APPALING! Please heed this warning especially if you are buying post-theatre deal!Looking back at all the 2012 reviews, it is clear this is a place to be avoided. I do not know what it was like before the new management took over, but if last night was anything to go by the new management are CLUELESS when it comes to customer service. It is extremely cramped, and the food is very BORING, very BLAND and TASTELESS.The service staff are pleasant enough, but woman who claimed to be the manager, and then retracted that statement as soon as we had a complaint about the bill is shocking.Instead of trying to sort out our issue, she chose to argue (as in SHOUT) as us, and then said that our poor waiter would have to pay the difference from his wages.

Always a good cheap friendly place to eat, I go there every time I'm in London, and I'm not the only one.There are many Japanese who eat there too and they know their seafood. Do not expect anything fancy. The food tastes of what it is, seafood, so no shocks there! As to the idiot who complained about the prawns having eggs between their legs, that's how they come in nature, love, get over yourself and eat them like everyone else. Delish.

I went there on the 21st July 2010 with some friends, we ordered some tapas and paella. The tapas were nothing special, the paella was disgusting: tasteless, overcooked, prawns with eggs between their legs.
To complete this bad experience, my husband was sick all night.
Don't go there!!

We went on 24th March, visiting London from Manchester. It's what it says on the can, a Spanish cafe. Therefore no fancy restaurant trimmings, but you could have been in the back street of a Spanish Town. All the staff were Spanish and exceptionally friendly. The service was also extremely prompt.

A complimentary dish of olives was provided and, after we had ordered, a complimentary basket of fresh bread. The waiter recommended five tapas dishes as being the right quantity for the two of us. Spot on. We had a Spanish omelette, chicken in garlic, french beans with ham, garlic mushrooms and manchego cheese. This came in slices with apple and so we saved it for afters with the coffee.

All the above plus a bottle of house dry white came to £31.95. Excellently flavoured food and ridiculously good value for the West End.

I regularly visit this restaurant and was up in London last week; as usual, you are treated like an old friend when you enter and made very welcome. It's nice to still see family run places like this in London and to have food that is freshly cooked to order! The menu is quite extensive and the Spanish dishes (although fairly simple) are well presented with good sized portions. There are often very good specials displayed on the board outside. The house red wine is a Rioja and for the price, it is very good. It can get very busy for pre-theatre meals and that is not surprising - where else could you get a main course, a pudding, coffee and wine for for one under £20 in the West End?
I don't know where the other reviewers who didn't like this place went to (if they went to any restaurant on Old Compton Street at all that is), but it certainly wasn't this one!
Well worth a visit for a reasonably priced pre or after theatre meal.

My husband and I visited Cafe Espana one night last week. We chose it because it was busy. The service was excellent and we had a superb meal. There was a lot of meals to choose from and very reasonable especially as it was in London. For a bottle of wine, 2 starters, 2 main courses and 1 pudding and coffee it was £48. Staff were friendly and even tho it was busy the service was great and the meal was very nice and we would certainly go back.

I don't understand the negative reviews on this site. It's like they went to a different venue. I regularly come to this wonderful little restaurant for several reasons, 1) the food is reasonably priced 2) the food is simple, hearty and very tasty, 3) the staff are always very warm and generous, 4) the relaxed atmosphere makes you feel just for a moment you aren't in London but instead in a beach side restaurant somewhere in Spain. Yes the decor is slightly faded, yes the food is not haute cuisine, but if you are looking for real tasty simple fare served in a friendly relaxed warm atmosphere then it is hard to beat this lovely family restaurant.

Dr Dan Winder

A group of us attended Cafe Espana for the first time on Wednesday evening. The restaurant wasn't particularly busy and we sat upstairs, although there isn't much space it has a quite cozy feeling.

Our experience was nothing but great. From a gastronomy perspective, although the food isn’t mind blowing, its standard is fairly good. Having said that, we mainly went for tapas. A main order of a chicken with peppers wasn’t finished. The rest was really nice, only empty plates in the end.

I will return to this restaurant regardless the negative reviews by other diners. And there is a simple reason for that, my experience was really nice, especially our interaction with the stuff which was very attentive. Both the headwaiter and the little waitress, who although not speaking a word of English managed to serve a group of 8 hungry individuals seamlessly, were excellent in their communication and attitude. An order of mussels wasn’t well cooked and they happily changed that with a proper one.

