I was a bit wary of the choice of restaurant, but I had no say in the regard as it was a pre-arranged booking by the course organizers (clinical training in surgical skills). I don't mind tapas at all, in truth, I really like it if it's in harmony and balance with the dishes that you're presented with. As is often the case with larger groups of people, the choices are therefore limited. We were served a platter of ten different dishes; salt baked potatoes with aioli, marinated olives, cheese filled tortillas with aioli, fried puff pastry rolls with sweet chili sauce, roasted garlic bread, bacon wrapped dates, marinated chicken skewers, barbequed chistorra sausages, buffalo wings with sweet chili sauce, and battered/deep fried squid. Have you noticed the common thread by now? Fried, fat, fried, and more fat topped with sauces and aioli. It was just off-putting to put it mildly. Didn't even touch the potatoes as they appeared more boiled than anything else. Don't like olives in particular so skipped them as well. The tortillas were dry and dull, the puff pastry rolls were only fatty and lacking flavor, the garlic bread was dry, and the bacon wrapped dates tasted only of bacon and didn't provide any relief from the heavy menu. And don't even get me started on the chicken skewers and the buffalo wings (both dry like sandpaper). The sausages and squid were probably the worst dishes of them all. So no, I wasn't at all impressed. And despite a full dining room they had only two waitors, but they worked hard and did provide good service despite a stressful environment. So thumbs up for them!
But I must say the menu has more interesting dishes that might have provided a much more pleasant dining experience. How about seared baby scallops, moules marinières, fried prawns with chili and garlic, serrano-wrapped green asparagus, chevre with trufflehoney on wheat bread and walnuts, salad of figs, walnuts and goats cheese topped with honey balsamic. I feel like I was dealt the short end of the menu, but unfortunately I can only rate on what I was served. And it was harshly underwhelming at best. I do however like the dining room, it's casual and relaxing, and if the food had been better I would have left happy. Now I left feeling undersatisfied and oversaturated at the same time. read more