I love this little newly opened Spanish Tapas place on Dalry Road in Edinburgh…read more It's a small place and some things still need improvement and development. The toilet is in the cellar and it's unisex. The owners are very lovely and accomodating. They made us feel very welcome. You pay for what you get. The tapas are very tasty. Some say, too salty. But I liked it. Every bite of it. The meat is fresh and you can also buy the ham to take home. They don't have an alcohol license yet, so you should bring your own beverage. Just read the small print. 1 bottle is £5 and others £0.50 per bottle. If you stay there and have a proper meal, this charge can be discussed. We will be back

Small but has excellent food. The owner is very sociable and clearly passionate about his business…read more The tapas were very good. Wonderful place!

Are you going to get the best tapas in the world for the dirt cheap price of McDonald's food? No…read more Are you going to have some delicious tapas and lovely service that makes the price worth it? Yes. Came by on our first night in Edinburgh with my boyfriend because of some decent yelp reviews and we weren't disappointed. The host/server (manager? owner?) took the time to explain ALL of the dishes to us, including all of the specials. [sidenote, being from CA, and hearing Catalonian Spanish with a Scottish accent was such a trip.] He presented and explained all of the dishes table side like you expect in a fine dining restaurant, and brought some olives and bread on the house. We had the four specials, papas bravatos (I think) were my boyfriend's favorite, and the Sancho and Calamari were menu staples that were lovely. Everything we had was cooked perfectly to us, and all of the meats so tender. We washed it all down with a liter of sangria, which had cinnamon as a new twist for us. Great service, great food, no regrets!!!

Came here for a yelp girly lunch following Jenny's weekly newsletter on the best Spanish food in…read moreEdinburgh. My taste buds were a tingling. And tingled they were!! The tabla quijote platter of meat and cheese allowed us to taste every variety on offer. Some were nicer than others (I'm not a fan of blue cheese!) but it was a great sharing plate for anyone who loves cured meat and chorizo. I also ordered a tapas sized of small peppers with white asparagus and topped with an Andalusian sauce. Phallic looking as they were (haha!) I rather liked them. The dish was chilled, asparagus was soft (not crunchy how I normally like asparagus) but tasty nevertheless. The sauce was nice too and I'd order them again. For my main I ordered the Pork Cheeks stew which was recommended by jenny. I went for the medium side but boy it was big! watch out on the sizes if you're having starter tapas too! The stew was basically a big bowl of soup like stew. Not what I was expecting but extremely tasty. I've never had pork cheeks before but the meat was slow cooked and fell away from the fork. Yum! The only thing was the lack of "chunky homemade chips" as described in the menu. There were bits of potato in the stew but chips? Nope. Would I go back? Definitely. The food was authentic and tasty and its really near my work so v handy! It's small but cute with terracotta pots and plants dotted around inside. Quite quaint. If it wasn't for the garlic in the food it would be an ideal date venue! :)

My daughter and I stumbled across this place and we totally fell for the whole experience; the…read moreservers were friendly and efficient, the food was outstanding and the atmosphere welcoming. Our food choices were: TAJINE DE CORDERO Slow-cooked lamb tagine with paprika, cumin, tomatoes, cinnamon, sultanas & apricots ENSALADA ANDALUZA VG GF Asparagus, artichokes, sun blush tomatoes & lemon hinamin dressing

I'd give Cafe Andaluz a 2.5 stars based on this first time visit. The restaurant is actually quite…read morelarge - it expands far back, which you initially can't tell when you walk in. We arrived after the lunch rush, assuming it would be easy to get a table. We could be seated right away as long as we could finish our meal in 90 minutes. Evidently Cafe Andaluz is very popular even in the afternoon! I took this as a good sign that the food must be good then. Unfortunately more disappointing than I thought. We ordered the patatas bravas, calamari, gambas pil pil (king prawns roasted in olive oil, chilli, paprika and garlic) and pollo y panceta (skewers of chicken, pancetta and red onion marinated in chimichurri, with rocket, pine nuts and chimichurri salsa). I've had patatas bravas many times in Spain so was excited to see this on the menu. Cafe Andaluz's interpretation of patatas bravas is not as authentic. The potatoes were mushier rather than firm. The calamari was lukewarm and tasteless - like I was eating semi fried rubber. The real head scratcher was the pil pil. It looked appealing and promising but the whole dish was tasteless. The shrimp sat in red oil that was tasteless. There was zero garlic flavor. We were perplexed at how something colorful and vibrant would have no taste?! The only thing that truly redeemed this meal was the pollo y panceta. The garnishes and chimichurri helped enhance the dish. So all in all, an overpriced and mostly flavorless tapas late lunch that did **not** meet expectations.

Great authentic tapas options Great decor…read moreGreat service Centrally located Big blue bull decorates the entrance

Café on the loose is very close to the Edinburgh Castle. Great place for a snack or a meal…read more Authentic Spanish tapas with an authentic Spanish vibe - love the bowl overlooking the staircase! The crispy pork, scallops, and lamb or delicious ! Service was prompt and helpful.

Not bad service, tasty food and not badly priced, you cant fault this restaurant for what it is.read more

What a great wee place! The chef/owner Rafael makes you feel incredibly welcome, and the food is…read morereally impressive. Their potato, asparagus and dill soup was just lovely. I immediately asked Rafael for the recipe, and have already taken the opportunity to recreate it, at home. The lamb shank main was lovely, too. I even got lured in to trying a very chocolatey dessert, which is rare for me. Hearty, flavour-packed cooking at its best, Rafael's is worth a visit, soon. Overall, we said: "Rafael's was seriously good. Rarely have a spent a more enjoyable evening as a solo diner. The quality of the food on offer was first rate, with excellent ingredients prepared with considerable care and attention."

