Cafe Pacifico
Dinner for 10 with booze: £25.00 each
My friend Nick is trying his hand at stand up comedy. While he’s only performed publicly a handful of times he’s already traveling with an entourage which is how we found ourselves out with 10 hungry people who wanted a meal before going off to see his show. We rang up Pacifico right before we got on the tube to head over and their lovely Maitre d’ said he would find a table for us even though they were pretty booked up. This restaurant definitely gets points for good front of house service.
Cafe Pacifico is often recommended for authentic Mexican food – but I’ve always been a bit dubious because they have Chimichangas and Fajitas on the menu – both of which originate from the Southern US. And while I love Mexican food with a passion I am just not a big fan of Tex-Mex which tends to involve boat loads of Monteray Jack cheese all over everything. But like I said 10 people in Covent Garden needing a table on a Thursday night 30 minutes before they arrive at the restaurant made Pacifico worth a try.
It’s a pretty big restaurant which explains how they were able to absorb our party on such short notice. It’s also pretty loud which meant I could carry on conversation with the people on either side of me while I could only gesture to the people on the other side of the table. There were not any sombreros or maracas nailed to walls as decor however and the salsa was quite good so I was encouraged.
Most people went straight for mains as we could see from the other tables that the portion sizes were rather large. We did order one starter to share though – Tequila Firecracker Prawns. I am pretty sure we ordered it because really how can you not order something named Tequila Firecracker really?
Godzilla Prawns
Ok I am not normally intimidated by shellfish but holy hell look at those things! I would not want to run into a gang of these prawns in a dark alley. They were just ridiculous to look at. They were also a serious demolition project to get into and in the end they were tough, overcooked and pretty damn mediocre.
Monterey jack cheese plate
For my main I ordered chicken enchiladas with a rancherra sauce. It was edible but uninspiring. Why is there an orange slice on the plate and what is up with the lone curly leaf parsley sprig marooned on my mound of Monterey jack? Not the worst enchilada I have seen or eaten but certainly not one I will seek to eat again.
Pineapple craziness
So my meal was just alright but one of my friend’s meals really concerned me. I don’t remember what it was called (it was a special) but it was in theory a seafood dish. Let’s call it pineapple craziness. When he managed to burrow through the Monterey jack skin on the top there was a mix of seafood floating around in what looked like a coconut milk curry sauce with chunks of – you guessed it – pineapple floating in it. My teeth are rotting just describing this dish to you. He said he liked it – I now think he is a bit of a nutter.
Cafe Pacifico – fun place to go for a drink and maybe some nachos when you need to fit a big group last minute. If you want to eat Mexican food stick with Taqueria or Wahaca.
Cafe Pacifico
5 Langley St
Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JA
