Sangria Tapas Bar — Restaurant in London

Bad experience and don't recommend to anyone.

Taking a friend there for him to try Sagres beer, a good chicken piri piri (I thought it was good before I came in...).

Where should I start?!?

First refused me and my friend to go and dine in the back of the restaurant (Owner has a section there, where only "his" friends can go!).

That was weird....

Second, every time he was bringing us something to the table (drink, bread, food, etc..) he would always walk into the back of the restaurant, 1 or 2 mins after, come back again with the items, laughing himself off and all of them was disgusting. (note kitchen sits in the middle of restaurants, why need to go to the back every single time??? So does the wines and beer, very very dodgy...all his friends were there, so it seems..

Serve me a wine in a cracked glass (attempt to injury a customer) and with 5 flies in the wine (trying to poison a customer). My friends beer seemed to be ok..only was served on a cracked glass as well!

How can you serve a glass of red wine with 5 huge flies in it, in a cracked glass and don't see it?? Meant the owner has done it on purpose!

Now let me ask you the following:

If an owner of any restaurant, does that to any customer, any customer at all (Even if you don't like the customer for whatever reason, let's assume for 1 min), even only once...

What does that say to you about the way he conducts business and his customer service focus & intentions to deliver the best quality food/drink, with 100% customer service??

Would you trust your family and friends health in a place with an owner like that?? Who knows...maybe he doesn't like your face, or whatever...would you still take a risk?

Look at the rest of the reviews this place has and I let you "think" the rest.

I will never trust my health or my family's & friends health to go in there and eat/drink ever again...there's is much, but much better places to eat around London, you don't need this place to try Portuguese or Spanish food.

Basically, wish you good luck if you ever decide to walk in that place.

An experience for me and my friend to never remember again!

But due to these days restaurants all depend of online reviews and Tripadvisor, it's my right & duty to share my personal experience at this place.

My recommendation:

Stay away for the sake of your own health & value for your own money. I'm sure you have...

I would like to state that I'm writing this review because I really hope the management take my constructive criticism on board. I live in the area and really want to see local businesses do well.

Firstly, the restaurant has a great location right next to the station, and has by far the best decor out of any restaurant on Leyton High Road. It's a very welcoming restaurant and staff were friendly.

The problems were unfortunate. Staff were friendly, however completely untrained for service. We ordered a prawn starter and then were told that they were out of prawns. When we decided to not have a starter, the waiter went to the corner shop next door, came back to our table with a blue plastic bag and told us that they had prawns now and could do the starter. Most importantly, if you are going to charge £10 for a starter in an area like Leyton, you better make sure the prawns are fresh and not from a freezer in a corner shop where they cost £1.80 a bag and have been in the freezer for a month. Secondly, don't let the diner see if you do.

Despite ordering a completely different main, the seabass, it had exactly the same massively oversalted garlic sauce which the starter had.

My main piece of advice for the owner would be to recognise that the prices being charged are not appropriate for the restaurant or the area. The cost on the menu for starters and mains are in line with top restaurants in central London with recognised chefs which is preposterous. Also, the billboard outside advertises the peri peri chicken option, which is more expensive than Nandos, just down the road. I don't mind paying twice what they charge, but only if it's worth it. Leyton High Road is not a prime dining location and the food isn't good enough to be charging such a fee. The local clientele will not pay it, explaining why it is only busy on a Saturday night.

My advice in a sentence would be - either get a new chef or give your current chef training on how to cook. Give your staff service training. Adjust your prices - we all want to make money out of our business, however it's a big mistake to get your prices so vastly wrong. Take this advice and you'll be busy...

On a main street there is no parking attached directly to this restaurant. The decor is simple a fairly run down. However you are not coming here for the decor. The service is very slow especially when busy. The waitress will add things up on her telephone. It takes a while to get served and get the food out. If busy you will need to count a good hour to hour and half between the time you walk in and you have your food on your table. You need to order at the counter. If you are coming here it is not for speed but for comfort and that is exactly what they are delivering. The food in overall great and goes well with the overall atmosphere they are creating. If you are in a rush you are in wrong restaurant. The prices are good and the variety of Mediterranean is refreshing. I personally do not like to wait too long for my food and hate when we are not eating together with the rest of the table. But pass this you can have an excellent mix grilled for £15.50 and that comes with rice and french fries. If you are in area AND not in a rush I would...