"The only thing more amazing than the flamenco show is how this dump stays in business"
Food: 2/5
Service: 1/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Parking: 1/5
Cleanliness: 2/5
  Las Tapas may have a flamenco show and live music....however that's about all they have to flaunt when it comes to their restaurant.
  Service here is potentially worse than the DMV, on 3 trips to the restaurant (brought people to see the show) it has taken between 10-15 minutes to even get greeted, another 10 for drinks, and another 15 to get our food. Servers don't have a script, minimal menu knowledge, don't make eye contact, and move at a lethargic pace. Terrible customer service every time for every guest.
  Beyond the absolutely terrible service is the food - calamari so undercooked that my fork went through it like slimy butter, unseasoned tapas, though the manchego cheese with bread was excellent. Of course, how do you mess up cheese on a piece of bread? Otherwise all bland, uneventful, and poorly cooked food...almost dirty tasting which doesn't come as any surprise.
  Parking is terrible as well as this is in old town so come out early if you are going to stop by, however I don't recommend stopping by.
The food was horrible! Â Definitely not worth the trip or the money! Â Las Tasca down the street is ten times better! Â The scallops were not fresh and had a weird taste, the mozzarella and tomato was drizzled with ranch??? Â The pork was nothing but fat that you couldn't chew. Â My friend almost broke his stuff from eating the lamb, Â plus the staff was goofing off, no wonder the place was dead on a friday night. Â They should hire better managers.
Review Source:When we entered this place on this popular restaurant street in downtown Alexandria we got carded immediately. That seemed a bit shady. Then the doorman started talking about hookahs and we realized we wanted to go to their sister restaurant next door.
When we got to the right spot the place looked Spanish-style, but it smelt funky. We looked through the menu and ordered a few dishes based on our waitress's recommendations. Should it matter that she's not Spanish? Poland is close enough. Â Charging $7 per plate of tapas should be matched with quality and a reasonable sized portion. Mostly, we didn't get either. The patatas bravas was good, but even I can chop and fry potatoes. The octopus was water-logged and tasteless, like frozen food can get. The paella should be the knockout dish. Here is wasn't and again it was small. The rice was cooked separately and then topped with the ingredients of our dish. Not great, but edible. The sangria was ok, not much flavor, and certainly no buzz.
Overall, Sam and I wished we'd tried another restaurant. I wished I hadn't broken my Galaxy S3 phone earlier which resulted in this non-Yelp dining experience! Never again!
I was just glad to discover that there is a hookah bar within walking distance of our new place. Â We came in late-ish on a Saturday night after dinner and it was pretty empty. Â The hookah area is in the back up a swirly staircase and it is loungish and dark and comfortable. Â I actually really liked it. Â And the bathrooms were huge and actually pretty nice and clean.
So far so good - we did not try the food and the service was indeed a little slow, but as of now I have no problems with it and like the ambiance of the place. Â I'm sure we will be back here.
Boo and I came here on a Friday night after making a reservation for two. We walked in and the place was empty, save for a couple tucked away in the corner.
We had a pitcher of sangria (excellent) but the tapas were just OK (tough veal, chicken was nothing special, and I concur that the spanakopita taste costco-bought). Server missed a few of our tapas, but what had me fuming was that she brought out a crab tapa when I politely declined that suggestion. I even told her, crab? Oh no, my date is  ALLERGIC TO SHELLFISH. When I asked if it were crab and said we didn't order this, she nervously giggled and said, "Oh." Not even an apology.
It is one thing to forget a dish we ordered, it's a whole other issue when you FAIL TO LISTEN and bring out something the customer is allergic to. Luckily, Boo only had a small bite, and isn't deathly allergic, but I was fuming as I watched him chug water and stop eating because his throat was itchy and his tongue, swollen. I had to force him to take a benadryl.
We paid the tab, and I asked to talk to a manager. They ended up comp'ing the bill and apologizing profusely, but we left with our food mostly untouched after 45 minutes in the place.
Never returning and now I understand why the place was empty.
Horrid. Everything was awful, from service to quality of food. Great location, good for big groups, but I shouldn't have to wait 20 minutes for water. The waiter brought nothing on time, even cold dishes took 20 minutes. On top of that hot food was delivered cold. Not good. The food was decent when delivered correctly. Overall, I won't be returning.
