• Completely vegetarian.
• Items are labeled as vegan on the menu.
• Restaurant.
• Takeaways.
• Good for kids.
• Food rating 3.0/5 (1 votes)
• Service rating 3.0/5 (1 votes)
• Atmosphere rating 2.0/5 (1 votes)
• Overall rating 2.7/5 (3 votes)

Cafe Iguana is being refurbished from the second week in May, for about a month.

Recently repainted inside, with table cloths in the evenings, Cafe Iguana (until recently Reading's only vegetarian cafe) offers a menu of tasty simple food supplemented by daily specials. About half the options are vegan. Some ingredients are organic and they support local producers. Cool music and kiddy friendly.

If you haven't been here for a while check it out - it has lost its grungy feel and the quality of the food and the interest of the menu has improved. We particularly like the pizzas, which you can have a dairy-free cheese version of too.

There is outdoor seating but this is sadly let down by the smell of chicken drifting over from the ugly fast-food outlet next door and the sometime inconsiderate customer from the next door eating their dead chicken on Ig's tables!

The number of vegan options have markedly improved in recent years. The standard menu options are reliable and tasty. The specials boards range from all to just one vegan dish. The soup is normally vegan and is often excellent. Quality and quantity is more of a gamble for the special snacks and mains but can be very good indeed and most agree that the quality has improved of late.

We would like to see the special pudding being vegan more often, and we know they can do great ones.

Iguana has a trendy cocktail bar upstairs with sofas where you can have your food delivered to.

You can display your art work on the cafe's walls.

The toilets are rather inaccessible to anyone with mobility issues, and tough for wide people (so go before you have eaten!).

The Cafe has often lent kind support to T3V events and projects.

Very nice staff - hi Ben!

Nearby places to try

• The Sardar Palace
• Shakeaway
• Chiltern College Nursery
• GNC
• Kathmandu Kitchen
• ( more )

Reviews

Add your review.

Dancer 2008-04-23 16:27:41

• Food 3/5
• Atmosphere 2/5
• Service 3/5

I would agree with what someone else wrote here. — Cafe Iguana really was my favourite place to go in Reading. But not any more. There are good things but it has changed for the worse I feel and hope it will improve again.

I thought it rather lousy recently, that when going in for a coffee, they had run out of both hazelnut and vanilla syrup!! Both of which make a really yummy latte. The food is good but it really is overpriced; £9 for a main dish when it used to be much more reasonable and affordable for most.

I think it very bad that they have removed the actually ‘made’ vegan desserts. That is disappointing to so many vegans I'm sure. My best friend and I used to love going in for coffee and a generous sized piece of really nice flapjack. When the menu changed there was a crumble on offer but now ONLY ice-cream!!!

It is still nice to go there, providing they have not run out of different ingredients but I would only stop by for a drink there, as I'm so disappointed about the menu change and pricey dishes.

Stephen 2008-02-10 21:29:44

I've been here a few times over the last couple of weeks and generally it has been good food and timely service, but twice they've run out of soya milk. How does that happen? The stuff has a shelf life of 1000 years, or so. There's no excuse to run out of it.

Once I was told the vegan soup was not in fact so. As this was the end of the day I wondered how many vegans had already had it.

Once I commented that none of the special appeared to be vegan and the lippy waiter said “it appears not”, rather than the more professional response of “I'm sorry, I'll have a word with the manager to ensure there should be at least one.” etc.

I typically only go during the day time now as the evening menu does not speak to me.

Jo 2008-01-08 17:59:24

I have finally had enough of this cafe! I hate the always sticky tables, the unclean cutlery, the staff with more hair out of their hats than under them, the general disorganised way the place is run ("oh it'll be a while we forgot to defrost the pate!"). And it isn't cheap. The whole place needs a bloody good clean. I'd like to support any vegi restaurant but this one doesn't deserve my custom. Go to Angaan – lovely food, and it's clean, and the service is good!

Jonathan 2007-12-06 13:27:12

When I heard that Café Iguana were changing their menu, I was intrigued – what would they do to it?

The result is, in my opinion, not a great one. Going there one evening at the end of November 2007, I discover that the number of main dishes on offer has been cut to around half a dozen, plus the two specials. This is in contrast to the old menu, which contained a selection of pizzas, potato wedge snacks, salads, sandwiches and hot dishes. It would appear that the place has gone very restaurant-like and barely reminiscent of a café at all.

When it came to choosing a main dish, they didn't have enough ingredients for the special my friend wanted – and he wasn't told until after our order was taken away for, well, preparation and cooking. A bit odd, I thought.

