Having had one of the most delicious meals I've had in ages at the La Tasca restaurant last night I just had to share it with you all. Two of my friends and I decided we fancied going out for a meal as a change to just going out and getting very drunk and a university friend had recommended ... Read review
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Advantages: You get to try and lots of dishes Disadvantages: You just want more and more
...had in ages at the La Tasca restaurant last night I just had to share it with you all. Two of my friends and I decided we fancied going out for a meal as a change to just going out and getting very drunk and a university friend had recommended La Tasca so we thought we would give it a try. Boy were glad we did…..
***What is it***
La Tasca is a Spanish themed restaurant chain, which serves traditional Spanish tapas and ... ...***The menu***
La Tasca have a fairly extensive menu, which contains around 36 tapas dishes to choose from, and also four paella dishes. You also have a choice of accompaniments to have alongside your meal. For the vegetarians among you there really is a lot to choose from off of the tapas menu as one of my friends who I went with is vegetarian and she was impressed with the choice. All vegetarian dishes are clearly marked on the menu ... more
Having had one of the most delicious meals I've had in ages at the La Tasca restaurant last night I just had to share it with you all. Two of my friends and I decided we fancied going out for a meal as a change to just going out and getting very drunk and a university friend had recommended La Tasca so we thought we would give it a try. Boy were glad we did…..
***What is it***
La Tasca is a Spanish themed restaurant chain, which serves traditional Spanish tapas and paella. Tapas, what's that I hear you cry? Well the origins of tapas lie in Spain many years ago where farmers and labourers would go to the local inn or 'tasca' as it is known in Spanish after work. The Spanish word 'tapa' actually means lid and at the tasca the innkeeper would place a slice of bread on top of their beer like a lid to stop the flies getting in. Gradually meat and sausages were added on top of the bread and they were eaten as snacks to accompany the beer. Now tapas is served as many small dishes so that you get to try and eat lots of different food in one meal. Great for those who have trouble picking one dish of a menu as its perfectly acceptable to order as many as you like!
***The menu***
La Tasca have a fairly extensive menu, which contains around 36 tapas dishes to choose from, and also four paella dishes. You also have a choice of accompaniments to have alongside your meal. For the vegetarians among you there really is a lot to choose from off of the tapas menu as one of my friends who I went with is vegetarian and she was impressed with the choice. All vegetarian dishes are clearly marked on the menu as well as gluten free dishes. Here are a few sample dishes off of the menu. I won't bore you with the whole list though, but should you wish to see a full version of the menu it is available on their website.
~Tapas~
~Pollo al Ajjilo - chicken cooked in a white wine and garlic sauce ~Selección de Embutidos - a selection of cured Spanish meats ~Fritura Mixta de Pescado - deep fried squid, tuna, whitebait and king prawns with lemon, sea salt and garlic mayonnaise. ~Chorizo frito al Vino - Spicy Spanish sausage pan fried in red wine ~Cordero en Salsa - lamb casserole with wine, potatoes, mustard and peppercorns ~Calamares Andaluza - battered squid with garlic mayonnaise ~Albondigas a la Jardinera - meatballs in a tomato and vegetable sauce
~Patatas Bravas - deep fried potatoes in a spicy sauce ~Tortilla Española - a traditional potato and onion omelette ~Champiñones con Queso Gratinados - mushrooms pan fried in garlic and topped with cheese ~Patatas a la Pobre - fried potatoes topped with onion, red and green peppers ~Paella de Verduras - vegetarian paella with vegetables ~Ensalada Mixta - mixed salad leaves with tomato, tuna, onion and egg ~ Queso Manchego - tomatoes with manchego cheese and olive oil
Each tapas dishe ranges in price from around £2.50-3.50
~Paella~
These are served for a minimum of two people
~Paella de Carne - chicken and Spanish sausage ~Paella Valenciana - chicken and seafood ~Paella de Marisco - seafood paella containing prawns, squid, mussels, monkfish and tuna ~Paella de Verduras - vegetarian
These range from £7.95-9.75
~Accompaniments~
~Aceitunas Mixtas - mixed olives marinated with peppers, onions and lemons ~Pan Fresco - fresh bread which you dip in olive oil and sherry vinegar ~Pan a la Catalana - toasted bread topped with garlic, tomato and coriander
These range in price from £1.35 for the bread up to £2.45
~Desserts~
This includes traditional Spanish desserts such as Spanish flan, cheesecake and chocolate truffles as well as pre packaged ice cream desserts. These ranged around the £3-4 mark. They also have an extensive coffee selection to choose from.
