By Danielle Cardy 

It’s not every day that you can wear a sombrero hat whilst eating a Mexican. Chandelier Café Bistro and Bar is set in the heart of Winton high street offering a culturally diverse Mexican menu suiting all tastes. Nestled between other bars, restaurants and shops along the high street Chandeliers is truly a unique gem and something a little out of the ordinary to visit.

The restaurant itself attracts a range of ages, from the young to the old, and caters for everyone with their Mexican menu. With its generous prices it is certainly a hotspot for students to spend their loans. The exterior is welcoming from the start with its cute wooden tables decorated with flower pots and neatly placed cutlery. As pretty as the exterior is, the interior is also warm and welcoming with traces of Mexico scattered about the restaurant and plastered on the walls.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were greeted by the waitress who allowed us to choose where we wanted to sit. The restaurant itself is not overly big inside, with only a few tables leading out to the back; however we opted for a table next to the window that looked out onto the high street. There was additional seating out towards the back of the restaurant which offered guests sofas with low tables, if you were looking for somewhere more chilled out to enjoy your Mexican banquet.

Although I love Mexican food, I have never actually been to a proper Mexican restaurant before and I was a little bemused at first with what I should pick. I was unsure what the portion sizes would be like and, as we went for lunch, I didn’t want a meal that was overly big. But after consulting with the waitress she put my mind at ease and I opted for the chicken fajita wrap, whilst my friend opted for the houmous fajita wrap. The menu offered tacos, burritos, quesadillas, wraps and also burgers (if you don’t want to opt for a Mexican dish), all served with a variety of fillings. Our childhood selves were unleashed when we ordered a strawberry milkshake, which was served with swirly straws - students are easily pleased! However, if you prefer an alcoholic beverage with your dinner, an extensive cocktails menu is available, along with other alcoholic options including tequila shots - again at a reasonable price.

We didn’t have to wait long at all before the food was served- along with our sombrero hats! Of course this meant a generic picture for instagram was in order before we tucked in. As much as I would have loved to have kept the hat on, it was a little too big for me and I decided to take it off whilst I ate my food. The food was presented well (also instagramable if you wanted) and was piping hot. Our wraps were served with a portion of chips and salad, and the only down side I felt towards the meal was that the side portions were a little small. They could have done with serving a few more chips and a bit more salad, other than that the meal was highly enjoyable. Once we had finished we did browse their desert menu, which offers a wide variety of choices for all tastes, however we were far to full.

We visited the restaurant for a spot of lunch for this visit, rather than going there for dinner. At the minute the restaurant is only open during the day and closed in the evenings, so you wouldn’t be able to go there in the evening unfortunately - however we hope this can change. Overall we had a pleasant visit, and the dressing up in sombreros made the visit even more worth our while; I would definitely reccomend this a visit.