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  • 0

    Best tapas!
    Had the 9 appetizer platter (everything was good except the tuna and deviled egg), garlic shrimp (garlic oil is delicious!), fried calamari (sauces were good but there was too much breading), bacon wrapped dates (a must try), seafood paella (good flavor, tiny scallops), goat cheese in tomato sauce (probably the best thing on the menu), rib roast (tender and mashed potatoes were standard), bacon chorizo, spicy potatoes (one of the best things I tried), blue cheese steak (tender, the boyfriend loved it), and moors chicken (good, tender chicken in an Indian inspired sauce, interesting textures with dried fruit and cauliflower)

    All of the food was delicious, prices were appropriate, service is friendly and efficient.

  • 0

    Hands down my favorite restaurant!
    Highly recommended! My all-time favorite has to be the Bluecheese tenderloin, but be sure to try the spicy potatoes, goat cheese & marinara and the lamb kebabs.

  • 0

    My friends and I LOVE Cafe BaBaReeba! It is our favorite place to meet up. The food is not too expensive. The sangria is amazing and the atmosphere is perfect to meet up with friends. It's the perfect mix of being a lively place and having your own space. I would recommend making reservations for the weekends but even when we have come without ones they are pretty accommodating with the bar seating. The staff has always been very friendly and attentive without being overly attentive- which can happen at a tapas restaurant. Great place!

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  • 0

    One of the best places I have ever eaten. Beautiful restaurant and wonderful staff.

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  • 0

    Don't forget to check-in on Yelp.  You can get a free tapas dessert.

    portions are small, but they are delicious.  a little bit pricey, but what can you expect.

    if you are a student, then find somewhere else to eat.  if you work and have pretty good financial background, come here and enjoy the meal.

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  • 0

    When it comes to food adventures, I love to be accompanied by those whom are openly affectionate. By that, I'm referencing to cartwheels and giggles that extend from the lungs to as far down as one's tippy toes. Needless to say, a half pitcher of white peach sangria added to that effect. #lightweight

    The highlights of our dinner were the roasted dates with bacon in apple vinaigrette, fried calamari with tomato sauce and ailoli, and meatballs with sherry tomato sauce. If you haven't yet, you should really hop onto the "bandwagon" and order not one but all three of these.  

    The other dishes, chicken and ham croquette and seafood paella, were also very likable. We ordered two servings of the paella. The rice didn't seem to be 100% cooked. A few pieces of rice here and there were a bit difficult, but they were very generous with the shrimp and scallop.

    Our waiter was certainly a charmer. He complemented our desserts, butterscotch custard and dark chocolate crema, while also adding a third one, the chocolate truffle cake, to his tab. La-la-la-lovely! Each bite was a sugary, wicked blow to the taste buds. Very, very rich! My favorite goes to the butterscotch custard!  

    Reservations are recommended. Our trio had it for a Sunday evening at 6:30pm. There was no wait or hassle. The restaurant décor and dangling lights were dimmed but casual, intimate yet welcoming. Café Ba-Ba-Reeba is definitely a keeper!

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  • 0

    Pomegranate sangria...mmmm

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  • 0

    Some friends and I started a Food Club where we explore different cuisines once a quarter. Before you think "Wow a food club. how impressive." It's not impressive at all. It's just a group of friends that want to eat, drink and try new places. Our 3rd official club meeting was this past weekend at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. We made rezzy's for 10 but of course 3 people bailed within 15 minutes of the time we planned to leave. The restaurant was really nice and didn't get huffy when we explained that a few people bailed at the last minute. Our service was phenomenal from start to finish. One thing that I especially appreciated here versus where we went last weekend (Girl and the Goat) is that you can order your tapas 1 at a time, whereas G&G they make you order everything all at once. There is no rush to get you the hell out the door here. In fact, we were there well over 2 hours and the waitress didn't seem bothered by it at all.

