El Cantara

Don’t expect much and you will be surprised. This place was fit for purpose (25^th birthday surprise) it is fairly small (intimate) and can be noisey at times, especailly when they play music from a guitar with singing and clapping. All of this creates a fun atmosphere which is exceptable for groups.
I ordered the mixed grill (a la carte) with rice which turned out to be a good choice as the other selections (set menu) seemed to be a disappointment with everyone else. Come to think of it was a safe option for me as I was not quite convinced with what I saw.
Would I go back? why not, just not in a hurry as the mix of morrocan and spainish dish fusion was not really a hit for me but in all I enjoyed myself. So as long as you don’t expect much you will be okay.

Really good food. Service may be a little slow, but the food is worth the wait. And the wait staff was very accomodating.

I came here strictly for hookah because I was craving it while on my trip. The outdoor patio is tiny and it is partly covered. So if it drizzles, just hope that you are not in the open area. The hookah uses new hoses per customer so that’s good. service is good and the table is made to fit hookahs in the hole to prevent breakage. The flavor is good, I ordered the grape, packed just right so that it doesn’t burn.
Nice little spot in downtown London Soho but this is more of a restaurant than a shisha bar. I talked to someone there and there’s better outdoor ones around town. I didn’t get to check out other places. It would be so much better if they had indoor smoking.

I feel obliged to write a review of this restaurant even though I can barely remember coming here oh wait now I can I take it back this is live Unilocaling everyone and I don’t need punctuation.
I’ve been here a couple of times, most recently with my best of best friends Fraser and his wife who is also my friend and actually the reason I even know him, Rakhee. They are good people. This place was a good place. It was somewhat loud and I have the type of voice that gets drowned out in loud places, so that was a bummer. For me. They were probably okay with it.
Across the street from the restaurant, at some point, was a «gang» of old men on little mopeds. They all gathered in the street and revved their engines and looked like the lame old white people that they were. The windows at El Cantara were open, so it was loud and the place filled with exhaust rather quickly. I think a canary died. It was a rough time.
All in all, an alright place. Nothing too memorable but nothing offensive. I’d go back if someone wanted to go there, but you could probably find a better place nearby.

SKIP THIS PLACE — Worst service ever!!! If you get a tan, skinny guy server, leave!!! Waited long amounts of time for water refills, waiter forgot a food order for a person in our party, after asking him about it twice, he brought it once everyone else was done with their meals. He couldn’t make a recommendation. Half-​heatedly picked something off the menu when we asked what was good. Gave us attitude when we asked how long it would be (after 10 minutes of waiting for a drink we ordered). The place wasn’t packed either. He never once came back to check on us after we got our food. Always had to ask.
Each time we needed something, we waited and eventually had to flag him down or walk up to the bar where he was standing doing nothing. We asked for the check the second our last guy got his food (jokingly saying if we ask for the check now, maybe we’ll have it in 20 mins) & he never brought it. We had to ask someone else for it! it was laughable the service was so bad.
The 2 stars are only because the food was good. Well, the food earned this place a star, and the other star is for the cool hand soap in the bathroom. We were going to go up to the shisha terrace after dinner and smoke shisha (hookah) but after a 2 hour meal, we wanted to leave immediately. Avoid this place!

This is a fusion of Spanish and Moroccan food where you can have a full meal in the main restaurant or tapas style dishes and shisha on the terrace.
Located near Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Tottenham Court Road tube stations, El Cantara is a convenient meeting spot for friends from opposite ends of London for shisha. This is one of few shisha places I know in central that isn’t entirely grimy.
I generally come here for the shisha and central location rather than the food.
They have 2 live acts that shimmy their way through the restaurant: one traditional Spanish dancer with guitarist and a belly dancer. They come out at around 8pm and 9pm and are very much well received — in particular the jiggling and gyrating belly dancer!
1 — Shisha Terrace
This is located upstairs on the terrace which is partly covered and heaters are available for the colder evenings. If it’s raining you want to be seated by the side walls under the ‘roof’, otherwise you will be exposed to the elements.
The shisha is not great here although they do have a good selection of flavours and fruit heads. Bit pricey, and there is a maximum stay or 45 mins (or was it 1.5 hours…) during busy times.
2 — Restaurant
Food here is decent, but I wouldn’t say it’s amazing. I would say the cuisine is more Moroccan so please expect Spanish-​inspired dishes rather than authentic Spanish tapas.
I recommend the grilled meat dishes here, and avoid the tapas especially the tapas on the shisha menu.
3 — Private Area
A friend of mine had a party here and hired out the private area downstairs. This was a room that seated around 30 people and has its own bar. Of course, this set-​up is a set menu with the added bonus of having your own space.
The restaurant staff were very accommodating and can provide additional services such as karaōke for an additional cost.

Their outdoor seating area is amazing — it’s hidden at the back of the building and covered above the seats for the rainy days. The shisha is OK, nothing special and I have had better.
Foodwise — their salad was unimpressive — it was essentially a plate with some cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce scaterred around on a plate charged at quite a price.
The interior and location is very nice though — if only they work on their menu and their shisha quality — it would be another story.

