We headed along to Chiquito at Fort Kinnaird a couple of weeks back on the lookout for some tasty Mexican food after a long day at work.
I had never actually heard of Chiquito before to be honest (although we don’t often head out to Fort Kinnaird for food) but the chain has been around for over 20 years and is the UK’s largest Tex-Mex restaurant chain, with 87 restaurants throughout the country.
First impressions were good as we headed in, lots of room inside, decor was nicely done and there seemed to be plenty staff. We were shown to our table and our waitress for the evening quickly arrived to take our drinks order. We were also given a couple of recommendations, the nachos and the spiced coconut chicken. To be honest for a chain restaurant this was pretty unexpected and I thought it was a nice touch.
We quickly realised that there is a lot on offer and plenty variation. The usual suspects were all there as you would expect, fajitas, tacos, enchiladas but there was also a large range of other dishes includind tex-mex, steak, fish etc. As well as the aforementioned spiced coconut chicken and a whole host of other tasty alternatives on the menu.
I eventually settled on the Chicken Wings with peri peri sauce to start and the Chicken & Ribs for main which consisted of marinated chicken breast and a quarter rack of BBQ pork ribs. This was served with skin-on-fries, corn on the cob, onion rings, homemade slaw and BBQ sauce.
Miss Edinburger went for the Tiger prawns in a crunchy piña colada crumb, served with a sweet pineapple salsa and toasted tortilla triangles. Followed by the BBQ chicken flatbread – BBQ sauce, topped with chicken, sweetcorn, cheese, fajita vegetables and torn coriander.
I was pretty impressed with both my selections to be honest, there were simple but very tasty dishes and the portions were substantial. The peri peri sauce with the chicken wings was tangy and had a nice kick to it. The coating on the wings was well fired and crispy without being overdone (despite the fact they looked very much overdone I can confirm they were indeed very tasty!). As for my main the ribs were cooked well, the chicken was maybe just a tiny bit overdone for my taste but that’s being picky to be honest. The onion rings, fries and corn on the cob were all very nice and satisfied my hunger.
Miss Edinburger was a little disappointed with her pina colada prawns, they sounded great and while they were cooked fine and tasted good they were ultimately lacking something. It didn’t taste so much pina colada crumb as just, well, crumb. Tasty and crispy crumb to be fair but nonetheless there was a lack of any real pina colada taste. The BBQ chicken flatbread however was much more of a success. The base was thin and nice and crispy and the toppings were all well cooked and very tasty. Again it was a good sized portion and we were both left feeling rather full. So much so that we skipped dessert.. I know, we were surprised too!
I think I was left more impressed with our visit than Miss E was. I enjoyed both my dishes and was impressed with the variation on offer. Chiquito does what it says on the tin really – simple and tasty food. It’s nothing ground breaking, but it doesnt need to be. It’s comfort food served in a relaxing atmosphere and would be perfect for a pre cinema meal or some downtime after a bit of shopping.
Chiquito | A3E, Fort Kinnaird Shopping Centre, Edinburgh, EH15 3RD | Tel: 0131 669 3315 |
Twitter: @TheChiquito
*We were invited along to dine at Chiquito. Our food was complimentary but as always our thoughts and opinions are our own.
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