Restaurant review: Café Iguana, Singapore

Café Iguana is located at Riverside Point and is a popular watering hole and contemporary Mexican restaurant in Singapore. It is ideally situated by the river and features their signature margaritas and much more along with authentic Mexican cuisine. 

Being a huge fan of Mexican food, I will readily venture out at anyone's request if it means good tortillas, salsa and guacamole all washed down with a few fruity margaritas. Unfortunately for me, I haven't been able to find good Mexican food in Singapore except for the time I went to this restaurant called Margarita's at Faber Drive (loved that place). 

Hoping to add to the list of good Mexican restaurants, my husband and I went to Café Iguana on a Saturday evening looking forward to unwind. We made a reservation in advance as we heard the place can get crowded especially on weekends. We reached there early, at 5:30pm and were not surprised to find the place quite empty....a good thing for me because I got to take some pictures. Note that the crowds typically start coming in after 7pm. 

The interiors have bright, eye-popping colors which gives the décor a very Mexican touch (haven't ever been to Mexico but I just felt the vibe). I loved the bright pink on the wall 😊 There were interesting paintings (is that Frida Kahlo with an iguana on her head?), art pieces, dummy iguanas dangling off the wall, mirrors, rustic wooden tables, chairs painted in different colors, wooden shelves on the wall with a collection of small tequila bottles and hanging light fixtures. 

To start with, I ordered a frozen classic lime margarita which was really good. The waitress got us some complimentary tortilla chips with salsa. I liked the salsa but felt that the tortilla chips were too bland for my taste. 

Frozen classic lime margarita

Tortilla chips with salsa

For appetizers, we ordered the quesadilla stuffed with cheese and poblanos and served with salsa which was delicious. But I still think the quesadillas at BLooiE's Roadhouse have an edge because they serve their quesadillas with a trio of dips - sour cream, guacamole and salsa. 

Quesadillas stuffed with cheese and poblano chile

The waitress kept three kinds of sauces on our table. I loved the green Habanero sauce (the one in the middle). It was spicy and it had a fresh zingy kick to it. 

Trio of fiery sauces

Even though happy hours was until 8pm, there was a fixed lower price for the drinks until 6pm (there are around 4 different prices depending on the time of day) so I ordered a frozen Blueberry margarita which I slurped happily - delicious!

Frozen blueberry margarita

For the main event I ordered a burrito stuffed with Mexican rice, borracho beans and cheddar mozzarella. I found the burrito a little dry and too heavy so I wasn't able to finish it. Maybe next time I'll order the fajitas. 

Burrito

I was too stuffed to order dessert (the banana chimichanga was very tempting) so instead I ordered a chocolate shot with Mars bar flavor. The drink came in a small shot glass and consisted of thick liquid chocolate with hints of caramel mixed with tequila. The luscious chocolate more than fulfilled my sweet craving and I'll be ordering that drink next time if I happen to go there again.

Chocolate shot - Mars bar

Café Iguana : A Watering Hole with Mexican Vibes and a View

Café Iguana is where you can unwind, sip margaritas, enjoy popular Mexican dishes all while enjoying views of the Singapore river. It is the ideal place to hang out with friends, colleagues or a partner on a weekend evening.

The décor is eye catching and in sync with the theme of the restaurant. The service is good with the staff promptly taking orders, bringing food and drinks with impressive speed and clearing the table as and when required. The portions size and quality of the food and drinks are reasonably good. 

Café Iguana can be  considered slightly on the expensive side with a price of approx. 50 to 120 SGD per person (depending on how much you eat & drink of course) so if you want to enjoy a lovely evening and don't mind a minor dent in your wallet, then this is the place for you. My advise however is to take advantage of the happy hours.

My rating for this restaurant is

Café Iguana
Address:

30 Merchant Road
#01-03 Riverside Point
Singapore 058282
Tel: (+65) 6236 1275 | info@cafeiguana.com

Opening hours:
Mon - Thurs: 4pm - 1am
Fri & Eve of PH: 4pm - 3am
Saturday: 12pm - 3am
Sunday: 12pm - 1am

Cheers,

Megha

This is not a sponsored post or invited review. The comments and opinions in this post are solely my own.