I didn’t have any food here, but I enjoyed smoking shisha on the outdoor terrace very much. We had grape and mint for ~£18.
The terrace had cool light fixtures and a partially obstructed view of the night sky.
Unfortunately, our cushions appeared to be slowly oozing out water the whole time we were here, and we ended up with uncomfortably wet asses. None of us noticed until we got up to leave though, funnily enough.
I also ordered a Bloody Harissa, which I would not recommend. It was too watery and mildly sour.

— Spanish and arabic restaurant centrally located in Soho — authentic cuisine, arabesque décor and plush seating — Shisha pipes, exotic belly dancers, oriental flair and music — Staff friendly — rather small variety of tapas (we tried almost every tapa: hoummus (4.95), courgette fritos 5.15) and albondigas (5.75) recommended; taste was okay; bread selection was very delicious (2.50) — red wine: Hacienda Grimon Rioja Reserva 2007 (39.50) tasted well Conclusion: Oriental and cozy atmosphere with reasonable but not excellent food!

A friend and I paid a visit on a Thursday night to this restaurant, which we had google-​searched and were really looking forward to. The food may actually be good, but we didn’t get a chance to find out. Our visit was unusual compared to most, I’m sure. Still I have to comment here on Unilocal,because the management’s treatment of us was so extremely poor and inappropriate. Unfortunately, we were in a time-​pressured situation. We received our glasses of wine. I mentioned to the waitress — whose English was poor incidentally, — that we were short on time (but she understood that). We then proceeded to wait, and wait, for our food. Not even the appetizer arrived and forty minutes passed. The manager saw us looking at our watches, approached, and explained that the computer system had gone down, causing delays. He said he’d check up on our food. He did so, reported back. It would be a few more minutes but we knew now we had his attention.
Unfortunately, though, still no food appeared, and those few minutes were crucial ones. We summoned him, and we explained that we’d have to leave, and we needed to cancel the order. He was not apologetic but seemed to understand and feel bad about it. I regretted leaving, as I had identified the place as a good bet on a good tagine. By now we’d been there a solid hour. And then… the manager sent a waiter to present us with the 10 pound bill, for our two glasses of wine! I didn’t have the heart to argue that they should have been comped — and I shouldn’t have had to. We paid, and left. What a insult to the customer! Shame on this unprofessional manager. Pathetic treatment, abysmal ethics.

2 stars and because of the decoration and the tagine. Being Spanish they definitely have the wrong tapas concept… And the staff seemed like they didn’t want to be there.

Lucky find! If you’re peckish, but not starving (actually, Gran always said never say you’re starving, because you ain’t and there’s those that are) and just want a characterful stopping off place to refuel without full blown meals, then why not go in here for the Tapas menu only?
5 of these excellent, varied, well presented and tasty appetisers for 3, along with 3 Casablanca beers and you’ll get out again for under £50 sterling and zero pounds weight gain, satisfied though and fully fit for the next stage.
The downstairs room is long and thin with only two window tables, but if you book, turn up early or are really lucky with your timimg, these are the best locations safely stare back at the scooter boys lined up outside the Bar Italia opposite, slicking down their brillcreamed locks (I say safely, don’t be too obvious, don’t point, laugh or make mocking gestures out of the window and you’ll be absolutely fine).
Service was attentive, very friendly, accommodating and quick, ideal if you have a show to get to in a hurry maybe.
(Not realised at the time, there is apparently a roof garden and other rooms available, maybe worth checking out next time, which there definitely will be.) Recommended.

I’m not really into shisha, but a few of my friends really like this place and I like it more and more every time I go. They have a cozy heated roof with cushioned benches and sometimes belly dancers. The shisha is typically around £15 and there’s a big variety of flavors. They also have wine and cocktails, but the cocktails always seem pretty watered down to me, so I would skip them.

We visited El Cantana last night before seeing Paul Foot at the Soho Theatre. It was nothing out of this world but was nice. We had the pre theatre menu. sweet potato corquetas and meatballs to start. The meatballs were delish. My other half had the Chicken Tagine for main and i had the chicken skewers. Both were lovely actually.
For 15 each I thought this place was worth the visit.

I feel torn very often between having to write a pre-​benchmarked review and giving an objective absolute review. Either could be tainted by my perception, I suppose. This place was a little bit of a let down in that sense. Surely I wasn’t looking to be fed by Gordon Ramsay? Maybe all that renovated Mediterranean look threw me off.
We got there to find two of our company of five waiting for us. We were on the ground floor. One of them was vegetarian (very possibly that was where it started going downhill, or, they just don’t understand vegetarian cooking). Then again, we only did tapas; so this review could very well be an underrepresented one and somewhat unrepresentative of the true strengths of El Cantara.
The Bunelo de Marisco fishcake was alright, the principle reason for my three stars. It was well done and adequately flavoured. Likewise, the courgette fritos were another life saver. Both the heavily cooked numbers scored well.
The Pollo Al Ajillo was abysmal. The mussels (Mejillones A la Marinera) were dry and tasteless and not what you would expect or expect to expect had you ordered mussels.
I will go back one more time, if opportunity favours, to try the Tagine and the Paella.

