Las Iguanas

I only went to Las Iguanas as I saw their 2 for 1 Tortilla Tuesday. We were seated promptly on our arrival at 8:30pm, and were looking forward to our dinner.
We were also informed that it was 2 for 1 on all cocktails, that was music to our ears.
Unfortunately though, after my boyfriend and I had chosen a different cocktail each, we were then disappointed to find, upon our order, that the 2 for 1 cocktails cannot be the same cocktail. This confused us and does not make sense — what is the reason for this exactly?
When our (same) cocktails came, they were very sour but we didn’t complain. They were average and sadly a bit on the small side.
We ordered a burrito each. These came with a lovely side salad, very nicely displayed with cute little round red sweet peppers, thinly and longly sliced carrot, but unfortunately, the burritos were very very average and disappointing.
They were slightly burnt on the outside, and they were very soggy. They were very bland with not much flavour, and the cheese was rubbery and tasteless.
Thankfully we only paid for 1 of these burritos, due to the 2 for 1 offer, but I would have refused to pay the whopping £10.95 for this extremely disappointing burrito.
The service and staff were friendly, but were clearly rushed off their feet. We were only able to get their attention as we were sitting very close to a door, and also their till.
I will not be going back here again.

Now I have visited this place far too many times in the last 3 weeks, but what can I say, they have good cocktails with an amazing happy hour and tasty food.
As it’s currently their 25^th anniversary this branch of Las Iguanas is offering 2−4−1 on cocktails… all day, EVERYDAY! (Other branches have this offer but times vary). Not sure how long this will be on offer for, but it is a pretty great deal. They also have select pitchers on 2−4−1 too — so if you’re in a big group (or feeling particularly thirsty) you can’t go wrong. Can’t speak for the Southbank branch, but the cocktails made here were really good (and one of the bar tenders is quite the artist when it comes to decorating the cocktails). For the rum connoisseurs out there, as well as Havana Club Rum, they stock Pink Pigeon Rum (vanilla rum).
Now for the food. I have eaten both in the restaurant on the upper level and had bar snacks on the ground floor (slightly reduced menu naturally with the bar snacks, so if you’re really hungry, head upstairs). On the whole I loved the food — the nachos with shredded beef was amazing (this is also served in the downstairs bar), the enchiladas and churros — fab! But very sad that they have taken their chicken skewers off the menu, they were incredible!!! Maybe they will come back in the Spring menu (fingers crossed). I’m not a fan of calamari but my friend who had them said they were good.
Highly recommend giving this place a try if you like cocktails or Mexican food (I wasn’t a fan of Mexican food but I have been converted), and if you like both — it’s win win!

I was looking forward to rating this place because of the ambience, drink selection and wide range of tapas but it’s let me down… BIG TIME!
My friends and I went for 3 kinds of tapas — chicken wings, nachos with cheese and beef, calamari. The tapas were presented nicely, laid on our table and without hesitation we dug into the starters! It didn’t take a second for us to realise that the calamari was cold, the beef which accompanied the nachos were not hot enough and the chicken wings seemed to have taken a trip to the fridge in order to cool down before making its way to our table.
When we spoke to the waitress about it, as nicely as possible of course, she didn’t want to agree and hesitantly sent it back to the kitchen. We waited long for the, hopefully hot meal, to arrive… Second try was better but they messed it up again. One of my friends doesn’t eat beef and we specifically asked for it on the side. What did they do? Splash it all over the nachos ! Oh, that’s not just it. The waitress didn’t dare serve us again and got her colleague to do the honour of aggressively slamming the food on our table. No starter plates to follow, nothing.
The wait for drinks was another problem. We stood at the bar for a good 15 minutes without any attention from the bar tender so we asked for the bill and bounced.
It’s a shame because I’ve heard good things about Las Iguanas but from my experience, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. Maybe it’s just the cocktails which they deserve credit for?
Ps: I now have food poisoning. I wanted a day off work but not like this!

Went here for cocktails. They have a fantastic happy hour where it’s two-​for-​one on cocktails! Highly recommend it. Didn’t try the food but it looked good!
Great atmosphere!

