Popular Nottingham restaurant Taquero's expansion cuts wait for customers

A Nottingham restaurant's expansion downstairs is good news for diners. Taquero, a bustling Mexican restaurant, has attracted queues from day one at busy times, with food lovers having to wait for a table before they can tuck into tacos and tequila.

But a revamp of the basement means less time to wait for a table in future. Previously the restaurant in Heathcoat Street, Hockley, didn't take bookings but now bigger groups can reserve a table at certain times of the week.

With 25 extra seats downstairs, it takes the total number inside to 85 and during winter makes up for the lack of pavement seating that had to be packed away at the end of summer. Similar to the ground floor, the new dining area has stripped back walls, with earthy tones and colourful splashes from decorative vintage sombreros in a display case.

Dan Lindsay, who opened the restaurant in December 2023 with Jacque Ferreira, said: "People were queuing at the weekends and it's alleviated that queue a little bit which is good. More capacity has made it easier to get in. It's doing really good. The summer was great, then we lost that capacity outside, and this will make up for that.

"There's elements of the trip I did to Mexico there, the bamboo ceiling down there and I had this idea of collecting vintage sombreros. I think I think I bought pretty much every vintage sombrero in the UK."

It's taken a mammoth amount of work to turn downstairs around. The cave-like basement, used for storage, had a number of walls which had to be taken down to open up the space.

Dan said: "It's the final piece of the jigsaw in a very, very challenging project. It took a lot to get that place looking like that. Before it was unbelievable. It was like being in a cave. We took about 200 tons of bricks out, most of which came from downstairs."

Like sister restaurant Bar Iberico, in Carlton Street, customers can book a table for groups of eight or more during the week although Friday nights and all-day Saturday remains walk-ins only.

"We get a lot of eights and tens call up and now we can do three large tables down there which is great. We can do a table of 25 down there. It's got its own bar so it's a great space for private hire," added Dan.

Taquero serves tacos such as lamb quesadilla, pork carnitas, charred prawns, or sweet potato and avocado and five different salsas with varying heat. Like many restaurant it has a January sale currently with 20 percent off Tuesday to Thursday from 11.30am to 10pm and Fridays 11.30am to 5pm.

Last year national food critic Tom Parker Bowles gave Taquero a glowing review - prompted to visit after praise from renowned Nottingham chef Sat Bains. Impressed by the range of beer, hot sauce cocktails and tostadas, it was the beef birra that proved the star taco. Awarding four out of five stars, he concluded: "So yes, Sat Bains was right. Of course he was. Taquero is not just good. It's a cracker."