Restaurant Review Chiquito Parrs Wood Didsbury Manchester

RESTAURANT REVIEW CHIQUITO PARRS WOOD DIDSBURY MANCHESTER

Chiquito’s are a popular Mexican food restaurant chain, with several branches in Greater Manchester alone. This was my first, and possibly last visit to one of their branches, as while the food was excellent, the service was appalling.

I do not expect it to take three and a half hours to be served two courses and the bill in any restaurant, but that is what happened here. We arrived at 7 pm, and left at gone 10.30 pm.

I was with a party of fifteen people celebrating the double birthdays of a husband and wife duo. Bookings were made a month before our meal on the 12th November 2011. We were asked through the lady booking to pre-select our meals from the online menus to make speedy service more possible. That in it set alarm bells ringing for me, as I don’t decide four weeks ahead what I am going to eat at any time.  A restaurant should be capable of serving as many diners as it provides tables for, even when they arrive un-announced at the last minute without advance reservations. Chiquito couldn’t handle our party booking on a Saturday night at the beginning of Xmas party season, in a restaurant that was never filled to capacity. Pre-ordered meals were forgotten and we were invited to order from the menu as normal, which I took as a step in the right direction, but this proved to be misleading.

The pre-ordering process broke down, and once arriving, in plenty of time for the 7pm start to the meal, we were a little delayed by a few guests arriving late, but it was inexcusable not to seat those of us who had arrived, well before eight pm. 

While drinks were served promptly, food orders seemed to take an eternity and the break between starters and main course was even longer than that between arriving and being fed at all. A few of our party ended up leaving before the end and though a few risked ordering coffees, no one felt inclined to order dessert and we were reduced to less than an hour in a nearby pub for post meal-drinks with friends many of us seldom see.

Sorting the bill also took forever and I was particularly unhappy to see Chiquito awarding themselves a high percentage service charge, given the abysmal service provided – such service charges hijack the more traditional tips that people can pay at discretion and which can go to the waiters and pot washers rather than management.

Another bizarre touch that was disappointing was their promotion of mescal wine, and announcing on the drinks menu how it comes in bottles with a worm, which can be eaten by the rave consumer. I requested this to give it a try only to be told that Chiquito only serve it by the worm-free glass, so I decided not to bother. I just didn’t see the point. The Tequila was nice though.

As much as I love Mexican food, I did not expect the meal to turn into a starve them out siege of Alamo battle proportions, nor for a stroppy waitress to blame the customers for the interminable delays, arrogantly suggesting that it was our fault for not all arriving dead on seven pm – why this caused a mammoth delay at 9.30 pm between starters and main course. The lapses in service were unforgivable.

Arthur Chappell.