Driftwood

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £8.50 (lunch)
   £13 (evening meal)
• House wine: £8.95 per bottle

• High point: Pleasant staff
• Low point: Premises could do with a refurb
• Food served: Mon–Sat noon–3pm, 5–9pm; Sun 5–9pm
• Bar open: Mon–Sat noon–midnight; Sun 5pm–midnight
• Private dining: F
• Open since: 2002
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of main courses)

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008
– in the shops now or buy online.

Driftwood has been a fixture of Charing Cross for a few years now, offering cheap and cheerful food to hungry students and weary shoppers. The dining area is decked out in the 'traditional' Mexican terracotta and yellow, though it's actually barely noticeable what colour anything is due to the extremely low lighting. The food is Mexican pub grub: jalapeño poppers, nachos and the like, served quickly and unfussily by the amiable staff. There is nothing really out of the ordinary here, but the dishes are fairly generous and reasonably tasty. The quesadillas are filled with spicy chicken chilli and oozing melted cheese, served with sour cream and salsa. There are a few non-Mexican choices on the menu. A burger comes in a floury bap with crispy chips and the deli steak sandwich is another hearty choice. By night Driftwood becomes more of a bar than a restaurant, so it's not an ideal location for a quiet evening meal – indeed, diners would be forgiven for thinking they had wandered into a student union.