Los Arcos in Croydon

Really nice restaurant. Typical Spanish food, tasty! and the atmosphere is great. The waiters are very professional and attentive. Gracias por todo! Un saludo

Very impressed, great tapas and beer and a lovely atmosphere to the place. Highly recommend

Great choice of food and lively atmosphere. Not rushed to leave. Friendly staff.

Lunchtime sensation! Seriously great food with super service. 3 people. Highly recommend this little gem.

The same owners of Las Fuentas in Purley have now opened another much needed top notch Spanish bar/restaurant in Coulsdon. The choice of good restaurants in this town is limited, so this is a welcome addition, oozing with style and authenticity this will probably become a regular haunt of ours.

I love the Tapas food here, the service is great, especially as they are always so busy. It has long been our go-to local restaurant, great food, amazing wines (the Muga I would definitely recommend). The owner Gio always looks after his regulars and is such a lovely man as are all the staff especially Dora. I would recommend the patatas bravas, tortilla, gambas, meatballs chicken skewers and the wild boar..oh and the churros. In fact you'd be hard pushed not to like anything.

Excellent food every time. Great choice on the menu. Fresh food with individual flavours. Very busy restaurant with a lively atmosphere. Fully recommended

Delicious food. Octopus and chorizo were the highlights

Theres a buzz from the minute you walk in the door. A feeling of an authentic Spanish seaside restaurant, food is excellent and staff are all friendly and attentive. A great place for a party or special occasion or an upbeat night out. Book ahead, it's always busy, that speaks volumes in itself. Highly recommend for tapas and paella 😊🥘

I think the lunch menu is a good deal and that the service is great.

Los Arcos never lets us down! Food is absolutely to die for. Perfect food to get me ready for my Spanish holiday. The staff are absolutely fantastic in there. The melon ball cocktail was the best ever!

As good as if you are in Spain, top quality, good food.. excellent service . If you are looking for a place to go and relax and have good value for your pound, just go to Los Arcos

Great little tapas place - pretty big actually and an authentic feel to it. Staff are great and food is good.

Great spot, can't recommend enough

Everything in here is S tier 🔥🔥

Lots of choice of dishes, attentive service most of the time, fun atmosphere

I love this place. Gio is one amazing being. Generous, kind and extremely hard working. Food and service is always fantastic.

Best restaurant for miles around. Delicious extensive menu, delightful atmosphere and attentive friendly staff. A must.

Very nice restaurant. Felt like I was in Spain. Service very fast

Superb as always - love this place!

What we immediately noticed was that the staff is incredibly friendly and hospitable, they like to have a chat. Very nice family run restaurant with many menu options. Food was tasty, not very special, but very nice that you can order small dishes to share.

Great family fun restaurant. Well worth a visit . Rather a lot of bad language from an elderly member of staff which made me rather grateful I didn't have kids with me. Food and drink and service was great and worth a visit

Great food. Good portion sizes. Great staff. And like most tapas places, blooming noisy, but that's the atmosphere.

Beautiful Spanish restaurant in London

Had a fantastic night, with the family, the night before my daughter's wedding. There were 17 of us which caused them no problems at all. The food was amazing, the atmosphere brilliant and the staff couldn't do enough for us. Will definitely be back.

Expensive but amazing food - as good as you'd be get anywhere in Spain

A delight! Service was incredibly friendly, We asked and reassured us on some allergens. The food is top quality. The taste alone warrants another visit but the portions are amazing too! Whether it's a date night or it's just Tuesday you should come here!

Lovely atmosphere, food great. Definitely going back there...

This place is always lovely and has amazing vibes. The staff are very friendly but they are always super busy here (probably due to popularity) so you must book in advance.

Great lunch out with a client. Nice food reasonably priced

Went for a birthday meal with the wife was expecting big things after hearing rave reviews. Nice setting and excellent service but very standard food. El Rincon still best tapas in the area for me

We have been going to Los Arcos for many years. The food and service are always excellent. Gio and his excellent team always make us feel very welcome. Highly recommended.