    What we ordered:
    -1/2 pitcher of Peach sangria. At $14, it was a steal. One glass of Sangria is $7 and I think I got at least 4-5 drinks out of the pitcher. Tasted phenomenal.
    -Goat Cheese Croqueta Pintxo. A one-biter that was okay but I probably wouldn't order again.
    -Deviled Egg with Bacon Pintxo. Why don't my deviled eggs taste that good? So fluffy and airy. I wish I could figure out the secret ingredient!
    -Spicy potatoes with tomato aioli. Pretty good but they taste like fried potatoes that I make at home. The tomato aioli was good, but not sure if I would get these again. My friend had these before and said she remembered them being better -- maybe it was just an off night?
    -Rioja braised short ribs w/ mashed potatoes. So yummy! The mashed potatoes tasted like white cheddar mashed potatoes and were the perfect compliment to the tender, juicy short ribs.
    -Beef skewer and horseradish sauce. This was my favorite thing that WE ordered. The beef was extremely moist and the flavoring on the beef went perfect with the horseradish.  
    -Serrano ham, salchichon, chorizo and manchengo. This was a cold plate of meat which we didn't realize when we ordered it. If we ordered it first, it would have been a great start, but we ordered it last so it was a let down.

    What I tried but didn't order myself:
    -Bacon wrapped dates- definitely my favorite of the night and a damn shame that I didn't trust the reviews and order them. Super tender and soft and one of those foods you could eat the entire plate and then order another.
    -Fried calimari with jalapeno aioli. I've never had calimari with anything other than marinara so this was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't greasy at all but still very flavorful. Another dish that I wish I ordered.
    -Roasted Chicken empanada. Pretty good and about what you can expect of an empanada, but compared to all of the other awesome dishes it wasn't brag worthy.
    -Goat cheese baked in tomato sauce. This looked interesting when it came out and seeing the big ball of cheese in the center of some sauce made me apprehensive that it wasnt going to be special. It actually was very VERY good.

    Dessert:

    -Carmelized banana w/ toasted pistachios. Yummy! It was torched in the same manner as creme brulee so you got a nice crunchy topping along with the nuts.
    -Butterscotch custard cream. Me and several others at the table enjoyed this the most. It's basically custard with homemade butterscotch on top.
    -Churros with cinnamon and chocolate dipping sauces. I didn't order this but someone else at the table did. It was pretty good, but probably my least favorite out of all 3 desserts I tried.

    I was overwhelmingly impressed by everything that I tried. Nothing I tasted was BAD and I tasted a good portion of the menu. Our bill for food, dessert, tax and tip was around $70 which included 2 desserts, 4 tapas, and 3 pintxos. Drinks were separate as we purchased those at the bar before dinner.

    Only downfall of the whole experience is that the women's bathroom is TINY. Two girls were waiting in line before I entered and there really was no room for 3 girls to stand. There's also only one sink, so it made it incredibly awkward as I tried to brush my teeth after dinner and even got a few oral hygiene jokes made at my expense.

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  • 0

    Absolutely delicious... and unbelievably inexpensive!

    Our waiter Johnny was extremely nice and fun to talk to.  

    My girlfriend and I spent about $70 and left stuffed to the brim.

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  • 0

    God, everything here is so, so, so good! This is my favorite tapas place in Chicago.

    TRY: EVERYTHING. (Just kidding.) (Not really.) Meatballs, garlic potato salad, potato and onion omelette, beef empanada, chicken & ham croquetas, any of the paellas.

    Like I said, just eat all of it. And the sangria. Bless the sangria.

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  • 0

    I came here the day the Notre Dame should have lost to Pittsburgh and eliminated them from the embarrassment they were in the National Championship.  But I digress.

    This is a fine restaurant.  We started the evening here with some sangria from the bar area as it was about an hour wait.  

    When we were seated we had many of the menu items and they were all exceptional.  I want to point out the octupus a la pancha, this dish was amazing.  It was by far the best octopus I had ever had in my life.  Octopus is usually chewy and not so tasty but this was melt in your mouth and bursting with flavor.  We asked the waiter how they made this so well and he said, "we tenderized the hell out of it". And that about sums up how awesome this place is.

    Though it can be quite expensive it is definitely worth every penny.

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  • 0

    We came here on a Sunday night with reservations. Upon checking in, we were told we can sit by the bar and we will get called. We waited about 5 to 10 minutes even though we were on time for our reservation. I guess that is how they operate, but I think 5 to 10 minutes is a little too long for a restaurant that was about half full/ half empty.

    Our waitress came over and took our drink order and we were deciding what size we wanted; she seemed like she was in a hurry to leave our table and said our 1/2 pitcher of sangria was good and we can always order more. I would have liked for her to at least tell us about the sangria of the day but thats okay.

