Las Iguanas - Plymouth — Restaurant in Plymouth

I rarely post a bad review of a place as people all too often talk about the bad and not the good on google reviews. However, I have never experienced a restaurant trip as bad as this was. I am hoping it was a one off and no one else has to go through what we went through. There were eleven of us for a 40th birthday meal, we had to pre order our food which we did a week before. Our table was booked for 6pm and we were served our first starter at 7.17pm (time stamped on the photo) over an hour and almost twenty minute wait for starters that were pre-ordered. The waitress (at no fault of their own may I add) they were all really pleasant and of course only passing on what the kitchen were telling them...they kept coming over to our table to say the food wouldn't be much longer, "another ten minutes" another fifteen minutes" etc- they revisited the table many times doing this and of course filling the interim time with getting us more drinks. We did manage to get the kids meals done at a special request as they were of course getting restless as it was getting late. We then had a further 50 minute wait for the mains to come out, (8.08pm on my photo time stamp ) seeing as we arrived at 6pm to wait over two hours for a main meal is rather unreasonable considering all the meals were pre-ordered. Unfortunately when one of the main meals arrived one of the chicken legs was completely frozen and raw in the middle and even had blood, such a shame after waiting all that time. We sent the meal back, they said they would replace it, however and we were still sat there at 9.10pm with no replacement meal, just the new cutlery for the replacement meal that never arrived. The wait staff seemed completely stressed and run off their feet. They were obliviously upset by the whole situ as well as they felt they ruined the birthday celebrations we were there for. (so to the wait staff if you're reading this, it was not your fault and we thought you all handled as well as you could given the situation- however the organisation of the kitchen let you all down. I have to say the manager was extremely good at handling everything and wiped our bill following our experience. it did ruin the evening for the 40th celebration completely- everyone was hangry and annoyed, the kids were restless as it was a much later night and I have to say the food that was edible was pretty mediocre. I appreciate this time of year is busier than normal, however, when you pre order food you expect it to run a lot smoother then it did. It really is such a shame. I despise writing bad reviews, but without bad reviews there cannot be improvement. I also just want to say thank you to the manager who handled everything so professionally and followed up with us a couple of days later and offered us a voucher to enjoy a meal again there another time. I cant say were in a rush at this point, but I hope this was a learning experience for the staff there and they can improve...

Las Iguanas Plymouth – The £260 Meal That Never Happened (Thankfully)

So, picture it. A family of eight, tired, hungry, and slightly delirious after a drive all the way from near Manchester, finally rocks up in Plymouth ready for a nice meal together. We head into Las Iguanas, expecting warmth, welcome, and maybe a bit of Latin flair. What we got instead felt more like a scene from a sitcom where the punchline is: “You’re not eating here.”

We walk in. The place is practically empty. I’m talking five people in total, in a restaurant that could seat about fifty. We’re greeted, well, “greeted” is generous. The server looks at us like we’ve just walked into her living room uninvited. “Have you made a reservation?” she asks, as if we’ve turned up during a royal banquet. “No,” I reply, looking around at the rows of empty tables. “No, we haven’t.”

“Wait there,” she says flatly, pointing to a random spot like she’s directing traffic. No smile, no warmth, just a clear sense of we’d rather you didn’t exist right now.

A moment later, another staff member appears. Same question. “Have you made a reservation?” Honestly, at this point I’m half-expecting a hidden camera. “No,” I repeat, “we haven’t.” You’ve literally just watched your colleague ask me that. What is this, an interrogation?

Then comes the real clincher. “Just so you know,” she says, with a tone so deadpan it could curdle milk, “we’ve only got one chef, so it’ll be about a 45-minute wait for food.” Not said with apology, not even with basic courtesy, just the clear subtext of please, kindly sod off so we can close early.

I’ve heard excuses before, but that one was award-winning. Still, I’d heard good things about Las Iguanas, so I thought we’d give it a go. We’ve just driven half the country to see family, what’s another 45 minutes, right? Wrong. The woman lets out a huge sigh, like we’ve just asked her to rebuild the restaurant by hand, then stomps off to drag some tables together.

I head to the toilet while we wait. There’s no lock on the door. Not broken, just not there. So now I’m trying to balance holding the door shut with one hand while regretting every decision that led me here. Then, as if on cue, I overhear the same staff member moaning about “that group of eight” loud enough to echo through the corridor. That’s us, by the way. Lovely.

That was it. We were done. We left before ordering. Drove straight off and spent our £260 elsewhere, money that could easily have been theirs if anyone there had shown the slightest hint of customer service.

Las Iguanas Plymouth might have the décor and the menu, but when it comes to hospitality, it’s about as inviting as a parking ticket.

Final verdict: Rude, unwelcoming, and absolutely not recommended. If you want dinner in Plymouth, go literally anywhere else. Even the nearest Greggs would treat you better, and at least the...

Went out for dinner with my partner, food was very tasty and good portions. The service though if I am honest was awful. Walked in and had to wait for two staff to finish talking before they noticed we were waiting to be seated. Got seated, given menus and they just left without saying a word. Waited to be be served, wasn't actually sure who was going to serve us as everyone seemed to have tunnel vision (either walking/looking at the bar or heads down not looking at any tables). A young lady eventually came over to take orders. Starters came out pretty quickly, buttermilk chicken and the wings were really nice. My partner finished his first and the server took his plate immediately whilst I was still eating and then they served mains whilst I was still eating - it wasn't that busy at this point but it just felt like they wanted to quickly get us out of there and it was actually pretty rude. Both got the gaucho burgers, very nice and BIG! Afterwards we wanted desserts, waited 30 minutes for someone to even give us the attention to order, everyone was looking down, even when I waved they ignored. Eventually got the attention of the manager who gave us menus and then by literal luck got the attention of the server walking past for her to take our order. Waited another 30 minutes for our desserts, I managed to get the attention from someone on the bar to ask where it was, to then be told it hadnt even been ordered... the manager very kindly put our dessert orders in for free and they came out in 10 mins.

What we thought was going to be an early dinner out in a couple of hours, turned out us being there quite late waiting for service.

All in all, food is really nice! But the service was rubbish, they weren't as attentive as they should be.

Stars are for the food and the atmosphere, probably wont...