Wahaca

Posted by krina on Aug 14, 2009 at 10:38 pm

My partner and I have been coming to Wahaca for a year now and absolutely love it! He even got you guys to send us our own Wahaca t-shirts (thanks for those). We love the staff the decor the music etc..

We eat there at least once a week, usually at Covent Garden and over the past few months I have noticed the food getting more and more spicy. It’s getting to the point where all I can have is the chicken quesadilla and frijole.

I really used to enjoy the pork pibil, chicken tinga, and chicken taquitoes which are all too hot for me now. (those red chillis really burn the tongue)

I also used to eat the delicious tomato salsa by the spoonful which I cannot touch anymore. Even the lovely chunky guacamole is packed with red chillies, such a shame.

The last couple of times I tried dishes that I previously found mild.. the classic enchilada and the chicken tortilla soup, both of which are now too spicy! I could see chilli seeds in the sauce.

Please please consider offering a less spicy option! Or going back to the previous less spicy but very tasty recipes. We are loyal customers and have converted many of our friends to Wahaca lovers too. Would hate to leave you guys!

Posted by Tommi on Aug 18, 2009 at 8:57 am

Dear Krina,

Thank you so much for your very kind comment. It came propitiously as I was just commenting to one of our chefs about the heat levels in our food and wondering if it was anything to do with our new crop of Serrano chillies that are coming in from Bedfordshire. Chilli heat varies wildly from chilli to chilli, depending on where they are grown, how hot it is and it seems we have a hot bunch on our hands. We are going to look at all our sauces today to look at their heat levels and will adjust accordingly. Thank you so much for taking the time to write in about it. We would hate to lose your loyalty when you obviously come so much.

Do come back soon and see if things are a bit cooler for you…

With much thanks,

Tommi

Posted by krina on Aug 27, 2009 at 11:30 pm

The last two times I noticed a definite improvement on the pork pibil. It was just perfect. The red salsa is a little too hot but I still couldn’t help myself!

Thanks so much Tommi. We will probably be in again this weekend.

Posted by Erika on Sep 7, 2009 at 3:29 pm

I am Mexican and I love Wahaca, I think that it is a true representation of food street. It is fab. Well done!

The part that it is not great is the assignation table system. At the beginning the queue system worked OK as we got a call when the table was ready so we were able to use our time in an efficient way, but last time that I was there there was no phone calls made anymore and we needed to hang around there for a very long time, NOT NICE. The “bar” to be honest is not good, the tequila selection is poor and expensive and there is not suficient space for everybody, basically I stopped going and recomending it. I really want to go back, is your table assignation system improved?

Thanks!

Posted by ElaineandBrian on Sep 7, 2009 at 8:55 pm

Hi, We visited Wahaca, Covent Garden on Sat 5th Sept as my fiance had surprised me with a trip to London for my 30th birthday. We decided that a visit to Wahaca was a must and we were not disppointed – we sat sipping margarehitas waiting for our table and didnt have long to wait at all. Food was delicious – especially the crab/shrimp tostados. No complaints but wanted to leave a message – Please open in Glasgow! There is a gap in the market in the west end here and Wahaca would fit right in! Will def. visit London again & will be back for more glorious spicy food! x

Posted by wahaca on Sep 10, 2009 at 9:03 am

Dear Erika,

Im one of the owners of Wahaca and just wanted to write and thank you for taking the time to get in contact and thank you for your constructive comments.

