Got to admit, this is not going to ever be on my list of places to eat again. After a couple of vaguely unmemorable lunches at Chiquitos, a friend and i decided to go here for dinner after the cinema one night. To cut a hugely long story short; The waiter/esses were rude and unhelpful, left drinks on the bar without serving for long periods, got my order wrong 3 times, overcharged us, then muttered something about ungreatful customers when we refused to leave a tip. Not somwhere i would EVER recommened. Go to the Port Solent branch if you fancy your mexican fix! read more

I wouldn't recommend this Chiquito restaurant. I have been there on a few occasions and have not been impressed with either the food or the service. The first time I went with two friends and our table was placed by the open kitchen and right next to a pillar. The staff were passing trays of food over our heads to each other and the manager was angrily shouting to his staff while he was standing right next to our table. The food was not really that great either but luckily for us the fire alarm went off and we had to vacate the building meaning that we did not have to pay! The second time we went, was in a large party of 20 and although they did cope well with this big party, we only had one waitress for our table and the food again was not the best. Hopefully it would have changed since I last went, but I wouldn't recommend this restaurant. read more

I can't comment on the food as we were shown a table, then ignored for 20 minutes before we got too hungry and left.

Happily surprised with the food and service there at lunch time. I'm not sure it's the type of place for dinner but lunch was definitely a hit. read more

This a mexican restaurants although it food is what the british think of mexican food i.e tortilla chips and fajitas. It is ok - there is areasonable range of food on the menu which does suit chikdren and adults. There are cocktails which add up to a fortune. I have always found the service slow and not particluarly customer orientated. I would go here when i really feel like quick and easy mexican syled food but I would not go here for a special occasion or to impress anyone. With a bit more effort from the staff it could be enjoyable - maybe i always catch them on a bad day but i;'m not over the moon about this place! read more

This is the most appalling Chiquito restaurant I have ever had the displeasure of visiting. 8 of us went here for my Uncles 50th birthday - we wanted a fun night out. To start with they wouldn't accept an advance booking so my Auntie offered to put down a £50 deposit - which they accepted. We later find out from the manager that a deposit of any kind should not have been accepted. We eventually sat down with our over-priced cocktails and ordered our food. I chose potato skins to start and meatballs for my main. We waited roughly half an hour for our starters, all of which were of an 'ok' standard. We ordered more drinks and 1 hour and 15 minutes later our mains arrived. All the mains were either wrong, lukewarm or stone cold. By this time we decided enough was enough and we needed to speak to the manager. The manager was pretty hard to find - infact he was hiding due to the amount of people wanting to complain. When we eventually tracked him down he apologised, gave us the £50 deposit back and didn't charge us for the meal or any drinks. The restaurant is utterly appalling and for a busy saturday night it was completely unacceptable to have the ladies toilets out of action, meaning every woman had to use the disabled toilet downstairs. Their only saving grace was our amazing waitress who herself was close to tears about the way customers were being treated that night. read more

27/04/08 - Just had my dinner here. The food was lovely and very reasonably priced. Staff could have been a bit freindly and quicker but this is only a minor grumblewould definatley recommend and will go again soon read more

Never had a problem with Chiquitos here. Granted it does suffer from 'chain lack of originality'. The menu is pretty standard with fajita, nachos and burgers. The cocktails are overpriced and the staff and generally harassed. It does get very busy in here on Saturdays, but there lunch offers during the week are usually pretty good-and the staff are a bit more helpful as it's quieter. Good for munchies before the cinema or after shopping. If it was a toss up between here and Frankie and Benny's (opposite) here gets my vote. read more

Don't go here if you're looking to use their discounts. Was told their discounts were not working when I had a £10 off voucher on their app, and had to pay full price after I'd been assured I'd get a discount before purchasing two meals. The manager was rude and told me he doesn't want me or anyone I know coming there after I asked "do you not want students to come to your r read more

This restaurant is located within the Gunwharf complex, next to the cinema. As a Mexican restuarant it sells lots of spicy foods such as chilli but also items such as burgers for those who prefer their food a bit cooler. The prices of the meals are around £10-£15 for a main course, which is in line with other places to eat in Gunwharf. However I visited during the week at a lunchtime when they had an offer on, making it much cheaper. Although the food is more expensive than you would pay outside of Gunwharf the food was delicious and I look forward to going back there again soon. The service was also very good and the staff made sure that we were satisfied. We also didn't have to wait long for the food but as this was at lunchtime it was a lot quieter in the restaurant. The atmosphere there is very cosy making it a great place to go on a date. read more

Worst order! Burger had no sauce and so dry, the nachos was so old it wasn't crispy anymore and it looked like they tried to heat it but it just became really soft in the middle and extremely hard on the corners. The churros and chocolate dip was probably the worst I've ever tasted in my life. The churros tasted cheap and left a disgusting after taste and the dip was the cheapest, runniest fake chocolate I've tasted. Poor food and definitely will not be eating there again! read more

the lunch time menu is the best value! the staff are always good!

