Topolabamba

This is a little gem in the city centre and what a wonderful little find it has been the resteraunt is mexican themed with lots of colour and tasteful music, the staff are great and will attend to every need you have. This is tapas food so you know its loads of little dishes all fired out at once or several times i have tried the salt and chilli fries, green rice, the chicken wings (to die for but very hot) shredded beef burrito and chicekn enchiladas and the food was first class cooked perfect i couldnt find a fault the food was really that delicious defo will be coming back very soon.

Downgrading as after a recent visit with a group of 8, we all agreed that the food was overwhelmingly spicy. Despite ordering from the milder end of the scale, everything was just too hot. Margaritas were good tho.

The best drink on the menu is the coconut passion fruit margarita and they have a great selection of tequila. The tequila flights are a really good way to try a few different things!
Been here a few times and went recently for a work night out. It was a tasting menu which was excellent and even the picky eaters really enjoyed it.
There was live music and we all got sombreros! Great food, excellent location and a well stocked bar.

Defiantly the best Mexican food i have had sitting down.
Lots of new dishes i had not tried before and as their food is served in mostly tapas size plates it was easy for a bunch of us to get a good sample of what they do and share away.
I’v been to Topolabamba 3 times now and promised myself i would go to the bother of doing review. Would recommend it to anyone who fancy’s a lively dining experience. DRINKS ⁴⁄₅ FOOD ⁵⁄₅ Service even better ⁶⁄₅

Highly recommend the tapas from here — absolutely gorgeous! We had 6 dishes (plus some salt & chilli pepper fries) between 2 of us and not one bad dish.
I also highly recommend the churros if you can squeeze in a dessert — the spiced chocolate dip with it is incredible!
Also, found it really reasonably priced — like I said we had 6 tapas dishes, a side of chips, 2 desserts and 4 glasses of soda water and lime and the bill came to under £50. Quick, friendly service.

Topolabamba — the great divider of Unilocal opinion!
After reading all the mixed reviews I was curious about this place and chose it when I was booking our office work dinner. Mexican always goes down well, and it looked like a place that would be fun and pretty casual.
My general impression of Topolabamba is that it’s slick. Very professional all around. When we arrived we got a pager that would let us know when our table was ready. The service was really very good — the different waiters passed orders to each other and were very friendly, very helpful, and got us everything we needed and when there were mixups with orders (no one’s fault really) they were very courteous.
My main area of interest in coming here was to see how they would do with the vegan issue. Mexican food is very meaty and cheesy — though all places nowadays will have at least one vegetarian option, vegan dishes are quite rare unless you go to a special place. Basically I chatted to the waitress about it and we took cheese off the quesadilla and the tostadas and ordered loads of dips and I was full and happy at the end of the meal! Success!
The food here is really good. Mexican can sometimes feel like it’s been lying around for a while — or is that just other places I’ve been (naming no names!) but in order to be really good it has to be FRESH. and here it WAS. all the dips were aromatic and herby and tomatoey, the guacamole was creamy and chunky, the veg in my mains was flavoursome and yum.
Added bonus — we were one of the last groups there and somehow when we ordered our drinks we ended up with two extra margaritas. which they didn’t charge us for. «It would just end up getting poured away» he said. awesome, don’t mind if i do, thank you!
Only reason I’m not giving five stars is what I said before — the place is slick. All the decorations are well done, the food great, the service well-​organised. But something has slipped between the cracks and somehow it lacks character.
I’m just spoiled by all the cute wee independent places run by young guys with big dreams, I guess.

Reviews on Topolabamba seem pretty polarised– I’m definitely drawn to the tasty end of the lollipop on this fun little joint!
I really like the high energy décor, music and atmosphere which gives a really fun and family friendly vibe– a great drinks menu also makes this a great pre-​night out destination.
I find the food really flavoursome and love the small plates oriented menu. Not a spectacular selection for veggies but enough to save you from starvation!
I love the vegetable tacos — a little heat and really cute miniature presentation. The green rice is fresh and tasty and the mild salsa is absolutely delicious.
I think the desserts a wee bit over priced — roughly a fiver for a mango sorbet.
The jarritos are a really delicious alcohol alternative coming in guava, lime and orangey-​citrus flavours. These are a bottled Mexican soft drink.
I’ve always had good friendly customer service here– this time around we were seated right next to a till which was a bit of a pest. We hadn’t booked before arriving so can’t moan too much!
I’ll visit topolabamba time and time again as my family all love something on the menu a d the relaxed dining really suits us for a lunch time treat.

I visited here recently with my lovely friend Linda D. I had ventured here before and I had an OK experience so suggested going here as Linda was in a Mexican spicy mood.
The place is lovely, great interior and centrally located. I had booked ahead to make sure we got a good seat as it was Friday night after all. I booked online through their website and most of the earlier times had gone. I managed to get an 8pm slot so «pre drinks you say?» Yass!
I had no problems with the booking and had the ref number ready but the lady who greeted us had my name and a table ready straight away.
Our waitress explained how it worked and that you use the pencils provided on the table to mark the dishes on the paper menu what you would like. She brought us water and gave us adequate to time to check out what we fancied.
I found it hard to choose as most of the dishes are labelled 2 chillies so still too hot for my wee delicate palate. All the mild dishes were veggie only, bit crap for both meat and veggie eaters.
I ordered a cheeky wee cocktail and 2 tapas dishes as did Linda. As we were waiting a group of four sat next to us, who were extremely schwallied. Our tables were quite close together and the 2 women, what felt like, constantly in and out to the loo so kept bumping our table. At one point the older guy slapped poor Linda on the back. We were minding our own businesses but he felt like he needed to try and include us in their drunken rowdiness. We ended up having to move the table over as I was waiting for our drinks to get bummed onto the floor.
Our dishes started to arrive but I ended up with the wrong dish. We both felt the dishes were very hot so I ordered some sour cream. Linda had to ask again as we were waiting on it or a while. When it eventually arrived we thought it was the wrong condiment they had given us. It looked like a very thin garlic mayo. I couldn’t believe it was sour cream, there was no thick creaminess to it. Linda double checked with the waitress and she said it was and a special recipe they use. Well it didn’t stand out but cooled our spicy food a wee bit. The waitress apologised and said she would take off the sour cream from our bill. I didn’t know it was a paid extra. Oooft!
The food I had was OK but nothing really special. The cocktails were nice though. If I was to go back I would maybe go during a quieter period as the staff were run ragged.