~Drinks~
~Wine - They have an extensive wine list of both red, white and rose which ranges from the house wine at £11.65 up to Cava at £74.95
~Sangria - No Spanish restaurant is complete without offering Sangria which can be brought by the glass or the pitcher.
~Beer - San Miguel is available for those looking to recreate that holiday feeling
There is also a range of brandy's a licqueurs available as well as soft drinks.
**They also offer party and Christmas menus for those that are interested**
***How it works***
Its fairly simple…you look over the menu and decide what dishes you fancy then embarrass yourself trying to pronounce the Spanish names to the waiter. Remember however that you only get what you order by which I mean they don't bring out chips or salad as an accompaniment so if you want potato or salad with your meal you will need to order one of the potato or salad tapas dishes. The waiter recommended to us we choose about 2 or 3 dishes each but depending on your appetite you can order as little or as much as you want. Then once the food arrives all the little dishes are placed on your table and you can either just eat what you personally ordered or for the more authentic tapas experience everyone in your party can share and you get to try lots of different dishes. You are only provided with a very small plate so its necessary to just take little amounts and keep refilling.
***My Opinion***
FOOD
As there was a vegetarian among us we ordered a selection of meat, potato, salad and vegetable dishes. These included the chicken in white wine and garlic sauce, the meatballs, vegetarian paella, spicy ribs, tomato salad and deep fried potatoes in tomato and vegetable sauce. So I feel we experienced a good cross section of the menu and I have to say it was delicious and one of the best meals I have had in ages. The chicken was very tender and full of flavour as was the paella and meatballs. From the first taste to the last mouthful you just wanted to eat more and more as it was so delicious.
Portion wise the dishes are quite small and one dish will feed about 2 people so if there are lots of you in your party you may want to double up on your favourite dishes to make sure everyone gets a look in. For instance the meatball dish had four meatballs in which was perfect for us two meat eaters. As I mentioned we ordered around 9 dishes between us plus some bread and we ate the lot but felt full so it was just about right.
PRICE
I think the menu is very well priced considering at another restaurant you may pay ten pounds for a main course so if your ordering 2 or 3 tapas dishes each it works out about the same and you don't have to narrow your decision down to the one dish. All together for 3 of us our bill came to £47 pound, which included the tapas, desserts, a bottle of wine and 2 diet cokes.
ATMOSPHERE
I felt the restaurant had a very lively sociable atmosphere as everyone is sharing food and talking about all the different dishes, which makes it very exciting. They are decked out in a very traditional Spanish style with lots of pictures and photos on the wall with big rusty metal chandeliers with candle light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Also the Spanish music playing in the background really added to the atmosphere and made you feel as though you were on holiday in Spain for the 2 hours you are in there.
SERVICE
We booked for 7.30pm but arrived a little early but our food had arrived by 7.45pm which is probably the quickest I have ever got my meal. It took us longer to get our puddings than the main course but this wasn't any reflection on the food.
Overall the waiting staff were very friendly and some were even Spanish which added to the atmosphere. Our waiter was very helpful advising us on how many dishes to get and laughing at our pronunciation and I couldn't fault them on this front.
***Overall***
This restaurant comes with a high recommendation from me. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect but my friends and I ended up having a very enjoyable evening with great food and wine. The food, the price and the atmosphere were all excellent and I really cannot fault them. So if you've got one near you I would strongly recommend you try it out.
***Locations***
This review refers to the La Tasca restaurant in Bristol based up in Clifton but I also know there is one at Gunwharf in Portsmouth. The website has a full list of locations based all around the country from London to Scotland so you should be able to find one near you.
Advantages: Excellent Service and Great variet of food Disadvantages: nothing
...Ciao to put in another La Tasca sub menu. I've eaten at the Liverpool one and the Leeds one and they are all excellent.