This place justified a review as I was pleasantly surprised how good it was. With a healthy aversion to restaurant chains, this worked simply because it was closest to the cinema in Gunwharf. The meal was very good, well served in a lively and interesting restaurant. Fajitas are the benchmark by which any TexMex should be judged and these were excellent as was my wife's steak. Service was prompt and friendly and even the hen night from hell on the adjacent table (20 middle aged women dressed as Disney characters) could not spoil the favourable impact. Probably be rubbish next time, but initial impressions were good. read more

Disorganised Waitering & A Poor Desert To Boot!A three course meal from Chiquito will probably set you back on average £43-48 with a few drinks between. That was our bill on what was a meal we walked away from quite gutted we actually paid that much. Several defining points made this an unsavoury dining experience. The waitering was atrocious and the desert of fried ice cream was quite frankly, offensive to the pocket for what it was. I've structured our experience below; Atmosphere & LayoutChiquito is very hit and miss when it comes to its atmosphere and layout, atmosphere is something chiquito has lost since it franchised itself and location and building size is dependant on how far the company decides to adorn its customers with the whole mexican experience. The layout in the particular restuarant in Gunwahrf Quays, Portsmouth is particularly restrictive although containing long family dining tables to deliver a family experience on the second floor, however this is where the problem arised. Trying to get to the toilets involved pushing my way through seated customers. Frankie & Benny's located directly opposite has the same structure, however they have situated their WC facilities in an adaquate space away from the dining areas. This is something I felt chiquito really didn't think about too well when this restaurant launched in Gunwharf just a few years back. All in all the design layout and atmosphere stends towards less atmosphere, more bums on seats and that's something we didn't particularly like. Waitering & HospitalityThe staff at Chiquito, Portsmouth were strangely enough predominantly male, mid thirties which was a refreshing change. However the problem with the waitering this evening was the constant murmering of is everything okay? several minutes between already being asked the same question. Extremely tedious. Secondly, our drinks were sat at the bar for at least 4 minutes as a member of staff completely forgot to serve them to ourselves, of which senior management apologised refusely and gave us two corona's on the house. The funny twist to this was that they nearly were not on the house as our initial bill at the end of meal stated they were chargeable. To be fair on the waiter he did realise his mistake before we raised it to him. Overall the waitering & hospitality this evening was pretty shoddy, lack lustre & more annoying. I would of preferred more drinks served on time, food served promptly and be left to our devices rather than parroting back to staff answers to the same questions. Food & PresentationStarter - A Platter of Barbeque Chicken Wings with Yogurt Dip **A typical platter presentation with Yogurt dip enough to satisfy every chicken wing on the plate. The sticky barbeque sauce on the chicken wings was full of flavour along with that rustic chargrilled flavour of the chicken was brought together extremely well with the Yogurt dip which complimented the starter extremely well. Chicken Wings were just right, enough meat on them, not too fatty and not anorexic either. Couldn't really ask for more other than perhaps a few other dips to compliment the taste buds. Main - Chicken Enchiladas with Tomato Rice & Diced Salad Garnised with Lemon **The main was the best part of the meal, the enchilada had a beautiful crispy & also light tortilla which complimented the spicey chicken & tomato filling. The meal consisted of three tortillas wrapped, served on a boat dish with a cheese topping. The tomato rice was not too overpowering and complemented the meal extremely well. The side salad was refreshing, zest of lemon & lime along with its diced texture and peppered was distinctly mexican by nature and enjoyable. If there was anything to fault it would be the presentation of the main, the rice was splashed accross the main plate with the salad whilst the enchiladas cradled in the boat, there was no attention to detail in the garnish and if anything the tomato rice was a little dry. Desert - Fried Ice Cream with Cinnanon & Flakes OF CornAt a pretty expensive £4.00 a go. This desert was shocking. One scoop of ice cream served in a bowl full of whipped cream, presentation was average but it was the flavour & size of the serving that made this a quite disasterous desert. The desert tasted like a bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes and given the price I could of bought a months worth of cereal for the amount we paid for the desert. The general cost of the deserts at Chiquito is quite expensive and given the portions are small and the flavours leaving you with a sour taste in your mouth over just how much you spent on a substandard desert is something to watch out for if you eat at Chiquito. Conclusion & RatingChiquito is nothing more than an average eatery that fails on the basic prinicples of dining. The lack of atmosphere doesn't capture mexico in any shape or form, the latin music is nothing more than a poor attempt to justify they are making an effort. The food is very hit and miss, chiquito's read more

good if you like mince

portsmouth not so good as port solent chiquitos, cocktails tasted like coloured water, food was all overcooked. would not go there again or recommend to anyone read more