Arrived on time for our booking. It took ages for someone to come over to us but they didn’t show us to our table. We were told to go to the bar. It took them over 45 mins to show us to our table. Over an hour later, no one had even come to ask us if we wanted a drink at the table. We had to ask. Having asked a waitress to take an order, the order was taken. It took a while to come but the food that did come did taste nice. However one person in our party didn’t get any food at all. Over 2.5 hours after arriving, we were still asking for where part of the order was. We were told twice it was in the kitchen and was just coming out. Eventually we cancelled his food as it was far too late to eat (10:30pm) At this point we were told the part of order had been given to the wrong diner. Either way, the staff were rushed off their feet because there was not enough of them. They admitted to us the kitchen was in chaos. Unless they double the staff they currently have, there is no way I’d ever go back and no way I’d recommend it to anyone.

Fantastic tapas as always. One of my favourites! Good service and great atmosphere. We are never disappointed and will highly recommend.

Valentines meal. I really wanted to enjoy it, but was very disappointed. The food was awful, tasted like everything was sourced from Tesco. I hardly ate anything. I would be interested to see what Spanish people think of the food there.

Staff were so funny and friendly and the food is such good value for money.

I booked a reservation for my family last Tuesday and we really enjoyed having our dinner here!

Even on a cold Tuesday night the place was pretty busy with a lovely atmosphere. Tapas menu has a good selection of classics, and there's pinchos (skewers) and main courses too.

Fabulous authentic Tapas restaurant run by Gio who has decades of experience. Staff are all very friendly & portions are generous. Highly recommend.

Great service and excellent food. Had a wonderful evening.

First time in this restaurant tonight, it felt like being in a small town restaurant in Spain, authentic food and atmosphere, excellent experience. Recommend!

Great experience time and time again 👏🏾

Very good food. Very tasty. I liked the meat balls , the chicken and the potatoes dishes

Love this place. Food is excellent and the staff are amazing. Very reasonable too!

Great tapas bar excellent food and service. Staff really attentive and helpful. Must book in advance though

Absolutely the best Spanish food in the area. Every single time - whether it was delivery or dine-in experience - I got great food and experience there. You can blindly order anything there and it will be cooked and served fantastically. The smallest downside - it can get super loud inside, but otherwise food is totally worth it!

As with every restaurant opened by the owner- Gio- And his family; The food, Service- And atmosphere in this establishment are fantastic. Sadly- Adjacent parking is not so! Coulsdon has really gone to the dogs over the years; This place is the "Diamond in the rough!" 5*

Busy Friday evening service. As soon as you arrive the noise in the restaurant is terrible, all hard surfaces and no soft furnishings to adsorb any noise. You have to lean close to the person next to you to have a discussion. We had a party of 10 people squeezed onto 4 tables, where smaller parties had a table per 2 people. So everybody was clashing elbows continously. After we sat down it took 15-20 mins for someone to come and take an order for drinks. Seriously understaffed for the number of people in the restaurant. Drinks orders when they arrived were incomplete or wrong, could well have been because the staff can't hear what was being ordered and also drinks sitting on the bar not delivered for long periods of time. Again took ages for someone to arrive to take food orders even when prompted when passing by. Food was some of the worse tapas I have had. Whitebait was so thin no body and fried to a crisp. Calamares a la romana was not crispy and no substance, I have had better out of a packet. Potato bravas just boiled potatos (not even pan fried) covered in a mediocre sauce. The only decent dishes were the lamb chops, Padron peppers and the Chipirones Provencal from the specials. The Chicken and chorizo Paella was awful, the chicken was just the leg joints with little to no meat and lots of undercooked chorizo. Churros were very thin (out of a packet) and over cooked. One of the waiters was rude and they also charged us for a drink we didn't order.