The pizza I ordered was nice enough – the base quality seemed to have improved since the summer – but the fennel dish my girlfriend had seemed to be extremely tough. The waitress didn't know if that was right or not, and the best she could do was provide a slightly sharper, and extremely short, knife.

And the only vegan dessert available that night was ice cream. No cake left. Boo.

And another thing: I think they need to do something about the temperature of the place – it's really quite chilly in there this time of year, and if there is a heater then it doesn't work.

Before the recent changes, the Café Iguana was my favourite place to eat in Reading, based on the wide variety of food on offer and the relatively good value of the nosh.

Now, I'm not quite so sure.

Velocet 2007-09-22 11:11:43

I was disappointed to notice that neither of the specials were vegan or even had a vegan option the other day when I visited with a couple of friends at lunchtime. I've also noticed how frequently the soup of the day seems to be a spiced lentil concoction which suggests to me that there is some creative use of left-over dal from the other restaurant going on. Don't get me wrong, I'm a great believer in using up good food but if I am paying the best part of a fiver for soup and a roll I would like it to be freshly made that day and a bit more interesting.

Things may well have changed since just before it closed but one one memorable night I was there with a pre-booked party of vegans and they had run out of two vegan staples, falafel and vegan cheese! As I did not fancy paying £9.25 for the vegan option of the sausage casserole which was I was told was three Linda McCartney sausages I was left with not many options so had Mezze sans Falafel :(

My main gripe is that if you are going to charge ‘gourmet’ prices for something like a sausage dish then at the very least the sausages should be something exciting made on the premises and not from the supermarket freezer.

I appreciate that it's a good thing that the Iguana has re-opened but it seems a shame that only new things on offer are Indian dishes when the only other two veggie restaurants/takeaways in Reading are both Indian as well.

I recently stayed in Edinburgh and was spoilt for choice where to go for yummy vegan food, in particular there is a baked potato shop that does a huge variety of veg*n fillings and I wonder why the humble baked potato is no longer on offer at the Ig. The chips and dips they used to do were a very welcome snack as well.

Timbo - yaoh 2007-08-27 22:23:53

Me and my mate came up from Bristol for the football today ( Reading Everton) and had a great meal here sat lunch. Really enjoyed the food and what an excellent venue right in the middle of town. Great to see so many vegan choices on the menu, really imaginative food too. Would deffo come and eat here again although the day was ruined by a lucky scramble from Nicky Hunt to send us home with nothing.

A N Other Vegatarian 2007-08-27 22:22:30

We have lived in reading for 4 years now and have seen Iguana go through many changes (not good ones). But my last visit has really taken the veggie biscuit.

We sat down to find the menu is drastically reduced (only 2 specials and they had run out). So we ordered samosas to start and falafel for mains. The cook comes out and says “the samosa will be ten minutes”. Fare enough....

but then we see a guy walk in off the street with a suspicious greasy bag which gets emptied onto a plate and given to us! We ask what is going on.. the waitress says the food is made in nearby Chilli and Spice (this is the meat indian next door) as they are the owners!

After complaining that they are advertising a s a completely veggie and vegan restaurant even though they don't make the food themselves, the waitress gives me a very rude sentence as if to say “Whats wrong with that”.

I would never recommend this restaurant. Since changing owners they obviously think that veggie people are stupid!

If you go into one restaurant, you DON'T expect food from another! its like going into pizza express and getting a pizza hut delivered to your table ;-(

*** Comment form site admin ****

Sorry for taking so long to post this review but I need to check out your comments. Here's the story …

Cafe Iguana is now owned by the owners of the next door restaurant Chilli and Spice – an omnivore Indian restaurant. It is supplying the 3 Indian meals now available on Ig's menu.

Ben, the restaurant manager, assures me that there is no chance of cross-contamination of these meals as Chilli and Spice are very mindful of what constitutes good vegetarian practices. Many of Cafe Ig's staff are veggie or vegan and they are OK with the arrangements. This situation has allowed Cafe Ig to extend it menu.

If as a customer of Cafe Ig., you are concerned about these arrange then avoid any Indian dishes on the menu and more importantly mention your reservations to the manager.

Rebecca Devaney 2007-01-23 10:57:57

I am a regular visitor to Cafe Iguana and have previously stated how much I like it. This week I was surprised to see some changes – new floor, tables and chairs, which look great! However, I was a bit disappointed to see that some of my favourites have disappeared from the menu, in particular, the mixed salad bowl and the veggie breakfast. I overheard the people at the next table asking the waitor about the amendments. He explained that the owner wants to make the cafe more of a restuarant. Not sure what this is going to mean in terms of finding easily available, relatively cheap, vegan and veggie food, but it is something to keep an eye on. Obviously improvements to the place are welcome, however, I hope the menu doesn't suffer as a result.

