Wahaca Waterloo Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Cracking food, wonderful staff and a brilliant atmosphere."
• "Everything we ordered was delicious."
• "The food here is absolutely delicious and they have loads of great Vegetarian dishes!"
• "The food is more spicy than in actual Wahaca (or Oaxaca), from my experience, but still very tasty."
• "The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the tacos. Each bite was a burst of authentic Mexican flavors that transported us straight to the streets of Mexico City."
• "The food tasted fresh and I enjoyed it."
• "Food tasted superb, drinks as well."

Cons:

• "Food was average."
• "Food was overpriced."
• "They had run out of chicken...which is a large proportion of the menu and brisket."
• "The beef brisket and pork tacos had a weird aftertaste, the spices were not quite right."
• "The food was somewhat lacking."
• "The food was bad. One dish was clearly not fresh and was warmed up in the microwave/oven."
• "I am a mexicana and i have never come across tacos like this before, there was no taste and it was super bland."

Service

Pros:

• "Our server, Kinga. She was incredibly friendly and went out of her way to make us feel happy and relaxed."
• "Our waiter Hecror was amazing very professional with great humor and really helpful."
• "However, the waiter really turned things around. She was really quick, attentive, and friendly."
• "Amazing service by Miko and good food."
• "Extra special thanks goes to staff member Peter whose quick thinking saved the day when we found the disabled toilet was not in use that evening."
• "Our waiter Cris was really helpful and attentive, especially to my food allergies, and it was made clear what was nut free and gluten free - they have plenty of vegetarian and vegan options too."
• "Service was excellent. Very friendly."

Cons:

• "The service is painfully slow - the ‘unlimited’ nachos weren’t replenished, despite several requests."
• "Our experience was that they were short-staffed (or overworked) and had no idea which food came out at which table."
• "It took a long long time to ask for a dessert afterwards, we had to keep trying to get the attention of someone to serve us which took around 20-30 minutes."
• "Very unhappy with the service. I asked for jalapeños and they responded in a very rude way saying they did not have any."
• "We also had to wait for nearly 10 minutes for the waiter to bring the receipt to pay."
• "It took about 20 min to get someone to take orders for drinks. Definitely not coming back here"
• "Staff were not very attentive, had to call every time we wanted to order."

Ambiance and Decor

Pros:

• "I was pleasantly surprised by the large room, lovely decor and the great (but not loud) music."
• "Also appreciate the bio-degradable sugar cane fibre packaging."
• "Very nice wahaca, beautifully decorated interior and super friendly staff."
• "At least the theming of the venue was nice 😊."
• "A very relaxed venue with food that arrives as it is ready, a good vibe in the dining area and friendly staff."
• "The restaurant at Waterloo has such a cute vibe."
• "This is a super cool looking restaurant with a great vibe."

Cons:

• "The seating area is all under ground in a basement area, and the steps down have no handrail."
• "To the point where we couldn’t hear each other on a relatively small table. They need to introduce some dividers and soft furnishings to absorb the sound of music and people talking."
• "The music playing is so loud you can barely hear anything as well and the interior was quite cold."
• "The acoustics are not that great (very noisy) and the benches not very comfortable to sit on."
• "The decor in the basement did have a bit of 'we went to the art college' with metal frames and yellow cord that was either 'cool' or 'cage' depending on your perspective."
• "It was difficult to maintain a good conversation without raising our voices as the inside of the restaurant was very noisy."
• "The ONLY downside is that the restaurant is below ground level and they had to close / cancel our second booking due to flooding after very severe weather :("

Accessibility

Pros:

• "You can pay for your order by scanning a code on your table."
• "Clean and comfortable dining room in the naturally lit lower level location."
• "Wheelchair access: the branch in Waterloo is great. There is a step to get in, but they have a ramp and then a lift to take you down to the dining area, complete with an accessible toilet."
• "They have lift going down for any people have difficulty using stairs."
• "You can pay via a QR code on the table which is incredibly easy when you want to leave."
• "I liked the carbon footprint info on the menu. And the QR code online payment system was a dream!"
• "Conveniently located across the street from Waterloo Station."

Cons:

• "Not accessible: requires you to go down stairs to enter and all toilets are also up 2 sets of stairs."
• "Also, the stroller lift did not work so if you are with a stroller be prepared to carry it down and then up the stairs."
• "No one on meet & greet and when we were seated there was no one to serve us because all staff had to be in a meeting even though we said we were in a rush."
• "The service charge added to your electronic bill is automatically around 12% and you can't amend this unless you ask your server which feels very confrontational."
• "The tables were really cramped and uncomfortable though."
• "The waiter who escorted us to a table was abrupt and extremely volatile about a table we altered to be otherwise seated on."
• "I can't believe a server would say 'yes I think that ingredient is present' instead of checking back and coming with a confident answer."

Value

Pros:

• "Affordable prices too."
• "Great value for 6/ 7 dishes for 2 for £45."
• "For the amount of food we got, the set menu at £37 for the two of us was great."
• "Prices for food and drink are really good."
• "However good value had the lunch deal which was the Taco bowl and a lovely mint and lime drink for £8."
• "For a restaurant located that central at Waterloo, the prices were not bad at all."
• "Food was good and staff were friendly and attentive."

Cons:

• "With it being really expensive for what it is."
• "The drinks are slightly on the expensive side and the food is perhaps priced slightly above what you may expect, but given the location overall it is not too bad price wise."
• "Expect to spend £50+ each including a couple drinks. Used to be £25."
• "Food was overpriced."
• "The margaritas are good but expensive for what they are."
• "Not bad food but, to my mind, overly expensive prices."
• "It was very expensive for the poor experience so we shall not return."