Very Nice Restaurant.Gio as always takes Care of his Customers.. Efficient Service & Poilte Staff

Been there three times if not more. Delicious food. Lovely service. Teodora is always so welcoming and so are the others.

What a lovely local gem of a reausturant, great food, atmosphere & service, will definitely be back there very soon 🍺🍲

The staff here are incredible. So friendly, attentive and always welcome you with a big smile. It really makes a huge difference. All of them have their own individual personalities and are allowed to shine! Fortunately the food very good too! The lamb chops are absolutely delicious as is the octopus. The atmosphere is great too. It's busy but in a lively, exciting way. I always look forward to coming here.

Noisy, slow service, lots of unnatural colours/flavours, would not return

Have eaten here a few times and the food has been excellent on both occasions personally I think the better option in coulsdon for a quite evening meal out. Steaks are superbly cooked.can be very quite but that's a good thing.

Service was very good, but the food let it down abit expensive for what you get and not very tasty. Needs a lot more flavour and seasoning.

Brilliant food and service. Highly recommend.

We love this restaurant. The friendliness of the staff, who always welcome us with a smile and a warm welcome. The food is consistently good. Great atmosphere too. We love the wild boar, the creamed spinach is yummy. There isn't much in the menu we haven't tried. All amazing taste and value 😍

Nothing special. Food was nice but expensive for the amount served. Would I go back? Only if I wasn't paying. 😁

The restaurant is loud and echoey with no real atmosphere. The food was ok but portions smaller than that of other tapas restaurants. The house wine is nearly £26 a bottle by they time they stick their service charge on your bill. When we questioned this 10% service charge we were shouted at and told not to come back by the owner, a very old, rude man, which is not a problem as we really don’t want to as we have an outstanding tapas in Horley.

Been going here for years, never disappoints.

I book table when we are in took them 1 hour to come and take our order then after the food came it was must awfull food I ordr bacalo pil pil the fish was cooked from frozen with alot garlic in side fish not cooked which is made me sick the creme brulee the desert must rubish desert I had when I mention to the owner of restaurant the food it serve awful from frozen he said his 60 years shef he said f... don´t care i told him my self I am working in hospitality and his not know the food. I do not go again and I do not recomend this restaurant and right now I fill sick because of food

Squeezed us in last minute love the oysters

Had a birthday meal there really was lovely also got sang happy birthday x

We booked here for a meal out with my girlfriends, it was a Tuesday night and the atmosphere was good. The service was brilliant and the staff were friendly and entertaining. Food was incredible, one of the best tapas I have tried. Each tapas plate was hot and smelt delicious and individual, which some tapas can blend into one flavour. We ordered two dishes each and shared the dishes. Can't wait to come back.

I was really appalled at the service and treatment we received from the staff. We were rushed to order, rushed to eat and was even offered a doggy bag whilst in the middle of our meal without requesting one. It appeared as if the staff wanted us out the restaurant ASAP. We were three professional women of colour who sat and wanted to enjoy our time and meal but sadly the staff discrimated against us. We observed other tables that were in the restaurant before us yet they experienced no harassment to finish and leave after an hour. We we not allowed to have dessert. The staff audibly huffed and puffed to demonstrate their impatience and lack of curtesy to us as paying guests at their restaurant. Finall, we could no longer take the hostility directed at us and asked for the bill. It then took them another hour to clear our plates and settle the bill. Our evening was ruined and never have we received such poor and discriminatory reception at restaurant. It was blatant and very obvious that we were not welcomed in Los Arcos.

