Wahaca (Covent Garden)

My wife and I are Thomasina fans and following Masterchef, it is great to see the success continue and the vision in place!

We had a wonderful dinner last Saturday evening - very busy when we arrived as expected and settled down with Margeritas for the hour wait but were seated within 35 minutes!

All of the food was freshly prepared and delicious, went for the Wahaca selection from the Streetfood menu and added a couple of extra dishes - difficult to name a favourite as all of the food was wonderful.

Many thanks to Lydia for efficiently waiting our table with a smile and a bit of fun, you are truly and asset to the Wahaca team, thank you.

We will be back!
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Steph & Nigel Smith
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, January 30, 2012

the service was superb, waiters were super helpful and friendly. probably the best customer service in london one could find.

food was quick, good and fresh.
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Grace
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, December 02, 2011

I have been many times to Wahaca in Covent Garden, most recently in October and November this year. The menu is, as usual, excellent for choice (my daughter being vegetarian had a wide range to choose from); the chicken mole is superb with a wonderful subtle flavours. The service is of a high standard and the atmosphere could not be better.
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Keith Simpson (age 74)
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Food was average... but the service was shockingly appalling! We could not believe when we asked which dish was given, the waiter turned round and yelled at us before walking off... then when it was time for the bill, it was thrown at us like we were meant to be catching a frisby! This only applies to the Covent Garden store as the other restaurant in Westfield has lovely service.. don't go to this one unless you want to be treated like the rubbish (i.e. can't wait to be thrown out).
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Food critic
3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Being a great fan of mexican food, I had to go try Wahaca as it was touted as probably the only good mexican restaurant in town. I think I will have no curiosity in trying the rest.

The website makes a lot of emphasis on the ethos of "you should be able to eat when you want like in a market, so we take no reservations". I was pretty angry to find us putting our names on a list to wait for seating. That's quite the opposite of what they mention as their motto.

The food, albeit tasty, comes in small portions, nothing to do with the real "mercado" experience in Mexico. Also, the ambience is not at all like a mercado, they should go for a more austere look and give up trying to be fancy and the waiters/waitresses should be a little more attentive.

The price makes up for it though: I found this restaurant to be very aptly priced, so I could just add another order of tacos without feeling ripped off when the hunger was still creeping in.

They have tried to maintain the true taste of the dishes they have on the menu, however I find a waste of space the ones that bring no novelty to the table, like the british steak tacos.

One very sadly missing thing: a place that names itself after Oaxaca, should NOT be left without the delicious Oaxaca cheese, specially on the Huitlacoche quesadilla which was good but could have been ten times better if made with the oaxaca cheese, as it is traditionally made in Mexico.

We also had Horchata as a drink and it needed both more sugar and to be made with real cinnamon, adding ground cinnamon when served just doesn't cut it.

Still, I think this place is very worth a visit and so far one of the best eateries I've been to in my quite short stay in London.
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JC - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, October 25, 2011

I'd heard good things about Wahaca, but their no-booking policy put me off. I was in London on Saturday and dropped in on the off-chance that they might have a table for one available. They did. I will be going back. A lot.

The staff were friendly and welcoming, despite being very busy. The food was great - very fresh and fully flavoured, with great portion sizes, so I still (just) had room for Churros y Chocolate at the end.
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, October 10, 2011

I went to Wahaca for the first time on a busy monday evening. We were seated within 10 minutes of arriving, seemingly jumping the queue of people who had opted to sit and have a drink before their meal.

The restaurant was alive with noise. Not unwelcome, and not too noisy to be unable to converse.

The staff were approchable and friendly and guided me, a mexican-novice, through the menu and helped me choose a delicious meal.

The food arrived as it was cooked. An unsual method, but one that worked with the overall theme of mexican street food.

The food was fantasic and my party and I feasted on a selection of delicious mexican street food.

The meal, the staff, the overall vibe of the restaurant was fantastic. A brilliant experience. Compliments to wahaca.
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, September 20, 2011

My wife and i arrived for dinner at 9:30 on a Saturday night. It was quite busy and we were seated over an hour after we arrived. We ordered and my wife's meal arrived after about 20 minutes followed by my own 10 minutes later. This delay was unfortunate but worth it as the food was excellent and very authentic. The only disappointment was our desert, churros. Picking one up it quickly became clear that they were not fresh and taking our first bite confirmed this. It was an unfortunate end to an otherwise delicious dinner.

One thing that stuck out was the decor which was odd in that it didn't feel like what It purported to be: a Mexican Market. Having lived in Mexico for several years it was a shame that they didn't get this right.
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7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 8
Sunday, September 18, 2011

Visiting this restaurant was the worst experience of my life. The queue to get in was an hour and a half - the stairs on which we waited were filthy and the staff were rude treating us like cattle going in to slaughter. Out table was in a swelteringly hot basement, with music so loud and thumping we couldn't talk to eachother even though we were side by side. When the food came my vegetarian choice turned out to be chicken, but the waiter refused to replace it - and was staggeringly rude about it.

NEVER go to this place. The one thing we took away from this experience is that we have a funny story to tell our friends about the worst restaurant meal we've had. Wahaca is the Fawlty Towers of mexican food.
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Susan
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, September 16, 2011

I am surprised by the negative reviews. Wahaca is an excellent restaurant with an great choice of authentic Mexican street food. So what the dishes come when they are ready but at least you do not have the long wait experienced in some establishments. The waiters cannot be faulted with their knowledge of the menu; recommendations and right level of attention. I have only used Wahaca for lunch and so cannot comment about evening delays.

Be adventuroius; try something different and enjoy the food and atmosphere.

Just for the record I am a 70 plus pensioner and not your atypical young customer for this restaurant.

Congratulations Thomasina and can we have some Wahacas outside London?
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Doug Sanders
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, August 31, 2011