La Tasca are a chain of restaurants based on the Spanish eating experience with their head office in , you guessed it…Bolton , Lancashire as you might expect. The Newcastle restaurant is situated adjacent to “Est Est Est” another chain restaurant and behind the “Pitcher and Piano” pub on the rejuvenated ... ...river Tyne from the Baltic Arts centre.
Their menu is made up of “tapas” which are small individual dishes , and basically what you tend to do when you eat there is that each person chooses three “tapas” and then you all just tuck in to the numerous dishes on the table. This means that you can experience absolutely lots of flavours within a single sitting.
There are many dishes featuring chicken , seafood and various meats ...
mikeydred 03.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of La Tasca Restaurants
Advantages: Great atmosphere, brilliant service and good food Disadvantages: none that i can think of!
...evening in a restuarant called La Tasca in Kingston, an authentic Tapas restuarant. I'm normally a little wary of "authentic" restuarants as they can often end up very cheesy, however I decided to give this one a try. If you are not sure what Tapas is - just imagine lots of small individual dishes of food which you share among your table - its a very enjoyable and social way of eating.
Located on the outskirts of Kingston, the restuarant is a little ... ...king prawns and Albondigas a la Jardinera (£3.45) large meatballs in a delicious tomato sauce. There are also various vegetable dishes, as well as many more meat and fish dishes. The idea is that you choose as many individual dishes as you like and share them amongst your party - side plates are provided! I love this style of eating as it is so relaxed and you can choose to try a whole range of dishes in one meal.
If you would prefer to choose paella ...
rachel16 29.04.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of La Tasca Restaurants
Advantages: Friendly, tasty and reasonably priced Disadvantages: While intimate, lacks some of intimacy of Manchester branch during the day
La Tasca is a chain of Tapas restaurants that aim for an intimate atmosphere combined with friendly service and reasonably priced food.
I've beeen going to the La Tasca in Manchester (Deansgate) for quite a while, however, it took me 2 years before I realsied that there was one in Liverpool (near Paradise street bus station),where I live... Doh!
I've now been to the Liverpool one quite a few times and have found it to be inferior to the one in ... ...intimate. The reason for this is that the Manchester one is iunderneath an officeblock so out of necessity has no windows and so is completely candle lit.
However, apart from this one point I have found the food and friendliness of service to be consistant. One thing that disappointed me on visiting the Liverpool branch was that the decor in both restaurants is almost identiacal. While this is to be expected with chain restaurants, when I first ...
kingsanj 05.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of La Tasca Restaurants
Advantages: Delicious food, good atmosphere, good service Disadvantages: Can't think of any...
...found a 50% voucher for La Tasca and thought I would print it out and take it with us just in case, a long with a few others. We shopped until we dropped and then went in search of the food hall. We had never been to La Tasca before and stood and read the menu before we went in and showed our voucher. The food sounded great....and Wow! It was! I ordered loads...to the enjoyment of everyone else in the restaurant :-( I felt like I was putting on a ... ...full of different pots and plates full of food! I am a size 10 and eat like a horse! I had Calamari, King Prawns, Lamb with prunes and sultanas, some sort of spicy sausage and a salad (just to show willing!) and it was all amazing. My partner had ribs, spicy sausage, chicken croquettes, potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce and garlic bread. The lamb was the most tender lamb I have ever eaten in my life, in a sauce that I could not get enough of. The ...
Cookie-Crumbled 03.11.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of La Tasca Restaurants
La Tasca represents a breath of fresh air to Liverpool. Sure, we have Spanish restaurants, two of which are frighteningly good in fact and they serve Tapas but it's the idea behind La Tasca that makes it so unique (to Liverpool). La Tasca is a restaurant that is somewhere between civilised wine bar and Spanish restaurant. The idea is new to these shores but very much the thing over there. A kind of meeting place to enjoy the cooler evening weather ... ...some light snacks to engage idle hands. All very civilised although slightly out of place in Liverpool or indeed any but the most thoroughly Cosmopolitan of English City's. I really do hope it catches on and people start to take advantage of what is being offered - its just a shame they can't do anything about our weather!
The food really is top notch with a wide and varied selection. Although obviously geared towards Tapas you will find other, ...
UncleStu 03.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of La Tasca Restaurants
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