Las Iguanas

I was in Cardiff for a work trip and we had dinner at Las Iguanas. The food was delicious and service very pleasant. They had 2 for 1 drinks during happy hour and that was awesome!
In the future if I am in town again, I will be coming back!

I haven’t been here for several years as it is one if those place that has been there so long it falls into the subconscious. It is also usually full of gaggling ladies on a big (hen/​birthday) night out and it is part of a big chain I da met restaurants.
But I went there for lunch this week and I reminded me that it was really quite good.
The service was good from the moment we arrived and throughout so they were off to a good start!
There are a choice of menus depending on your appetite, available time and wallet. All if them are varied and (this may seem like a strange comment) well organised.
The food is good. A chicken enchilada to start was just the right size and a lightly spicy start to the meal. The beetroot and cheese burger for main course was very different! Others in the group had more mainstream Mexican dishes and everyone enjoyed.
It was lunch time so there were no glammed up hens guzzling cocktails and the atmosphere was relaxed and convivial.
Washed down with cold Brazillian beer, it was a very pleasant experience

After a lot of walking on the nearby Doctor Who Experience tour, my wife and I were hungry, so we decided to try Las Iguanas. They seemed to have some good gluten-​free options on the lunch menu, and it turned out that they had an entire dedicated gluten-​free menu. Perfect!
It was also happy hour, which meant that cocktails were two-​for-​one, but you had to get a second copy of the original drink. So, we each had a coconut drink of some sort (yummy). Later, we had a pair of mango vodka based drinks (I liked the coconut thing better, while my wife preferred the mango, but they were both good).
For food, I had the chili con carne (not crazy spicy, which I appreciated, but not exciting at all) and my wife had this sort of coconut curry, vegetarian option (pretty delicious).
For dessert, we each had this creamy coconut custard (sort of like panna cotta or flan). It was pretty good, too.
Service was slow, and we had to ask two different people before we could finally get some water to drink, but we had a great time at lunch overall. Good food, good drinks, and okay service; four stars.

I have eaten here a number of times food is good and drink specials during the week. I have never had the same thing twice and I have never had a bad meal.
For a country that as a rule I have found mexican food lacking in flavor, this place has it right. Great flavors with the right amount of heat.
If you are with a group of 2 or more get a reservation. It is quick and easy on their website.
I have stopped by a couple of times and they have a great outdoor space but you cannot get full menu.

My first visit to a Cuban restaurant and I loved the food. The flavors are rich and tasty. All the dishes we ordered were great and i enjoyed every bite of it. You also get a free cocktail on their happy hour and i got raspberry and a mango cocktail. I would highly suggest this restaurant.

If I could choose my last meal it could well be here. The only Mexican in town food is always top notch and service is good. Eaten here plenty of times my favourite is the Garlicky mushroom, chilli & thyme Burrito which is bursting with flavour. A great value menu with the added bonus of a happy hour 2 for 1 on cocktails.

There’s not really a whole lot of quality Mexican or Latin American cuisine in Cardiff, so while Las Iguanas isn’t mind blowing, it’s a nice option when you’re in need of a decent burrito.
Bonus: There’s 2-​for-​1 drinks at happy hour, and while their caipirinhas are a bit dinky (and filled with ice), they’re also quite good!

The food and drink were delicious! We bought 2 pitchers on the happy hour special and the bartender was nice enough to let us pick up our second one after we had finished the first.
Waited 30 mins for a table and ordered the 3 tapas special and a main. The pastry on the lamb empanada was flaky and thin. The antichucos was a really nice light starter and the sauce that it came with complimented perfectly. The crab tostadas were just the right size to really get our appetites going.
For the main we shared the Xinxim which is like a South American curry. It was sooooo yummy! I could eat a bucketful of it. The rice and salsa that it arrived with were super delicous as well. I would defo be happy to stop in here again and am ready to scout out a location in London!

This place does really good food! I’d never tried this chain and had always been pretty curious. Usually if I’m trying out a new restaurant I go for a personal favourite of mine (Burger and fries) and this is how I know if its a good restaurant or not! Yummy!!!

It’s hard to fault almost all the Latin American cuisine that Las Iguanas specialises in. A good start, then, but while the menu is steady though not mindblowing, what really makes it a step above is the staff (unless, from evidence of other reviews, you have an allergy!). For a chain restaurant, which ordinarily means dead-​eyed waiting staff solely concerned on soliciting tips to supplement minimum wage pay, those taking your order at Las Iguanas’s are chatty, cheery and actually engaging rather than simply superficially friendly. Cocktails get made properly in a manner that goes beyond the norm — the skilled shakers genuinely appear to enjoy mixing your favourite Cosmopolitan and the like. And having seen them chase off a problem ‘customer’ (read: a drunk homeless guy who came in for the sole purpose of hassling a young lady he’d obviously spied in her window seat), there’s little doubting they’re made of stern stuff too.

