Anyone tried this Mexican restaurant?

http://wahaca.co.uk/

It's located in Covent Garden, which always makes me leery of quality or whether it's just any old thing thrown out for the American tourists....

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=36104.0 

Just there last week, tasty, but nothing to write home about.

Cute waiter though! 

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=36104.0 

I thought I remembered a thread about a new mexican restaurant.. I only looked in past pages til October though....too lazy 

We had a London meet up last year and ended up there. Food was fantastic! 

If you want a cheaper option for mex food, there is a place on upper street. Islington,
Called Mucho Mas.

Its the closest thing you'll get to Chipoltle in the UK and is well worth it. Cheap too

OH that Thomasina girl from Masterchef owns that place. I read it in my BBC Good Food Mag this month!

A new competitor to Mucho Mas opened recently which is literally 3 minutes walk away, also on Upper Street in Islington. Its called Tortilla (www.tortilla.co.uk) and personally, I go back and forth on which one I prefer - can't decide! I usually rotate.

Both are extremely close-tasing to Chipotle.

  Wow! Yay for the faux-chipoltle places!! Will have to try it!

A new competitor to Mucho Mas opened recently which is literally 3 minutes walk away, also on Upper Street in Islington. Its called Tortilla (www.tortilla.co.uk) and personally, I go back and forth on which one I prefer - can't decide! I usually rotate.

Both are extremely close-tasing to Chipotle.

I think it's pretty poor taste to open up practically next door to an almost-identical concept.  I mean, what's so special about Angel anyway that they couldn't find a different property?

Sorry, that just really annoys me when businesses blatantly do things like that.  London's a GIANT city with very few fresh Mexican places like that (i.e. takeaway style, under £6) - why have TWO within 50 yards of each other?! 

I think it's pretty poor taste to open up practically next door to an almost-identical concept.  I mean, what's so special about Angel anyway that they couldn't find a different property?

Sorry, that just really annoys me when businesses blatantly do things like that.  London's a GIANT city with very few fresh Mexican places like that (i.e. takeaway style, under £6) - why have TWO within 50 yards of each other?! 

On the other hand; Mexican food is a niche market with an unproven customer base and they wanted to open somewhere they knew there was a market for it?

I think it's pretty poor taste to open up practically next door to an almost-identical concept.  I mean, what's so special about Angel anyway that they couldn't find a different property?

Sorry, that just really annoys me when businesses blatantly do things like that.  London's a GIANT city with very few fresh Mexican places like that (i.e. takeaway style, under £6) - why have TWO within 50 yards of each other?! 

It isn't in poor taste. It's the optimal business strategy. It's best for the business, great for the customer too.

It isn't in poor taste. It's the optimal business strategy. It's best for the business, great for the customer too.

You see that's where I disagree. I think that they could have done themselves a bit of justice at least by opening on another street in the area, as opposed to three doors down 

You see that's where I disagree. I think that they could have done themselves a bit of justice at least by opening on another street in the area, as opposed to three doors down 

Yeah, but restaurants do tend to do this, look at Mickey D's and Burger King. Where I live, there are literally next door to each other with just a fence and some parking spaces separating them.

Yeah, but restaurants do tend to do this, look at Mickey D's and Burger King. Where I live, there are literally next door to each other with just a fence and some parking spaces separating them.

I can appreciate this, but it's neither in the best interest of the consumer or the business, in my opinion.  If they opened in Angel/Islington because of a huge lunch crowd/busy evening street, then there's loads of places around London that also easily meet those criteria.  It's quite obvious they've opened there to be in direct competition with Mucho Mas and for little other reason.  I can appreciate that the niche Mexican-food market might be seen as a 'risk' and they wanted a 'proven' crowd, but I personally feel it's a bit distasteful to not only have almost identical menus to an already-established place but to pretty much copy the décor as well - the bench-style seating was at the Mucho Mas premises far before the current owners (I'm not saying it's a totally original style by any means, of course - but far too coincidental for Tortilla to now have the same).

I haven't personally visited Tortilla, I give this disclaimer, but I did have a nose around their website.  Maybe I'm just a bit emotionally attached in that I'd hate to see a place a nice as Mucho Mas go under just because this other place has shown up with a clearly larger budget to woo the indiscriminate North London working crowd.  I can appreciate this could be seen as 'good business' on Tortilla's part, but that doesn't mean I like it. :-/

I can appreciate this, but it's neither in the best interest of the consumer or the business, in my opinion. 

It certainly is in the best interest of the consumer. Having two Mexicans next door to each other practically guarantees that the quality of both will probably improve and certainly not degrade.

If the first restaurant is better, than it won't lose customers. If the second one is better, than the first deserves to lose customers. Although considering how little good Mexican there is to be got in London, methinks the likeliest scenario is that both of them will go great business as long as they aren't total crap.