I have mixed feelings about this place, but hopefully their quality of food and beverages improve over time. I was excited to find out that Boqueria started in NY (one of the best foodie cities imo) and I love tapas. It's a new restaurant and didn't really know what to expect. I did make a reservation on Resy, a day before our reservation, someone from the restaurant called me to confirm our reservation. It's located in the bustling Colony Square, but they do offer a 2 hr parking validation! The restaurant is super easy to find.
With a group of 6 people, it's always so confusing when ordering tapas. We decided to opt for The Classics Chefs Menu for $39 per person!
The pros:
-The space is beautiful, super modern and trendy and fits the vibe of Colony Square. You're greeted and seated right away by the hostess.
-I thought our server was pretty good. I noted that I have a hazelnut allergy and she made sure to separate the Nutella dipping sauce from other churro dipping sauces. She also constantly checked in on us. She also notified us that they were out of some food items.
-The Classics Chefs Menu imo was a STEAL. For $39 per person, we got a total of 13 plates (shishito peppers, tortilla espanola, ensalada vasca, ensalada cesar, patatas brava, Brussels with Iberico vin, gambas al ajillo, calamares, dates stuffed with bacon, albondigas, charcuterie platter, mushroom and onion flatbread, and churros). Some tapas were doubled in serving, but some were just served 1 plate to share amongst us. We were all so full after dinner that's for sure. I'm assuming our server just chose random tapas for us, or if it was up to the chef's discretion but I feel like we got a good amount of everything - I do wish there were more protein options though.
-My favorite from the tapas served were - tortilla espanola, ensalada Cesar and dates stuffed with bacon. Again, I had low expectation but was pleasantly surprised with the tortilla espanola. It's basically a frittata with potatoes. It was very tasty and the inside was creamy. I loved the ensalada Cesar served with some sardine pieces; I thought this was super unique! You can never go wrong with the dates stuffed with bacon. It was the perfect combo of sweetness from dates and saltiness from the bacon.
-Food came out super fast. Our tapas came out one right after another.
-They offer mocktails! As someone who's not a big drinker, I appreciate this very much.
The cons:
-It's super loud on Saturday dinner. I do not recommend going here on a first date or you will not be able to hear anything.
-The tables were placed so close to each other that I kept bumping into the people sitting behind me.
-Food was meh besides what I mentioned above. It just seemed like alot of the food we got were overcooked and burnt. The papayas braves were too crunchy that I could break a tooth. I love calamares and these were so dry. My first bite of the albondigas had an overpowering flavor of sheeps milk. Churros were also burnt and dry.
-I didn't order cocktails but it was a general consensus from our group that they were not too impressed.
-There's a QR code on the table to scan. I'm not sure if this is what you use to pay, but we were told after the fact, that since we ordered the chefs menu, the total on the QR code vs. if we pay with the server is significantly different. So keep in mind that if you get the chefs menu, then pay with the server and not the QR code. read more