Cantina Laredo

Gourmet, as an adjective, is used to flog most food nowadays – sandwiches, sausage rolls, even Cat food. It has become a meaningless term which should now translate to ‘good’ or ‘not crap’. I think it is quite unlikely that the very restaurants designed to serve gourmets where this term orginated, would wish to be associated with it any longer.

Cantina Ladero's tagline is ‘Gourmet Mexican Food’. I am a big fan of Mexican Food but we don't do it very well in this country. The Mexican restaurants in London particularly are generally in tourist traps and serve 4 pint pitchers of blue margaritas to noisy tables of 20.

I am pleased to confirm that Ladero does not conform to this genre and actually turns out some very well presented and delicious Mexican food in very civilised surroundings. We ordered a couple of items from the ‘Tapas’ section (same language I guess) followed by Taquería (Tacos). I did also see some sizzling skillets of Fajitas being transported to tables and experienced momentary food envy.

One reccomendation I would make is for the ‘Guadalajara Michelda’ which is actually a regional drink recipe – Beer served with Tomato juice, Lime, Chilli sauce and with a rim of sea salt which will put thick black hairs on your chest.

I've never been to Mexico so cannot comment on the authenticity question, but as a new pre-theatre venue for me, it ticked all the right boxes. I have to agree with the SM reviewer as the room itself is somewhat uninspiring – personally I went for hotel foyer rather than dining room, but that doesn't detract from the enthusiasm and friendliness of the waiting staff who seemed genuinely pleased that the food was appreciated. The “top shelf” guacamole was interesting being that it is made at your table, but would have been better with slightly riper avocados and although advertised as sufficient for two, make sure your dining companion does not have a big appetite! Our mains or steak wrapped around a pepper and steak with bacon wrapped prawns were very good but the accompanying sides of rice and sauteed vegetables were a tad disappointing – vegetables being somewhat overdone and rice just lacking in any sort of flavour.

That said, it was an enjoyable meal (margaritas v good and half price at the time) and I will return but probably for a swift informal meal, rather that a leisurely, lengthy evening.

Think of Mexican food and you might picture lurid chilli reds and guacamole greens, and the tendency to slather sauce or cheese over most dishes; certainly not a cuisine that to lends itself naturally to the term ‘gourmet’. So it was with some intrigue that we ventured into Cantina Laredo, proudly boasting just such credentials. How could this slick-looking place turn tacos and enchiladas into something more elevated than your average.

Certainly service was a step above being thrown tacos in tin foil and offered a slice for your beer. The whole place was achingly efficient, with door staff gliding us to the bar as we waited for a table and at the same time expertly upselling the house margaritas. The drinks were good – certainly not timid on the tequila – though to my taste perhaps just missing quite the right balance to make this a truly memorable incarnation.

Salsa with nachos comes as a complementary appetiser, and is a crisp, fresh start with a great kick. Yet good as they were, these somehow seemed only to remind me about how over-priced much of the rest of the menu appeared. Table-made guacamole added nice theatre and shared the zesty, full flavours we’d experienced thus far, yet at £6.95 felt like a twisted misappropriation of that gourmet tag.

With familiar mains at unfamiliar prices, we were hoping for something with a real zing. However fillings in both a chile relleno (stuffed pepper) and enchiladas were significantly under-flavoured and disappeared quickly on the palette. A bizarre side of sautéed vegetables (courgette and sweetcorn) was a flabby addition to both plates that tasted as if they might as well have come out of a tin.

Stylishly outfitted in thick wooden cuts, in a prime location in the new St. Martin’s Courtyard complex close to Covent Garden, and with consistently good service, Cantina Laredo can lay some claim to its gourmet tag. Yet read by another (and frankly more important) meter, this was average cooking at above-average prices which left me hankering for something held together in tin-foil and where a cocktail simply means the choice of lemon or lime with your drink.