I have never eaten Las Iguanas, although the food does look good. What I have done however is been t the cocktail bar downstairs and got pretty well legless on tequila slammers. There was also 2 for 1 on cocktails and they have an amazing range of South American beer and of course a widely available, yet a favourite of mine Corona.
Last time I came here was during Mardi Gras and it was absolutely heaving with people drinking, laughing it was just a great party atmosphere and a bit of shame it doesn’t happen more often. Go to Las Iguanas for food, drink or parties you will not be disappointed.

Las Iguanas is and always will remain one of my favourite restaurants. If you’re walking down Mill Lane and start to feel peckish then forget about all the other restaurants down there and treat yourself to a first class meal at Las Iguanas where you will have a great night with awesome cocktails and superb service.
The number is too high to mention to how many times I have been to this restaurant. What I like about it is the service, to me service is a big factor that decides whether you will or will not visit again. Las Iguanas continues to deliver excellent service each time I visit. If you like Latin American food then you are in for a treat. As well as good prices they do offer a set menu, which comes to £8 per person. Sometimes the set menu is all I need but I have been known to spoil myself and go for some of their desserts that are to die for. As well as the excellent service and wonderful food they have a full bar that also makes cocktails. They have 2 for 1 on cocktails on certain days so you will be drinking the night away. If you have an iPhone too you can use a voucher on the app ‘vouchercloud’ to get 20% off your meal.
This sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Well it is true. Drop what your doing for lunch and visit Las Iguanas. You won’t regret it.

Las Iguanas is situated on Mill lane amongst a selection of other restaurants faring different cuisines. Las Iguanas is a Mexican restaurant and for me my favourite Mexican food establishment.
It has 2 for 1 cocktail offers and specials deals if you dine early enough. With Las Iguanas you get what you pay for, you could go places that are cheaper but the food has never been as good as it is here for me, besides, if you can eat there before 6pm, that is when you can get a main meal for as little as £6.
I’m a huge fan of the chimichanga and nachos to start, I have never quite made it to dessert as of yet as have usually had my Mexican fill by then but one day I will!
The restaurant is lowly lit providing for a relaxing, cosy atmosphere to sink a cocktail or two.

I’ve been a frequent customer of Las Iguanas’ Cardiff bar for the great cocktail deals, for years (whenever I am in Wales).
Last night, I decided to order some Totopos to go with my drinks. Within a few moments of eating two of the tortilla chips, I became extremely dizzy and nauseous for a couple of minutes.
I have a severe allergy to Mono Sodium Glutomate (MSG) and dizziness is usually the first sign that I’ve eaten some (before the raised heart rate and throat closing commences).
I wanted (for obvious reasons) to find out immediately if I had just eaten some (it certainly felt like it). Once I’d recovered composure, I asked a waitress if she could check with the kitchen. She went off in the direction of the kitchen, and after ten minutes of waiting for her to come back, I asked another waiter if he could find out where she was.
He asked me what I needed to know, I explained the situation and asked if he could please find out if MSG was used in the tortilla chips.
He said «Our food is gluten free».
«That’ s nice,» I responded, «but I’m not allergic to gluten, I’m allergic to Mono Sodium Glutomate».
He attempted to say «Mono Sodium Glutomate» once or twice, failed on both occasions, looked incredibly confused, and then said «I’ve watched them make chips during my training. It’s just corn tortillas and paprika.»
«Interesting,» I responded, «because there’s definitely something salty on here, and it’s either MSG or salt and I’d like to know which because one will put me in the hospital.»
«Have you been drinking?» the waiter responded. Which was nice. Because when someone has a medical issue, the right thing to always do is to assume that they’re drunk and disorderly and that you don’t actually have to help them.
«It’s definitely not MSG,» he finally said (still having clearly no idea what MSG is, or even how to say it), after I explained to him that I was perfectly sober.
So basically, not only does Las Iguanas not care if their customers are having medical reactions to (potential) chemicals in their food, they can’t even be bothered to walk the two minutes to the kitchen (on a night where they’re half empty) to ask a simple question about it.
I was absolutely disgusted. What if someone with a similar allergy to mine goes in there, asks if MSG is used in the food, gets told by someone who doesn’t even know what MSG is that it «definitely» isn’t, then has a severe response? Do these people want to get sued?!
For all I know, the food is MSG free and my dizzy spell was caused by jetlag, but I had to abandon my food (and I have to never eat there again), all because the staff are too uneducated about food to know what MSG is or whether it’s used, and too lazy to walk to the kitchen to ask a simple question.
How can I go back there when no one will tell me if it will land me in hospital or not?!

