Chiquito Salford Quays - Real life Hell's Kitchen! (Chiquito)

Member Name: hayley_jayne

Product:	Chiquito
Date:	02/01/09 (414 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent authentic mexican food and great service!

Disadvantages: Not ideal for people with a disability or for families with small children

Chiquito Salford Quays - We went for lunch on the 30th December 2008. For anybody who hasn't been to a Chiquito before, it is a Mexican restaurant chain. The one in Salford Quays has ample free parking and is next to the metro link that runs between Manchester and Eccles.

When we arrived we were seated promptly. The seating was tightly packed in so it was an ordeal trying to get to the assigned seats with the baby in the pram. Fortunately, it wasn't overly busy; if it had been, I think I would have been very stressed before we had even begun.

We were seated near the kitchen. On reflection this wasn't ideal due to the smoke that comes off some off the dishes. In addition, the kitchen staff seemed to be getting rather irate with each other. We found this quite amusing, eavesdropping and particularly liked the moment when somebody started chanting, "Fight, fight, fight...."! It was like listening to a real life Hells Kitchen. However, I think other customers might have found this offensive.

We were given two sealed envelopes. If you take these in and hand them unopened to your server in January or February you can get 25%, 50% or 75% off your bill (the server opens it to tell you how much will be taken off). I thought this was good and will be keen to go back and use it!

Our order was taken quickly. We chose from the lunchtime menu, which has been updated since the last time we ate in Chiquito at this time of day. It had a great deal of choice and included a number of more expensive dishes that are available on the main menu also. This is available from 12 noon to 5pm Monday to Friday. It is £5.95 for one course, £7.25 for two or £8.45 for three. We were feeling hungry so went for three. For starters we choose the Stuffed Pepper and Chicken Wings in Peri Peri sauce. For mains Chicken Fajitas and Chicken Enchiladas. For dessert we had the Chocolate Brownie Sundae and the Raspberry Cheesecake.

The food was excellent, it was served promptly and was hot, well presented and tasted authentically Mexican. The only quibble I had was the sundae had too much cream and not enough ice cream so was sloppy.

It did seem understaffed as there only seemed to be a couple of staff waiting on tables. However, our waiter was brilliant, even if a little out of breath by the speed at which he was attempting to keep on top of everything. The one time we waited slightly he apologised profusely for the delay. It does make me wonder though, if we were lucky to have a great waiter who was prepared to put in the extra mile to make things good. I am not convinced all staff would step up to the mark to deliver such service whilst understaffed.

The baby changing facilities were in the disabled toilet and were fairly grotty. No tissue or baby products were available just one of the pull down changing tables on the wall. On addition, I noticed the toilet seat was broken off and the rim of the toilet was covered in urine. If I had a disability and needed to use those facilities I would have been very unhappy. They really need to consider how practical the set up is for people with a disability and for parents with small children.

Summary: Overall, great food and service. Excellent value for money on the lunchtime menu