J’ai été surprise par cette chaîné…
Cocktails très appréciables, toujours sympa d’y aller pour une petite piña colada ou un mojito… happy hour jusqu’à 20h30, bonne ambiance, serveurs sympas.
Les plats sont bons, les prix acceptables.

I’m really really not «that» kind of person, but this place is so chainey I could pretty much predict the entire lunch experience from beginining to end. Alright I suppose, but just. I dunno. Surprise me?

This one has unusually quick service for a Las Iguanas, probably because it’s not on Southbank, but nonetheless …
Plenty of seating area on the ground floor lets you stick around for as long as you want, or as long as you need to get totally wasted before you graduate to the restaurant on the upper level.
Happy Hour which ends at 7:30pm is a great deal (as in most places probably), and 2 large generous pitchers come with a £18 tag. The drink of choice was Long Island Iced Tea (No, I’m not 18, and this was not my choice) and it was delicious (ok, maybe I should’ve been 18). Nachos and (really tangy) chicken wings by the side. Quick efficient, friendly service, great music, super location, and proximity to Shoreditch/​Brick Lane made for a fun evening.

Nach einem anstrengenden Shopping-​Morgen am Brick Lane Market und Old Spitalfields Market kam ich mit zwei Freundinnen hierher, um unseren schmerzenden Füssen eine Pause zu gönnen und einen erfrischenden Cocktail zu schlürfen.
Hauptsächlich wählten wir diesen Ort aus, da wir gehört hatten, dass während der Happy Hour das Preis-​Leistungs-​Verhältnis super sei.
Es war auch tatsächlich preislich Top, wir haben zwei Jugs für einen bekommen, jedoch hat mich unser Cocktail geschmacklich gar nicht überzeugt. Er war viel zu sauer und ich hatte das Gefühl, meine Zähne lösen sich von der Säure gleich auf.
Zudem war ich leicht geschockt, als wir ein Stück Plastick in unserem Krug fanden.
Ich bin ja nicht wirklich heikel, aber Plastik im Drink ist nicht ganz so prickelnd. Wir haben zwar einen ganz neuen Krug bekommen und die Bedienung war super freundlich, aber mehr als 3 Sterne kann ich leider nicht vergeben.

Great fajitas, tasty food, nice service… Affordable prices… I really didn’t expect this from a chain, and yet, I was positively surprised !!!

Sehr gute Cocktails, die frisch an der Bar zubereitet wurden. Wenn man in nichts essen möchte, sondern nur etwas trinken, gibt es leider keine Bedienung am Platz. In der Happy Hour gibt es zwei Cocktails zum Preis von einem. Für zwei Mojitos und zwei Mal Wasser zahlt man für London angemessene 9,40£.
Schöné Sitzmöglichkeiten draußen und drinnen. Alles in allem zu empfehlen.

Always great for a margarita and a nibble! The staff are really friendly and I like their laid back, yet attentive manner.
The atmosphere is quite fun and friendly, the very very very (comes with a warning) hot sauce on the chicken wings was mildly interesting, but the burritos are brilliant — I love the way they actually heed my «no cheese, no cream, no coriander’ and serve me exactly what I want!
Highly recommended — great location and stellar service.

Went in because I got handed a card for half price cocktails till 9 pm went in intention of caning it with quadruple parked variety cocktails that will get me home very drunk! First it’s not half price but buy one get one free unlike what the card said and it has to be the same cocktail you get free! 2 pitchers of western something later I was no where near drunk and instead went to play table tennis at the place next door. Reminded me tho that i Must go back to the las iguanas at south bank for a meal soon.

