Friday, January 31, 2014

Restaurant Review: Chiquito's, Leicester Square

Restaurant name: Chiquito Mexican restaurant and bar

Location: Leicester Square, London

Description: Mexican restaurant chain; the Leicester Square branch is big and noisy with quite cramped tables and such low lighting I had to use the torch app on my phone to read the menu! The restaurant does breakfast and cocktails as well as lunch and dinner.

Reason for visit: We needed a quick dinner after work before seeing a show on Leicester Square; I'd never been to a Chiquito's so it seemed a good opportunity to try the chain.








I ate: We didn't order a starter but were brought a bowl of popcorn flavoured with what I think was cheese; it was unusual but really quite good. I decided for my main course to try a Chimichanga - a tortilla filled with spiced rice, (I asked for it without the Mexican beans), cheese, and shredded chicken, then the whole thing is deep fried. It was served with a generous portion of fries and three dips.

My companion ate: A burger, of course... he never orders anything else!

The food was: Really good -I wasn't expecting to like the popcorn but did, and really wasn't sure about the Chimichanga until I had my first mouthful and decided it had been the right decision.

The atmosphere/service was: The place was busy but we had good service and were able to eat and get out within an hour which we needed to do for the show.

Price range/value for money: Not that cheap - the chimichanga was £11.95 and a BBQ double cheeseburger is £14.95, so it's what I call the Leicester Square effect. Even so the portions are generous and the food very good for a chain restaurant.

Would I recommend it?Yes, aside from the restaurant itself being a bit dark and cramped, I really liked the food.