Cancel

Open app

Search

Lorena's

5.0 (1 review)
ModerateSpanish

Lorena's Photos

Recommended Reviews - Lorena's

Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
Yelp app icon
Browse more easily on the app
Review Feed Illustration

15 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

Verify this business for free

Get access to customer & competitor insights.

Verify this business

El Rincon de Rafa - El Rincon De Rafa, Manchester

El Rincon de Rafa

(36 reviews)

££

Castlefield

Went here last night and it was great food. We went for a set menu which was tapas and also paella…read more Not sure about all the names of the tapas dishes but they included meatballs, seafood salad, potatoes with tomatoes/salsa, diced pork, sautéed mushrooms, breaded crabclaws and paprika chorizo. About 12 tapas dishes into total plus the paella. Set menu was £16.50. If you don't want paella, its about £2 cheaper. The only problem with tapas is that there are so many dishes, you always run out of space quickly. You have to quickly eat dishes so you can make room for others. The food came very quickly. Good job as we were all hungry. The paella came about 40 minutes after we ordered - a good sign that it was cooked from scratch. Overall a very good evening. It was very busy and a group were actually sitting on the tables situated in the sort of "lobby" area at the bottom of the stairs near entrance (and near the entrance to toilets). I assume they were given the option if they wanted to sit there. I have heard El Rincon is very popular and you always have to book a table. There is quite a bit of football memorabilia on the walls and, as Emma-Louise H has also mentioned, I have heard that Manchester United have visited in the past. El Rincon is actually not situated on Deansgate as it has been mentioned on some places. Its actually on a small dark street parallel to Deansgate - which you could argue looks a bit dodgy especially when it was all dark and wet last night - typical Manchester rainy weather!! El Rincon is not the easiest place to find and I would imagine doesnt get much passing custom.

The 2014 winner of the 'That's not how I expected it to be inside' award definitely goes to El…read moreRincon. Had it not been for the trusty map app we'd probably have struggled to find it, (it's on the corner of Longworth Street, which is off St Johns Street, which is off Deansgate...). Head through the doors and you descend stairs that resemble a London Tube station's with a central hand rail. At the bottom, a small replica of Picasso's 'Guernica' painting is high above you, with a traditional-looking tiled restaurant sign on the back wall. Turn a corner and you're met with a cavernous space, double height ceilings and a huge bar (where you can sit and eat at as well). I'm certainly glad I booked as it was very busy and throughout our meal there was a constant stream of customers (some 'winged it' and were seated where they could find space, one small group ended up sitting in the entrance area!). We could tell it was a popular place so were looking forward to getting stuck in. As a group of seven we didn't need to trawl through the menu as we had a choice of two set ones (opting for the slightly more expensive, but we got two extra tapas dishes plus a paella; and it was only £2 per person extra). Jug of sangria poured, the first of fifteen dishes started to arrive (I'm not going to list them all so don't worry), but lots of tapas faves were included, as well as some I hadn't heard of before. I thought pretty much everything was delicious (though still not convinced by artichokes...). As I've said a few times now I love shared dinners, so tapas is perfect. We all really enjoyed our time here and I'll certainly be back again for more.

La Rioja

La Rioja

(8 reviews)

££

Altrincham

I like this Spanish restaurant, it's definitely got "character" - by that I mean, it allows me to…read moreenjoy a glass of wine and then giggle like a schoolgirl when I try and pronounce the name: Ree-ho-HA! Much to the consternation of my dining partner! Thankfully, aside from the name, there's not much else you can have a go poking fun at. The food is superb and varied - there's the obligatory paella, and yes on one occasion making go-with-what-you-know choice I dined on it (highly recommended!) but there's also a range of chicken, fish and many more typically meaty Spanish dishes to selecy from the menu, that you could may I add spend at least the better part of 20 minutes perusing. Tapas ranges from £1.95 - £4.95 Bare floorboards and intimate dining make you feel part of a tiny world of gastronomic happiness, On a dark winter (or summers) night, mixed with candle light and the aroma of a heady bottle of Alta Rio Reserva, you would need little more to be feel transported to Las Ramblas

This has got to be one of the biggest tapas menus I've seen outside of London...and Spain! It's…read morenice to see they've got the kind of dishes I've been pining after since my return to Blighty. Firm favourites include Costilla (marinated spare ribs), Albondigas (Spanish meatballs) and Mejillones (mussles marinated in wine, lemon and herbs). Apart from the tapas menu, they also have some very traditional dishes on the A la Carte menu including Chuletas de cordero (grilled marinated lamb chops) and Cod catalana (cod fillet suated with garlic, shallots, cream and wine topped with parmesan cheese). Surely this is run by a Spanish family. Delicious.