We popped in here for a few drinks late one Friday evening and found the ground floor teeming with people. Looking for a table, we drifted up the winding stairs at the back. We were turned back since the upper floor was for sitting only if you were ordering food.
Back down, we found a spot and settled down. They took a while to clear the table and the environment was quite noisy, belting out old songs like Mambo No.5 (God it’d been a while since I heard that!). We decided to order 2 pitchers of some cocktail but mind you the pitchers are very diluted and for the price could have done with a bit more vodka. The place cleared out at around 9.45pm — could be the rush to get into the clubs early?
So all in all not an ideal bit of drinking…

Ongoing escapades for Tequila Tuesdays have occasionally been difficult. I’ll be the first to admit that my attendance has not been stellar, and I’ve missed a few. So when out with my TT friend and co-​founder on a Wednesday, we decided to have a little tapas and tequila, just for good measure.
Las Iguanas has a great location – right in Spitalfields market and warm after a few hours wandering amongst the stalls. They have half-​price happy hour all day on Wednesdays, and we ordered the five-​tapas option to dive in. All of our food (including nachos, chorizo dip, calamari, enchiladas and pork tacos) was absolutely spectacular. I liked it better than other tapas places I have been in the city.
Unfortunately, this whole experience was marred by poor service – try as we might, the servers would not come to the table often, and we ended up ordering a second drink that we rushed just to get out of there. I’m not sure if it was the holiday party in the corner, but we were well early for dinner and still had slow as molasses service. It would have been a four-​star experience otherwise, so that’s a bummer. The food was delicious though!

This is a Mexican/​fusion
The atmosphere is chilled and relaxed can go for just cocktails but the food shouldn’t be missed. Great for a group, families or for a romantic date ;)
Great to choose a few dishes and share
Cocktail Happy Hour is also a sure winner
The average price for a main is £7−12

Great for a chain. Menu options are pretty varied and interesting and the service has always been friendly when i visit. It does get pretty busy with tourists though, so as long as you’re not in too much of a rush you’ll be alright.
I’ve tried a butternut squash salad (which was lovely) and their chilli con carne. The chilli was a risk for me as it’s one of my favourite recipes and I make a fantastic one myselfso I’m a bit of a connoisseur. But I was pleasantly surprised. Still not as good as minebut was flavoursome and meaty (with a mixture of minced beef, beans and beef chunks). It came with a very garlicky rice (be warned the taste will stay with you all day) and tortillas. I also ordered some curly fries to share (eating most of them myself) which were particularly good).

I would agree with the other reviewers that Las Iguanas is a better than average chain. Particularly as I believe chains in the Spitalfields area are generally crap and offer poor value for money, as they rely more on tourist trade than repeat business. Instead, Las Iguanas has attentive staff, decent sized portions (not big though), and very tasty food.
One of the biggest pros is that it has a good variety of food for vegetarians and for those on a gluten free diet.
Minor negative on the drinks: We went during happy hour and the drinks were very small, far more ice than drinks. Overall though, recommended venue for a different kind of meal.

Las Iguanas is a Latin focused restaurant with several locations throughout the UK. It’s what I would describe as a better than average safe chain. Safe because you know that you will get good reliable food, good reliable service and it will be clean to a certain standard. In fact, Las Iguanas is more than that.
The menu is split roughly into tapas, Tex-​Mex, and Brazilian (roughly representing Spain, Mexico and Brazil I suppose — a good sampling of different Latin food styles). There really is something for everyone, and the labeling is very clear showing which foods are vegetarian, gluten free and which contain nuts. If I was on a gluten free diet, this in itself would probably be enough for me to come back as I know it can be a complete nightmare. The menu has everything from fajitas to a more adventurous goat stew. The décor is slightly cheesy so I wouldn’t recommend it for a corporate lunch unless you were with a close friend but it was perfect for our occasion (a colleague’s birthday). We also sat on the terrace which while still being covered at least gives the impression of being outside.
The food was excellent and a brief poll showed that everyone was extremely happy. The portions were massive and you really don’t need a starter. I had the King Prawn Bobo (a Brazilian style stew containing prawns and cassava) which was brought to our table in a stone bowl sitting on top of a candle to keep it warm. The stew was slightly spicy and not overly rich and came with rice, a fresh salsa, plantain and farofa which looked like bread crumbs and didn’t taste of much. I suppose it was to sprinkle on the food to give it an extra texture. They also had two for one cocktails at lunch which was handy.
The restaurant wasn’t overly busy and the service was excellent. I suppose some people are probably turned off by the slightly cheesy Tex-​Mex look to the place which is a shame. I think it’s actually a lot better than some of the other busier choices in the market (Giraffe being one of them) and would heartily recommend it.