Great meeting place after work to unwind (or re-​energize!) as it’s funky and right in the centre of Mill Lane. Don’t be confused my the map — this is the Mill Lane in central Cardiff, just around the corner from the train station and the Marriott hotel — this is not in Llandaff!
The cocktails are pretty good especially great when they’re on offer!

This branch of Las Iguanas has the perfect position on Mill Lane, and with its happy hour cocktails it’s always going to be popular on sunny summer days.
It somehow manages to have areas suitable for larger and louder groups, and cosier places where you can enjoy a quieter, more intimate meal. Their quirky interior décor and Latin tunes complete the atmosphere.
The menu features delicious Latin American dishes using fresh, GM-​free ingredients — although I still think they do fajitas better than anything.
I would definitely recommend this as a great after-​work meeting place because in the early evening you can take advantage of their happy hour which runs until 7.30pm every day (and all day on Sundays) — and enjoy some fine Latin food.

A wild herd of elephants cannot stop me from visiting any Mexican type place I walk past, it’s something I just have to do. As mentioned it does do more than that, but I went Mexican.
I went with my face, Chimicahnga. filled with spicy chicken and cheese. I was quite surprised that a regionalised restaurant on Mill lane would be cheaper than most of the other Mexicans I have been into. I spent under a tenner for that dish and was not undersold by it’s taste at all, it was delightful. Probably the best I’ve had in a good while in Cardiff.
A word of warning though, their drinks are lethal here. Well it might have to do with my drinking habits but my lord did I sleep well that night. This is now my first choice for all things Mexican etc.

Firstly I really love the atmosphere of this place. You can have an intimate meal, or a group party but you’ll always have a good time.
Its Mexcian and Brazilian so the menu has a bit more to offer than just fajitas. The last time I was there we had tapas and got 5 good size dished for 20 quid and all were really tasty. I’ve also has one of their brazilian dishes which has really different to anything else I’ve had, though I wasn’t too impressed by the enchilada’s which was a bit bland for my liking.
Its great too in the summer when you can sit outside under the trees and watch the world go back, and i’d definatly recommend going for happy hour, or on Sunday when all day is Happy Hour! Really good waiters too who know the dishes and give great service.

Let’s be honest, an all day happy hour was always going to appeal to me and in the summer a Caipirinha is my poison of choice. What’s even more perfect is the fact that when I drink too much I always get cravings for Latin food. So, baring all this in mind, you can imagine a lazy Sunday at Las Iguanas is quite something for me.
Happy hour is all day on a Sunday. Yes, you heard me correctly, all, day. That’s a hell of a lot of Caipirinhas and conversation with friends. I find Las Iguanas works best with groups of people because there’s a really good atmosphere so round up a group before heading down.
I want to also say a big thank you to the good folks at Las Iguanas for the vegetarian burrito which is choc full of all kinds of different mushrooms and really tasty. Most people don’t think about us folk, especially when it comes to Latin food, and for that, I truly am grateful. It’s just so refreshing to find a place where you don’t have to be restricted to just eating nachos.

I recently went here for my birthday after spending a stressful time trying to find somewhere yummy, with great cocktails and prices to match student’s budgets. Then this place was suggested to me, and right from the off I knew it was a winner.
A group of eight people went out and thoroughly enjoyed our night. Every single meal that was ordered went down well, and the portions were satisfyingly yummy. This is Latin food, and their menu includes Tapas, Latin Street food (fajitas, enchiladas etc), as well as regional dishes and Brazilian food. I ordered the XinXim, and it was beautiful. Although I’m not quite sure I pronounce it right…
The only problem with the night was that we were sitting very near where the food came out from the kitchen, so all ended up getting dessert afetr watching them go past all night. The Aztec Chocolate Cake was genuinely amazing — warm spiced orange chocolate fudge cake — need I say any more?
Their cocktails are delicious, although I don’t recall any more than that about them… ahem. The décor is funky and fresh, but has a cosy and exotic feel. It’s worth checking out their website, as they have different deals going on, sometimes in particular for students.
Their Happy Hours run 12pm-7.30pm daily. And ALL DAY Sunday and Monday.