Idan 2006-12-29 19:45:16

As a meat eater I may have no credibility to post on this forum. However, as a great lover of food and a lover of great food, I would judge any vegetarian dish as one that did not leave me feeling that there was something lacking in the food. Unfortunately, Iguana Café has. It seems to be the stereo – typical vegetarian restaurant serving the usual selection of bean-based products with a lettuce leaf on the side. This is nothing wrong, however, the food totally lacked any adventure and indeed taste.

Last time I wend I was also not impressed by the overall cleanliness of the place. It is a shame as Reading does not have many places which are exclusively vegetarian (there is also Sweet Masala, contrary to some of the posts here).

There is lots of room for potential, but it seems that there is no motivation to experiment with flavours. If a little more effort was taken with the menu and overall atmosphere, then this would be a place where food lovers of all varieties would go.

TL Frederick 2006-05-15 09:43:31

Sadly the food here is not as exciting as I hoped it would be. First, I don't know what sort of “marination” the menu is referring to with it's so-called “marinated olives” — they are just an overpriced bowl of small green pimento-less salad olives from a jar....

Second, the lentil soup, a generally reliable staple in any veggie restaurant, was warm, but absolutely taste-free. It was accompanied by a big, white, cold, and lifeless looking hamburger-type bun.

The service was very nice, but the cafe's bright lights at 10:30 in the evening sucked any would-be ambience right out of the space. What an utter disappointing experience from Reading's ONE and ONLY veggie restaurant!

Still, I believe this restaurant has the potential to be VERY good and much more successful than it is, but this will not be possible without a major overhaul: new paint, new lighting, new menu....

Emma 2006-04-29 10:37:33

I love Cafe iguana!!! It is with out a doubt my favourite place to eat in Reading particularly considering I dont have to look through the menu to check what I can eat :). My favourite sandwich there is possibly the Istanbul although I love Rome as well! As for the nachos, they are to die for! especially the yummy guacamole and the delicious salsa! the garlic bread is also equally delicious and they have a yummy organic orange and mango drink which I always seem to have. I would also like to say that in response to Nigels comment I did not find the mexico bland nor did I find the Istanbul with little delicious pesto or humous.

Rachel and Tim 2006-03-09 16:07:11

We are regulars at Iggys and have found that lunchtimes are invariably better than evenings. Like Nigel, I don't like the bean pate so I don't order it. However, my food has always been piping hot and the kids love the big breakfast and chips with dips (great hummous). We sometimes share a big plate of nachos and I always have a big vegan cappacino. Some staff are more savvy and generous than others (The lunchtime lads really know about filling tummys!) My boys take their carnivorous mates there and have had no complaints. My only gripe is that the wall art is usually so grim.

Stephen 2005-12-20 13:42:20

Yesterday I tried their cashew nut roast – it was great. My 2yr old daughter loved it too.

Service would have been a bit slow for someone on their lunch break, but for us it was OK.

Rebecca Devaney 2005-11-28 14:38:06

In contrast to the review by Nigel Roberts (2005-09-01) I really like Cafe Iguana. It's great to know that I can walk in and easily order vegan food. In the past I have had no problems with taste or temperature (maybe I've just been lucky!). I frequently eat there with vegetarian friends and even took my omnivorous husband and parents who also enjoyed the food.

Nigel Roberts 2005-09-01 10:58:14

Our visit to Iguana in Reading just went from bad to worse and then worse still. We ordered a bottle of white wine from our very pleasant waitress while we decided what to order from the menu. When the wine arrived, I mentioned that it was warm and could we have a chilled bottle. She informed us that they had no chilled wine but would bring us some ice to put in the wine. Not a very good start but the food looked so good on the menu we accepted her offer and made do with the wine with ice in it. We ordered the mushroom and ale soup to start with and it was delicious although only lukewarm. We were quite hungry so we made no complaint and just ate it very quickly before it went stone cold. For our main course, I had ordered an Istanbul pitta bread which arrived with the smallest amount of pesto and humus in it. I can only describe the amount of each as nothing more than what you would scrape off your knife to clean it. I mentioned this to the waitress and she took it back to the kitchen. When it returned there was a dollop of each, not even spread. This is the first occasion I have ever had to send food back to the kitchen. My friend had ordered a Mexico three bean spicy pate in a bun with cheese and avocado that was so bland he was unable to eat it. We did not complain and just ordered something else whilst mentioning it to the waitress. Again, this was the first time that my friend had ever been unable to eat something in a restaurant. The cook took it upon himself to come out and lecture us both that this item had been on the menu for the last ten years and he had had no other complaints. We were very disappointed in the food and the restaurant and needless to say, we are unable to recommend this restaurant to our friends.

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