A friend stumbled across this gem and since then we’ve never looked back. We will often visit just for cocktails, but I have taken many a young lady here on a date. The atmosphere is great, vibrant, exotic, sexy.
Cocktails are stylishly made in front of you and they have an excellent happy hour… buy one get one free. The food is really good here, very attractive looking, authentic and tasty. I would however like bigger portions, but then my appetite is huge.
They have an upstairs, a down stairs and a really cool outside seating area which backs into Old Spittalfields market. This is a very cool location.
The staff are excellent, professional with some charisma about them.
I don’t go back to places that don’t deliver, so there must be a reason I’ve been to this place dozens of times.

After a joyous day of shopping it was time to fill my tum and just relax.
We came in the early evening just in time for their set lunch & early evening menu which is all day up until 6;30pm. This menu is from £6:90 mains add the drink for £1:50 which is set also and the starters add £1:00. This all comes under tenner.
We had a vivacious waiter who was like «Hey amigo» who took are orders, until it changed to a not so vivacious one. For my starters I ordered a «sopa de calabaza» which had creamy butternut squash, coconut milk soup, finished with soured cream, sprinkled with fresh coriander & crunchy corn tortilla strips.
This soup was divine in taste and you could taste the flavours it was also like silk on your tongue.
For my mains it was a burger which had good thick beef in it and these crispy, crunchy sooooo good curly fries.
For desert it was summer berry sundae which was £4:40 and had
vanilla ice cream with a summer fruit compote, cocoa tortilla wedges & brazil nut farofa. It was fruity and had a really nice crunch to it as well.
The restaurant is beautiful and spacious inside with great outdoor seating. They play lovely Latin flavoured music as well.
Well its in the heart of Spitafields so their always stuff do, like the market on the weekends. Liverpool street, Shorditch High road and Brick lane are not far and their is plenty to do on those streets.

A friend and I always make a point of trying new places everytime we go out, so this time we opted for a bit of chilled out Latin. Now I’ve been to Las Iguanas before at the O2 and have to say this place was far better. The menu seemed more varied and we’d made it just in time for BOGOF cocktail KERCHING! The layout was spacious with a Latin-​esque feel to it. We were sat «outside» under the cover of Old Spitalfields, it was a rather humid Monday evening with undoubtedly added to the atmosphere and authenticity of it all.
The food was nice. I had calamare which was lovely, then the meat paella was was good, but I’ve had better (travel has spoiled me) and finished it off with a naughty banaoffe pie (hard day, i deserved it… lol)
The service was was very friendly, quick and efficient despite not having one set waiter.
Overall I it was good and I’d definately go back. I’d recommend it.

I’m all for trying new things and thankfully one of my friends always has a list of places to try. On this meeting we decided to get our Latin fever on.
Setting — Nice outdoor setting, plenty of room and a good sized table.
Service — A Good service though without having a dedicated server it feels a little impersonal. I am a big fan of having just one server so that you can build up a rapport. There was a really cute (looks and personality) server though which is always a bonus.
Drinks — BOGOF on cocktails, I am soooo there. Good price, good choice and good flavours. Long Island Ice tea & a house concoction which both helped cool me off on this hot day.
Food — Good, I had a duck wrap starter (divine!) and my friend had calamari which she enjoyed. Mains for us both were Paella with all different meats (chicken, squid, calamari and some gorg muscles + others) which went down a right treat. No complaints from either of us. Desert was an Aztec chocolate fudge cake with orange, naughty I know but so worth it.
Overall — It was a good experience and one I would not hesitate to try again. I would recommend this place.

It takes some guts to try to make a restaurant that serves «Latin American» cuisine. It is quite a stretch this concept, one that does not exist in America. Each region on Latin America has its own typical food and can be so different even a person from Latin America does not have necessarily know about it. This place serves mainly Brazilian dishes, with the occasional «enchilada» which is Mexican, only prepared in a way that the people in Mexico never envisioned. I must say that the food is ok, the ingredients are fresh, but please don’t call this «Latin-​American cuisine» its mainly Brazilian