The queuing system is always something we have battled with and no obvious solution has ever presented itself. We put the bar in last January as customers were complaining that they couldn’t stay in the restaurant waiting for a table and so far this has seemed to work pretty well. Im not quite sure if I have understood your point below but we do not insist that customers stay in the bar to have a drink and wait for a table but we do offer it. However if the customer chooses to go off we have to rely on them to come back. We did do the calling thing last year however this proved to be far too difficult as our managers were spending half their time on the phone leaving messages and never sure if customers were going to return….we then would have to leave the table empty for up to 30 mins in case the customers came back…this would upset customers who were at the restaurant waiting for the tables. We also only ever used to call when we had your table ready early or when people didn’t turn up…however as mentioned above we now have the bar so we tell customers that they have to be back with us by a certain time or better still wait at the bar and we will do our utmost to seat them earlier (which we normally manage to do). But you certainly do not have to wait at the bar you can go off and have a drink somewhere else as long as you are back at the time we have said..that’s all…

Re the tequilas im so sorry you don’t like them…I thought we had a really good range and I know that we are priced amongst the lowest in London for those particular Tequilas. We also have a lot of great cocktails, beers, wines or Agua Frescas which people love…im really sorry however though if they do not appeal to you. Id love to know what we could do to improve this as im always looking for ways to get better?

I hope the above answers your question?

Kind regards,

Mark Selby

Posted by Liz Matthews on Mar 3, 2010 at 3:16 pm

I ate at Wahaca, Canary Wharf, last Saturday (27 Feb).

Very much enjoyed my black bean tostadas, and delicious green rice. My 5 year old son also gobbled up the rice and his quesadilla, which is saying something as he is very fussy. My husband, who is from southern California and hence pretty picky about Mexican food was also very happy with his tacos.

It was a bit disappointing to be given rather dirty plates though. Not what I’d expect from a restuarant of this calibre. Our waiter was charming at all times and he quickly replaced them when I showed them to him, however.

Also, I have to say I would have come to Wahaca a lot sooner if you’d spelled it Oaxhaca. The spelling really made me think the food would be less than authentic.

Posted by cecilia on Mar 4, 2010 at 5:38 pm

Hi Liz,
Thank you so much for your comment. SO glad to hear you came in the end and enjoyed yourself. Sorry about the plates- that is unacceptable but glad to hear the waiter took care of you well.
Mark & Tommi, the two founders of Wahaca, thought long and hard about the name and felt the best name for the restaurant would be Wahaca but we do get lots of people who know Oaxaca who find it a bit odd. The reasoning behind it was that they were influenced by Mexico & the markets but they also brought an english influence in as well with locally sourced meat and veg & chillies grown in devon therefore didn’t want to call it an authentic mexican restaurant but a mexican influenced restaurant.
Oaxaca is the culinary centre of Mexico and therefore is a very important part of our company. We just got back from there actually as we took all our GM’s and Head Chefs there for a week – what an incredible place.
Thank you for your comment and hope to see you back in Wahaca soon.

Best wishes
Cecilia

Posted by Liz Matthews on Mar 4, 2010 at 9:11 pm

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Cecilia and i appreciate the explanation about the name. I’m sure we’ll be eating at Wahaca again in the nost too distant future!

Posted by Dr Jeremy on Mar 17, 2010 at 9:42 pm

Love Wahaca – the food, the service, the atmosphere, the reasonable prices. I ate at Westfield recently and was concerned about the fruit flies present in the dining room. I was told that there is a waste disposal issue at the Westfield Centre. What I want to know is: does Westfield have an ‘eco-friendly’ composter for waste breakdown? These things are an unmitigated disaster and nearly led to the closure of an NHS hospital I work at (flies were EVERYWHERE).. Find out, and get rid of the composter. Meanwhile, I will be back to Wahaca!

Posted by cecilia on Mar 18, 2010 at 6:37 pm

Hi there, thank you so much for this message. I’m so glad you enjoy Wahaca. We are having such a hard time with these flies and we have literally deep cleaned every part of the restaurant and pulled it apart many times but just cant find the source! So frustrating but we keep on going. Westfield does have some sort of eco wastage system and i believe they have been really efficient into looking into all possible problems but as of yet we haven’t found the cause. I will ask them to double check if it is anything to do with the composter. Thanks so much for your advice. I hope it didn’t distract from your experience too much. We are doing everything we can do to solve this issue.
Hope to see you soon in Wahaca!