Review Source:Alright, so let me start by saying as of 2007, this used to be my favorite restaurant. I had a friend in town and decided to try it again for the first time in four years. The menu is still the same, that's fine it's simple Spanish tapas, don't change anything. Nevermind, actually change everything about this place. IT'S TERRIBLE. What the hell happened? I was dining with a friend and we ordered the braised rabbit in beer, spicy shrimp, paella valenciana, and a pitcher of sangria. The braised rabbit was okay, nothing special, but had maybe an ounce of meat in it if you dug through the massive backbone they served. That's just stupid. Not even the right cut to serve. Okay, moving on. Five shrimp for 7 dollars in a really bland sauce and they're majorly overcooked. No thanks. The paella, what the *&%$ WAS THAT? Overly cooked not crunchy on the bottom 'saffon' rice with overly cooked lobster tail and the worst, can I please reiterate, the worst, most stale horrid muscles and clams I've ever tasted in my entire life. Oh and did I mention they weren't busy at all and everything was seriously nasty and overcooked? As if they'd cooked it a couple days ago and reheated it. I had to flag down the waiter and tell him that they were far past expired. He claimed they came in Saturday morning. Really? Most restaurants order their seafood before the weekend starts. He sent it back to the chef and brought us a complimentary cheesecake without even asking. Um...I don't want any more of your food. I don't even write yelp reviews all that much, but I had to warn people that this place is just the worst place I've ever eaten at. Period. Not to mention they still made me and my friend pay for the worst paella and dinner of all time. I will NEVER come back, this is just seriously the worst. Don't even try it.
Review Source:I came here the other night and the experience was just a big disappointment. It was 730ish and we walked in and were then about to walk out when we were convinced to stay and watch the flamenco show. Guitar play was very good, dancer not so much. She was basically off-beat. Practice more before performing at a Spanish tapas venue..We had the white wine sangria, and it was ok..The ambiance during the flamenco show was terrible. The lights were too bright, and they had these cheesy stage lights with what reminds me of some shady karaoke venue in Korea. Overall bad try at making something relatively easy.
Review Source:I am starting to learn... Reviews do not lie.
Took my girl here Saturday night. Â 1 hookah, 5 drinks one hummus tapas= 100$. Overpriced drinks for sure.
If I had to see the waiters play grab ass with the waitresses one more time I would of thrown up the shotty hummus. Â Owners, you should not allow your busboys to run around the bar in wife beaters smoking ciggs annoying every parton in the bar. Â Convinced the dude must have snortted the leftover yay the waiters and waitresses left on the toilet seat.
place sucks will not return.
Probably a 2.5. Â Came in for some light food on a Saturday evening, and didn't leave disappointed, but with so many options in the area, I don't think I would be back.
A friend wanted to try sparking sangria, so we did, and it was okay but...not sparkling. Â There was not a single sparkle to the pitcher. Flavor was decent. Â
We both tried plates of grilled calimare; unfortunately, the cook forgot to use the salt shaker. Â This is the first restaurant that I can think of that I actually asked for the salt shaker (cooking 101...use salt!) Â Once it was salted correctly, the flavor was decent, and it wasn't too chewy. Â We also tried a plate of jamon serrano, because it's like pig crack. Â While it was good because, well, even dried into jerky it's probably still delicious, some pieces were very dry, like it has been sitting out exposed for a long time in a low-humidity environment. Â For shame. Â
Service was friendly, but very slow. Â It took 15 minutes to get a second round of drinks, and at least as long to have her come back to ask if we needed anything (yes, a saltshaker, for my now cold squid.) Â
The highlight of our experience were the profiteroles. Â They were pretty awesome, but I think they're difficult to screw up. Â The picture also showed that we would receive four, but only two came out. Â
I can't really recommend coming back here, unless you want dessert.
If you like loud restaurants with pretty good sangria and mediocre food, look no further.
The lamb in tomato sauce was okay, but not great. The empanadillas were decent, but nothing special. The spanakopita, on the other hand, was outstanding. I might come just to get another bite of that.
I am a non-smoker but I sat in the smoking section upstairs with a group of acquaintances. I don't mind the occasional smoke but it got extremely heavy with 3 tables of 8 or more. each smoking, along with a hookah and 2 cigars. On a Sunday
our waiter was new and forgot to give us water several times even when asked. The timing in which our orders came out was very off which left me staring down other peoples plates. We also found that blatant lipstick marks on the sangria glasses that were already set out on the table.
