Chiquito Bar and Grill Review: Our Night Out in Little Mexico!

Chiquito Restaurant And Bar Review: What we found at this New Mexican Restaurant in the New Liverpool Retail Park!

We were all kinda excited for this dinner date at Chiquito Bar and Mexican Grill Liverpool. What a mouthful. Anyway in today’s episode, I am giving you a sneak-peek into our evening. In an unbiased yet light Chiquito Bar and Grill review. Shall we…

Okay, we were super excited, not just because we were going out for dinner on a Friday night hm hm.

Rather because we were heading to the brand spanking new  Tex-Mex restaurant in the Liverpool’s New Retail Park on Edge Lane. And bang on our Paul Jnr’s birthday! Triple whammy…

You can take a look-see around the New Liverpool Retail Park below:

Video courtesy of Liverpool Echo

The Liverpool Chiquito Grill, is part of a chain of restaurants, which you can also find in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham, Chester, and lots more towns in UK. So it clearly is long overdue in Liverpool. And in their own words, they are well known for their Margaritas and Fajitas.

Now, trust me when I say, we’ve learnt not to have rose tinted glasses when we visit any establishment. Yet, I can say with confidence that we….Hang on a minute no spoilers yet..read on!

Just understand that in the Pkjulesworld book; one must be served if they step out of their home and pay for a meal in a place that is bespoke for eating out. So in this Chiquito Grill review, we are sharing our views on:

• The Externals  including parking,
• Internal Ambiance,
• Cleanliness,
• Staff attitude and speed of service,
• The Food and Beverages,
• The Amenities

And we shall finally share our Pkjulesworld Chillies Rating between 1 to 5 Chillies. 1 being poor and 5 being Shamazeballs… Cool?

Okay lets do this!  

We chose this as our celebratory dinner destination following an earlier choice of a New Turkish Restaurant that said they don’t take bookings, one must simply walk in…No can do! 

Chiquito Bar and Grill won the day for 3 simple reasons:

1. We could Pre-book our group meal including children and get a secluded space.
2. Bags of safe parking for our party of 20.
3. It does look swanky as you drive by… (Okay its also new, so should look the beesnees!)

So, the day dawned and we arrived 10 minutes to our  booked time of 8pm. Parking was in abundance, we got a space right outside the restaurant, yay! It was raining you see!

The outside of the restaurant delivered ambiance and a cool Mexican style look. In fact, you could be right in thinking you had arrived at an American eatery! Very colourful

We were welcomed by an usher as soon as we walked in, who asked if we had a booking. We had indeed booked.

He politely asked us to wait by the bar and feel free to order a drink as he gets our table prepared. Apparently, we were early-ish lol. The restaurant was FULL to be honest! So, fair do’s…We didn’t mind waiting after all who would in a place that looks like this…

Anyway, we ordered some drinks: I had a lager shandy, Julie ordered her favorite mojito. And the children went all in for full cream, fully loaded shakes…They looked and tasted sinfully calorific yummy…I wasn’t tempted…Tehehe are you checking on me?

[clickToTweet tweet=”Fresh, vibrant and tasty cocktails infused with Latin flair #TheChiquitoReview #mexicanfood ” quote=”Fresh, vibrant and tasty cocktails infused with Latin flair”]

I can tell you now, the bar staff were extremely friendly, smiling all the way and delivered our drinks in record time. And in their own words, they serve:

“Fresh, vibrant and tasty cocktails infused with Latin flair.”

Pkjulesworld couldn’t agree more and we have been singing their praise on Instagram too

You’ll love ❤️ this unassuming Mexican grill restaurant in Liverpool’s newest Edge Lane Retail park. @chiquitogrill #greatservice #goodfood #greatambience #tourlife

A post shared by PKJULESWORLD (@pkjulesworld) on Nov 13, 2017 at 1:02am PST

We must also congratulate them on being very clear on Allergy Advice for those with dietary needs, esp. on their website.

Observation: I must say this Chiquito could do better finding a different place to place the dirty serving trays. Away from the bar right by the entrance. Esp. as its where most customers are directed to wait as they wait to be seated.

Okay so, on the dot of 8pm we were taken to a secluded prepared seating area.  It had a bird’s eye view of the whole restaurant as its kinda raised. Awesome. We could see everyone else including keeping an eye on the entrance for the rest of our party!

The Tex-Mex Menu

Truly this Chiquito menu is extensive. It is broken down into sections: Starters, Sharing Starters, Street Food, Our Famous Fajitas, Viva Mexico!

They also have: Mexican Paella, Taco, Tex-Mex, Burgers, Flatbread, Steak and Fish, Salads, Sides. There is a Separate menu for drinks and beverages and of course a children’s menu! 

As we waited for the rest of the party, we decided to order our starters. I must say the waiting staff, were all smiles, welcoming, advising on what’s tasty, what we could order, and being extremely helpful.

Observation: When one of the guests inquired about halal meat, he was told it wasn’t something they had considered until then and would make sure to raise it with management…So if Chiquito Grill wants to serve Muslim and Jewish clientele, they better style up on Halal Food fast!

Suffice to say this guest didn’t eat anything, although he had a drink…Which is a pity!

