Chiquito

I had to find a restaurant this afternoon around 3pm as I needed a bite to eat. And there was Chiquito. Just infront of me on Fredrick Street in Edinburgh New Town. The place appeared quite empty around this time so I got a table quite easily. My waiter was very friendly and attentive. The food arrived quickly. I ordered Quesadilla and it the presentation of the food was excellent. The taste lacked a bit on flavour so I was quick to add some spicy Chiquito sauce to it, which made a dish more interesting. Other food choices were tacos, burritos, burgers, fajitas, salads and Peri peri chicken. Something for everyone. The place looks very clean and quite contemporary. In the background you will hear some Mexican music, which makes it a bit more «Mexican » :-) They also gave me popcorn whilst I waited for the food, what I thought was a nice touch.
Prices are quite dear, but expected when eating in New Town.
Anyway, overall quite a good experience, and if you are not put off by chains, then it’s quite a nice place to go to.

Chiquito is basically a nasty Mexican-​themed fast-​food restaurant, dressed up as a smart sit-​down place with absolutely outrageous prices.
The staff all seem like they would rather be working literally anywhere else in the world, and this very much comes across in their service. The menus offer a vast array of fairly predictable tex-​mex fare, which is not a bad thing I guess, but you feel very much like it was designed by a corporate committee with no heart, imagination or authenticity in their offerings at all.
I always feel a bit suspicious of restaurants with really massive and disparate menus. Are the chefs really good at making ALL of these different dishes? For example, Chiquito has no less than fourteen different burgers on the menu. BURGERS. In a MEXICAN restaurant!
The food is definitely edible, but is clearly just cranked-​out, mass-​produced pap, much of which is probably cooked from frozen. Do NOT expect anything that screams fresh, authentic or delicious.
I could forgive a lot of this if it was a cheap-​and-​fast slap-​up restaurant, but it’s not. To give you an idea, Fajitas cost about £16. A margarita will set you back between £7 and £8.
Chiquito has no redeeming aspects that I can think of, other than the fact that you are very likely to be able to get a seat on a Friday night!

I’m a big fan of Mexican food & had tried most of Edinburgh’s (limited) offerings before making it to Chiquitos. Like many reviewers, I had rejected it, assuming that chain restaurant would equal poor quality, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Yes, there are sombreros for diners to wear, & the crowd is what you’d expect from a chain restaurant (lots of awkward first dates & large families), but the food & drinks were great.
I had several strawberry mojitos which were delicious (lots of lime & mint), the crayfish soft tacos (fantastic & something a little more unusual), followed by the chicken & chorizo quesadilla bites (really good), & finally the churros for dessert. The portion sizes aren’t huge (hence managing to squeeze in two starters & a shared dessert) & there were a couple of disappointments (the chips are fairly mediocre & the chocolate sauce with the churros tasted quite plasticky) but overall I was really impressed.
The service was a little slow, but very helpful & our servers were really chatty, something which is rare in chain restaurants.
Overall, this might not be the most authentic Mexican restaurant (I see you Americans rolling your eyes at us naïve Brits) but I really enjoyed my meal & will definitely be heading back.

Was quite ok in the past, but our recent visit was disappointing. Service was mediocre, food as well. Not recommended.

This place is nothing special. We ordered margaritas and nachos (because they wouldnt serve a basket of chips and salsa for 3 people).
I think we may have been the first people to ever order a margarita there. It was as if they had to get the blender out of storage. They took forever! We were done with our nachos by the time the drinks even came out. We questioned multiple times to one another of there was even any tequila in them, they were so weak. There were giant chunks of ice that made it impossible to drink out of a straw and generally they were a real let down. I guess that is what I get for expecting a good margarita in Scotland.

Food was ok, service was horrible. Nearly 30 minutes before they asked for our drink orders. Never saw our waiter again after placing our order, no one came back to ask how the food was. We waived someone down to ask for a drink– it never arrived but it was added to the bill. They did not have containers to take left overs home.

