I have been to a few Chiquitos before, and while they weren't the best Mexican I've ever had, it wasn't the worst. So I already had managed my expectations, but was still excited for something other than Italian. The restaurant is quite large and according to Mr. Snarky, they have renovated the decor inside. While the atmosphere is lovely, the decor comes off as more African than Mexican. To be honest, I thought it felt a lot like being in Nando's. This isn't where Chiquito fell miles short on this visit though.
It was a couple minutes before we were seated. Our waitress took our drink order and we received our drinks relatively quickly, which would be the last thing that we received quickly for the rest of the night. We ordered the Tostada Platter to start with, Mr. Snarky ordered the BBQ Pulled Pork and Fried Chicken while I ordered the Chimichanga. Mr. Snarky was looking at the menu and commenting on how the menu had changed a little bit since the last time he stopped in.
Our Tostadas showed up to the table just as we were starting to get anxious about the amount of time that we were waiting. There are two of each flavour (BBQ Pulled Pork, Chorizo, and Butternut Squash and Feta) so it is ideal for two people if you want to try all of the flavours. The BBQ Pulled Pork was the one that we liked the most (although I am partial to a really good Pulled Pork as it is my usual item if we go to a BBQ Restaurant). The Butternut Squash and Feta was ok, but the Butternut Squash had no flavour. It was like they just boiled it to make it soft, but hoped the Feta would just mask the fact that the squash had not been seasoned. And the Chorizo one tasted a bit off. Mr. Snarky doesn't like sour cream so the fact that there was a huge dollop on the Chorizo one did not help the case. They also served it with a Cranberry and Red Onion jam. I say jam because it had the consistency of jam and it was very sweet. While I am usually one to try something different, this reminded me of Thanksgiving and Cranberry sauce with my turkey. It didn't really work.
Then we started the wait for our mains. Customers came in after us, they ordered (three courses) and were already on their desserts while we were still waiting. Mr. Snarky had noted that the couple of times he had been here, the wait for food was usually longer than other restaurants and as mentioned in another review, it seems to be an issue. I did notice that it may have been our section and our particular waitress as customers seated in other sections were the ones that were being seated, having three courses, and leaving before we had even started on our mains. We also noticed that our waitress seemed to be prioritizing some tasks that really didn't need to be prioritized as her tables were waiting. One example: Mr. Snarky asked for the bill and instead of heading to the till, she took it as an invitation to go wipe down tables and set them. After two and a half hours, most of it spent waiting, Mr. Snarky was not amused.
Our mains showed up and it was all a bit disappointing. Mr. Snarky's chicken looked like it had been burnt. My Chimichanga was served with fries. The last time I had a Chimichanga it came with rice and refried beans. The menu had mentioned rice and beans, but I discovered the rice was in the Chimichanga, not sure where the beans went to, but because we had waited so long for our mains, I wasn't about to send it back. There was a bit of BBQ Pulled Pork at the end of the Chimichanga, then the majority of the Chimichanga was tasteless rice. However, I was thankful for the pots of Guacamole, Salsa, and Sour Cream since there was no flavour after I eating all of the BBQ Pulled Pork. I also am not sure that there was any pulled pork with Mr. Snarky's Fried Chicken. Eating came to a halt when Mr. Snarky had found a hair on his onion rings.
We had been excited about dessert, but now we weren't very sure whether or not we should chance it. However, I suggested that the desserts had been coming out quite quickly, so we ordered. I had the Mexican Mess: pieces of Churros, Chocolate Fudge, Chocolate sauce, Strawberries, Ice Cream, and Berry Yogurt. Mr. Snarky had the Strawberry Deep Filled Cheesecake (that is really what it says on the menu). The cheesecake only had one strawberry inside, the base was beyond soggy and they topped it with some purple concoction... I think it was pears and blueberries, but the blueberries had turned everything purple (the coleslaw from Mr. Snarky's dish had also been purple and he nearly spat it out after taking a bite). My dessert was good except the yogurt. It fought against everything in the dish. Our waitress told us about a survey at the bottom of the receipt and how we could save 10 quid off our next visit... not sure if 10 quid is enough to entice us back. read more