El Guaca in East Cambridgeshire

Went for my wife's 50th as we'd never been before, food was good but service was not, waiting ages to be served drinks, then main meal of which meals all came out at different times, then we were given dessert menus and wait another 25 mins to be asked for our order won't be going again.

Just heard the owners have decided to close El Guaca and will be opening an Italian(?) compelling me to write this review. This is hands down my favourite restaurant in Ely and I am gutted to say the least. Whilst I’m sure some difficult business decisions have been made for good reasons, it doesn’t make it any easier to accept. I’ve not once had an issue here, the food and drink was always excellent and would like to thank all the staff for their hard work. Whilst I love an Italian, and I guess it has a slightly wider appeal I do think we have more than enough offerings in Ely. I’d like to point out Bella Italia (the previous tenants at this location) was awful. Good luck to all involved.

I liked what I had, the spring rolls for £9, my son had the piala but it was very brown and not the golden ones I've had in Spain but I know this was a Mexican restaurant. I had a taste of it and it wasn't that great. Daughter in law had a chicken tortilla rap which looked nice. Mother in law had a faghetta which was quite expensive. She said it wasn't worth the money. On the hole it's overpriced for what you get.

Lovely food and nice to mix it up a bit with something different

It was our first time in. We came out for a birthday celebration and without a doubt, it was the best decision to come to El Guaca. Great food, superb staff and fantastic atmosphere.

Me and my partner went there three times already and every time the food gets better. I tried the veggie burrito bowl, veggie fajitas and veggie enchiladas and while everything was delicious, the veggie fajitas were heavenly. My partner said his beef enchiladas was no more than ok but he loves the prawn tacos. When it comes to drinks, we only tried the mocktails and we highly recommend the fruit fizz! Plus the staff is very attentive and pleasant, the place is super clean and I love the decor.

Always have a good time here. Wide menu selection that tastes great. Attentive staff.

This is a pretty decent Mexican restaurant, something which Ely has needed for a while. The food is pretty tasty, if a little overpriced and the portions are rather small.

Great selection of mexican classics that are full of flavour and will not disappoint. The menu had a decent selection to choose from with a lot for vegetarians. Large drinks and cocktail menu as well, we didn't have a cocktail but they did look good. Highly recommend

Foods always great and the staff are amazing

Amazing service! We had such an amazing time! Everything is so tasty. There is also lots of vegan options and actually a separate menu just for vegans.

Excellent food, excellent service, excellent value! Thanks as always!

Loved the food and the service, came for a friends birthday and the staff helped to make it really enjoyable

Delicious food, very friendly service. Also - unexpectedly - probably the best piña colada I’ve ever had

I love this UwU the best sigma meal ever

Lovely food, atmosphere and staff.

15 members of staff working. All attentive, all professional. Food arrives fast, piping hot, and extremely tasty. Plenty of gluten free options too. Beers included!

Every single member of staff was positive and friendly. The food was delicious and arrived in a timely manner. They have an option for everyone and a varied menu. Family friendly and good for large and small groups

The food was really good. The restaurant was a bit noisy, but good and quick service. So overall a great meal.

Absolutely stunning Mexican food, so lucky to have such a wonderful place to come and eat that is within easy access.

Recently visited with my family and really enjoyed the meal. However the next day we all suffered extreme food poisoning. I've now read recent reviews and have seen that others have experienced the same issue. The owners response that this was a virus and not food poisoning seems odd as the food poisoning lasted 24 hours as typically expected with the usual symptoms. If someone working in a restaurant has any kind of illness they should stay away until they are 100% better!!! Not happy at all and won't be returning.

First time visiting with my partner, service was great food was lovely. Few hours later I was hit with food poisoning, never experienced anything quite like it. My partner is fine as she had something else, the only thing I can think it would be is the Duck Quesadillas. Real shame and after seeing another review from a week ago now of food poisoning I will definitely not be returning.

Pleasant place with really good food. We liked the extensive menu that also catered for all preferences and kids. We would have liked it to be a tad cheaper as the bill was pretty hearty but was great as a one off treat. Staff were also friendly, clean tables and eating areas.

Great service and delicious food!

Amazing food, great service from the staff especially Karolina and great atmosphere.

Amazing food here would recommend to anyone in Ely, the staff were great and very polite and accommodating, the atmosphere is great aswell.

Finally got out as a family to have a meal after having a baby. We thought overall it was OK... 1 day later we all have really BAD food poisoning. Currently in agony. My husband and 6 year old daughter also have it. Ruined the start of the summer holidays

The food is lovely and so are the staff, we will be back soon for more, thank you for the hat you made my daughters day 😁

Favourite place in Ely, great food and staff. Big shout out to Victor who always makes us feel welcome.

My go-to place in Ely. Awesome vegan food and amazing drinks. Kudos to Vitor for always being so friendly.

Great food...enjoyed every morsal

My kids love this restaurant. Very good food and extremely good service.