Overall really nice and quite cheap. Anyone who isn’t obnoxious and doesn’t expect a 5* dinner from a little café will probably be content.

Food was cold even if I think it meant to have been reheated ...

The ambience is of drunken parties, noisy very very noisy and the staff don't care at all - a horrible experience, nobody should pay for this.

All the food was reheated, not sure if if was the chef's night off. Tapas were worst I've tasted. Very unhappy with entire meal. At least it didn't cost too much, but sill overpriced for a microwave ready-meal.

Cafe Espana is the best Spanish place to eat in London. The food is fantastic, the service is great and the staff really welcoming. I have been going there for eight years and keep coming back for more. It has become part of Soho's fabric and in itself is an instituation.


I often go with my Spanish friends and they think it's the best food outside of Spain. My advice is give Cafe Espana a go for fantastic reasonable priced food.

I can't leave a review about the food in Cafe Espana, because I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole. The restaurant didn't just smell of rotting fish, it stank. This smell might be embedded in the revolting carpet or it might have been emanating from the Cafe Espana loos - whatever, if you value your health, go somewhere else.

Cafe Espana is not for dieters. The portions are generous and the food is actually pretty close to the real deal, which means that anyone not used to eating in Spain might find it a bit heavy. Between us we guzzled a few bottles of passable Rioja which wasn't the cheapest on their list, and still the bill only came to £14 per head.


Cafe Espana is the cheapest full-stomach I've ever had at a sit-down in central London. All in all a great evening, and yes, if you want prompt service and waiters that snap to attention then you should probably go to some Conran jelly-mould and pay accordingly.

We might have been to Cafe Espana on a bad night (Bank Holiday Sunday) but I have to disagree with the other reviewers. The service was very slow - we had to wait over half an hour to place our order (with nothing to drink) and the food was very slow arriving. The waiter kept promising to make it up to us but the service did not improve and they charged us for two items that we did not have.



The food at Cafe Espana was OK but nothing special and, although the price was reasonable for Soho, there are much better value restaurants to be found nearby. It certainly was not the best Spanish food we've had in London - look elsewhere.

Cafe Espana is a great little find. The quality of food stands head and shoulders above most other Spanish restaurants in London and the service is always friendly and efficient. It has a large number of regular local Spanish clientele, which is usually a good indicator of the quality of a venue.

The restaurant itself is fairly small and hence can get rather busy, so I would recommend going for a late lunch rather than waiting for a table in the evening. My friend and I usually have the garlic chicken, garlic mushrooms, plain tortilla and the marinated pork from the tapas menu, but to be honest you'll be blown away by anything from the menu at Cafe Espana.



The house white (Rioja) is pretty drinkable too. Expect the final bill to come to around £15 to £20 per person including a tip.

I'm not Spanish but I adore Cafe Espana. The only downside is that because it's so popular there is usually a queue to get in but it's worth the wait. The staff are more than friendly, the food is delicious and the price is very good! I've been to Cafe Espana on a week night and on a weekend night and it's always busy, even Sunday nights are heaving! I love the chorizo and the prawns are to die for. Definitely worth putting on your top 10 list of restaurants to eat at.

Cafe Espana is the best Spanish restaurant I have ever been in London. I am Spanish and the way the food is cooked is better that in some places in Spain itself. The venue is not very big but the staff are very cheerful and they make you feel good.

The prices are not high as you will expect in a central London restaurant (I will even say that they are quite reasonable). However the quality of the food is well worth it.

Go and enjoy chipirones a la plancha, Gambas a la plancha (grill prawn) and rape a la plancha, just great. Try the fish dishes as they are delicious and they come with a huge vegetable side enought as a first course.

Very happy, highly recommended!

I'm Spanish myself and the only thing I can say about Café España is that is the best Spanish restaurant in London and I always come back for more.

The place might not look great from the outside, and it is not very big BUT food is always gorgeous, the portions are really big (the paella for two is big enough for four of you), the variety and quality of the wine list is very good and the service is always friendly.

Furthermore the price is reasonable, I would even say cheap if you compare it to other places in London where the food is not so good and the price is much higher.

If you are looking for a posh, great-looking restaurant, this is probably not your place. But if you're looking for GREAT SPANISH FOOD at a good price this is your restaurant in London.