Now I know that Unilocal is supposed to be more about the local independent retailers so please bear with me while I wax lyrical about a national chain.
My fellow Unilocalers I have three words for you… Sweet Potato Fries! I know we in Edinburgh are all crazy for the sweet potato fries but I will come to them in good time.
I love mexican food but I’ve traditionally avoided Chiquito’s because I assumed it was the mexican equivalent of a Frankie and Bennys. Whilst it’s still a chain brand, and you can tell from the décor inside, I’m willing to forgive the place for it on the standard of drinks and food you get here.
I’m a sucker for cocktails and they have a really impressive looking menu here. Sadly I had to drive my friend to pick up her car after dinner so I couldn’t have a proper cocktail. On the plus side they do also make ‘mocktails’ so instead of a mojito I had a ‘mock jito’ which tasted just like a mojito but minus the rum. As a predominantly non-​alcoholic drinker I was seriously impressed with the mocktails. Having a diet coke all the time when you go out for dinner gets pretty boring so I really appreciated being able to enjoy something a bit more grown up minus the alcohol. (I also had a Citrus Punch which was my favourite of the two mocktails I had.)
For food my friend and I ordered off the specials menu they have on the table, sharing the tostadas. These are like little toasted tortillas with toppings like pulled BBQ pork, chorizo and sweet corn or sweet potato and feta on them. They were also served with a cranberry salsa… cranberry salsa? I was skeptical but it was really nice and totally complimented the tostadas. The best I can describe it is almost like a sweet, spicy cranberry relish rather than salsa.
For main I opted for a chimichanga. Those of you who know mexican food will probably understand the conflicted emotions I experienced whilst eating my main meal. It was bloody delicious but it’s essentially a deep fried burrito so all the while I’m eating it my inner monologue is going ‘oh chimichanga you are so tasty nom nom nom, OMG YOU’RE EATING A DEEP FRIED BURRITO, THINK OF THE CALORIES WOMAN!!‘
On top of that I had some sweet potato fries on the side, yes the aforementioned sweet potato fries. Not only were they skinny sweet potato fries but the were also crispy. (They were probably also deep fried, oh god the guilt.) I’d like to think I’d go out of my way for less when it comes to sweet potato fries but the food is really nice so it’s actually not much of a hardship. Mexican food and sweet potato fries? Bonus.
The great thing was that the price wasn’t completely off the charts. The specials menu was really good value for money though I definitely want to come back here to try a proper cocktail and obviously for more sweet potato fries!

One of the best Mexican joints we came across outside the states. Great mojitos especially spicy ginger
As far as the dishes spicy chicken burrito and chicken fajita are great.
Highly recommend it

This is the second time I have been here and I still was not impressed. On a positive note the staff was great. They were super helpful and nice and were working hard. I gave an extra star just for the staff themselves. Had a margarita while we waited for a seat. It was ok wasnt great wasnt bad, but it did have booze in it as I could taste it so thats a good thing. Not enough to make me run around like Pancho-​Villa but enough for me to taste it so I was ok with that. The food was not good, Im sorry, but the nachos were burned and were mostly chips and not many goodies or cheese. Maybe it was just the kitchen staff was super busy or something but still, nachos are not that hard to mess up. But if you want a margarita or mexican drinks and cant get into another mexican restaurant or want to see a free comedy show downstairs in a basement this is where to go.

I am supposed to hate Chiquito’s more than I really do. It’s a chain, food is generic Mexican fare, and you aren’t exactly dining out on 5 star cuisine. But I don’t hate it. Given the choice, I would choose elsewhere, but really, it’s not bad. Granted, the prawn fajitas I had were delivered on a terrifyingly hot (all of food came with a base of charcoal) tray didn’t carry any particular level of flavour, but it wasn’t bad. I can’t belittle the service because it was OK. Not great, but OK. Enchilada’s appeared within minutes of ordering (OK, that worried me about the freshness of preparation… ie. not) and were left to die a death under a heater, but the boy ate them without complaint.
Cocktails — I wouldn’t bother with. Not the finest.
However, what I do like about Chiquito’s is that it does offer numerous vegetarian options, so when dining out with a big family, I had more options than I am normally accustomed to. So that gets a reluctant star.
Chiquito’s — I don’t like you, but for average fare, you excell nicely.

This is the first and only Mexican restaurant I’ve tried here, so I have nothing to compare it to.
I thought the restaurant was a bit dark and the atmosphere made me want to curl up and take a nap. But then my food arrived, and I woke right up!
Chimichangas!!! I love these things! They are surely not a healthy option, so I don’t eat them often. I’ve definitely had better, but I still thought they did pretty good and I left very happy and very stuffed. :-)

I don’t understand why Chiquito’s has gotten so many bad reviews! Having dined here twice, the food has been quite impressive. Sure the choice of dishes on the menu are quite commercially Mexican, but if one takes the price into consideration, it’s actually a good deal.
The restaurant is quite central, and is just off Princes Street. The décor was predictable, and I didn’t find it hard to picture a piñata party in there! The last time I was there was for a fifteen person heavy birthday dinner, and I remember everyone being satisfied with the food. I was especially excited to try their Chimichangas, which is just awesome enough to say. Chimichangas, Chimichangas, Chimichangas… hehe. This was followed by some battered and fried bananas with chocolate dipping sauce, yum!
I will agree that there’s probably another restaurant in Edinburgh that serves more authentic Mexican dishes, but for a no frills, wholesome (and affordable!) evening out Chiquito’s isn’t so bad!

