Zapata’s Restaurant

I’m a Southern California girl so it’s hard to impress me with Mexican food anywhere other than Mexico, any Mexican border town, or Southern California in general… that being said, this place wasn’t So Cal or Mexico, or any border town, but it was OK.
I’ve been here twice now and each time we’ve ordered something different. Everything we’ve ordered has been just OK, nothing to throw my head back and scream in ecstasy at. The drinks aren’t that good, but they have a kick and they have a pretty good tequila selection as well. For desert I recommend the Honeycomb Ice Cream that is made in house. Very Yummy!
The ambiance is fun and bright, just like you were in Mexico. And as for the service? Really nice ‘Eye Candy’ and really Great service! Pretty boys and girls all around!
Note: They do Not take American Express and they do Not have a swipe for your American Credit Cards…
I’m giving this place one thumb up though instead of two. They really need to spice up their dishes a bit in my opinion.

Testing Patience.
It was a bit late the other day (if 20:00h can be called late?). We were hungry and looking forward to a nice dinner however it appeared that the same time a party of 12 had made reservations for a table.
Long story short, it took 30 minutes to take the order for the beverages an then the lady refused to accept any request for food. It appeared the cook is not organized enough to prepare more than 10 meals at a time and would have been seriously confused being loaded with additional orders. Another hour later (we were close to leaving, however in this little town all other restaurants were closed as well) we finally had the chance to order the food that did arrive quite quick.
Regarding quality the food wasn’t too bad. In fact the cocktails (Pinha Colada, Sex On The Beach and a great but small Margherita) had been great.
Overall recommend to come early and you’ll be satisfied. The late service just sucks.

Lively Mexican restaurant with a friendly welcome, although staff forgot to write down my table booking — even though they rang me back the previous evening to take it in the first place! Excellent menu choices though and generous-​sized portions. My 13 year-​old son struggled to finish his Chicken Enchiladas and he is always hungry!
My only point of annoyance is the random selection of music, which is more Euro-​pop than Mexican influenced, and detracts from the ambience and theme. Get the tunes right and I may be back for another visit soon!

Excellent atmosphere in this place, definitely a good place to start a fun night out on the Pantiles.
It was very busy when we visited and service took a little longer than we would have liked but not worth grumbling about.
note: Service charge is automatically added to the bill at Zapatas which can be overlooked and can cause over tipping.

I remember Zapata’s being in Tunbridge Wells for years now.
About 8 years ago or so my friends and I, inspired by the Big Lebowski would grab a great White Russian in this place, being one of the only places in town that stocked Kalhua.
Since then I’ve returned for a few meals, most notably on Christmas eve a couple of years back. We didn’t order from the Xmas menu but nonetheless the food was very good and there was something to suit all the tastes of the 6 or 7 people who came to the meal.
Just at the edge of the panitles there are tables outside for when the weather is better.
A good place for a meal with friends.