Spain is one of those restaurants that you really want to like. It's on a very cute street in the Village, it's tucked away on the bottom floor of a brownstone and when you walk in the waitstaff are all really old men who seem to have worked there for 50 years. Plus everyone there seems like they have been coming here for years - so it just has this really homey feel. But sadly, it's not a home I think I will come back to.
It's kind of chaotic when you walk in because there's no host or any organization. This cute old man asked us if we wanted to sit in the front or back and before we could say anything he just squeezed us into this table in the corner. We sit down and he immediately asks "you want wine?"- which is definitely not a bad thing but I just needed a minute to really get situated. Instead we opted for a small pitcher of red sangria since we were in a Spanish tapas place. Luckily we got our drinks quickly but alas no menu appeared for a while. While the sangria was tasty, it wasn't super strong and went down a bit quickly. We (or shall I say I) was out of sangria before the meal arrived. The good thing is that you do get some free tapas while you are waiting: we got a plate of pretty tasty meatballs covered in tomato sauce and a plate of thinly sliced potato with hot sauce on it. The menu isn't your typical tapas menu, it seemed to have more entree sized dishes than small plates, so my date and I decided to split the paella valenciana which came with seafood, chicken and chorizo. The waiter did ask if we wanted lobster on top of it, but we declined. As we were waiting for food, I noticed a lot of very large groups coming in. It was weird because the place wasn't that big but when I went to the bathroom later I noticed a huge back room that seemed full of 10+ groups. Usually when you order paella it usually takes a long time to cook, but this one didn't take that much time. It's a huge order - definitely more than enough for 2 people and I would say it's probably enough food for 3 or 4 people. At first glance I was really excited because it was chock full of clams, mussels and shrimp. But sadly, I was really disappointed by the rice which is such a key component to a good paella. It tasted pretty bland with not a lot of seasoning or flavor. It almost tasted like the kind of rice you get out of box. This was pretty disappointing because there was so much of it. Luckily, the seafood part was pretty decent - I thought the clams and mussels were the best part. It was nice that there were lots of bits of shrimp, but they were all a bit overcooked and dried out. I felt bad leaving almost half of the dish on the table, but it was just too much for me and I wasn't in the mood to sit around for the next few hours hoping that I would be interested in a round 2.
I had high hopes for this place (and the date!) but sadly neither really lived up to my expectations. It's not a knock on either the restaurant or my date, I guess just neither were the right fit for me. The other downside of the restaurant is that it's cash only. Total bill: $41 total with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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