Las Iguanas (Royal Festival Hall)

unbelievable catalog of disasters!! Booked a table for 4 at 5:30pm on a Saturday...not a busy time you'd think. Waitress was terrible. We asked if we could get 2 for 1 cocktails as it was happy hour -she said yes-we said do they have to be the same cocktail-she said yes-we said we'd have 2 mojitos-she left. Turns out the mojitos are NOT on the happy hour. Hello? The menu isn't clear enough about that - a star next to the drink's name indicates it's part of happy hour, but nowhere does it say that the star means this! We ordered some tapas and one main course. All we got during the first HOUR was a large (main course) sized nachos...which we hadn't ordered. After that we finally got the food. I had steak fajita & it was boring, could have made it better myself, plus the size of the extras that went with it (guacamole, salsa, sourcream) were in ramikins the size of a large thimble...I kid you not! Then, they took away a drink that wasn't finished & when we complained they brought back a tray of used glasses found in the kitchen & asked us to pick which one was ours! How disgusting! And every time we wanted another happy hour drink, the waitress kept referring to the two drinks as one drink. It got SO confusing! On top of this all, every time we ordered a drink it took approximately 20 minutes to arrive! I hear that the branch in Bath is very good, but I will NEVER EVER go back to the south bank one. Horrendous.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Sunday, October 19, 2008

Really bad service. Asked for a table for 4 people for 6:30 on a Tuesday night, and was told we'd have to vacate the table at 8:15! Seeing as this is a BAR, we were planning on staying all night, but was basically told to take it or leave it. I have now decided to go elsewhere. Their loss. I'd rather go somewhere where my custom was more appreciated
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Monday, September 29, 2008

It's not going to win awards for authenticity but as it goes, the food served up is of an average standard.

But at the end of the day, you come here for the atmosphere and the vibe over a few cocktails.
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SC - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Thursday, July 24, 2008

Local best! Excellent service and food served in a few minutes! Delightful wine and tapas - really excellent! And lets not start on the desserts!
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francesca e roberto - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, July 11, 2008

The only thing that stood out about this place was how terrible the service was. From the over-crowded bar area, to the terrible table service we were left waiting, waiting and waiting for everything. At one stage i was told (after asking 3 times for my drinks) "we're really busy"...well its a restaurant on the southbank...it will always be busy.....totally inexcusable.

food was average to poor, cocktails were average, thats about it!!
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Friday, May 09, 2008

The service is terrible and really has put me off ever going back here. I'd been on a few ocassions previously and while the service wasn't great the food etc made up for it. However after my recent visit I won't go back. After they messed up a booking I had made for a crowd of friends and made no apology we arrived on the night early and went to the bar. I went to the restaurant to let them know we had arrived and was rudely told to find someone who deals with the bookings.

After some searching I confirmed we had arrived and asked that they let us know when our table was ready. About 30minutes after we had booked for and after several reminders we were finally steated. The service was at best poor with our first drinks order taking 15 minutes to arrive. Food was quite good but that didn't make up for the service. Later in the evening we ordered another round of drinks and after enquiring where they were the waiter told us we could get them from the bar. The management really do need to either train their staff better or hire ones who have some common sense to what customer service is all about.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Friday, April 18, 2008

Have been to Las Iguanas at this location near Southbank 4 or 5 times now and have yet to be disappointed.

Food is good, the specialty dishes even better. Why have nachos if you can try tasty Brasilian dishes instead. Prices are reasonable and cocktail list is pretty extensive (though we preferred the classic caipirina).

Happy hour 2 for 1 drinks between 5-7pm are incentive to book an early table for dinner. Buzzy atmosphere especially upstairs on the same floor as the bar, so if you're looking for a dinner where you don't have to shout better to request a table downstairs.

Service can be a bit sketchy depending on who your server is, but no complaints. Love the atmosphere and welcome addition to the restaurant scene along the river.
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LoveGoodFood - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Went there with my husband for anniversary meal in August. None of us had Latino food before and we were both really impressed with the food. Service was really good and we both loved the atmosphere so much. I can't wait to go back again!
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TamTam - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, November 12, 2007

On a Sunday the place was really feeling the pressure!

And I still wonder why. We seated in the outdoor area which has approximately 15 tables. Only half of them were occupied, and there were 4 waiters flapping around this area: a piece of cake I hear you say... Not quite!

The waiter were running around like headless chickens, in particular one French waiter didn't have a clue and kept bringing the plates to the wrong tables: must have been his first day, you had to feel sorry for the poor lad.

I asked for a draught beer as everyone else was enjoying one. My waiter came back and said they were all out! My boyfriend ordered a Salmon dish and asked for the plantan not to be in the plate. Waiter first came back saying that the plantan couldn't be removed from the plate (why I wonder? My bf then proceeded to just pass me the 2 pieces of plantan from his plate once served!), and then brought the wrong plate to us!

They could see we were starting to get p*ssed off by now, so they offered us free drinks which we politely declined, but when the bill came they didn't charge us for the drinks we ordered and didn't dare adding the discretionary 12.5% rip-off-discretionary-charge!

So that convinced me to leave a £2 tip as they recognised that they screwed up!

The food was very good, although I would have liked a bigger portion.
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Marco
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Sunday, August 12, 2007

Good location and friendly service, but having ordered pretty standard nachos & fajitas, I was really disappointed that Las Iguanas has decided to attempt to cut corners with definitely not homemade guacamole or salsa! I work 12 hours a day and can still whip up a nicer, fresher version of these than this tomatoes out of a tin and avocadoes pureed within an inch of their lives rubbish when I get home!

On the plus side, the drinks were lovely.

But really! the salsa was like Heinz tomato ketchup with lumps!
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Fiona
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, August 07, 2007