We went for dinner before the theatre and opted for the pre-theatre menu. Great decor and some very comfy booths. Friendly staff and our waiter – Andrew was extremely helpful and polite, he also made an amazing fresh guacamole at our table. Food was delicious and fresh with healthy sized portions. Will definately be going back…

We popped into this restaurant for light tapas lunch and were so taken bv the menu that we decided to have main meals. Service was excellent – helpful, friendly and knowledgable. The food arrived fairly quickly and was delicious. Free tortilla chips and dips while we were waiting were far above the usual stuff given free in restaurants. I'd definitely go back to this restauarant – the only reason i gave a low score on atmosphere was because it was lunchtime and quite quiet.

I came across this restaurant on a Friday night. Excellent customer service, great atmosphere. The margarita was huge and its taste delightful. Let's not talk about the main meal…to die for…I would have licked the plate if I could. Dessert was sizzling at the table and absolutely very tasty. I will definitely go back again and I highly recommend it.

I met a couple of my girlfriends here, as an experiment. As a Californian, I'm always looking for good Mexican in London. This place wowed us all! The margaritas are amazing, the ceviche was fresh and delicious. Service was great, and the decor is chic. They even made me fajitas with prawns (not on the menu) because I don't eat chicken or beef. Not to mention they were so friendly the entire time. The guacamole is made fresh at your table, and its the first time I've had it freshly made since I moved here three years ago. I told them I would post a review just so that there is not even a small chance that the restaurant doesn't make it. Its right next to Jaime's Italian, but having eaten at both places – take it from me go to this place!

Best Mexican food I have had outside of Mexico.

We traveled to Mexico a year ago and stayed in Tulum and had the freshest tastiest food I have ever had and have always been disappointed going to other Mexican places. We have been to Wahaca, Tortilla and Santo and this place by far had fresher tastier food.

Best meal I have ever had in London.

The service was fantastic, I don't eat dairy and asked to have no cream on a dish I ordered and they brought out a different sauce on the side which was a personal favourite from one the staff members, they offered to change the sauce if I didn't like it but I loved it!

My daughter and I visited this restaurant last night after a Texan colleague recommended it. Wow was she right. Finally after living in London for 24 years, a proper Tex Mex restaurant with fabulous Margueritas has come to town. I know some of the reviewers belowthink it is expensive but I think that £8.95 is actually a decent price for a marguerita given that it was so large it lasted the entire meal. I have been known to drink at least 3 of these in other places when I can stomach them. They were so bad in Cafe Pacifico I actually went behind the bar to show them how it was done. No problem here.
The Guacamole was excellent-and repeat myself but how can anyone complain about paying £6.95 for a hugh bowl with complimentary chips (unlimited) and salsa too? Wahaca charges less but the amount is about a quarter the size and you have to pay for refills. Not here.
Ok a restaurant is not just about size of portions . The food was really wonderful. I had chicken mole which was spicy and rich. My daughter had an enchilada which she loved. For dessert, the brownie and the apple pie excellent. The former was so rich ,almost like a block of fudge, that we could only eat a tiny bit, the apple pie and cinnamon ice cream-just yummy.
This is a fabulous Tex Mex restaurant . I have absolutely no idea why anyone could give this place a bad review. Maybe they work for Cafe Pacifico and feel threatened.

It is rare to get such good service in London and clearly this is a key USP for this restaurant…The quality of the food was of a very high standard, with some key signature dishes, setting a standard that some other restaurants should aim for.

I have now been to Cantina on a number of occassions, ranging from a casual dinner and lunch with the lads to a business meeting and a casual dinner with the girl friend. I can truly say that the restaurant offers many things to many people and I have yet to be disappointed.

Not only is the service is of a very high standard, but the quality of the food is exceptional. I am one that sticks with his favourites and i would highly recommend the Ceviche, fillet steak and the frozen margharitas have a “punchy” kick.

Its not the cheapest restaurant one will go to but the high level of service, the consistent delivery of quality makes it an experience you will return for.

I couldn't disagree more with the reviews on this page and am terribly surprised to read them. I've been to Cantina Laredo three times now and have always found it to be fantastic. The food is superb and unlike the normal tex mex you find in other Mexican places in London, and the tequila cocktails are just brilliant.

It's not a cheap place to eat, no doubt, but I think you get what you pay for – and with Cantina Laredo you get tasty food, amazing service and a real experience. I've taken along several friends and all of them, bar none, have agreed with me. So I'm really not sure how other people can react so badly to the place. Maybe they're being paid by Wahaca?! :o)

I'll definitely be going back again, and would heartily recommend anyone else too.