Zero star rating. Terrible service. We felt discriminated against. We were being pestered to order every few minutes. They continued to rush us while we were eating by continually asking if we had finished. After just one hour they tried to clear our plates away when we clearly hadn't finished and the waitress tried to get rid of us by stating that she can put the rest of the food in a doggy bag for us to take home. They didn't bother to offer us dessert. And to add insult to injury they gave us incorrect change and ignored us when we pointed it out. We had to remind the lady who made the mistake to give us the correct change at which point she spoke to a gentleman who abruptly came over and told us he was short changing us because he didn't have the right coins. There was no sign of regret or an apology. As for the food it was bland. I asked for some tabasco sauce to spice things up a bit and was given a tiny bottle that was virtually empty. Never again. Awful. They killed the vibe completely. Not recommended.

Lively tapas bar, good choice of dishes, helpful staff. The garlic prawns and kidneys with sherry were a highlight. I hear it gets very busy at weekends, so book ahead. 2 tapas dishes for £10 at lunchtime in the week

Tasty food and very friendly, hospitable staff!

Best restaurants in South London.

Always great food and amazing atmosphere 👌

Absolutely shocking customer service when we had a table booked on Saturday evening. After reading all of the good reviews it does seem that we were caught on a bad day however the experience we had was so bad we will never attempt to go there again. After 50 minutes of waiting for our food order to be taken, we flagged down a waitress who said she 'wasn't sure if she could take our orders' as there was a large table having their order taken behind us, and the kitchen was short staffed so it would take some time for our food to be prepared.. She went to "check" with a manager never to return. Following that, we flagged down every single waiter who walked past, who ignored us until one said he would be back in 5 minutes to take our order. I watched him walk up and down the rest of the tables not actually doing anything or taking orders/serving drinks so basically pretending to seem busy rather than actually serving. We eventually had someone come over to take our order. No apology for the delay and attitude was not that of someone who wanted to have people dine in. We asked how long it would roughly be if we ordered now, to be told that they made food properly here and had about 30 dishes ordered by the large table behind us. It would take 30 minutes minimum and (to paraphrase) the longer we spent asking him questions was delaying the process. At that point we got up and left and had a much nicer meal at another restaurant.

Restaurants are part of something called the "hospitality" sector, Los Arcos' only contribution to hospitality is as a shining example to everyone else of what not to do. Table booked almost 2 weeks in advance for a party of 5 at 8pm on a Satuday night, via phone because apparently we're still in the 1980s. We arrived on time, restaurant was very busy and very loud, a more diplomatic term would be "lively" I suppose. We were shown to our table, given menus and shortly thereafter drink orders were taken. We were given some time to browse the menu. Being a tapas restaurant there were lots of dishes to choose from. After perhaps 10-15 minutes we were ready to order. During our time looking at the menu, we weren't asked if we were ready by any of the staff. We spent some time trying to chat but could barely hear the person across from us. I had to lean in to hear the person next to me and they were like 2 feet away. Half an hour after we'd arrived, we managed to flag down one of the sparse waiting staff. We said we were ready to order now and she asked us if we were sure we wanted to order. She explained they were short-staffed and quite behind. Can you imagine being asked by someone if you're sure you want to spend money at their establishment? I know Capitalism gets a bad rap but it's a pretty simple system: I want something, you want my money, here's my money, give me the thing. We asked this lady - who was rendered barely comprehensible by the "lively" atmosphere - how long she thought it would take, she said she would check and disappeared, never to return. A different server came to our table after another 10 minutes and said it was a "30 minute minimum" wait for food. Minimum?! So what's the maximum? An hour? A day? You gotta put an upper limit on there! Bear in mind we got there at 8pm, we're now at 8:45pm, this place closes at 11pm and we're looking at a MINIMUM of 30 minutes before the first of our dishes starts to arrive? On top of that, we're supposed to trust that estimate is accurate when early impressions would suggest that the people running this place can't even spell "customer service" let alone practise it. Finally, an older gentleman who had the aura of manager/owner arrived at our table. He explained that they work very hard and are very busy and the food is very good and takes time to prepare but they are not McDonalds and- Yeah, sorry boss, you're right, you're not McDonalds. McDonalds actually SERVE their food. You don't wait 45 minutes to get it either! You wait 4 TO 5 minutes. Also, "Arcos" is Spanish for arches, the McDonalds logo is called The Golden Arches or "los arcos dorados" so yeah, you kinda are McDonalds actually. This man wasn't apologetic or understanding, he came across instead as dismissive and defensive. He gestured vageuely to the massive party of 12+ near us, mumbling something about needing to sort their order out and busy something, again, it's very hard to hear anyone in this place. But that was it. His attitude sealed it for us, we took off, thanks for the free drinks, see you again never. While I was there I saw maybe 4-5 waitstaff and perhaps 2-3 people in the kitchen. We were sat opposite the serving window and I could see through the door into the kitchen when it was opened. I get the distinct impression they were not "short" on staff that evening, I believe they are perpetually understaffed, running the bare minimum to save on overheads. I even received a call that morning at around 11:30am to confirm my booking. I was not told at this point that they would be short staffed but fine, maybe whoever was missing hadn't called in sick yet. When we were greeted, we were not told they were short staffed. Nor were we told when they sat us down, took our drink order or in the 15 minutes that followed.They had ample opportunity to let us know and they either completely forgot or this is how it always is and it didn't feel unusual for them. They were happy to take our drink orders and begin the "get their money" process however.