Bilbao Pintxos&Tapas Bar

Bilbao Pintxos&Tapas Bar

(2 reviews)

££

Holbeck Urban Village, City Centre

It's pretty new, it's pretty pleasant, it's pretty pretty…read more Bilbao's reputation definitely preceded them, so after having heard a few wax the ol' lyrics about this place, I decided to give them a whirl. I'm all about the tapas eats in general, being the type who likes to choose as much variety of a meal out as possible, so Bilbao was always going to make me happy. I feel as though I'll have to come back to experience the heady heights others had told me about, since my visit was fine (certainly not disappointing -- so I've gone for four instead of three stars) but it didn't wow as much as I expected. Perhaps it's the classic pitfall of having high expectations after hearing such good press?! We went in on Saturday sans booking and managed to grab a seat straight away. (It was the last one, so we were pretty lucky.) One of the waitresses did her best to serve us promptly, although she was pretty rushed off her feet. The only downside to the service was that we spotted another waitress who could have seen to us sooner (and even smiled at us) but chose to natter at the bar -- it was quite some time before we got to order a drink. Every other person who served us was absolutely fantastic, though, which ought to be noted. We picked one dish each for ourselves and then three to share and --with a dessert-- this was plenty of food. We shared the olives (super garlicky, which I liked), the garlic prawns (shelled for us and marinated in ultra delish garlicky butter), and a pork dish. The pork pieces were cooked beautifully and came with these incredible oyster mushrooms. I had the steak, which was tasty and cooked well (how I'd asked) but didn't blow me away -- I think this was simply because I'd had the most amazing steak elsewhere very recently! We also shared a bottle of rioja, which was totally lovely. The desserts were great too: warm gooey brownie and a traditional Spanish dessert with sponge, cream, and torched sugar on top. (Forgive me for forgetting the name!) The overall ambiance is fine, although I'd say next time I'd like to sit at a lower table as the high chairs weren't optimal to sit and eat in. The music was also curious -- it sort of seemed to be so purposefully background it stood out to us, if that makes any sense. Gentle, romantic lighting and a pleasant space make up for that, though -- especially if in a group. I imagine the experience is even better with more friends to share with! Overall, this one merits a second visit. Five dishes and one bottle of wine: £60 odd. On a Monday it's half price, so you'll get a lot more bang for your bunse. Check them out!

Came here on a recommendation and wow did it deliver!! Food was amazing! Service was great and had…read morea lovely chat with the owner and you can tell the passion they put into the food and overall experience! I will be coming back and shouting from the roof tops to anybody who will listen how good this place is !

Evuna NQ - Calamari, scallops

Evuna NQ

(24 reviews)

££

Northern Quarter

Food: 4.5 Service: 5…read moreAmbience: 5 Food was very good and staff were excellent. We tried the calamari, meatballs, scallops, chilli fillet and pork cheeks. Everything was well flavoured and perfectly cooked. The pork cheeks were stand out delicious. There is an extensive wine selection as well. Tried the chocolate cake and basque cheesecake for dessert. My friend enjoyed the chocolate cake. I found the cheesecake delicious but not like the typical Basque style, its was served cold and lacked the soft center that the Basque cheesecake normally has.

A few weeks ago I went to the Tapas/Spanish restaurant Evuna. Evuna have a few restaurants in…read moreManchester - we went to the one in the Northern Quarter. (They also have another one in city centre on Deansgate and also one in Altrincham and one in Knutsford. I like tapas generally. I like going in a group so you get to try a wide range of different things, and some things you may not have ordered yourself. We picked 3 things each from the menu and then all shared. One of my fav things was the Catalan (style) tomatoes with garlic bread. Not that dis-similar to tomato bruschetta you almost always get when you have tapas. Its basically fined chopped up tomatoes and is more of a sauce compared to bruschetta, and various herbs and garlic probably and some nice bread. Very simple but tasted really good. Other things we had was the pork belly, ham croquettes, a cured meat/cheese platter, patatas bravas, calamari and padron peppers. All overall tasted good. Lovely selection of the meats/cheese, croquettes were tasty, nice salty/juice peppers. Calamari actually was just OK if honest, had better. So overall good food and good service so will be going back again.

Lorena's - spanish - Updated May 2026

Loading...
Loading...
Loading...