Very good food, nice and clean place, kind people like Natan wich was very helpful for us

On the way home after a visit to friends, we were Hungary and stumbled on this place. Fantastic, That simple. Will be coming again. Many thanks to all the staff.

Great service, fast and helpful as always! Heavily recommend!

As always, amazing food and service. Always happy to return. Thank you.

Fantastic service and food as always. Thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you to the chefs and waitress for a great experience.

Very nice food and very quick, lovely staff

Amazing food and really quick service 😊

A nice place, with good decor, and great service, but not authentic Mexican. As an American from California, I can speak to how it compares to real Mexican. The bad. The chips were cold, and made of some corn like masa, but they were not good. The queso was horrible. It was not a queso dip, I had to pull it out with my fork. The salsa was more like a mole than a real salsa. The flavor base of all the food was bland compared to real Mexican, which is to be expected here in England. The food was also too expensive for a place that is so remote. The good. The guacamole was good. Just wish the chips were better. The Mexican paella was tasty but need some hot sauce to give it some flavor. The enchiladas were good, but still lacking on seasoning. Had to add more hot sauce to give it some flavor. The service was great, and we liked the decor. If your American or Hispanic, you need to check your expectations and just enjoy the guacamole, Mojito, Margarita, and Modelo Especial.

I was really hoping for some good Mexican food. My only options have been when family from Mexico and California come over or travelling to London. Growing up and living in California I know the flavors. I was not expecting perfection but really craving and looking forward to this experience. First impressions it’s like Prezzo’s but it’s Mexican. The staff were nice and polite. It’s not intimate at all but we brushed that aside. I think Mon - Thursday is a cocktail special order two the same and it’s £15. With three of us we ordered two margaritas and one mojito. The margaritas were barely passable, ok that is an overstatement. What let them down further was that the size of the margarita glass was about a third the size of a regular margarita glass. No wonder they were 2 for £15 … still a rip off! Mojito only tasted of soda water. Switched to Coke, beer and a bottle of wine. Starters were nachos (1) order spit by two and the Mexican Spring rolls (never heard of those before) must be an English twist but they were good. They were served with their famous guacamole which was very good but I seriously doubt if it came with a teaspoon of guacamole and definitely not heaping. The nachos were mostly fried tortillas with a small ration of cheese, the level teaspoon of their famous guacamole and maybe 25g measured of sour cream squirted on them. Main course we had a go at the enchiladas. I had the pork. The meat was tender and the spices were nice, accruements were again measured out to the gram. The other enchiladas were beef. They looked about the same as my pork ones. Nothing to write home about. The third dish was seafood paella …what an absolute joke. It looked more like a bowl of risotto. Three tiny prawns, two medium prawns and a lot of way overcooked squid. No, we did not complain. The overall ethos of this place was clear from the moment our cocktails arrived and continued in the same trajectory, sadly. It was our fault for staying. The bill was £143 and shockingly that included nearly £13 service charge!! Never again. I really wanted this to be good.

It was a great experience. Food was very good and service was top tier

We visited on Father’s Day 2024 and the service was brilliant. Well trained team ! The food is delicious and we can not wait to go back again.

Great themed Mexican restaurant with top notch food and service. Had grill main and they are exceptional. Staff is extremely helpful and friendly. Special shout out to Charlie! Great man!

Only marked down atmosphere because restaurant was empty. The internal decor was pretty smart. Real mexican feel. Food nicely presented. Staff friendly and efficient.

Lovley food and cocktails. Service and atmosphere were brilliant, lovley date night for us, Jack was a great server giving us plenty of time to look over the menu as it was our first time. We will be back

Lovely restaurant as always, only thing i’d say is we were seated near the kitchen and it was very very warm!! Other than that great food!

Amazing place, the servers are really nice and the food is absolutely stunning

Not been before the food was brilliant can't recommend this highly enough

El guaca is a must when in Ely or their Newmarket location. Jarritos are fab, enchiladas even better. A star place

It's always a pleasure to dine here. The booking system online is easy to use and can be modified to suit personal requirements. We received a very warm welcome and were seated in a lovely comfy booth. We shared some nachos for starters and had duck and steak for main. The food is great quality and being able to see into the kitchen is great because you can see how clean and hygienic it is. The hospitality and customer service is first rate. You're not rushed or bothered with too much which makes it all very pleasant and relaxed.

Fabulous, courteous, hard-working and attentive wait staff. Unfortunately, I've found the food on my last two visits there to be pretty inedible. On this most recent occasion, I ordered as my main a wrap with mushrooms, halloumi and, as an added bit, smoked chicken. There were more red onions and other kinds of onions in the wrap than any other food item. Two small bits of halloumi popped up, perhaps three pieces of chicken but no discernible mushrooms. (See photo.) It was horrible. I picked out the onions from one half of the wrap, and there was nothing left. I decided to take the other half home, doctor it to make it edible and eat it. On the previous visit, I'd had a plant-based main, and it was pretty awful, too. The nachos are ok, but the corn tortilla chips taste a bit off with an unusual spice -- not like any nacho/corn chips dishes I've had anywhere else -- and the sauces seem to have been tightly measured so that no one will get any more than 25g or some such limit. The drinks at El Guaca are terrific - faultless and gorgeous and tasty, including the mocktails. But I will not order food again. I probably won't go there again.

