Panchos Cantina

Myself and a couple of friends, all aged 18, visited Panchos Cantina on a Thursday night, having heard from a vast number of other people our age that it was a great restaurant. It’s safe to say, we weren’t let down. It was pretty quiet, and we were seated straight away and asked for our drink orders. We weren’t asked for ID when we ordered alcohol which I think is kind of a plus in a way, and the drinks came pretty fast and weren’t too expensive. The range of drinks available was pretty extensive, with the usual drinks available, as well as a selection of foreign names.
The restaurant itself seemed pretty ‘cosy’, but it also had a lot of other seating upstairs. It’s probably best to go when it’s quieter, like on a weekday. The decoration was all mexican themed, pretty enjoyable, with a load of knick knacks on the walls. Personally, I found the best part to be the fact that you got to wear sombreros !! Pretty brilliant.
The menu for food was pretty good too, as you were able to order Mexican food (obviously) along with a lot of other varieties, mostly spicy foods — even if you’re not into spicy food, this is a great restaurant.
The food came quite fast which was good, and I ordered the ribs with hot wings. The food was absolutely fantastic, I cannot stress this enough. The ribs were cooked to perfection, the meat fell off the bone, and the sauce was delicious. The ribs also held a lot of meat, unlike the cheap ones you get in supermarkets. The hot wings were also awesome, and you were given a bucket and tissues to clean up your mess. The chips and coleslaw on the side were also very tasty. The food was quite a reasonable price, considering it was a pretty large helping.
We also ordered dessert, in which I chose a chocolate fudge cake, which again, was extremely nice, and competitively priced, with a helping of either whipped cream or ice cream.
The service throughout was excellent, the waiter was very attentative, both friendly and professional.
We also ordered a drink, which consisted of a bottle of mezcal with a mexican worm/​maggot inside it — for completing the heroic deed of eating said word and drinking the drink, you got a certificate for it, with your name on (I know proudly display this upon my bedroom wall). It was the small things, such as this, the sombreros and the interesting interior design, along with the excellent service, reasonably pricing and fantastic food, that make Panchos, in my opinion, one of the best restaurants I’ve visited in Southend.

Although the food here is good, on a weekend the food is often overpowered by the noise and bustle of large groups of teenagers celelbrating any and every occasion you can think of.
I last visited with my other half and his family who luckily are a young person loving family!
You can’t help but feel sorry for the understaffed waitresses who can’t cope with demand and general rowdiness whilst trying do please the smaller parties.
Food’s ok but would like to try it at a quieter time as I think it could be better then!