Tapas Revolution (TR) is a chain of Spanish restaurants in the UK owned by Spanish celebrity chef,…read moreOmar Allibhoy. Having had a good experience at TR at Meadowhall in Sheffield, I was eager to try out their branch located in Birmingham's Grand Central (close to Nando's), especially after receiving a 50% off food coupon which they send when you sign up to their loyalty scheme, which is probably the strangest loyalty scheme ever as after signing up once you only receive further discounts if you're a student with an ac email address, and even then you can only claim on Monday's!
I ordered three tapas
- Paella with Chicken
- Tortilla (Spanish Omelette) with aioli
- Chorizo with potatoes and a fried egg.
Sadly my favourite two tapa dishes normally, the Albiognas and Potatoes Bravas both weren't gluten-free, the latter was down to a shared fryer. I mean come on Omar, why can't you have a dedicated gluten-free fryer at your restaurants when you could be making what is a limited selection for coeliacs, much better.
At full price, I wouldn't say it represents value for money but they do seem to do lunch offers which make it a little more reasonable but the gluten-free selection as a whole just seems limited.
Most of my food was good, the main flaw was the potato, chorizo and egg dish was a little overcooked and there wasn't much chorizo at all meaning it wasn't as enjoyable as I'd have liked; my friend also ordered this and she got some shell in her food which is careless.
I did really enjoy my tortilla which is probably the best Spanish tortilla I've had, which is a Spanish omelette with potato and onion, I liked how they also put some aioli on the side to give it a bit of a kick and to avoid dryness.
My paella also was pretty good, they did seem to use the darker parts of the chicken however rather than just breast meat which I didn't like.
The service and staff were pretty poor and made some awful mistakes which I hope were mistakes for my own sanity:
- They tried to give me bottled water instead of tap water, meaning this would have cost me more if I didn't confirm it multiple times
- They tried to sit my friend down again at a table as she was waiting outside for me as I was just finishing up, even though the same waitress has just served us to take payment 60 seconds prior to the aforementioned.
- I began to check an email on my phone and another server tried to take my food away right in front of me, without acknowledging me or even asking me if I was finished.
3* - The food was pretty good, but each dish did appear to have a flaw, it is a little pricey but if you can get a good deal it is one of the better places to eat in Grand Central. They really do need to work on their workers making basic, cringeworthy mistakes though!