Excellent, faultless, staff friendly and attentive, food tasty and well presented.

Food was excellent apart from the prawn tacos which looked great but were a bit of a letdown, rest was so good that it made up for it though.

Lovely food and service as always

Always great food and great service.

The staff were absolutely stars, the food was above and beyond it was a really great atmosphere and we got some hats even though we were not part of the party thing love it here!!! Keep up the good work guys!!! Yum yum 😋

Great food and a good vibe too.

Great experience and staff so helpful. Food came fast and was so nice we will be back

Amazing! authentic Mexican food! 10/10

Lush food! And service was polite and friendly. With advice about the dishes! Lovely meal out

Someone recommended me Picolo Lounge but there where no space, than another choice was Herewood sadly they didn't have the cocktails so we end up in El quaca. The best restaurant- food was delicious and the cocktails was better than expected. The restaurant was busy but we didn't feel this at all, the service were fantastic.

We had a lovely time! Our waitress Maddison was wonderful!

Brilliant atmosphere, food and drinks 😊

We love coming here. Always lovely friendly staff and lovely atmosphere as well as great food Thank you for looking after us Nora!

Top tier nachos. Great service.

Can’t recommend this place enough, we’ve been here twice now after a trip to the cinema. Food is great, service is top notch and the atmosphere is fantastic .

Great food as always, Nora gave fabulous service and I will be back again and again :)

Very tasty Mexican food tonight washed down with cold sweet tasty beer and margarita. Ribs, quesadillas and tacos all very delicious. Awesome friendly service from Nora!

Fantastic meal - great food, fabulous service from Nora and great margaritas 😍

Very attentive! Friendly staff Food was stunning

Excellent food, great service and we will be back again.

Excellent service as always and only our 3rd time here. Lovely friendly staff.

Excellent main courses! We had the Chimichanga and enchiladas. Guacamole is also great!

Good food, friendly service 👍🏻👍🏻 Still serving food (in Ely) upto 9pm on Sun, when most places had stopped at 8pm(we went around a few!). Good range of veggy & vegan food too Recommended

Waitress was so nice she deserve promotion !

Our waitress Anja was excellent!

Always great food and lovely people. Never had a bad experience here

Brilliant place and service was brilliant

Staff were incredibly accommodating and friendly. Food was delicious and a huge selection of GF items to choose from.

Went there last night for date night We had a lovely table (booth) looking over the whole restaurant. We had a sharing chicken nachos which was very nice While we was waiting on our mains the lady who was kitchen makes the order and handle plates and sometimes took the plates to the table. I was disgusted she came out of a door side kitchen putting her fingers in her mouth playing with her hair too (she was not only one who was touching there hair who saw works along side of her) which I found it was disgusting and if she brought our food I would of sent back knowing her food was touch by her fingers which been in our mouth !!! Young lad who served was very good Main meals we bbq ribs and SANTA FE CHICKEN Bbq flavour too. Very disappointed with the main coleslaw was watery and found my chicken was tasteless and my husband said same about his ribs. Our bill was £73 but we took of the service charge as we don’t agree with that. So we would never to return as issues above

Charlie was an amazing server and made sure everything was perfect for us. He came to our table often to offer us more drinks and ensure everything was okay. The food was great as were the cocktails. One of our favourite restaurants so will definitely be back soon :)

Tasty food, friendly and efficient service, great meal here as usual. One of our faves!

Great food! Great service! One of our favorites

First time at restaurant, loved it. Food was great. Amazing service.

Delicious food and conscientious staff. Will definitely come again.

Wonderful everything, as always. Thank you very much El Gauca. We'll be back

Very good food and excellent service!

Great experience. Will be coming back. Fantastic service!

Fabulous food and great service. Our waitress was always checking up on us and served us with a smile :) we’ll be back again!!

Came to El Guaca in Ely for a birthday meal and absolutely loved to food and drinks! Our server Charlie was amazing! Will definitely come back 😊

Absolute great service, staff were very attentive and friendly and food was great.

Great food excellent service. Would recommend trying.

First time here and will be back. Fab food, very friendly. Great prices. Victor is fab and funny if you see him here

Delicious food, big portions and friendly staff! Also plenty of gluten free options for coeliacs like me!

Amazing food, lovely atmosphere and very friendly staff :)

Great food, good portions and attentive + friendly staff

A lovely meal and some fabulous happy birthday singing from the team.

Best Mexican food I’ve had in ages! Very nice service, the guacamole was delicious and the Tacos al pastor, yummmy!

Came here for my birthday and they surprised us with a little celebration, food was delicious and nice service 😋