    Our food arrives with a decent amount of time in between each one except for the spicy potatoes which are my favorite! We were almost done with the last 2 dishes when it finally did arrive and that was the last dish we were working on. I like to have switch between dishes when I eat here so that was a bummer. After a couple potatoes, i actually got tired of it.

    Overall, it was a good meal but I think the service could have been better and I'm so upset about the spicy potatoes coming out last.

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  • 0

    I still love this place. I first went there in 1999. I have been there through out the years and still enjoy myself.

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  • 0

    Yummm!! When you're ordering so many dishes as you do when at a tapas bar - you would think at least statistically 25% of the dishes mightn't meet your expectations. I must say Ba-Ba-Reeba just got everything as perfect as possible. All of their dips and sauces are just amazing and flavorful. We ordered stuffed mushrooms, skewers of chicken and Chorizo, shrimp in garlic sauce and many more. Everything was delightful! Don't miss the Sangria here!!

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  • 0

    Loved It! My girlfriend's favorite dinner when visiting Chicago - service was on the spot even though it was an incredibly busy night. Would recommend and return whenever in the area.

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  • 0

    Excellent food!!
    We had the red sangria, that was delicious! And we ordered the steak and blue cheese, the grilled octopus and the potato omelet. The steak and octopus were outstanding, the omelet was a bit dry... wouldn't order it again.. For dessert (also in small tapas size) we had the almond caramel bar and the chocolate truffle cake, both very good.
    They have a great menu, will have to come back to try some more tapas!!

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  • 0

    One of the main reasons I choose to dine out is because I want the restaurant to have a certain ambiance.

    When I go out for Italian food, its not that I am craving Chicken Cacciatore, I also want the over the top waiter, the dim lighting, the Italian wine, the Sinatra in the background, etc.

    Because I want to be "transported" you could say, I loved being at Cafe BBR. I loved the hustle and bustle, the warm dining rooms, being close to other people with their friends and family. It felt like what it might be like to be in Spain. Because, Lord knows, I have never been.

    Between our group of 8, we went through 2 pitchers of Pomegrante Sangria and a pitcher of red wine sangria, and about 10-15 small plates. The food was great, but specifically I remember the spicy garlic shrimp and the patatas bravas.. yummmmmmmy

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  • 0

    I have been to Ba-Ba-Reeba on a date night, friend reunion, to treat my mom on mother's day and to celebrate birthdays. Both dinner and brunch were fabulous.

    I would definitely suggest to check-in on foursquare as you get a free pintxo. Throughout all the times I've been for dinner, I've learned you can never go without their red sangria. You don't realize it at first, but after a few sips, it does you in for the night. The tortilla, patatas bravas (the BEST choice, esp for that damn good sauce), stuffed mushrooms, goat cheese baked in tomato, the calamari and octopus are all phenomenal.

    For brunch (which I recently discovered), the french toast pintxo is AMAZING. You will need to order about 3 because you can't get enough of the divine, perfectly-textured stick. The vanilla yogurt pintxo is sweet and solid but the short stack pancake pintxo is just ok. Potato and egg bite was heavenly as well as their spinach and artichoke crepe. I have always been seated promptly (with reservations) and service is on point. I can't wait to find another excuse to go back!

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  • 0

    It's a Tapas restaurant.  It's great for groups because the physical space is enormous and the table can order a wide variety of items.  Much like every Tapas restaurant.

    I will give Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba the slight edge over the very similar Emilio's and Iberico because I think it offers slightly better Sangria.

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  • 0

    What I'm basing this review on:
    Lamb kebab
    Spicy potatoes
    Bread spreads
    Cured meats platter
    Bacon wrapped dates
    Chicken paella

    I'm by nature skeptical of tapas places. With smaller portions sizes and high prices, it takes a lot more flavor wowness to deliver overall value. This place had some great dishes but just didn't quite get to 4 star status.

    Lamb kebab- pretty good. Doesn't really stand out really from a standard seasoned meat dish. I didn't find myself reaching for a second one after the first.

    Spicy potatoes- These definitely had the "oh wow" factor. These taste so so good and have a strong kick that surprises you in the end. Definitely getting this again.

    Bread spreads: Yea, good. Not amazing. But good. That pretty much sums it up.

    Cured meats platter (called something else)- I really like this. The prosciutto and the salami were great. There was just enough for everyone to get a slice of something at our table, I wish we had ordered a second one.

