole poblano, and although it certainly wasn't the best I've ever

had, the flavors were pretty much on the mark. My partner's enchilada's were

much better, and the totopos (tortilla chips) appeared to be made

in-house--they certainly tasted that way! I did find the portion sizes a bit on

the small side (one smallish chicken leg in my mole poblano).

The service was charming, but inexperienced. I imagine it will improve with

time. However, considering Mercado is owned by Atique Choudhury, who also owns the

wildly succesful restaurant Yum Yum, the problems with service are a little

surprising. Perhaps he valued employing actual Mexicans above having an

experienced waitstaff.

As far as pricing is concerned, I feel Mercado offers good value for money.

Mexican cuisine tends to require extensive preparation--the frijoles de olla

and moles often require many hours to prepare. That has to be considered when

looking at the prices.

I think someone put a lot of thought into what dishes to offer on the menu.

Let's just say that the choices offered don't have anything in common with what

you'd find at La Perla/Café Pacifico.I like that Mercado is not attempting to

be everything to everyone--almost always a mistake leading to becoming nothing

for anyone in the restaurant business.

I'd go back to Mercado again.
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Damon Davison - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Saturday, September 09, 2006

We were very much looking forward to eating here and after gorgeous rum cocktails coupled with the atmosphere in the bar nextdoor, we were ready to venture into the fabulous restaurant with delightful colour and decor, very much in the mood for sampling some authentic mexican dishes.

Cate ordered the top item on the menu (mama's special recipe) cooked with a 'hint'of chocolate and I had the Mole Pablano. When they arrived in front of us our smiles dropped as we gazed down at what can only be described as the most unappetising plate of food we have ever seen.... resembling the contents of one of the buckets of gunk on tiswas.

The 'hint' of chocolate had transformed into a small mountain of hot bitter chocolate sauce completely covering what ever main item we had now forgotten we'd ordered. Alongside this was a pot of refried beans which was a slightly darker brown. No salad, no salsa. In fact no other colour but dark brown. Trying to contain our laughter we did our best to get through it. I almost made it, whereas Cate wisely abandoned the task halfway. I'm sure there are other items on the menu which are fantastic, or at least I hope so. Maybe with a little education in Mexican cooking we can avoid the hasty retreat we made from the restaurant and subsequent after taste of ten tons of chocolate repeating on us as we rolled back down the road home. Now we know why there are no desserts on the menu!

Our advice to ourselves is to have a good cocktail and perhaps try the starters next time.
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Martin & Cate
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 2
Monday, August 28, 2006