Posted by Jayne on Apr 12, 2010 at 12:26 pm

Hi

I heard about the opening of a new Wahaca and looked on your website to see (hope, fingers and toes crossed!) if you had opened one in Bristol. Unfortunately, it was for another London restaurant. Please, please, please think about opening a new place in Bristol. My sister took us to Wahaca last year and we all absolutely loved the whole experience. The food was amazing and the service was excellent. Bristol is crying out for a new dining experience like this and I, for one, would be a regular visitor.

Posted by wahaca on Apr 13, 2010 at 12:02 am

Delighted you enjoyed your Wahaca experience. We agree, Bristol would be a great place for a Wahaca. But not just yet unfortunately. We’re concentrating on London for the time being. One day. One day.

Posted by Rita clifton on Jan 12, 2011 at 8:09 am

We visited your Chandos Place restauarant yesterday evening after it being recommended to us. Being ex San Diego dwellers, it is great to find tasty mexican food in London. The food and service were excellent. However our one gripe is the seating. As approaching pensionable age, we declined the first table offered which had a bench to sit on with no back and accepted a table with a bench which was against the wall. Unfortunately the bench is far too narrow and I found myself propping myself against it to stop myself falling off it. (I am an average sized person and my 6ft 3inch husband had to sit on the chair). By the end of the meal, I could not get out of the restaurant quickly enough and my poor back is still aching this morning. Is this a form of ageism as most of the clientele is younger and does not seemed bothered by the poor seating, or is a cunning marketing technique in order to turn round diners quickly in what is a very busy and popular restaurant?

Posted by wahaca on Jan 17, 2011 at 1:36 pm

Hi Rita,
Thank you very much for taking the time to write in. I’m very glad to hear that you enjoyed the food and the service, but extremely sorry that your back has suffered at the hands of our seating. I can assure you that our choice of chair and bench is certainly not ageist, neither is it an attempt to get people to leave quickly! In fact in all of our restaurants we have introduced a real variety of different seating, varying from benches to stools, and garden furniture to reclaimed leather padded school chairs, all of which are given our own special test to ensure they are comfortable on the derrière. We even have a new set of hanging chairs in our bar in soho which are great (even for an afternoon snooze!). I do hope that you’ll be able to come back to visit us again one day, and by all means do ask one of our waiter if they can seat you in one of our more supportive chairs, they’ll be more than happy to help you out.

Many thanks again for writing in with your feedback.

Oli

Posted by Naomi on Feb 18, 2011 at 10:33 pm

Hi
I visited your Soho restaurant today and loved the meal.

I don’t have a complaint as it was the first time I had visited the Soho branch and I LOVE the decor.

I am simply writing because I love the dining chairs- particularly the simple white wooden chairs with the blue legs and was wondering whether you could find out where I could get some.

I also love the recycled glasses and wonder where I can get some of those too

Thanks
Naomi

Posted by wahaca on Feb 22, 2011 at 6:22 pm

Hi Naomi,

Thanks for getting in touch and we’re really glad you had a great time in Soho. We’re really pleased with how we’ve got the place looking – It’s been a lot of effort from loads of different suppliers and artists, all lending their individual touches.

The glasses are imported for us from Mexico by an amazing company called Milagros, so feel free to get in touch with them. I’m not sure which chairs you are referring to as we couldn’t find any white and blue ones. If you give us a little more detail, we will track them down for you.

Thanks again for taking the time to write in.

Oli

Posted by Lew Millard on Jan 17, 2012 at 6:53 pm

I live in Plymouth. Devon so getting to London is a bit of a trek. Do you have any plans to bring Wahaca to the Wild Wild West?

Regards

A Mexican Foodie

Posted by wahaca on Jan 20, 2012 at 3:26 pm

Hi Lew,

We’d love to open up in Plymouth one day, but at the momement we’re focussing on making sure that we have everything just right in London. We’ll definitely add it to the list though. The Wild Wild West sounds fun!

Muchas Gracias.