You can always tell when a restaurant is fairly new as the number of staff tends to outweigh the number of customers, which at 6pm can be a tad intimidating. Each table has a strategically positioned bowl containing an avocado and a lime; an opportunistic sales ploy to promote the self-proclaimed ‘Top-Shelf’ Guacamole priced at an eye-watering £6.95.

The food here is definitely not cheap but if I thought it was just the food that was expensive, I balked when I clocked the price of the cocktails starting from £9.50 for a standard Margarita? Escalating to £14.50 if you opt for a Margarita made with Patron tequila. For that sort of money you could be sipping the finest cocktails in the bar of some ϋber-chic 5-star hotel in London. I take a sip of my mango Margarita only to discover that I also got more than I’d bargained for when I spy a piece of red onion and some coriander floating past my eyes as I’m taking my first sip. I dread to think how this could happen when the bar is nowhere near the kitchen and therefore can only imagine that it has jumped from a dirty cloth that has been used to wipe a table, straight into my glass.

The guacamole is good, but nothing special and it certainly had no element of piquancy whatsoever. The waiters’ recommendation of Queso Laredo arrives as a bowl of anaemic cheese liquid with a scattering of ground beef, not what I had expected at all and the flavour is bland and the consistency is gloopy and unpleasant. The main courses are nothing short of atrocious and I wouldn’t be lying if I said we struggled to choose anything at all amongst the long list of tedious ‘Tex-Mex’ dishes. Having finally opted for the ‘Fiesta grill’ which is a platter of assorted grilled meats including steak, chicken, prawns and ribs. Ribs? Yes, ribs… not very Mexican at all. ‘Carne asada y camarones’ is our other choice, if only to see how on earth a steak could be wrapped around a pepper that is stuffed with cheese, mushrooms and prawns and still have a decent chance at tasting good. The steak arrives both grey and uninviting although well-marinated with a decent flavour but the mish-mash of peppers with cheese, mushrooms and prawns prove too torturous an experience for my palate. The Fiesta platter is equally poor with overcooked hunks of flavourless chicken and steak and a whole spatchcocked quail that is so undercooked that I could probably revive it with a little CPR! Cutting into it, I reveal oozing bloodied organs that are completely raw and what is even worse is that upon clearing the heaped plate of barely eaten food, our waiter later approaches us and says “I hope you have enjoyed your food?” proving that little notice was taken of what we ate and although our waiter Andrew was very nice, I found the numerous approaches to the table from other staff asking me if everything was ok, a little too much to stomach.

At this point I have figured that the meal could only go uphill from here and so I thought I would be brave and order dessert. But where are the Churros? Shocked by the absence of my absolute favourite sugar and cinnamon dusted donuts, I decided to share a chocolate cake with my guest. What arrived came as no surprise, ready-made bought in chocolate fudge cake and bog standard vanilla ice cream, which I swapped for cinnamon ice cream instead. Still, at this stage I wasn’t expecting miracles and to be honest, I’m only glad that I was able to eat something.

I had expected greater things from Cantina Laredo, it has to be said. The food was not remotely authentic and not a single dish that we ordered seemed to have any hint of chilli in it, which was strange. In fact the meal reminded me more of the kind of fare that TGI Friday’s seem to ply to unsuspecting tourists, hoping people won’t know the difference. The problem is I do know the difference, most people these days know the difference. The difference between real Mexican food, which should be simple, fresh, clean in flavour and very reasonably priced versus this kind of mock-Mexican offerings of ‘Fiesta platters’ and the like. I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it; Mexican cuisine is becoming increasingly popular in London with Wahaca leading the sweepstakes with 3 London restaurants and so many new ventures having followed suit, it is really difficult to see where Cantina Laredo will fit in. I suppose the West End is full of these unauthentic tourist havens that people flock to for a quick-fix meal, as long as authenticity isn’t high on the agenda and so Cantina Laredo may fit the bill. But for people who know about food and expect quality and standards that match the steep prices that they are paying, I would give Cantina Laredo a miss.