Decided to go into this place due to how crowded a similar tapas bar was. While the atmosphere and décor are great, with comfy cushioned bench seats upstairs and red walls, the food didn’t blow me away. Good quality, but the king prawns didn’t have much flavor which was disappointing, especially since it was one of the more substantial dishes.
I can’t comment on many of the drinks since I only ordered one, but the Mojito I had was lacking something. I know the bartender spent at least 5 minutes grinding sugar and mint, so I’m not sure which flavor was missing but it was lackluster and I expected much better at a Spanish restaurant. Maybe the mint wasn’t fresh?
We went around 7:30 on a Saturday night. At 8 a traditional belly dancer performed and it seemed like everyone was having a good time. All ina all, a decent alternative on a busy Saturday night. And don’t be fooled — 4 tapas + an appetizer and salad is a lot of food for 2 people!

Before I’d arrived at El Cantara I was already put off. The restaurant called me to confirm two hours before my dinner reservation and offered me a set menu for £25 pp. When I thanked them for the offer but said I would prefer a la carte, the lady informed me that there would be a minimum charge of £25pp anyway. I said that I felt it was unfair for them to force us into a minimum charge without having informed me of this at the time of booking. However, I was worried as they had my credit card details! She offered to speak with her manager to «make an exception» for me and thankfully they wavered the minimum charge.
However, within the first minute of arriving at El Cantara I was irritated. Instead of a warm friendly greeting on arrival, I was barked at with «do you have a reservation», when I said I did for nine people the response from the manager was «You’re late! Your reservation is for 8:30 and it’s now 8:40. Plus there are only 2 of you. Where are the others?!»
To make matters worse, when we were finally seated, it took 10 minutes for us to get a menu and another 10 minutes for our drinks to be taken.
The food was pretty good but nothing astounding.
I will never dine there again!

I had dinner there while winding my way back from the BM to Victoria Station. Was looking for something to eat that isn’t either variations of what I can get at home, or British Pub food (all pubs were noisy and very busy, so I made a wide berth). The combination of Moroccan and Spanish sounded unusual enough to make me curious, and I was not disappointed. They had an offer for 4 tapas for $ 16 or thereabouts, so a bit pricier than the lunch described in the first review, but I did want to pick a few different things. Mine were all vegetarian, hummus, a mushroom dish, calamari, and an eggplant dish. Except for the calamari, the others were outstanding, very tasty, and a bit out of the ordinary. The hummus wasn’t just standard, but tasted smoked, very yummy. The calamari were soso, perhaps a bit too greasy, but still definitely ok.
The young woman who served me was a bit distracted, and could have been more attentive and quick, but certainly not unpleasant.

Beautiful décor and great staff.
I had the chicken tagine which was ok as were the mereguez. My girlfriends food was also ok. Nothing to scream about in a good way or bad way. I would eat here again if I were passing and hungry but I would not purposefully seek it out.

I only came here as a friend of mine and myself were looking for some decent cheap lunch, and as we were in Soho and neither one of us had tried El Cantara, we thought why not? They were doing a 2 course lunch deal for £7.95 which looked pretty good too.
El Cantara from the outside looks like the entrance to a Moroccan riad, quite out of place on the slightly grotty chic Frith Street, with a terra-​cotta painted exterior, tiled flooring and lanterns.
The interior is airy with simple Moroccan wood carved furnishings, iron lamps and mirrors, many low seats and cushions. Everything was as you would expect to see in an interior of a riad, except they managed to pull it off rather well.
When we went for lunch one weekday, it was just us, which suited us just fine. We each went for the set menu, subsequently sharing everything we ordered as it didn’t seem right not to share, especially with such a cuisine. They serve a mixture of North African and Spanish food.
For starters we ordered chicken wings, an odd choice, but came well made and very tasty. Along with Zaalouk, smoked aubergine with mixed spices, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. Which played a great compliment to the chicken.
For our mains we had a chicken tagine and vegetable cous-​cous. All of which was well made, and if you like a little extra spice, order some harissa which goes very well with these dishes.
Feeling quite content with our find, we decided to order some mint tea and Baklava to finish our meal off. The lunch deal is certainly worth it, not so sure about the dinner though as the prices for the mains start at £12.95 and go to £15.50. Which is fine for London prices, but when we managed to have such a good lunch at a fraction of the cost it just doesn’t seem worth it.

Not sure how long this restaurant has been known as El Cantara. I still remember this site to be inhabited by a Korean restaurant, and apparently it has been Lebanese in the meantime.
The current management seem to be doing something right. Many diners appear to be drawn in by various special offers. I went with a group of six, and we completely forgot about our discount voucher.
The menu consists of a good selection of Spanish and North African dishes and is perfect for sharing. We opted for the set menu and were very happy with our choice. We were served a selection of mixed starters, with the main course being a variety of tagine dishes.
The house wine was very drinkable.
This is not Momo, but a lovely venue especially for larger parties.