Mestizo

We went to Mestizo on a friend's recommendation and I was overall quite impressed, however the service could do with some improvement (my friend said it was for the food that he goes there, rather than the service).

Our tacos were delicious, great for those who miss real mexican food! The only thing that surprised us that they weren't served with slices of lime and salt, which we had to ask for. Despite that, everything we ordered arrived promptly. We also had to ask a waiter to clear our table, even after asking for the dessert menu!

I think the management need to encourage the staff to be friendlier and a bit more attentive to their customers. Looking at previous reviews, it sounds as if Mestizo's food standards are not quite consistent, sometimes having very good nights and sometimes bad. This needs to be worked on to ensure that the dishes taste as good every night of the week - otherwise that's how you lose previously regular customers. I will certainly be going back, hoping for the same excellent tacos, with limes and salt on the side!
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, September 02, 2008

I couldn't find better place than this. This is REAL MEXICAN FOOD. We ask for Molcajte Mestizo, is a volcanic rock and inside coming chicken and beef, and tortillas on the side, the starters great!!! everything fresh, and the service was amazing. Is the place to go!!!
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Mary
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, August 10, 2008

Keep the chef, get new waiting staff and management.

Due to my girlfriend being Mexican, we struggle to find many places that do nice authentic mexican food, so have eaten at Mestizo numerous times. I've left quite generous tips only to recieve not even a snort of thanks from the staff (apart from one girl out of about 5 visits who was pleasant).

On my last visit, which was prebooked for 11 people, to be put downstairs in a basement/dungeon which is supposed to be used for what appears to be a nightclub environment, was quite dissapointing.

Our waiter couldn't speak english, so even with my girlfriend translating, he told me the wine we wanted was unavailable, and after bringing numerous wines of different varieties no where near what we asked for, he came back with the wines I originally ordered.

With credit to the chef, when everyones food arrived, everybody thoroughly enjoyed it, but upon leaving, and paying our three hundred pound bill, we were confronted outside the restaurant on the street by the waiter who said we hadn't paid the bill....I checked the bill, and because we hadn't left the thirty something pound tip, he was told by his manager to come and inform us.. ON THE STREET!

When he informed my girlfriend in spanish that his manager would make him pay if we didn't, i decided to go and speak to her... I must say i've not come across a more obnoxious and patronising woman in any other restaurant.

I informed her of the seating location (which i previously asked to be changed), poor service and why we didn't pay the full amount (still asking myself why I have to justify this to this lady). She then put a sob story in about sharing tips and surviving etc but also blatantly lying about informing my girlfriend of the seating arrangement, i foolishly paid the rest of the bill in fear she may actually charge the minimum wage paid waiter (which im still kicking myself about till this day).

I definitely wont be going back, and i hope the owners read this and realise that these reviews can make or break a restaurant, and fires that awful manager!!
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Duncan
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Sunday, August 10, 2008

It's the best Mexican place in London, the chef cooks proper mexican food, the owner and the staff are mexican, so is a very important thing, because they know every single thing if you want to ask something. I really had a nice time, i'm gonna come back again to make my birthday party!!!
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Sharon
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Sunday, June 08, 2008

It is with great shame and regret that I write this review. I have been coming to Mestizo for a long time now and have always loved the food. However, yesterday was a disgrace.

I had the mole chicken. I got a frozen processed slab of chicken covered in chocolate sauce that was out of a bottle. Not mole. I think I had the same sauce on pancakes at TGI Fridays on my 15th birthday. The chicken should have been fresh. I could have used it as a frisbee.

My wife asked for the potato enchiladas, one with red sauce and one with green. This has never been a problem in the past. However, this time they obviously forgot or couldnt be bothered. I am sure it wasnt the latter.

The waitress and service was generally fine. However, when I asked about the mole and the chicken she said that both were fresh. I told her not to lie and she admitted that they most probably werent freshly made. I did not pay for any of the food.

It is an insult to think you can get away with such poor standards.

I sincerely hope that this note inspires you to sort yourselves out or sell up and quit. There is no point sitting somewhere in the middle.

Good luck in whatever it is you decide.

