Las Iguanas - Newport — Restaurant in Newport

Updated summer 2024: Seems the management have taken onboard the issues they were having in the early days. I've been here a handful of times recently and each time the service has been good and the food as it should be. The Lunchtime Fiesta menu is great value. Glad they have stuck it out in Friars Walk as it's now one of the best places there. Old review: I so wanted to love this place when it opened in Friars Walk. I made it a point to be the first place I visited.

First visit, took my in-laws and confidently told our guests they'd be able to order dairy free here, no problem. Waiter said "No, the burritos are already rolled." What?! I hadn't been before and I didn't want to cause a fuss so I believed him but I was confused. Isn't this what Las Iguanas are known for?

My father in law also didn't want to cause a fuss so ended up eating something with cheese in, which although he isn't vegan, he doesn't like it. I asked what was available without dairy and the waiter pointed something out which could be made vegan but didn't offer me the dairy free menu, which at this point I didn't know to ask for.

So first visit was a very expensive meal with two people out of four paying to eat something they didn't really want. Not to mention I was slightly embarrassed having been the one to choose the place because I believed we'd all be able to get something we liked here.

I contacted head office who apologized and wanted to make amends by offering a discount to return, only 25% off. After the fact, I realised they often give this sort of discount for various promotions, it wasn't anything special, not much of a compensation at all.

As I said, I really wanted to like it here so I took up the offer and on the following visit they did get everything right and we had an enjoyable evening. Great. All is forgiven, right?

Wrong. The subsequent three visits they took my order where I expressly and emphatically asked for the vegan version, and each and every time my food was delivered covered in cheese. Each time, I noticed before I started eating and returned it.

To be fair, they did refund me the cost of the food and replace the food, which I thought was good the first time, but got sick of having to sit and watch the rest of my party eat whilst they went off and sorted mine out. Then others had to wait for me to eat my replaced meal which, of course, came out after everyone else had finished. Spoils the whole dining out experience having to send food back every time.

Each time I have fed this back to head office who have referred it to the branch manager. They say all the right things but since the service didn't improve after giving them so many chances, I was left with no choice but to stop eating here. What a shame.

This branch not recommended for vegans. Or if you do have to eat here, make sure you see them press the 'vegan' button when taking your order. Apparently this is all...

Rude. You have to order on an app. Of course all this technology is all well and good until it doesn't work. We couldn't finish the order on the app and the couple sat next to us had been trying for 15 minutes with the same problem.

I went to the lady at the bookings desk who was polite enough and she said ' It's fine, just go to the bar, remember it's card only'. Fair enough.

Two bartenders - a woman and a guy stood round not doing much when I walked up they asked if I was ok. I said that I'd like to place an order. "You have to order on the app", the woman said. I explained that I'm not doing that, theres a technical issue, and your colleague said it's fine to order here.

The response was 'Theres a sign!" - and she indicated to a sign which said something to the tune of 'please order in the app'

I said to her 'I just told you, we can't do that, we are having technical difficulty and the lady said it's fine to order at the bar' - And with that somebody else just placed an order at the bar funnily enough. The bartender at the other end had no problem serving them.

The woman looked at her colleague rolled her eyes and made the cocktail...which tasted okay, but by that time I wasn't overly keen on drinking there.

A little training in customer service...

With this restaurant being 4.5 stars I had high hopes. However I would avoid big time if I’m being 100% honest ! When asked if we could change part of an order the waitress very kindly told us that we couldn’t as it isn’t freshly made. Big off put. I ordered the chicken skewers and I’ve never seen such bland food in my whole life. No seasoning on the chicken what so ever. Not even a bit of salt, pepper n herbs. It was just fully plain chicken, like I would feed to my dog back home. However they whacked some sauce on it and decided it was good enough. Cool. My 7 year old daughter could have made better at home. The kids dinners come. And fine don’t seem to be any problems. After we left my 7 year old did enlighten me on the fact she felt poorly and didn’t enjoy her dinner. I think she felt too awkward to let me know inside. Come to now. It’s 4am. She’s bought her entire dinner back up. It’s one thing to not enjoy your dinner but it shouldn’t make you sick ? Clearly something dodgy with the food. I just wouldn’t even risk it. Our first night away and we wanted to go somewhere nice for food and this has been more trouble than it was worth. Absolutely avoid. If it was possible to give 0...