If you really want to guarantee a spot for dinner here, make a reservation ahead of time, but to be…read morehonest, I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here. I'd only come here if I couldn't find anything else to eat - I prefer Fin de Siecle across the street for more traditional Belgian food (it's a no-reservation, wait-in-line kind of place). We ended up here because we had eaten at Fin de Siecle already the night before, and the restaurant we wanted to go to was full, so this was one of few options to dine at on a Sunday evening.
The service here was interminably slow - it took them almost 20 min to get me a table. I didn't have a reservation, so I was fine waiting, but when you tell me 5 minutes or 2 minutes a handful of times, it's just better to tell me that it's a 15-20 minute wait for a table. It worked out fine because my fiance had to go find an ATM to get cash, since this place doesn't take credit cards.
We thought this place was more Mediterranean (per Yelp's categorisation) but it was more Italian than anything else, with Spanish tapas and some Italian starters / antipasti. They have a lot of "world tapas" and the menu had a lot of different options of varying cuisines, but this place seemed to just make a lot of things on the mediocre side instead of making fewer things that taste great.
On the tapas side they have bruschetta, fried bacalao fritters, patatas bravas, fried calamari, crostini. They have 7 salad options to pick from, which is definitely nice to find in a restaurant in Brussels, where most of the choices on the menu revolve around potatoes and meat. They have about 10-12 choices for pasta dishes, Belgian dishes, meat, and fish. You should be able to find something to eat on this menu since it's fairly varied.
Bruschetta (6,50€) - We were starving by the time we sat down, so we got an appetizer - they have 2 bruschetta dishes, the smaller one at 6,50€ has tomatoes, parmesan cheese, basil, and anchovies, and just one piece of bread, and the larger version is almost double in price and has 2 pieces of bread and includes shrimp scampi and garlic. The bruschetta was fine (we got the smaller one) - not mind blowing, but not worth the price. There were a lot of tomatoes and the parmesan cheese was good but the bread was just okay and didn't seem particularly fresh.
Salade Publico (15,90€) - This salad had a really huge piece of grilled salmon on top of shredded cabbage and iceberg lettuce, and had some fried calamari and bacalao / cod fritters. The salmon was farm-raised and overly plump, and slightly overcooked. The lettuce/cabbage was fine, but would have preferred mixed greens. The fried calamari and deep fried cod fritters didn't seem very fresh and seemed previously frozen and very-much mass-produced like it came out of a big bag from the freezer. We wanted salad, so this was at least decently healthy and satisfied what we wanted, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get this salad again.
Ravioli Publico (15,20€) - These raviolis had meat inside, and topped with brown mushrooms, some parma ham, and a cream-sauce. There were maybe 10-12 pieces of ravioli on the plate, just FYI for those of you who are used to ordering ravioli and getting 5 pieces and then sit there hungry for the rest of dinner. The other pasta dishes looked bigger to me, and I wished I had gotten the orecchiette instead. The pasta was fine but didn't taste particularly fresh. I've had similar tasting pasta from the grocery store in the refrigerated section. I don't think I'd get this again if I came back.
The service was not super - they took a long time to bring us wine after we ordered (and forgot my glass and then charged us for an extra one when I asked for my wine -- glad we checked the bill!) and were slow at taking orders / bringing food. Maybe they were super busy, but they just seemed short-staffed on waiters/cooks. They also didn't bring us the complimentary bread all the other tables seemed to get. They don't take credit cards, so plan accordingly.
I wouldn't come back here unless there was nothing else open around here. The food was just mediocre for the price, and the service was subpar. It was okay - I'd give it between around 2.5 stars, maybe 3 if I was feeling generous. There are better restaurants in Brussels.