[RELATED: TRAVELING WITH DIETARY NEEDS]

Our Chiquito Bar and  Grill Review – The Starters:

Well let’s get back to what the Pkjulesworld tribe ordered shall we. The children didn’t bother with starters, they were veeery hungry. (Or so they said and to be honest it was past 8pm.) So, they ordered their mains immediately.

Massive burgers: One ordered a Beef and the other the Southern fried chicken breast, with sliced tomatoes, red onion and baby gem lettuce in a soft brioche bun with chipotle mayo. Served with skin-on-fries and homemade slaw.

The little ones ordered pizzas and even more sinful shakes, what! Their platters looked super appetizing, and shall I add healthy too!

We adults went for starters: Mama Pkjulesworld aka Julie Syl ordered Peri-Peri Prawns served in a peri-peri sauce with a side of tortilla chips.  The chips were definitely “Home made” so they tasted great. The soup came served in a mini cast iron pan (see below) and boy did it look tasty.

But in Julie’s words: it lacked that peri-peri heat she had hoped it would have. In fact she had to add some seasoning. Fortunately they provide some Mexican looking sauces. With these added, the sauce got that extra zing we had expected. (Of course I had some)! Julie said it was quite filing.

I ordered Habanero Chicken wings tossed in BBQ sauce served with a sour cream pot. Delivered in a sieve-like container, it looks unique, at least to me! They tasted fresh, and totally tasty, what with a hint of spice/chili that added the right zing to them. I loved them, just what I had expected! 

The Mexican Grill Mains – What we had:

As the rest of our party arrived, we ordered for our mains. And by gosh most of the ladies wished they had stopped at the starters, which were huge! The mains come served on large platters and the portions are definitely American lol! In other words, large portions.  

Julie ordered Chicken and Ribs, which was served with a side of fries, corn on the cob, a pot of red salad and more chips! The portion was massive for her…lol  The pork fell off the bone and it was delicious. I nicked the corn on the cob off of Julie’s plate. And she washed it all down with a super chilled Mojito! 

I ordered a shared Authentic seafood and chicken paella. This contained: king prawns, tiger prawns, chicken breast and chorizo in a Mexican spiced rice, with cherry tomatoes and the Chiquito grill signature tomato sauce. I can say hand on heart, it all tasted great, loved it.

In fact, for once I couldn’t finish a dish, even though it was shared with another guest lol! Between us, we still couldn’t finish it! But where was the chicken in there? We couldn’t find it lol! Not that I minded as I had chicken for starters! 

One of our group ordered a well cooked beef, without it being nuked, he described what he wanted well. While the meat was well battered, it was kinda thin. It wasn’t as soft as he had expected. In my view, it can be hit-n-miss to get a truly tender falling off the bone type of beef steak in restaurants. They simply nuke it or bring it still bleeding to death lol! (most Africans love our meat truly cooked, yet tender! This one was not as chewy as some we have had. 

The Grill Staff: 

The waiting staff kept making sure we had everything we needed…We didn’t have space for dessert. BUT hand on a minute, there is always space for Birthday cake, right? 

[clickToTweet tweet=”The waiting staff kept making sure we had everything we needed #TheChiquito #RestaurantReview” quote=”The waiting staff kept making sure we had everything we needed”]

And imagine the staff also gave our birthday boy an extra a lil Chocolate Cake, all decorated with chocolate sauce and cream aww bless them.

They also sang Happy birthday to him, which the whole restaurant seemed to join in, all fun. We had of course brought our own Birthday Cake which they agreed to serve us. They delivered it on a large gorgeous tray with candles and more décor plus serving platters for all.

Trust me we cannot fault their attention, helpfulness and enthusiasm, at all!

The Liverpool Chiquito Bar and Grill Amenities:

The restaurant is a cosy type restaurant with bench-like seats created in semi circles for an even more cosy feel. Other tables are raised and have high stools. Like a bar effect and it all looks well put together. The walls were left with a bare brick look and have Mexican painted murals to break the monotony!

The general colour theme is earthy brown, yellow, orange, red and greens! Which, is kinda Mexican for sure.

Chiquito Grill had already decorated for Christmas so we had the Christmas spirit as well.

Like I said the bar is great and well stocked. The Ladies and Gents Lavatories are spanking new and clean. With hand wash and dryers. So, no worries there either.

[RELATED: HOW TO EAT CHEAP WHILE TRAVELING.]

Chiquito Bar and Grill Review: The Pkjulesworld Rating:

All in all we had a great evening, we felt welcome, were able to chat like we were in a private room at no extra cost. The Staff were attentive and helpful.

We will definitely be back, and try out new dishes every time….Lots of choices on their menu! 

If they had Halal Meals and that the expected hot/spicy hit in the “Per-Peri dish; they would have got the full shebang. One of our guests didn’t eat so that took the one star off. And those serving trays by the bar, they gotta go somewhere else. No one wants to see dirty trays when you pay to play! We sure hope they are fixing this even as we go to post! 

For the above reasons, we give Chiquito Bar & Mexican Grill a Delicious 4 Chillies  

Now, we will be keeping you posted a year or two down the road whether the cleanliness and staff customer care is still up to scratch…After all, New establishments have a name to build…So anything could happen, right! 

Well, how about you, would you visit this new Mexican Grill? If so, feel free to Save/Pin this post, Share on Facebook and Leave a comment below.

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