Rafael was very welcoming. He made his recommendations on the food and the specials for the…read moreevening. We were very impressed. Will definitely come back.

I will have to say this was the best Spanish place I have eaten at over here!! The food and service…read morewas on point. Everything came out nice and hot. The food had soo much flavor, great portion sizes, enough meat and sauce!! The staff made sure you were ok. Make sure I was aware of what I was ordering and checked on me while I was eating. You don't get that much or any in the UK usually. The pork cheek just melted in my mouth.. I could of just had that and been good but I also tried a few other dishes. The chorizo and potatoes was good but nothing out of the ordinary but the seafood paella was it!! It had shrimp, squid and fish in it (I had them remove the mussels). I wish I had a place like me near me.

Lovely spot! Came here for a friend's birthday and it was just the thing…read more It was pretty quiet on a Monday night, but we didn't mind since that meant we got plenty of attend from the very friendly and funny owner! We got the veggie paella, they ask you how many "portions" you want, but it will come in the traditional very wide paella pan! We had three portions, which was more than enough for the 5 of us with some tapas for appetizers. Check out my picture of the paella for reference. For tapas, we tried patatas bravas (potatos), champinones rellenos (cheese stuffed mushrooms), and some tasty shrimp. I can't say the patatas bravas were much to write home about, but the other tapas and certainly the paella and sangria made it worth it. We had a lovely time, got to meet the owner and chef, and celebrated my friend's birthday in fine style. It wasn't too overpriced, but was definitely a bit more expensive than a casual night out. I will likely be back!

I have to admit, Tapas is never top of my list of food when choosing somewhere to go. I have…read morenothing against Spanish food but I am always looking for something that will blow me away. There are so many great flavours there and great potential. I ended up at Malvarosa in an attempt to find somewhere to eat after a trip to Fort Kinnaird. It's a small place, with a nice family feel. You end up sitting pretty close to the kitchen. We went for 5 tapas dishes (and some bread) between two of us. We weren't hugely hungry but this seemed a good amount. Overall it was mixed bag; the chorizo bread (which we didn't order but ended up with) was quite cold, and some other bread was a bit hard for my liking. Patas bravas tasted pretty much as it should with a nice kick. Chorizo in cider was nice but I wish it had a bit more punch. The haddock bites were a real high point however and the standout dish. Fresh and more-ish. The garlic chicken was also great. The goats cheese onion tarts arrived a while after we finished everything else and were fine but didn't blow me away. It was rounded off with a nice Rioja though. It doesn't quite make the 4 stars because although the staff were friendly, the service wasn't quite up to scratch. We had to wait for the dishwasher cycle to finish before getting some drinks, we waited quite a while with our menus and we received some dishes we didn't order and didn't receive some we did. I think if you like Tapas though this is a safe bet. The food tasted fresh, generally seemed of good quality, and prices are fair. I don't think I would make the trip out to Portobello to come here but if in the area I'd come back.

If this isn't the best Spanish restaurant in the Edinburgh area I'll eat my hat…read more Great food, really good service and a pleasant atmosphere so absolutely nothing to pick out as a negative.

We pass by here all the time on our way to places so decided to give this place a try. I must say,…read moreI had my doubts about going to a Spanish place in Scotland, but I was thoroughly impressed. Looks very sophisticated and classy inside. There was an extensive bar and their drinks were really good. Service was pretty quick, and they were very attentive. We ordered Iberico croquettes that were good (of course not as good as Spain). Crust was flavorful and heavy on the cream to jamon ratio. Jamon Iberico was good, sourdough of course is not authentic to the Spanish cuisine, but it was still tasty bread. We ordered the Galician sirloin and it was really good. If you are a real steak lover, probably go for their prime rib. I like my steak a little less fatty. Their cheesy cauliflower was rich and tasty and their tomato salad was just whatever, but it was good tomatoes. This was still one of my better meals here in Scotland.

Really amazing steak! The service was quite good too. Our server helped us navigate the options and…read moreanswered so many questions. Toffee pudding was delicious!

Where do I begin? What a fabulous hidden gem of a restaurant. If you want a great meal experience…read morethat's a bit out of the way this is the place for you. The food was phenomenal. There was not a single dish we did not enjoy here. Each and everything that came out was flavorful and delicious. The sangria and all of the drinks we ordered were fabulous. There was a summer special for the gin spritz's which are incredible. The staff were all very friendly and professional. Dan the owner of the restaurant also took time to chat with us and tell us a bit more about the restaurant too. On Friday nights they have live music which was really nice to experience. As well as the decorations throughout the restaurant were unique and fit the atmosphere perfectly. I'd highly recommend anyone and everyone to come here!

I have been to a few Tapas restaurants and this by far was the worst. Most of the things that we…read morewanted to order on the menu they told us that they did not have... Therefore there was not much we could choose from Small plates are expected, but this was ridiculous! I ordered scallops and got one lonely little scallop in a huge shell for €8.75........ yep you read that right only 1 little scallop! Tapas plates are supposed to be sharable but I couldn't even share this with a mouse. The anchovy dish had so many bones in it that I could use them as toothpicks...... I was too scared to finish the tiny plate in case I choked on a bone They were out of the pork rinds, but offered us something instead... And bought us a packet of crisps!!!! Very disappointed in what you get for such high prices would not recommend and I definitely will not go back!