Photo: Tripadvisor

Figaro English Tea room

Name: Figaro English Tea room
Address: 9 Market Lane Town Centre, Gibraltar, Main Street & Town Centre, GI
Telephone: +350 200 75222
Price range: ££–£££

SpanishMain Street & Town Centre££–£££

A Spanish restaurant in Main Street & Town Centre that rates below most of Gibraltar, on 26 Tripadvisor reviews.

Gibraltar Index

3.7 / 5

Tripadvisor3.426

Google3.733

A weighted blend of both, not an average. How this works

Ratings read 6 September 2026.

Our review

Figaro, which many still call the English Tea Room, is a café down Market Lane, an alley off Main Street. It scores 3.4 on Tripadvisor from 26 reviews and 3.7 on Google from 33, and the Index puts it at 3.70. The reviews were re-read on 6 September 2026; the newest Tripadvisor review is from June 2023 and the newest Google review from June 2026.

Despite the name it is more a cheap home-cooking café than a tea room: tapas, fish and chips, meats, daily lunch specials and breakfasts, with scones and cakes for those who want them, eaten inside or out. Regulars, locals and older diners describe honest food at low prices in big portions; a September 2025 reviewer went back the next day for the chicken paella, and a waitress called Tamara is praised.

Its Englishness is the first caveat. Visitors expecting a proper tea room have found weak coffee and tiny scones, and more than one long-time customer says it is no longer the English Tea Room it once was. One Spanish reviewer thought £5.60 too much for what arrived, though most find it cheap.

Service is the bigger one. A June 2023 lunch, posted on both platforms by the same diner, saw five identical fish and chips arrive one plate at a time over fifty minutes in a near-empty room, with attitude rather than an apology, and older reviews mention rude staff and slow service. Other accounts call the staff friendly and courteous, so it seems to depend on the day.

Come for a cheap, homely Spanish-British lunch or breakfast among locals a step off Main Street, not for a polished English tea, and be ready for the service to be patchy. Nobody from Gibraltar Index has eaten here; this write-up is from the reviews.

Written from the Tripadvisor reviews and both platforms' scores on 6 September 2026, not from a meal we ate — nobody from Gibraltar Index has eaten here. We show the Google rating but have not yet read Google's reviews for the write-up. The recurring themes it draws on are below.

What reviewers consistently say

Our summary of recurring themes across the 27 most recent reviews, written in our own words and read on 6 September 2026. Recent reviews from both platforms are quoted, with attribution, further down.

A home-cooking café down Market Lane, once the English Tea Room.
3.4 on Tripadvisor (26) and 3.7 on Google (33); Index 3.70.
Cheap tapas, fish, paella and daily specials in big portions; used by locals.
Not very English: weak coffee, tiny scones.
Service is patchy, with a fifty-minute stagger between identical plates in June 2023.

What it gets right

Cheap, homely food in generous portions
A local crowd; outdoor tables

What it gets wrong

Patchy, sometimes rude or slow service
Not the English tea room its name suggests

How it compares

It holds 3.4 out of 5 on Tripadvisor from 26 reviews — well below the Gibraltar median of 4.1 across 106 restaurants with enough reviews to rank, and on only a handful of reviews, so treat it as indicative.

It is one of Gibraltar's more expensive tables.

How the Gibraltar Index Score is built

It is not an average of the two. Each source is weighted by how many reviews it carries, then pulled toward the Gibraltar average so a high score from a handful of reviews cannot outrank a strong score from thousands. Figaro English Tea room scores 3.4 from 26 on Tripadvisor and 3.7 from 33 on Google, which the model blends to 3.7.

We read the 27 most recent Tripadvisor reviews and summarised what recurs, in our own words; the reviews we drew on are quoted below, attributed to their authors. The Tripadvisor and Google scores are each shown 1:1 as those platforms publish them; the Index Score is ours and the formula is above. Nobody from Gibraltar Index has eaten here, so nothing is a first-hand verdict.

Recent reviews

Shown from each platform, attributed to the reviewer. We don't edit them — read the full set at source.

Tripadvisor★★★☆☆3.4· 26

All on Tripadvisor →

2023-06-24
From bad to worse
From bad to worse, literally worst experience ever ,everything was wrong from the service to the food. We ordered 5 exactly the same fish with chips £12 per plate , the waitress brought one plate out after a few minutes of ordering , then the next 4 plates came out 50 min later ,we asked politely as restaurant was nearly empty at 3 o'clocmore →
BEHOBBI-Food · via Tripadvisor
2019-04-29
Home cooked food
Very good homemade food. Lots of choice and reasonably priced. Good service. It offers a variety of tapas or good homemade food.more →
susanGibraltar · via Tripadvisor
2019-01-16
Perfect Afternoon Tea
My friends like to meet in this place for afternoon tea and scones and the service is very good. The scones are very fresh and the waiters are all very courteous and helpful. Lovely place to meet friends as its big and you don't feel packed in.more →
532annabellem · via Tripadvisor
2018-09-21
Great food
Excellent food served and at a good price. Portions are a good size. We get takeaway from here regularly. They've now gone environmentally friendly and removed the plastic take away packaging for vegware. Highly recommended.more →
greentree177 · via Tripadvisor
2018-07-13
Homely food
Located in a side street just off Main Street. Very good value and good variety in Menu. Used by many locals, families and senior citizens. There are some tourists who come accross it. Menu includes tapas, fish, meats and a variety of daily specials. Staff are friendly. Can eat inside or 'al fresco'.more →
JimMc61 · via Tripadvisor

Google★★★★☆3.7· 33

All on Google →

2026-06-26
Zelo prijeten lokalček. Priporočam.more →
Danilo Mihajlović · via Google
2025-09-17
The food is incredibly good, really big portions and great price. Went yesterday and had Chicken Paella, going back today! 100% recommend!!more →
Elena · via Google
2024-08-05
Comida casera bastante buena calidad/precio La atención y el trato de tamara perfecto ! Recomendablemore →
Mel · via Google
2024-07-18
La atencion bien, pero si es caro en libras y en euros ya son precios abusivos para las cantidades que ponen. ES MUY CARO ME COSTO 5 ,60 lo que veis en la imagenmore →
Eduardo Arroyo alarcon · via Google
2024-05-22
Mi restaurante favorito en el centro de Gibraltar! El servicio siempre está excelente y precios buenos para el tamaño de porciones.more →
Daniel Todoran · via Google

Reviews are the opinions of their authors, reproduced from Tripadvisor and Google with attribution and a link to the original. Figaro English Tea room did not provide them and Gibraltar Index did not solicit or edit them.