Booked a table for 8pm. We were not allowed to place our order for 50mins. We tried and were refused. When we were finally allowed to place our order, we had one of the rudest waiters that I have ever encountered. Why book and not allow us to order, then have the waiter get annoyed when we asked for a rough ETA on food arrive.

Excellent food, excellent service, very nice ambience. Very clean kitchen, if I could rate 10 stars I would. Would definitely recommend to anyone.

Lovely meal. Lamb skewer was superb. Staff very friendly and the meal was great. Even able to take our dog & sit outside and eat. Will definately be going back. Many thanks

Was recommended too go but not for me steak was lovely bit rest ok

Lovely friendly staff, great food.. a real little gem in coulsdon

Ate here a number of times, always a friendly reception & the food is good too

Very good! Attentive staff, not overly, but just right. Great food. Will be back!

Good food. Very nice people working.

We live in Spain and the tapas were just like here. I especially liked the garlic prawns. I wish I'd tried the pork cheeks - next time

Excellent authentic tapas in a nice setting and with very friendly and helpful staff

Love this place recommended 💯% food and staff and service perfect thankyou guys x

Wonderful ambience, popped in for a quick lunch with my husband and loved it. The food was all amazing and the staff super friendly and nice. Really enjoyed our experience and would definitely come again.

I went to Los Arcos twice last week with my wife. First visit was to their lovely bar area for some drinks and a couple of tapas. The service was amazing, friendly, caring, and with staff immediately paying attention to us from the moment we arrived. You can see everyone in the staff has been well trained and it feels like you're being welcomed to the place by a friendly Spanish family, rather than a bunch of people who just work there. The few tapas we sampled, delicious. Ambiance, great: you're surrounded by lovely traditional precision set tilework around the place - showing excellent dedication to details all around! Could not fault the experience at all, five stars. Encouraged by this, I booked a table for a dinner at 20.30 on a Friday night. Enter a different reality. The place was overbooked so it took us 10min to even catch the attention of the staff to be welcomed. They suggested we start with drinks at the bar and then move to a table in 20 minutes or so. 57 minutes later, we finally managed to get an actual table, after much struggle to catch someone's attention. The table we sat at was empty much earlier... Once at the table, we were given olives which I thought was an apology of sorts for the delay, but this was unclear. We were charged for them initially in the end. Then it took another 15min to get an order in, despite of our best efforts to catch the waiters attention. After the order was in, things did get better though. Food came fairly quickly, the quality of service we received on our first visit returned...even the elderly Spanish gentleman who I assume is the owner came to chat with us and many other guests. Food was delish, with the wild boar being perhaps a bit overdone for my liking, but otherwise everything was spot on. Upon departure, we asked the olives and the discretionary service charge to be removed from the bill, explaining we waited an hour to be seated from when our reservation was meant to start, and then some more waiting. Boy did we get a bad look from the waiter, overshadowing any apology he tried to make. Los Arcos, you're a gem of a restaurant but you have to get your table booking management right, even on busy nights! And if you mess up, how about an honest and clear apology? (For example, "sorry, we didn't do this right. It will be an hour and if you want to wait, have a drink on us at the bar"). Would probably be cheaper than losing possible repeat customers...Despite the lovely food, our night finished with a bad taste in our mouths. We got home so upset and tired. I'm torn. You have almost everything in place to offer a truly exceptional dining experience, but then this basic stuff goes wrong magnificently and gets on the way of it. This was about to be my new favourite go-to place for a good dinner out, or for drinks and light tapas. Maybe I will come again, maybe this was just a one off? I really hope so, but if I ever revisit, maybe I will avoid booking during the weekend.

