Wahaca Oxford Circus — Restaurant in London

I went for lunch today with a friend. Overall, it was good, although there were a few very odd things. First of all, the guy who greeted us began by explaining where the toilets are and where the hand sanitiser was, and that they don’t take cash. Now, by this point you have already walked past two ‘no cash’ signs and a selection of sanitiser sufficient for a Victorian amateur surgery convention. Maybe a lot of their customers are incontinent, or maybe, as we were probably the oldest people in the room by a good few years, he thought we were? Anyway, at least we had no doubt as to where to go for a pee. We were then asked if we had been before. I lied and said ‘yes’ because I really didn’t want to have the brand explained. Thus satisfied, he asked if we had a reservation, which by that point was probably obvious. We were seated by another pleasant man, who immediately explained how we were to pay. At least he didn’t tell us where the toilets were again. He also asked if we had been before (by now I was wondering if we looked completely like space aliens) and I lied again, because the menu looked very clear and I eat a lot of very fine Mexican food when I’m working in Manhattan. Anyway, we ordered a kind of greatest hits thing, and it was good. I’ve had better, I’ve had worse, and I’ve paid more and I’ve paid less. This was a solid win. Well done. On the way out I went to the toilet, more out of curiosity than anything else. It was fine. And now I really know where it is and...

I've eaten in many Wahaca restaurants over the years, this is the worst one for service. The food is, as always, excellent. Sadly this branch is understaffed and overcrowded, leading to awful service. The staff seemed v unhappy. The review forced me to give at least 1 star for service, I'd give 0 if it were possible.

We were a group of 6 and were given a cramped, noisy table too close to the neighbouring table. To get to my seat I had to squeeze between the tables, avoiding a hanging light at shoulder height.

Service was incredibly slow with big gaps in people receiving food. We were given 2 water glasses and 1 water bottle, the drinks we order didn't arrive til after several main dishes. A child's meal arrived very quickly and she'd finished eating by the time the final mains arrived. Some of the food wasn't hot, seems it had been sitting around a while.

The kids wanted some churros, so we had to ask for these before the waiter brought any menus as they were getting v bored. After 20 minutes they still hadn't arrived so had to ask again. They never cleared the plates from the table so they had to eat dessert amid the dirty plates.

The only efficient bit of service was asking for the bill, they expected me to immediately pay the full bill without checking it. As we were 2 families we wanted to split the bill. 12.5% service charge was added automatically, disgraceful given the...

Chaotic service! We had some drinks and nibbles before ordering. I told our waiter I wanted to pay for these separately and then have another bill, for the rest of the food and drinks, for us to share the waiter said no problem. We waited a while for any food but it was busy so understandable. My friend's main course arrived before his starter but nothing for me. I told my friend to start, finally my starter came. My friend then pointed out his starter was still not here, the waiter went away returning with the starter but not my main. I told the waiter we are supposed to be eating together not at different stages. He said it's the way the kitchen works??? Presumably some tables start with a dessert, others are on either the main or starter while sharing the same table.

I ordered a half carafe of red wine and they brought a glass. I was eating street food so part way I asked for some more paper napkins. The person I spoke to appeared to be some sort supervisor so she would get someone to help me. Some minutes later they arrived, was it outside of this 'supervisors' role to do this simple task.

Finally when the bills arrived they were separated not into the initial drinks and main order but one bill for all drinks and and another for food.

Our waiter earlier wrote on our menu and said my name is "Jesus". If we return hopefully we won't get the son of God but the main man and receive...