    Bacon wrapped dates- There are a lot of very favorable reviews for these and the waiter enthusiastically recommended it. It was ok but I think I just need to admit to myself I'm not a fan of dates. I've tried several supposedly amazing date dishes at several restaurants but never really enjoyed any of them. If you like dates, maybe this dish is good. If not, this dish won't change your mind.

    Chicken paella- Again, good. Nothing special.

    Overall it was a good meal with good sangria. While some of the dishes were definitely 4-5 star value quality, there wasn't enough to justify an overall 4 star rating. Will be back to this place to try other menu items.

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  • 0

    A very busy spot, but great for groups of people. High energy, busy, and a fabulous patio in the summer. On weekends it can be tough to get a table on the fly - I'd recommend a reservation. Seating in the bar area is first come, first served, so that's an option.

    Their sangria is delicious. The tapas is awesome. The spicy potatoes are a favorite, along with the beef tenderloin & blue cheese, ahi tuna, short ribs, empanadas, apple/spinach salad, and fried green peppers. I do occasionally wish there were more vegetables involved, but I'm not really complaining.

    I've gone here with as many as seven other people, and have never paid more than about $35 each and always felt very satisfied. Highly recommend it whether you've got guests in town, or you're a Chicagoan who just likes good tapas.

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  • 0

    The woman in charge of setting up the reservations is very rude!  I booked my 21 person reservation at a better restaurant downtown after canceling with Baba-reeba!

    Management here should not forget about what made this place the jewel of Lincoln Park........customer service.  I will not come back here because of this woman as there are plenty of similar restaurants just as good as baba boey with a lot better customer service!

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  • 0

    I heard really good things about this place, so I was excited to try it. However, my experience was much worse than I expected. I went with my friend during the week and we sat at the bar for drinks and tapas. We started with the sangria the the pintxo platter, which was free with the foursquare check in for first time guests. It took almost 20 minutes to get our drinks, and the place wasn't even busy. When we were ready to order more, the bartender was oblivious and had forgotten all about us. After about 15 more minutes, he finally returned and we ordered the cheese plate and the spicy potatoes.

    Not only did we find one, but two hairs in our cheese plate. I have never been so disguisted. We told the waiter, who returned with a fresh cheese plate. The manager also came over and apologized, and gave us a discount on the bill, but overall we were dissapointed with both the service and the quality of this place.

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  • 0

    The food is decent but be prepared for a mega wait. They told us 45 minutes but it was an hour and a half. The service was great, though.

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  • 0

    Wonderful locale for girls night out. Sangria gives me a headache but if you like it then you will really like this place. My friends rave about the Sangria. I'll stick to my margarita. I love how you can really order one of everything on the menu here. It is fun to try a little bit of everything. It was also nice that they had veggie options which is not always easy in a tapas restaurant. If you are looking for a quiet evening, then this is not your space. This Cafe is energetic, loud and ready for a good time.

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  • 0

    Where to start! The place is cute, love the new addition on the side. Our server was great and was nice to tell us exactly how much food to order and so we didn't order too much or too little.

    The food was fantastic. The goat cheese in tomato sauce was delicious. I also got the lamb skewers, and spicy potatoes. All to die for! It was very crowded and a little noisy, but people were having a good time and you can't blame the restaurant.

    White Sangria was my favorite and the server always had a pitcher on our table which was great. I go back all the time.

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  • 0

    Well I it has been awhile since I wrote on this things...

    Restaurant Week finally arrived in Chicago this year!!!

    My other fellow foodie boyfriend went with me on a one fine night for a dinner. I've been really wanting to try this place for awhile, and was glad that they participate during restaurant week. We had a four course meal and it was amazing!

    here's the breakdown

    first course: pintxos :
    Goat Cheese Croqueta
    Deviled Egg, Bacon & Mustard

    Both were soo delicious, kind of sucked that it was only a one biter. The goat cheese croqueta had an interesting taste for me at first when I first bit into it, but after a few seconds, that when the party officially begins. Deviled egg was standard but with a little bit of spices into it.

    second course: tapas
    Spicy Potatoes with Tomato Alioli, Rioja-Braised Short Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, Serrano Ham, Salchichon, Chorizo & Manchego, Roast Dates
    With bacon & apple vinaigrette.