The one and absolutely most important thing that you need to know about Topalabamba, is this:
QUESO FUNDIDO.
It would be sensible to end my review here, however I will continue.
What you need to know about Topalabamba (other than Queso Fundido), is that the idea behind the dishes is sharing — the majority of dishes comes in three’s or four’s so you order many little dishes and love life while you’re eating. Seeing as I am usually here with my amigo Carolyn E. and her Marathon Guy, there are lots of plates and lots of sharing. It’s great. So far, everytime I have been there, I have ordered the frozen strawberry margarita, which is great — you can definitely taste the alcohol.
For the dishes that we (I) have tried are: Chicken Tinga, Barbacoa Beef (messy eat!), Pork Pibil Tacos. They are all delicious. One of them is quite spicy, but I don’t remember which one. The Black Bean, Cactus and Smoked Green Chilli Quesadilla, which is DELICIOUS (hurray for cactus, who knew?!). I am also pretty sure that Carolyn E. and I have had the Homemade Chorizo and Melted Spicy Cheese toastada, which if I remember having it was absolutely incredible. The Mexican cheese — although doused in coriander/​cilantro (die, devil span, die!) was a wonderful addition. We’ve also had a Chimichanga (difficult to divide between 3 people, but delicious anyways; stuffed with shredded chicken, if I am not mistaken), and a chicken tinga burrito (again — difficult to split, but delicious nonetheless!
The churros look and smell like heaven, but I have yet to try them. Be aware that the Toasted Salsa Brava is spicy! Delicious but spicy. The only thing that I do not like about Topalabamba is the Guac, it’s a poor excuse for guac. It’s just too smooth and I do not trust it.
However, the actual star of Topalabamba is the Classic Queso Fundido. Melted cheese in a bowl, smoking hot (temperature wise) with peppers and chorizo bits in it, and tortilla chips (some of them over salted) to dip and scoop it all up with. My mouth is watering just from thinking about it. IT IS DELICIOUS. This is the equivalent of the cheeseballs at Porter and Rye (boo!) that people rave about: only because of the Queso Fundido should you come here. If you haven’t been here, go and have it. If you have been to Topalabamba and haven’t had the Queso Fundido, then shame on you! (unless you’re lactose intolerant or allergic to cheese, perfection and happiness), otherwise FOR SHAME! — the pictures do not do this perfection justice. Just order it.
Lastly, I should say that I love this place. Not only is the Queso Fundido good (FOR SHAME!), the staff super friendly, the décor super awesome, but the music is just the best. According to the waiter, it gets old, but I don’t believe him. How can Latin music that makes you want to break out in Shakira-​esque dance moves and salsa get old?
No, I love it. Everything. (Next time I want the taquitos, and more Queso Fundido).

Gonna have to agree with my man Paul S on this one and give Topolabamba a (Daym Drops-​style) FIVE ALL DAY! I really wasn’t sure what to expect based on previous reviews/​my inability to withstand any sort of spiciness, but I’m so glad we went.
I’d checked out the menu a few times in the past and was put off by the sheer amount of chilies I witnessed on it — most things have at least 1 chili next to them and it goes up to 3 — I hate going somewhere and being fussy (besides spicy food, there isn’t a whole lot I won’t eat and I’m usually easy to please!) so I had visions of being a total downer, but I’m very pleased to report this wasn’t the case at all!
Our server was a real gem and revealed that he too wasn’t into unnecessarily causing himself pain — he was able to recommend various things on the menu and said that things with 1 chili should be totally fine, plus there were a few 2 chili dishes he could handle as well. Result! As Paul S already mentioned, he also informed us that we wouldn’t need as many items as the menu suggested, which we really appreciated as it showed they weren’t just out to get as much money from us as possible! The service was excellent, they were friendly and attentive without being too overbearing, wonderful!
I ended up going for the barbacoa beef taquitos (OMG) and the smoked chicken quesadillas, neither of which I found spicy at all really, but they were extremely flavourful and totally delicious! I have occasional cravings for the quesadillas because they were so damn good. In fact I could totally go one right now! I also got the nacho chips with guacamole and we shared salt and chili chips. They were really good as well and we definitely had enough to eat between us!
There was an unfortunate incident where my lovely bf accidentally decided to try and kill me by making me try one of his fish tacos (the fish isn’t spicy but JESUS CHRIST the coleslaw is a hot fiery hell) despite my protests. But obviously that wasn’t Topolabamba’s fault and I think we both learnt our lesson there.
I also asked to take my leftover nachos home because they were so tasty and I couldn’t finish them, and they made a whole new portion for me instead of just bagging up the ones I had already!!! Very nice of them indeed.
I would without a doubt come back here, really want to get along for their taco happy hour (£1 a taco) as my future working hours will permit me to visit between 4pm and 6pm on a weekday — hurrah!