A local food guide I read recommended La Galeria as one of the top restaurants in Logroño, and compared it to Faran Adrìa and Arzak's food with Rioja flair. Having just been to Arzak the night before, I can see what the guide meant, unfortunately this really missed the mark. Between my husband and I, we ordered the hake, cod, and vegetable of the day. Dinner started off with bread service and some small bites, which were almost the same small bites we ate at Arzak the night before, but less refined. The small bites included croquettes, mini buns and a mini cup of what looks like bisque. Next, came the vegetable of the day, which was a small plate of sautéed local vegetables, with our server dousing it with lots of olive oil at the table. It wasn't very delicious.
Moving onto our main dishes. Having just been in San Sebastian, we were expecting a similar cuisine but with a Rioja spin to it, like the guide had promised, but the appearance of the cod and hake dishes did not have any Rioja-ness to it. In fact, it looked like Asian Fusion, which is fine, but it wasn't executed very well. Portion wise, the pieces of fish served were huge and very generous, but the dish got boring after a few bites.
At the end of dinner, our server brought over some post dinner bites of two grapes dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with edible gold beads, along with thin butter biscuits. It was very thoughtful and sweet.
Overall, service was fine, and I can see how La Galeria could be a cool concept and how it is trying to provide a cool dining experience, but the execution was not done very well. read more