    All were spectacular, but I would have the spicy potatoes and roast dates with bacon & apple again and again.

    third course: paella
    We both had Shrimp, Sea Scallops, and Green Beans.
    It was a huge portion, If I was going to try their paella again, I think 1 would be best for 2 people. It was  soo good, I just wish they would get a bigger kind of scallop in it, but it was still good nevertheless.

    fourth course:
    Gala apple empanada and caramelized banana

    boyfriend tried the empanada and had a little bit of it, I love the dipping sauce it come with. It spark a debacle with my bf and I about evaporated milk and condensed milk.lol. I had the caramelized banana, and it just melted perfectly in my mouth with all the elements it came with.

    I cannot wait to come back to this place, and would love to at least try all their items once.

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  • 0

    I recently ate here with 3 other friends, and really enjoyed my experience! We made reservations since it was a Saturday night, which I highly recommend since the place was packed. We started out with a full pitcher of their red sangria and a half pitcher of their white peach sangria. Both were delicious. Next the bread came, and even that was delicious. It was the perfect combination of crusty and soft.

    For our tapas, we ordered the shrimp with garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes (#44), very delicious. We also ordered the calamari (#45), which is some of the best calamari I've ever had. It wasn't too greasy, making you feel too full.  We also ordered the grilled salmon with herb almond pesto (#47), also very tasty. We also ordered the spicy potatoes with tomato aioli (#30) which I loved! The sauce that came with this one was to die for. We also ordered the rioja-braised short ribs with mashed potatoes (#51) Oh my goodness, the meat was so tender that it melted in your mouth. The mashed potatoes appeared bland but were jam-packed with flavor! We also ordered the spinach and manchego-stuffed mushrooms (#31), which I liked even though I don't like mushrooms. Lastly we ordered the paella with shrimp, scallops, green beans, and cherry tomatoes -- yum!

    For dessert, we ordered the caramelized banana, marcona almond-caramel bar, chocolate truffle cake, and mango sorbet. All were absolutely delcious, but my favorites were the chocolate truffle cake followed by the marcona almond-caramel bar.

    The service from our server and busboys was also great. For that much food, our bill was a little more than $100, which is great! I'll be back!

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  • 0

    After having dined here a few months back with my husband, I wrote a review about our not-so-stellar experience. We were unimpressed and likely would not return. Immediately after posting my review, I was contacted by a manager at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba. He was very receptive to the feedback I had provided and assured me our experience did not live up to their standards. He invited us back to give them another try. We redeemed his offer Saturday night and are happy to say we were really enjoyed our dinner.

    Unfortunately we didn't start off well since we waited 40 minutes to be seated even though we had a reservation. We weren't seated until my husband went and inquired about it to the host and apparently they had overlooked our names and were seating people with 8:45 reservations even though ours was at 8:00. We were not feeling optimistic to start. One of the managers working there stopped by once we were seated to apologize and in fact bought our pitcher of sangria, which was so nice that all was forgiven.

    Our service was good, the food was delicious, and it was well timed. Stand out dishes we thought were the lamb kebobs, meatballs, bacon wrapped dates and the endive and blue cheese salad. The last dish seriously I want to eat an entree size portion of it right this second it was so good. We also tried the sangria of the day, pomegranate, and it was amazing.

    The customer service at this restaurant in and of itself deserves 5 stars. We had some bad luck here but it didn't go unnoticed, and management bent over backwards to make our experience something positive. That is huge in my book.

    I'm already looking forward to my next visit. In particular, the endive salad.

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  • 0

    I have returned to this Lincoln Park institution several times after my January 2012 review.

    As usual, I went to the bar area to enjoy my meal.  The bartender, J.P. had greeted me with some small conversation which was cool.  Very laid back area.  

    Since I didn't know if I wanted breakfast items or tapas entrees, JP gave me plenty of time to decide without being rushed.  I finally decided on the Ham and three cheese omelet with potatoe tots and under the Brunch Pintxos column, I added the Waffle- battered Chicken Stick and the French Toast Stick.

    I had received the chicken stick and the french toast stick first - see picture.  The waffle -battered chicken stick was okay.  The French Toast stick was very good and hardy.  The syrup was also included on the plate.

    Couple of minutes later, the omelet had arrived.  Fantastic!!  Better than most Greek breakfast restaurants.  The omelet was nice and cheesy with good amount of ham in it.  The tots were crispy on the outside and creamy inside - also very good.

    I would highly recommend this restaurant for the brunch and for the tapas entrees.  Go and enjoy this place!!

