Cafe Sol

Cafe Sol is without a doubt one of my favourite places to go in Clapham. The food is always delicious and it doesn't pretend to be anything its not, just simple, well prepared classic mexican food. I have never had a bad experience there and the staff are always friendly and attentive, plus the prices are very decent and the beers are always super chilled! If you are looking for a cheap but fun meal out in Clapham then i can't recommend Cafe Sol highly enough.
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Guy
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, March 27, 2008

Went for lunch at the Cafe Sol in Greenwich this afternoon. The three of us were given a warm welcome, but were offered a small table for two with an extra chair - nowhere near enough room for three to eat and drink. After asking for a larger table (for 5) by the window, the waitress went off to ask the manager and came back saying that they had a booking for a large party (at 3 o'clock on a Saturday?) and then offered a slightly larger table-for-two with an extra chair. Whilst we were there only a few couples came in to eat so not sure why we weren't allowed to sit where we wanted.

For a starter we ordered some nachos to share. It was as though we got the end of the bag as they were all tiny pieces with a small amount of cheese, some salsa and some jalapenos that were a bit dry. Our mains were enchiladas, burritos and and tacos. Essentially these were the same food that were just cooked and presented differently - although my taco shells had definitely come from a supermarket taco kit.. it can't be too difficult for a mexican restaurant to make them themselves! All the mains came with rice which had most likely been reheated in the microwave - the same could be said for the chicken with my tacos that was tasteless and only luke warm.

On a better note, apart from the seating issue at the start, the staff were very friendly and the food arrived promptly. The cocktails (non alcoholic) were well presented and there's a good choice of alcoholic ones too.

Had the food been good quality mexican, it would have been well worth the bill (around £9 for a main meal) but sadly what Cafe Sol offered wasn't up to scratch.

Wouldn't go back as there are better places to eat in Greenwich!
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Rob Watkins
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Saturday, March 15, 2008

Visited the greenwich cafe sol on saturday night with my partner, the restaurant was packed we had 4 or 5 different waiters and waitresses serving us at stages throughout the meal, which at the time i thought was fine. The problems started when we asked for our bill which when the first one arrived was £81 my partner attracted the attention of the waiter and he realised straight away that this was far too much for our table of two. However he then brought another bill which had desserts included we informed him that we had not had desserts,he then went away again and then returned and told my partner that he distinctly remembered bringing desserts to our table, shocked at his rudeness of accusing us of being dishonest we told him that we had definately not had any desserts and to confirm this with the waitress who had offered us the dessert menu and to who we had declined. He then went away and changed the receipt to the right amount. We paid cash and due to being accused of lying decided not to leave a tip, we waited some time for our change only to be informed by a different waitress again that our change had been placed on another table in error, when we got our change there was no receipt. After leaving the restaurant we realised that we had paid a compulsory tip, had we realised this at the time we would have asked for it not to be included in our bill. I have been to this restaurant in the past and enjoyed it having received a much better service and as a result have recommended it to friends, however after this incident i will not be returning again.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Monday, February 18, 2008

Is this a chain with a branch in Greenwich too? Anyway I went to the Clapham one and it was okay but confirmed my suspicion that there are no decent Mexican places in London. They all adopt the approach that any place doing anything remotely Mexican must be 'fun' and have loud music. The best Mexicans I went to have been in York & Edinburgh and were just normal restaurants without the hey-woo-yeah factor. But there's a market for hey-woo-yeah so I can't blame places for playing to it.

Here I had chicken fajitas that sizzled nicely on arrival but were a bit bland. The accompaniments were good - sour cream, guacamole, salsa etc. The Dos Equus beer was good & frosty. There didn't seem to be any Mexican desserts but I might be mistaken. Service was friendly but faltering, and with long gaps after my main - oddly given only 2 or 3 other tables were occupied.

Not bad, just not great either and probably not worth a return visit for me, not with the wealth of restaurants in the area.
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Backdrifter - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, January 30, 2008

We went to the Cafe Sol in Greenwich with 4 children aged between 8 and 15 at lunchtime onthe 03.01.08 and had a really pleasant experience. The lunch time menu is well priced (5.95 for 2 courses) the food was fine and service good. The chilldren had a really good experience and would like to go back. No, it probably wasn't geniune mexican cuisine but with 4 children a pleasant meal out is always an experience worth recording!
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helen rudman
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Thursday, January 03, 2008

Restaurant is nice, service is pretty quick. Friendly waiters/ waitresses.

Overall a good restaurant.
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Hannah Smith
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, December 04, 2007

we went to cafe sol last week and we have been told that manager has changed.

very good,nice guy. good luck
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marco de silva
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Sunday, September 02, 2007

I received severe food poisoning and was at home for 4 days. When I phoned the manager he refused to believe it was the steak I had eaten. I then phoned Greenwich council and a couple of weeks later they confirmed they had closed the site for 3 days as they had other complaints.

Not only will I never eat there again, the way the complaint was handled just showed the mentality of the management.

Avoid.
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D
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Friday, July 13, 2007

This place is alright i suppose, but The girl i was with didn't really like her food though. It didn't seem like a good mexican to me, but i haven't tried mexican much. I live in Clapham now but probably won't go back there. I hear there is a good one in Brixton though.
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Edd
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Friday, June 08, 2007

i went to café sol the other day with my parents, girlfriend and her parents. Having not booked a table for 7 in advance on a may day weekend, i thought i'd have no chance in getting a table for 8pm. But when i went in and asked for one at about 7:20 when it was full they were more than happy to accomodate for us despite the short notice. Furthermore my parents were 45 mins late meaning that we were holding up a table for 7 for 3/4 of an hour and they didn't seem to mind at all!

I've been before and the food is delicious but i can understand what people mean by its lack of authenticity. However it is very nice! i recommend the steak fajitas! Also my girlfriends little brother complained that his burger was too well done and they had no quarrels whatsoever in bringing him a new one.

It is a nice little place, delightfully tacky with a good, vibrant atmosphere. Also the bottles of beer arent too expensive considering you're bang in the middle of Greenwich!

I highly recommend the place!
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chrischrischris
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, May 09, 2007