El Patio Selsdon — Restaurant in London

A double fronted shop with tables laid out in rows. Big soulless windows cover most of the frontage A bit like an old style school canteen. Tiles around most walls giving it hard , cold look. Bottles and glass ware for decoration - give a dated 70’s look. Staff are very welcoming and give good advice from the extensive menu. The service is on the slow side. They serve the normal range of tapas that have been around in the U.K. for many years ( totally unlike the ones served in Spain ) , three paella’s and Skewers. The paella’s are poorly cooked ( no crusting of the rice, no use of thick iron paella pans and no saffron used with the rice). I had the Surf and turf Skewer for £22:50 made with large chunks of sirloin, though it was well trimmed, it would have been better to have had half the quantity but of fillet steak - less cooking needed and therefore more taste ) The pork dishes ( Ramos) are particularly good. None of the specialities that we like in similar restaurants in Croydon like Skate in black butter and Oysters were on the menu. And now my particular gripe ; last night Thursday 23rd November at the end of the evening with excellent entertainment and a full house all customers bar half a d were offered a complementary limoncello. Mistake not offering to everyone? - no it was a deliberate decision conveyed by the male owner to the waiter. By the way they charge “ an optional mandatory 10%...

Went tonight for the 1st time, I've only lived in selsdon for a short while. I googled restaurants in selsdon today, as it was my partner's birthday. Came across El Patio with fantastic reviews so I thought I would go down and give it a go. Glad I did, didn't have a booking just turned up and took my chances and as soon as we walked in we was given a table,( LUCKY US TWO) as it was 630pm they had a spare table, happy days. Can't fault this restaurant, happy staff, fantastic food with great atmosphere 10 out of 10 keep up the great work. Can't wait to return and have another fantastic night. Many thanks Debbie and Andrew 20/5/23. Ps compliments...

The restaurant is really nice, the food is good but the staff didn't rise up to it's level. The music was too loud and even though the restaurant wasn't too busy it was a a loud rumour because everyone was speaking loud. They were understaffed and you could see from their attitude. Our plates were cleaned from the table after more than 30 minutes even if all three waiters passed several times by our table and saw we finished. We were there for a nice dinner but instead we payed a big bill and we left disappointed...I would recommend the restaurant for the food but personally, I wouldn't go...