Restaurant review: Santa Fe at Bluewater (From News Shopper)

Restaurant review: Santa Fe at Bluewater

1:40pm Friday 18th September 2009 in

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Santa Fe in Bluewater shopping centre is a south-western American-themed restaurant which offers not only great food but also the chance to have fun in a salsa class afterwards. Reporter VICKI FOSTER visited the restaurant to see what it is was like.

SANTA Fe in Bluewater offers diners a calm, relaxed, atmosphere.

Located on the lower floor of the Water Circus, it offers a mixture of dishes inspired by various cuisines including Spanish, Mexican and native American.

I visited the restaurant on a quiet Monday night, just in time to spend a while enjoying the amazing food, before getting into the swing of the salsa class.

The restaurant boasts a large space which has made room for cocktails with the girls, a cosy meal with the boyfriend, or al fresco dining with mum.

There is also a raised section in the restaurant which by day houses lots of tables and chairs but by night can be cleared away to make room for the energetic and fun salsa class, suitable for beginners and the more experienced dancer.

The food on the menu is varied and has something for everyone, from seafood to meat dishes to fajitas.

I enjoyed a starter of fishcakes, which was made up of salmon and haddock and buttery Maris Piper mashed potato with spring onions.

The fishcakes were moist, a generous size and melted in my mouth, and they also came with coleslaw, seasonal leaves and a lemon wedge.

Being a meat eater, my boyfriend went for the ribs and wings, which were made up of a half rack of barbecue ribs with chicken wings in a sticky barbecue sauce.

For the main I ordered seafood tagliatelle and once again I was very impressed.

The dish was cooked to perfection and there was a really generous amount of pasta, so much so I couldn't eat it all!

It is made up of salmon, haddock and king prawns in a chipotle chilli tomato cream sauce, topped with grana padano cheese shavings and chopped coriander.

I washed my meal down with a glass of apple and mango juice, complete with a sweet slice of pineapple on the side.

The restaurant offers a selection of steaks, including sirloin, t-bone and rib-eye steak, which my boyfriend ordered.

He asked for the steak to be medium-rare and it was exactly as he had asked. In his words "it was perfect".

The steak was not stringy or tough to eat, it cut easily and melted just the same and was accompanied with chips and peas.

Other dishes include grill fried quesadillas, fajitas, grilled swordfish, and chicken and chorizo tortiglioni.

For dessert I had a raspberry cheesecake and as an avid cheesecake lover I can certainly give this one the thumbs-up.

The restaurant continued the south-western American theme with its colour scheme of brown, reds and yellow, and even in the toilets there was sand!

It was then time for the salsa class and having never taken part in a salsa class I was pretty nervous.

However, I was not alone as a small group of beginners was created and away we went.

Our teacher taught us some basic moves and we all rotated around so everyone danced with everyone.

After an hour of fun and laughter the class was over and the floor was opened up for people to freestyle.

I'll certainly be spicing some more of my evenings up in Santa Fe, the place to eat and dance the night away.

For more information about Santa Fe visit bluewater.co.uk