We booked a table for the family for our birthday meal and I had high expectations for the food going off word-of-mouth reviews. I've travelled a lot so I've had a lot of Mexican and Cajun and South American food before and I was hoping Panama Hatty's would be as authentic tasting as the real thing. Unfortunately it isn't and it tastes exactly like a very good pub chef making Mexican food (food was a bit bland and sauces were too watery). The pulled pork on the burger one of us ordered was bone dry, tasteless and extremely tough, so much so that it broke one of my dads crowns in his teeth haha. I'm not a chef but I know from experience that pulled pork done properly is supposed to be extremely succulent, tender and packed with flavour - the absolute opposite of how it was served here. Otherwise though the food as a whole was not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but for the price you are asked to pay you may expect better.
Service was quite poor though, we had to wait just after 25 minutes before our orders were taken after being seated, then 45 minutes for our starters to arrive and then ONE HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES between our starter arriving and our mains arriving. I don't know if there was some kind of mix up but this kind of wait is erring on the side of unacceptable.
The waiter actually seemed visibly annoyed when politely pressed on our wait time as well which was quite rude. We also had to ask three times for a water refill as one of the waitresses just kept forgetting. Fortunately though they did come good afterwards and offered us a substantial discount on the bill on account of the waiting times which was greatly appreciated (affording this review another star in the process)
On a positive note the restaurant itself is in a nice setting and is absolutely beautiful inside. The ambience and overall feel is very enjoyable and possibly worth a visit for alone.
Overall though based on my experiences, I would not recommend.. read more