| Ambiance: |  (4.5 / 5) |
| Service: | (2.5 / 5) |
| Value for money: | (4.5 / 5) |
| Toilets: | (3.5 / 5) |
I’d been to Wahaca before and loved it so much that I wanted to go back for a second visit. However, I wanted to try out one of Wahaca’s other locations in Covent Garden. It was easy to find, and you have to go down a staircase to get to the restaurant but immediately, the atmosphere felt different to the 2 layered bar-restaurant set-up of Soho’s Wahaca. We were told we’d have a 30 minute wait but I’d been keen to play some table football as I’d wrongly expected the chain to mimic the same layout and entertainment across all its venues. So, we made the decision to walk the ten minutes across London, to the Soho Wahaca.
Despite the baltic temperatures (slight exaggeration maybe), as soon as we walked into the Soho branch, I was happy with our decision. It just has a completely different buzz to it, with two layers of activity on offer. On the first floor there’s the ‘reception’ and restaurant, where you get given a buzzer and in our case, told it’d be a 45 minute wait. Luckily HomeSlice had killed off some of our hunger so we were happy to grab a drink and fight it out over a table football competition while we waited for a table. Oh, I’ll note now – if you’re fussy with your wine, don’t go for the house white. It’s definitely not what you’d call easy drinking. Wahaca also serves the wine in tumblers which is something I can’t get to grips with. I understand this may be the Mexican way but to me, anything but a wine glass is a no-no.
Chuffed that we found a football table!
Turns out I won at table football. Twice. Sorry Cameron, had to get it in there! But I let him reclaim some man points when we beat two guys in a doubles match. Soon enough, our buzzer went and we went back upstairs to our table. I loved the simplistic table setting, with an A3 paper menu acting almost as our place mat. Wahaca’s menu is pretty brilliant, it has pretty much everything you’d want from a Mexican restaurant, and all relatively cheap which makes you (well me) go a little crazy with ordering.
We ordered some guacamole and tortilla chips to start with, as in reviews, the guacamole is something that many rave about and I remember having it the first time I visited Wahaca and concluding it better than my own recipe (damn it). After a bit of a delay due to forgetful service, the guacamole proved as good as I remembered. We also ordered pork pibil, Huitlacoche, Queso Fundido, Spicy slaw and British steak burrito. I liked the way the waiter circled everything on the menu whilst you ordered, as it’s probably quite inevitable that you forget what you’ve ordered, especially in our case after the amount of cocktails we’d consumed.
The food came sporadically (as and when it’s ready) which I quite liked, as it creates a much more care-free, relaxed dining experience. Everything looked and tasted delicious with the highlights being the British Steak burrito and guacamole (for me) and the pork pibil and the parmesan crisp that accompanied the Huitlacoche for Cameron. We couldn’t manage everything, and for under £30, you definitely can’t complain about value for money.
Recommendation
Considering how much I loved it on my first outing, I’d thought it’d be hard for Wahaca to live up to its expectations a second time, but with the exception of pretty dire service, it did. The food was delicious, and I’ll definitely be recommending it to anyone. Perhaps the biggest appeal is that it caters for anyone, and for any occasion – whether it be a work outing, a date, a quick bite to eat or a fun evening with friends, Wahaca delivers.
Extra Information:
Address: 80 Wardour Street, London, W1F 0TF
Phone: 020 7734 0195
Website: http://www.wahaca.co.uk/
NTK: Wahaca has a ‘no reservations’ policy which seems to be becoming a standard across popular eateries across London, so be prepared for this wait, both in terms of your time and hunger levels.