Not impressed. Perhaps because I have been able to enjoy Mexican food in the States, where it’s closer to the source and probably more authentic. I found Chiquito to be a bit like a Mexican Friday’s, with the glossy menu and the focus on expensive alcohol drinks.
I did still want a margarita, which I found to be only reasonably decent. Too much triple sec and ice, not nearly enough tequila. I didn’t send it back, but I didn’t have another. Still, it was a treat with the chips and salsa. It’s the salsa I like — big pieces of tomato with plenty of spicy pepper mixed in. Easy for scooping.
My main — enchiladas with chicken — was served in a crock bowl on a ceramic plate. The bowl was extremely hot of course as was most of the meal. I was therefore unhappy as I ate from the outside towards the center, only to find the center was only warm. I didn’t send this back either. The flavor was good, including the small amount of guacamole on top, but that temperature put me off.
I chose not to risk a dessert. In the end, my craving for Mexican was not satisfied. I would not return.

Chiquito is to Mexican food what TGI Friday’s is to American food. For the most part they have a similar ethos: big, wholesome portions alongside average flavours.
I found the nachos here to be well in the ‘overkill’ category. Immense portions and way too much sour cream justify this, nonetheless my chums whom had not ordered a starter where pleased to help me out.
Like the starter, the mains exhibit the same qualities leading to a pretty average meal, nothing special.
There’ more personal and tastier Mexican restaurants in Edinburgh than Chiquito, not my favourite.

I really enjoy Mexican food, but lets face it, us Brits make a pretty poor job of it.
Chiquito actually takes this poor job and improves upon it. It is basically like TGI Fridays but Mexican food. I usually go for lunch as on the lunch menu you can have 1, 2 or 3 courses for a set price. So you can get a good decent munch at a reasonable price.
I went here for dinner with my boyfriend, I think we had a coupon or something to make it cheap. We ordered the Nachos to start which was a bit of a mistake as they were massive and ended up leaving us too full to eat the main. Drop by for some Nachos and you will be sorted out good and proper.

My boyfriend and I spotted this restaurant the last time we were in Edinburgh, and vowed to go the next time we were in the City. So, when we visited for some shopping last weekend, we walked past all the smaller, more independent eateries on Rose Street and beyond, and chose Chiquito as our restaurant of choice.
My other half fondly remembers going to Chiquito when he was younger, before Mexican food became available on the High Street and popular. He raved about the place, so I was confident that we would have a good meal. I was starving, so was he, and we were happy to just get a seat (although mine was ripped… not a great start)
The restaurant itself was probably quite nice, but it was literally so dark I was almost falling asleep! It was a lovely, sunny day outside, and coming in here really brought the mood down! The waitress seated us then explained the menu to us, telling us they had pastas because ‘not everyone likes all that Mexican stuff’…hmm.
We ordered 2 margaritas and had a look through the huge menu.
Our drinks came and we got to ordering. I decided to go for the fajitas combo, choosing Acapulco chicken (spiced and coated with cheese and crushed nachos) and king prawns. I couldn’t wait!
The sizzling plates came out and to be honest, it was more of a damp squib for me. On the left of my sizzling platter was the meat and prawns. I had about 4 strips of chicken breast in the Acapulco seasoning, and 5… count them…5 prawns. And King these were not! They were the sort of tiny frozen prawns you buy from Farmfoods. To say I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. The wraps came in a small round plastic tub, half of which was melted (clumsy chefs) and there were 5 slightly small tortilla wraps. There certainly wasn’t enough to fill them, and the small pot of salsa I got was finished within two wraps.
The funniest thing was the saucer of cheese and lettuce we were given, which was wilted and brown! I’m not saying they have to give you a whole lump of grated cheese, but this was mean! However, I ate them, and they were nice, although the sizzler plate which was still cooking meant the prawns were tough and over cooked.
We decided to avoid disappointment and dingy deserts, plus we had began to wonder if it was actually 10pm rather than 3pm it was gradually getting darker in there! We paid our bill, which for 2 drinks and two fajitas sizzling plates came to just over £40. I wasn’t impressed with the value either to be honest.
Avoid. If you’re looking for a TGI Friday’s based Mexican experience, then you might be into it, but for me, it was a big no no!