- I could send this as a letter to the owner but I am very keen to see if the owner is concerned about quality and uses this website and if they acknowledge and respond.
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Sarj
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Friday, May 09, 2008

Being unable to get into Wahaca, my girlfriend and I decided to give this restaurant a try on a Saturday night recently. On arrival, the staff seemed very nice and the decor relaxing. Complimentary side of tortilla chips with spicey salsa dip was most welcome to begin with and then onto the starters...where things began to go steadily down hill. My girlfriend had a salad to start, which at about £9, you expect something special. Sadly it was just a bog-standard salad with little or no Mexican feel. My starter was a prawn dish. Sadly, this was a large cold bowl of salsa (with prawns) and tortilla chips. Two problems really: not enough torilla chips to eat all the salsa, but the bowl was so big, who would want to/could have eaten it all anyways? Bland. Then, the time it took for the plates to be cleared and the mains to arrive was just too long. when they did finally take the plates away (the restaurant was far from busy, so no excuse there), a fresh beer was asked for. The mains arrived. Mine was the burrito, which was pleasant enough but caked in the...same salsa I'd eaten during the two starters...great. Said beer never arrived and had to be requested again (Mexican food is spicey folks!). When it arrived, it was slammed onto the table with such force by the waitress, I thought we'd offended them, by being so rude as to ask for a drink (they must have been busy - they were! Stacking chairs and tables away in another area of the restuarant!!) Fair play, my girlfriends main was very nice apparently. I discussed it with her after the waitress had taken my plate away, while she was still eating (as the waitress had attempted to do but told not to, by a neighbouring table). On leaving (yes, we left a tip too) I said goodbye to one on the waitresses and received a grunt for my trouble on her way to clearing the table....the rest of the staff, were not to be seen. Friendly, not really. Delicious food? Overpriced and average. will we be going back? No chance.
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Mickster
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Monday, April 21, 2008

'Just had lunch Mestizo and it was fantastic except for the frosty service. We had huge vegetarian burritos x 2 that were out of this world, a grilled spring onion and lime side dish and a great-tasting glass of Spanish red all for ₤14.50 which I consider very cheap. The evening menu is considerably more expensive and is meat oriented.

I didn't mind one bit that one of the waitresses didn't speak English - I found this out when I asked about one of the two salsas she said was 'mole' but of course the sauce was FOR mole and was in fact free of dead animal. Phew!

I say the service was frosty as we were asked to move to the tables where the salsa's were, which seemed silly as the place was empty and we were already quite comfortably seated. The salsas were just two small bottles and the waitress brought them to our table por favor!

Why bother to decorate a room so nicely, serve great food yet hire staff who clearly hate their jobs!
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Gregg McKenzie
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 10
Friday, January 04, 2008

Mestizo is trying too hard to be something it simply isn't. The food is mediocre and the price is exortionate.The location is also pretty bad, on a run down street near council flats.

My advice would be to go to Drummond street get some cheap tasty Pakistani/Indian food and head to Mestizo for a few cocktails.

The only time I would consider going to Mestizo to eat is on tues/thurs evenings when the tacos are a pound in the bar below ,not 6 pounds as they are upstairs!
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Tigana
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Sunday, December 30, 2007

Not quite a kitchen nightmare, and on the positive the margaritas are really very good, but I would not reccomend this place to anyone, for any reason, ever. The food is an insipid mess, jumbled and generic. The starters were three small (deep fried!) homogenous same-tasting packages of cheese/or chicken served with what looked and tasted like factory made salsa. The mains was a mash up of beef, lamb and chorizo sausage that was served in a tasteless brown sludge. At £35 a head, I expected far more. What I got was a bland take on Old El Paso's range of cook at home products.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Friday, December 21, 2007

Hmmm. Having eaten a fair bit in Mexico, I'm not sure I'm buying the "it's typical Mexican fayre so if you don't like it you don't like proper Mexican food" line.

I thought the food was somewhat disappointing overall, especially having read positive reviews beforehand. The guacamole was very average and far blander than it should have been. The prawns were good, although the sauce wasn't anything to write home about. I'm surprised at how positively reviewed the house special has been. We also had the mixed Molcajete Mestizo and the trouble with eating chicken, beef and chorizo in a spicy sauce is that it all becomes a bit of a generic mess towards the end - added to which the meat was far from tender and the bowl it's served kept the food so hot that even towards the end of the meal it was somewhat inedible. Granted, Mestizo may be trying to move away from standard Tex Mex fayre for London, which is to be applauded, and the bar may serve perfectly decent drinks, but when your signature dish is this ropey, they aren't going to last too long. Service was fine, without being exceptional.
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Mark Underwood
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, December 12, 2007