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  • 0

    This review is for brunch.

    In general, I am not a fan of Spanish food.  But friends of ours were coming into the City to come here for restaurant week, so we joined them for sangria before their reservation.  (I do love sangria, the Spaniards definitely got that right!)

    I did not plan to eat since we were having sangria in the middle of the afternoon, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a brunch menu.  I had the city vegetable omelet, and it was perfect.  It was pack full of fresh veggies, wasn't greasy, and didn't have any cheese.  That was better than I make at home, which is hard to do since I get to control all of the ingredients at home.

    We were sitting in the bar area, which was comfortable.  The bartender was nice and very quick!

    I think this place is pretty pricey, but that's general true of tapas places.  However that is my only complaint

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  • 0

    Great place, cool decor/atmosphere and solid food.

    I love tapas. The more, the merrier!  I've been to Ba-Ba-Reeba a few times, most recently this past sunday, and they always deliver a solid experience.

    One of my favorite things about the restaurant is that you can order "1 bite" portions of tapas for super cheap, around $1-3. .  Its a way to get the best from a tapas experience while not getting hit too hard on the bill.  The 1 bite tapas are really good too! This past sunday we had the dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon (delish) and the pepper stuffed with meat.  Very yummy as well!

    The sangria is solid, gets you just tipsy enough and is reasonably priced.  A pitcher that gives you 7 glasses of sangria costs you about $20 which is a steal.  You can also choose from different flavors like passion fruit and berry.  We really enjoyed the passion fruit one.

    We also had the octopus that day which we loved though, for $9, the portion seemed a bit small.  The lamb dish we had, also in the $10 range, wan't special and also a bit overpriced in my estimation.  Both tasted great but I think they both should have been priced around $7-8.

    I would definitely come back. Good place to go with friends or on a date night. Good food, solid sangria and a nice atmosphere to boot!

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  • 0

    Not worth it for $40/pax dinner

    I am not sure why the place got four stars. The food was very standard for a tapas place. I went with 3 other girls. We ordered 2 plates each for sharing. Baked goat cheese with tomato sauce, ahi tuna, garlic shrimp, crispy potatoes, meatballs, short ribs, one chicken dish and bacon wrapped dates. We also had churros for dessert. Nothing was good at all.

    Baked goat cheese : very basic. It wasn't hot when it arrived.
    Ahi tuna: just ok
    garlic shrimp: recommended dish of room-temperature shrimp swimming in sea of oil
    crispy potatoes: just a soggy potatoes with thousand island-like dipping
    I didn't have the rest of the dishes but my friends said they were just 'ok'

    Churros were the biggest disappointment. I was hoping dessert will change how I feel about the place but it didn't. Churros were soggy, not crispy and was not hot. Churros you get from a carnival would taste better than this.

    The only reason I give it a 2-star is because I enjoyed the dark raspberry sangria and the service was good.

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  • 0

    As someone who is originally from Madrid, I must say this place is great and pretty authentic, yes it is somewhat Americanized, but its done so in a positive way: I had never heard of peach sangria before but it was surprisingly delicious. The patatas bravas (pissed off potatoes) are to die for and the Paellas are delicious as well.

    Overall a great place, good dining, and lots of fun.

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  • 0

    The seafood paella here was fantastic! We came out here on a whim, ordered very simply- marinated olives, endive salad, passion sangria and the seafood paella, and let me tell you- so on point.

    There was a 45 min wait for a table but we were offered to sit at the bar immediately. We couldn't find any spots, so a waiter told us we could sit at any table on that side. We sat, we ordered and were quickly given our drinks and apps. The paella took about 35 min but was so divine. The shrimp and scallops were perfectly cooked, neither over nor underdone, the rice, perfectly moist and tender and the presentation wonderful! I would have loved to have had lemon wedges on the side though, and maybe some peas cooked in- but that's just my personal preference.

    I will absolutely be back.

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  • 0

    Nice place but not impressed by any of the food

    I think the best tapa we ordered was the spinach & manchego stuffed mushrooms. The meatballs with sherry tomato sauce was okay, and the grilled chicken skewer with zucchini almond pesto was okay too but the chicken was dry. Overall I thought the place was overpriced.

