The Blue Parrot Cantina

I love this place! have eaten there a few times. its cosy, nice atmosphere, friendly competent service.
Mexican food is easy to do adequately, but very rarely have i tasted it done this well.

Really, really nice. Though vegetarian courses should not be the same price as the meat dishes.

Love it here, simple food and great prices. yes if they're busy teh service can be slow. Its a small business and at these prices you cannot expect a bevvy of waitresses. The Lead waitress who is always there is great, fun, friendly and takes good care of us every time we eat there.

I struggle to understand the negative comments from some. They may want to remember there are ni Michelin stars here nor Michelin prices either!

I have been eating now and again at the Blue Parrot for just over 2 years. However last night will be the final visit. Although the food was good as always the service and treatment as a paying customer was very disappointing and infact surprising that in the current climate a restaurant could treat customers with such distain by booking table times too tight when there is long waits for courses, very little attention from what appears to be one waitress for the whole restaurant. All I wanted was a smile and an apology and I got a rude grimace and pushed out the door. WONT BE BACK AND CERTAINLY CANT RECOMMEND.

I have been attending the Blue Parrot for 17 years now and we frequently head here for the best margaritas and Mexican food in the city. Believe me when no other restaurant serves margaritas with crushed ice and the menu is to die for. I especially enjoy chimichanga (deep fried tortilla) with chicken, beef or veg as a main with pecan pie hot with ice cream for dessert. Brilliant value, attentive staff and wonderful chefs.

Cosy, friendly atmosphere. Great Mohito, but the food was a bit on the tasteless and ordinary side.

We walk in to a welcoming, humming atmosphere where, pleasingly, the ambience was more akin to someone's living room than a restaurant. However, the compliments end there. After an adequate margarita, we ordered from the simple yet sure-to-deliver menu. Oh dear. Starters arrived in the form of guacamole and quesadillas. If we'd wanted Tesco value brand range, we'd have gone there. The guacamole was green - TICK - but the flavour lacked anything to improve it above the aforementioned. The quesadillas can be summarised as cheese, cheese and more cheese (and a helping of a serious amount of grease). In fact, cheese featured heavily in the remainder of the meal. So much so, that we often wondered if it was to mask the severe lack of any other flavour. The mains of enchilada and burrito were ample, yet so bland that the meal became an endurance test rather than a pleasure. Overall, there was a distinct lack of any sort of kick, heat, spice, fire, taste. I'm sure there are a lot of people that would consider this a decent Mexican restaurant, but for those who like their taste buds to be challenged, you're perhaps better off with a DIY kit and a jar of jalapenos. Oh aye, and the Sangria (?): cheap red wine mixed with sour apple and an unidentifiable spirit.

Me and five friends were renting a flat for a few days on St Stephens Street, it was pouring with rain but we needed to eat. To cut a long story short, The Blue Parrot was there. We were very impressed, they managed to fit us in straight away on a Saturday night, the Strawberry Margaritas were amazing, the food was amazing and the waiting staff were friendly and attentive but not overly attentive so that we couldn't relax. In fact, we were so impressed with this little restaurant, that we are looking to go on Easter weekend when we are back up, hopefully we will be able to get a table booked as the food is the best Mexican I have ever had from a restaturant in the UK.

We recently enjoyed dinner for six in the Blue Parrot. Our party included a vegetarian, two commited carnivores and one person requiring wheat free food. The waitress could not have been more helpful in talking us through the options to suit all our requirements. The food was well above the average Mexican fare available in Scotland. We particularly enjoyed the ceviche, the home made tortilla chips, the generous portions of the main courses and fresh taste of the ingredients overall. We did not have to wait long for our food, but did not feel at all rushed - in fact the relaxed atmosphere was a bonus. The only criticism was that the margaritas were so good we ended up sharing several pitchers, which we paid for the next day!

We went for a birthday dinner to the Blue Parrot firstly there was some confusion over our booking time which we were made to feel particularly bad about, moving on from that a nice looking restaurant. We had to ask to order our drinks after half and hour and had to wait 45 minutes to get them!

Our starter arrived about 30 minutes after this and unfortunately the main course did not follow soon after. When I enquired about this I was faced with a very hostile (waitress/manager?) who explained this was actually our fault we waited 45 minutes for drinks due to the booking mix up. Eventually we received our food at 9.15 and had arrived in the restaurant at 7.30. I would like to say it was worth the wait but..... The advertised fajitas had no peppers or onions a couple of measly bits of chicken hidden under some tortillas! The rest of our parties’ food was adequate but after such a long time what was salvageable of the meal was lost.

The bill was reasonable at £130 for 7 of us and drinks but really not worth the wait or the attitude.