"La Sala in Chigwell is part of a well-established group of venues, originating from sunny Spain. These Iberian restaurants, bars and poolside clubs are well known as some of the hottest venues, frequented by sun kissed beauties. Whilst La Sala on the Chigwell Road does not have the temperatures, blue skies or beach views, it is still worth a stop on the Central line. On Friday nights they have just started Suppa , a night of live vocals, saxophone and some solidly good DJ’ing. On arrival, it can be a little bit intimidating entering a restaurant with 3 security on the door at 7pm early evening. It gives the impression that the place is not secure so needs this muscle. Once inside and settled, those concerns are dashed, as it is more to deter youngsters wishing to hassle the reality stars and footballers who feel at home here. Instead, you have a mature and sensible crowd who know how to enjoy themselves without stalking or being too star-struck. We sat at a corner table by the window which gave us a great view of the restaurant and bar. Having scanned their social media, we saw that the portions looked huge, so we opted to go straight into main courses. Having started with a bottle of prosecco (we were celebrating a birthday), this was promptly followed by half lobster thermidor and fillet steak burger for me. I really wanted lobster, so had to go for this mammoth main course. I would strongly suggest that they perhaps consider a solo lobster dish. The burger was with grilled bacon, melted cheese and hand cut chips on the side. For me, the burger was a little bit tough although I asked for medium. I still enjoyed the food, although I struggled purely because of the portion size. The birthday girl opted for the burger solo with chips. Our two dining companions had beer-battered fish with chips with minted mushy peas and Sticky pork belly with creamed potatoes and seasonal veg. The food was good. The only negative is that the minted mushy peas was a bit stingy in size. Literally a spoon full on the side of the plate. Our waiter, whose name I cannot recall, was one of the highlights of the evening. He was attentive, joined in our celebrations and even spotted us a round of celebratory shots! La Sala has good food, great music and excellent service! Would definitely go there for a night out, as it really fulfills your evening’s requirements. We ended the night dancing on the mini stage to some classic and current dance, pop, R&B and dancehall. Lovely!"