    The four of us shared our bite sized desserts because yelp had an amazing offer (one free dessert per guest) and we immensely enjoyed the butterscotch custard cream (great for a a sweet tooth) followed by the vanilla orange flan (SOOOO delicous!) then the banana caramelized banana and lastly the mango sorbet. If I based my rating on the desserts alone I would have given this place 4 stars but based on the more savory tapas...just 2. =/

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  • 0

    Went on a weeknight, I believe it was a Wednesday night.  Half off on bottles of wine! Bonus.  Food was excellent and not terribly expensive for tapas.  Everything we ordered was tasty.  Had the roasted peppers, sweet potato, potato salad, scallops, octopus, paella, a cheese platter and flan to end the meal! Service was also very good.  They accomodated our seatin request and made great suggestions on wine and food.

    I will be back to try more.

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  • 0

    If you're looking for a fun place to go on a date or with some girlfriends, cafe ba-ba-reeba is the place to go. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, and the food is delish. Plus, for sangria lovers, it doesn't get any better than this. They have 6 different sangrias on tap, and they always have a seasonal special. If you are lucky enough to get the pomegranate sangria on special, I highly recommend it.

    The chef's recommendations are pointed out on the menu, and every one of those I've tried are delicious. The spicy potatoes and the pinxto platter are my personal favs, but I've never gotten something I haven't liked.

    If you join the texting club, they send you a free small plate every month. Also, if it's your first time, you get a free pinxto platter with a foursquare check in.

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    Alright, I have to take back what I said before. I went back in with my BFF and her Momma on a Saturday afternoon. I have to say although the food was good the service sucked. I mean our waitress was nice but she tended to be absent when we really needed her.

    Our waters weren't filled unless we asked and instead of our table being cleaned up quickly like last time, I was stacking empty plates up to clear up the table. Sometimes they noticed and picked them up and sometimes they didn't. Being that the tapas come out at different times and that there are many little plates, they need to be on top of clearing the table up. When the waitress came to bring more she made no effort to clear anything to make room.

    I cannot give them less than 3 stars because the food was really good. I was not a fan of the short rib though, it lacked flavor. Everything else was good. We had the patatas bravas, chicken empanada, lamb kababs, stuffed mushrooms & a few desserts.

    Last time I went in it was a weekday evening and I feel that going on a Saturday afternoon should make no difference in how the service is. They either need to hire more people or re train the ones they have.

    I will give Ba Ba Reeba another shot and hope they don't let me down. I loooove little plates of food so if it doesn't work out I'll have to find another go to for Tapas.

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  • 0

    I don't know how I haven't written a review for this place yet! It is delicious! The only downside is that it is often over-crowded and can feel a little chain restaurantish.

    The spicy potatoes, beef skewers, empanadas and bacon wrapped dates are my favorites - to name a few. The sangria is tasty and a good choice if you're not looking for a buzz.  The environment is overall pleasant - especially in the summer, but again, it is pretty crowded and often like walking through a maze to get to your table or to get to the bathroom.

    I'd recommend this place for a group - you end up splitting the bill anyway, so why not get to try a bunch of delicious food. I'll warn you though, the bill can add up!!

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    I came here for dinner with a high school friend I had not seen for quite some time while I was in Chicago for work. I got there a little late but my friend had ordered a sangria and she clearly loved it since she ordered another later on during our meal.

    I had fairly high expectations for this place since I do love tapas. However, it did not fare up to my expectations. That said, it was by no means bad - it was just okay. We ordered the tapas sampler of some sort and it was decent. The other tapas dishes were mediocre and some unmemorable.

    Overall it was a decent place, but given all the options Chicago has to offer its pretty average.

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  • 0

    Good tapas, huge restaurant, and a menu that is fun and easy to navigate for any tapas lover.  Superb service from the greeting to the seating.

    We started with the platter of six bite size tapas, and then shared a small bowl of delicious potato leek soup, garnished with crisp serrano ham. Next up, beef tenderloin w/ blue cheese,a side of marinated olives, and the lushy sweet but salty dates wrapped in bacon. Onward said our taste buds and stomachs! Then fresh perfectly cooked shrimp in lemon,olive oil, and garlic and a small spinach salad with wafer thin apples wedges, quinoa sprinkles, with a citrus vinagrette. Food this tasty does compel one to write about it and recommend it.

    Good service! The bunches of little plates we cleaned were cleared quickly, water re-poured without asking. Service was exceptional!

    We skipped dessert. Next time I return, I will do my tapas backwards and start with the dessert.

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