El Santo Bar and Restaurant — Restaurant in Great Britain

Just wanted to preface this review by saying I only write reviews that have been really earned and overall this rule of thumb sees me writing only glowing positive ones. Unfortunately El Santo has really earned this negative review for what can only be described as the most hostile and unprofessional customer service experience I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

We had booked for El Santo’s “Big Deal” featured on 5pm which offered £75 food spend at the cost of £50 which I paid for with a 5pm voucher given as a Christmas gift. It was our anniversary and the intention was to enjoy this meal and then stay for several drinks afterwards. We were at the restaurant just over an hour due to the service we had, leaving immediately after our main because the experience was just so bizarre.

From start to finish we felt absolutely hounded by the same waitress regarding the 5pm voucher. She approached us 4 (four!) separate times regarding the voucher. We were shocked that she came to challenge its value with a very combative attitude DURING OUR MAIN COURSE. I actually had to ask if she could come back after we had finished eating which she did to write down the voucher code (again): I had been asked to write this down at the start of the meal. At that point I admit I found it a weird ask but went along with it.

We had arrived at the bar earlier than our booking and were hoping to have a pre-dinner cocktail to wait for our table but as the restaurant was very quiet we were kindly seated by a really nice male waiter at a gorgeous table. With honesty, the decor and design of El Santo was really gorgeous. Unfortunately this was the only good impression from the night as this same waitress was rude from the outset. First she took our drinks order and was weirdly abrupt about it, coming back twice for the same order. She then returned to hassle us to make a food order before the pre-dinner drinks we wanted even arrived. We then waited 40mins for said drinks which arrived just before our main (we gave in and ordered as we waited) after we enquired with the nice male waiter to see where they were and he said the order hadn’t even been placed and apologised. This prompted us to check our food order which had been taken by the same person and sullenly spat back at us after we made it. There was literally no reason for this attitude with us at all.

The menu was one of the main things that drew us in to the restaurant but I’d say the food was just ok. I did really enjoy the hake I had for my main but my partner’s main had langoustine heads for decoration (?) which clearly did not belong to the frozen prawns which were cooked in the dish. There were a few other little bizarre elements with the serving of the meal too; we were asked to keep our cutlery and the microwaved corn we were served was put on the table to be removed then put back with cocktail sticks in it?

We left as soon as we finished eating because we felt so annoyed by the situation. We were fully prepared to stay into the evening for drinks as again the menu was really impressive sounding but we just didn’t want to invest in this awful experience any further and took our custom elsewhere.

I have to say I would probably have let this review slide and chalk it up to teething problems had the rude waitress not hassled my partner and I for no reason mid-meal. This was totally unacceptable and I still cannot understand why she was continually bothering us about this voucher when this is something she could have clarified with her colleagues and had been already provided with the full information, had the code and had seen the email. It was just weird and unprofessional. Such a dampener on our anniversary and a complete waste of a Christmas gift. With better customer service this restaurant could be such a gem which is...

If I could give no stars I would. I dined here in July of this year with two friends. The place was near empty but somehow the table service was non existent for most of the time & a struggle to get anyone’s attention. The drinks weren’t that great. Margaritas that tasted too sweet & were served in tiny little Nick & Nora glasses. However that’s not the most disappointing part of the experience. When we received our mains, we had each ordered two tacos each & a selection of other items. I bit into my beef taco & when chewing it I felt something very hard hit against my tooth & nearly swallowed it. I pulled it out my mouth & to my horror it was a large chunk of GLASS! No waitress was to be seen when this occurred & when we eventually got someone they apologised & got the manager. The manager, albeit polite, had no idea how to handle this situation. He couldn’t even make eye contact. & asked if I wanted a replacement. Sorry, but no thank you! Not after finding that in the the food. He took the plate away to “show the kitchen” but when he returned there was no explanation given as to how they thought that glass had gotten into my food. He just told me my replacement was on its way to the table. Which I had to cancel & reiterate I did not want any more food from the kitchen after what I had nearly swallowed. We were offered a bottle of wine for the table instead which we declined as we were not drinking wine & ordered another round of drinks instead 5 minutes later. (Which we were still charged for!) But safe to say, none of us finished our food after this incident. No one came near us the rest of the meal really. We sat with uneaten food in front of us for over half an hour. No one asked if we wanted it all taken away when we had to complain about the glass. No one even asked if I was okay during the experience & whether it had injured me. We were ignored & avoided until we asked for the bill when we eventually got someone’s attention for it. The manager didn’t even bring it himself, he sent a member of staff to apologise on his behalf while he stood at the bookings desk. & the bill still rang in at £150!!!!!! A measly 20% off for food contamination by broken glass is shocking!!! & on departure from the restaurant the manager didn’t even lift his eyes from the screen to acknowledge us on the way out the door. Ridiculous & unprofessional. I had actually been really nice about the whole thing because I too have worked in the industry & know what it’s like dealing with these things but I can’t accept how poorly this was all dealt with & wish I’d actually just got angry about it & made the scene it deserved on the day.

I detailed my bad experience in a private email sharing my disappointment on the service in general, how it was dealt with by management & the fact we were given no reassurance it had been investigated & dealt with within the kitchen as I didn’t want to leave a public review, but the poor inadequate response I received from Kayleigh who described herself “THE” Manager was much the same. She washed over all the concerns & points I made with a mediocre response that came to all of 3 half hearted sentences where she offered me a free meal at a later date. Again no thank you. & has ignored completely my response to her email showing that this venue & its managers just don’t care very much about customer service or their food hygiene & health & safety reputation.

The place looks stunning inside & the food looks good too. But there’s some serious flaws with how that venue is managed & the product executed. It’s a real shame as this could have been a great venue but I will never be back nor will I recommend it to anyone after the poor experience & lack of care shown to me over such a serious incident of food...

Came on a busy Friday night, expecting great things but was disappointed.

The ordering process was painful - we were recommended the most expensive steak…after we’d asked for what we wanted. The music was so loud that we had to ask for some items several times. At one point, we were asked twice in 5 minutes if we wanted to order a drink, by the same person.

We ordered quite a lot - but our guacamole clearly went to the table beside us, as it arrived before our tacos. We then had to ask for our guacamole, which added to the confusion. As our guac was then being made up at the table, our mains arrived, which caused a traffic jam. We could barely fit everything on the table. The food itself was tasty, but small - and therefore expensive. The guacamole was delicious but making it at the table seems like a faff. The pork belly was nice but can’t say it was worth the £18 I paid for it. The corn was ok, and the concept is done way better at Topolabamba.

The bar was disorganised. We watched the servers bump into each other, and at one point, a dirty glass fell off the edge of the bar because so many glasses were there waiting for cleaning. Then, the server had to go and find someone to clean up the glass, shaking a cocktail as he went through the bar. As our drinks were being made, the server managed to explode a canister over my friend and guy beside him. The cocktails were decent but overworked, like each of them had one ingredient too many.

The music - so loud. Not sure why a half empty restaurant requires a DJ at 9pm on a Friday night. A waste of time, money and atmosphere. My throat was so sore by the end of dinner, from trying to be heard. We left because it was uncomfortably loud.

The decor is beautiful - some of the nicest I’ve seen. Toilets were unusual but beautiful and clean. The lighting is stunning.

It came to £130 for guacamole, 2 tacos, 2 mains, a side and 4 drinks. Not cheap at all.

In theory, this place should be killing it. In reality…meh. There’s a reason it was quiet on a...