What a fantastic and wonderful Tapas Restaurant The service was amazing, staff very friendly and makes you feel very welcome and at ease. I would highly recommend the delicious food, so many beautiful flavours in each tapas dishes. The food is presented very well. We would like to thank everyone for a wonderful and fabulous meal and all the staff who made it an excellent experience.

Popped in to treat my husband to lunch. The quality and variety of the food were excellent and the staff very friendly. So much nicer than one of a chain of identical soulless eateries. Lots of interesting pictures on the wall and promoting fundraising for a charity too.

Delicious food, smell of Spain straight after entering the restaurant. Wry nice atmosphere and friendly staff. Very loud though, but it is Spanish style 😜

It was my retirement meal from work and the service was excellent and the staff very friendly .I would highly recommended .

We booked a table via the phone for 7pm when we got there they said it was booked for 7.30pm. Not the worse thing in the world, so we sat at the bar to have some drinks, whilst we waited for the table. At 7.40pm we were still sat there and I could see empty tables. I spoke to staff who said we would be seated once a big party left, we waited another 10-15 minutes, then decided to just settle the bar bill and go somewhere else. It's such a shame, I guess larger bookings than two people are the priority. Can't comment on the food, pinacolada was great but customer experience for us was not good.

Food was nice, and staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. New staff made some mistakes but we're responsive and reactive. And senior staff were great. Would recommend for birthday meals.

The best tapas in London! I’m a big fan of tapas and this restaurant is a hidden gem. It’s family run and the atmosphere is excellent. The chef clearly has a lot of experience and loves pleasing people. I would recommend this place to anyone who enjoys high quality food!

Disappointing was looking forward to an authentic Spanish dinner but everything seems to be fried or served with potatoes - chicken in garlic is served with fries, octopus galician style is served with potatoes, bacalao is served with fried potatoes.......Restaurant was very busy so obviously a lot of people like the food!

I have followed this owner around all the Spanish restaurants in the area and somehow they just get better ! Great place. Great food, great service.

Good tasty tapas and good service. Very busy restaurant, a little noisy at times

I have been to a lot of tapas bars in London and spain but this restaurant is unbelievable! The food is amazing the service is fantastic and you must try the lamb cutlets are to die for🥰 please try this restaurant you won’t be disappointed. Terry🇬🇧

Great food... great atmosphere... great service

Really lovely local restaurant. Been here a couple of times and will come many more!! Great food and drink, lovely staff and always a great meal out

Had to queue to get in. As it was a Saturday night..However they are so organised. The food and drinks arrived very quickly. We had a selection of tapas dishes everything was delicious and tasty. So can't just single out one dish to recommend. All the staff are so friendly. As for the atmosphere it is noisy , lively and infectious.. If you are hard of hearing you may.miss parts of a conversation. Reasonably priced too.

Works Christmas do food top quality couldn't fault it staff and service you'd have trouble to beat it only trouble went with work colleagues