Green and Red Bar and Cantina

fantastico! The waitress asked if we were from Buenos Aires, and when we said yes, she could not do enough for us.
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Manuel Endocarina
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 09, 2008

I went there with my family and mother/father in law. We have the misfortune of being Argentine, and from the moment the waitress heard our accents, well, how can I put it? I never felt so humiliated in a restaurant in my life. She treated us like garbage. A golden rule I try to follow always is NEVER to argue with who is serving you food until you are done with. Which is what I did. I went to the manager to describe the situation befoere leaving and although they were very nice and sympathetic, no employee was reprimanded as far as we are concerned and the attitude was a bit "yeah, really hard to get good staff nowadays, inni?". The food was OK, small portions but OK. But believe me, I will NEVER, EVER go back there.
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John
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Friday, May 09, 2008

Went last night for a friend's brithday and had a great time. I live pretty close and have been a few times, but this was my first time in a large group. Was perfect - informal, friendly, lively and after a few cocktails everyone was in a great mood.

Not the cheapest, but you get proper food - the big hunks of pork belly and meltingly tender lamb shanks are my favourites. And I love the little plates of things to pick at - lively salsas, unusual salads. Definitely recommend.
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Telford Lad
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Went for dinner last night and had a great time. I had a meltingly tender pork belly, others on table had lamb shank with meat perfectly falling off the bone and a nicely cooked piece of hake. We all shared bits of everything - we made tacos with the dainty little flour tortillas, each one crammed with different things. And we tried a few of the little dishes as well which were great value - a lovely salad made with a vegetable i've never tried or seen on a menu before (jicama?), octopus ceviche and a simple zingy broad bean salad. All really fresh, zingy stuff.

Music was a bit loud (dont think I'd take my grandma there), but atmosphere was friendly and lively. We headed down to their basement bar after dinner. Music was even more lively, we had a few amazing tequila cocktails (and i thought i hated tequila...) and danced away. Was a great night, cant wait for my next visit...
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Langy
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, April 14, 2008

Went there on Saturday and really enjoyed it. Its definitely a raucus night out and its a bit difficult to hear yourself think in the restaurant sometimes, but the food was good and the margaritas were lethal!
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Dave Lee
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, April 14, 2008

i am completely perplexed with the negative reviews, i'm a local shoreditcher and absolutely love green & red in fact i was there two saturdays ago and it was completely packed. i'm also mexican american and i have to say that the food is really tasty and fresh, my vegetarian friends lick the little bowls of guacamole there so darn good. i've had the pork (carnitas) and birria (lamb) and really enjoy customising my little tacos like i do when i'm back at home. cabbage is a normal thing to add to your tacos for a nice fresh crunch to balance the spicy salsas. palomas are my favourite drinks not to mention negra modelo.

service can be a little slow but its only because their so busy and of course i don't go there everyday because it is pricey, but worth it. theres a bar downstairs and dj playing making it a fun night out.
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leonor
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Jonny Depp asked a key question in Once Upon a Time in Mexico; "are you a Mexican or a Mexican't?"

I'm marrying a Mexican lady, who has just cooked me a very tasty chilaquiles. Perfect to mop up a hangover. She knows what Mexican food should look and taste like, home-made or otherwise. She's also big on good service. That's what I call Mexican.

Green and Red on the other hand clearly has no idea what Mexican food should look or taste like. I went there a few weeks ago with the lovely and a couple of friends, one of whom is also Mexican. The food was atrocious, and the service appalling, with a half hour wait between courses - the place wasn't even busy!

Regrettably I also went there again last night, in a group of twenty lads as part of a stag do, at £40 per head (which to be fair included all our booze), but all we were served was a few nibbles that were, frankly, c**p. And, being a Saturday night, it was actually busy - so the wait between courses increased.

I find it irksome that a place professing to serve Mexican food can't even produce a basic salsa, or a decent guacamole, and the frijoles refritos (refried beans) appear to be out of a tin.

It's a shame, because it promises so much more: the bar downstairs with it's screen playing subtitled black and white movies from the golden age of Mexican cinema, a comprehensive list of good tequilas, nice and friendly staff... it's a missed opportunity.

The only redeeming feature to the meal was the churros in chocolate sauce, but, on the tail of several beers and a £65 bottle of tequila (I think it was the cheapest one they had), not the best taste to end the night on. And too little too late.

All this unfortunately means that Green and Red is a proper Mexican't!
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Cormac Connolly
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Sunday, February 24, 2008

I have to agree with the more negative reviews of this restaurant. We decided to give it a try as we live around the corner and had read some good reviews.

Well, I can say that apart from the service and the actual meat (rib eye & chicken) it was a pretty poor meal. We had some guacamole and salsa as starters, which were both very bland indeed, even watery. The refried beans were too dry and the cabage salad , well it was cabage let me tell you that. A very small bowl of grated cabage for two people - somehow you do expect some kind of creativity when you go out for dinner. The tortillas were thick and again bland. The sauce for the rib-eye had a distinct ready made bbq flavour. Finally, the coffee - well let's just call it bitter bitter bitter.

Overall this was a very disappointing meal - we checked out the bar, might as well as we will not be returing, and that was ok. Good music and quite a few people dancing about.

So if you want to have a nice margarita go to the bar and if you want to eat good Mexican food, look elsewhere.
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tg
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Friday, February 22, 2008

I’m sad to say this was one of my most disappointing meals in quite a while.

On arriving the 10 of us were greeted in a friendly way, sat straight down and ordered 2 buckets of beer as part of the happy hour. Seemed like a good start. The menu is very limited – 8 starters and 6 main courses. Still, I thought, its quality not quantity, right? Well unfortunately the quality wasn’t there either. The food wasn’t bad per se, but it wasn’t great either. It didn’t help that it was lukewarm and the portions were relatively small. The side dishes weren’t good either. The pre-made guacamole was poor, the refried beans equally disappointing, and they only gave us 2 small flour tortillas each. When we pointed out that wasn’t enough they brought us 3 more. There were 10 of us. It took them 15 mins to do this by which time the food was cold and they even charged us for the extra tortillas. I was the most cursed that evening, as the waiter got my order wrong and I had to wait 20 mins (was told 5) for it to arrive, but at least they gave me a free beer for that bit of trouble.

One of my companions rates Mexican restaurants on the quality of their Margaritas. Considering this place is a Bar and Cantina, and they do indeed have a very good selection of Tequila, we’d hoped that would at least be good – unfortunately again, it wasn’t a particularly impressive Margarita, and it wasn’t cheap. So overall: the staff are friendly but very slow and unresponsive, the food would have been average if it was hot, the menu is unexciting but mostly tries to be authentic and if you want a good drink you’re going to have to pay for a premium one.
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Fraser Pearce
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Thursday, February 14, 2008

Visited Green and Red bar a couple of weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was delicious; we particularly liked the extremely tender and very tasty pork and beef main courses we tried, and the ceviche octopus starter which was an excellent combination of textures and flavours. I suspect if you went there often you might get a little bored with the menu - it's not extensive - and we found the churros a bit hard and overcooked, (although the accompanying chocolate sauce went a long way to making up for that!)

Staff were friendly and efficient, particularly our waitress who seemed to be looking after at least 10 tables single handedly but still delivered our food, drinks and bill promptly and with a friendly smile.

If I had one quibble, the volume of music was slightly louder than I like it, and as it soon became busy, that made the whole restaurant a bit noisier than I would choose ... but that's a very personal preference, and one I know many people don't share.

Overall, very pleased, enjoyed ourselves and are heading back tomorrow night for a replay.
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Sarah
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, February 12, 2008