Perhaps the non-smoking side is treated better. I did bit of waltz through it to check it out, it had brighter decor. The food was okay. I had the octopus which they had cooked correctly. but there was little flavor with it... and I found myself pouring a bit of  olive oil on it which was provided on table to give it some kind of bite. Sangria are what you would expect by the pitcher. watered down, but hey someone's got to drive home right... well no worries you'll be fine to drive.
regardless of the food, I was not comfortable here and will not go back on my own to find out if the non-smoking section is treated better.
So I've been making it a valid point to travel from restaurant to restaurant in the Alexandria area. Â I had been to Las Tapas for lunch a long time ago. Â It was quiet, but for the price, I got a few nice tapas, sat by the window looking over the beautiful and charming Old Town Alexandria area and was treated well by the staff (minimal as it was at the time).
Since then, there seems to have been a rip in time or something because I went there with an associate for lunch just yesterday and I have got to tell you, THINGS ARE CHANGING FOR THE BETTER.
There is clearly a shift in management happening here. Â The place looks cleaner, the staff seems more observant, the quality of the food, though never bad ever, seems to explode with exciting flavors. Â My guest and I both tried what the staff called their "Sunshine Sangria" - A recipe when asked what was in it, was declared by the staff as "A well kept secret" was white with flavors of peach, pear and a surprising kick from somewhere that was both off dry & refreshing and for the after shock, a great value to boot! Â The staff claims to have an old and well kept guarded recipe for their red sangria but regularly release new batches of experimental ones such as this INCREDIBLE "Sunshine" one that I recommend coming to happy hour to try along side a light and cool tapas for pairing.
My guest and I tried a number of tapas there yesterday. Â We drank a fabulous Rioja (Darien I think?) and started off with a ridiculous Lobster Bisque. Â Again, RIDICULOUS. Â They serve this rustic bread table side and if you save some, you can soak up the left overs of this brandy soaked soup that is worth having a cup of at least once.
We went to town! Â We ordered the "Pimientos Del Piquillo Rellenos" which are two little red peppers stuffed thick with crab meat over this dense tomato based sauce that blew me away. Â I was forced to share it with my associate and merely wished I ordered like, five of those for myself! Â Then there was this awesome "Pollo Sevillana" which was snails and chicken, together, with marinara sauce and mushrooms. Â Chicken cooked great, the snails were not too gummy or chewy and VERY flavorful and the sauce, excellent.
From there, we had these flavorful Spanish style meat balls that were one of the stars of the lunch and two specials that featured manchego as a key component. Â The first was an omelet made with chorizo sausage and served with a zesty zippy cream sauce and the second was fritter style (like boudain balls) fried croquette thing that was stuffed rice, artichoke, sweet white corn and cheese with some sort of delicious dipping sauce that complimented it superbly.
We decided to eat on the hookah bar side (Yes, this place and probably the only one in the Alexandria area that offers it) which has a stunning bar that easily seats 25 Â or more and two floors of tables, was Spanish influenced down to the color of paint on the walls! Â I can't wait to go in there for the live music, wine tastings, happy hour and anything else they may be offering out there because it's a top ten on my list of places King St. has to offer starting yesterday!
A small plus for me (Being a married guy and all) but probably a big one for all you ladies and gents out there, the staff is enticing.  The ladies behind  the bar are pretty and the male staff members have thick Spain accents, you can't get upset about that now can you!!!!
Five stars and going back next weekend, hopefully I'll see some of you out there!
Cheers!
I LOVE THIS PLACE!
1. They have separate seating for those who want to listen to great music and smoke hookah and those who would like to wine and dine on their amazing tapas
2. They have some really fun dancers there on certain nights (highly recommend going!) that make the food and wine taste that much better.
Service was superb, the hookah was spot on, and the food was....some of the best I've ever had. Want a fun atmosphere? Las Tapas.
Poor for food, decent Flamenco show."
Food was middling to bad. The cold cuts from Spain were decent, Veal Scallopini was awful and grilled veggies were pathetic.
The Flamenco dancer was pretty decent and enthusiastic, the guitarist didnt seem to want to be there. The dancer saved the night for us.
This review comes within about a month of my most recent visit to a far better tapas restaurant in the Washington, DC area. Â With that said, the differences are astounding, not just with regards to quality, but also presentation and preparation. Â The main complaint if it were is that the food is unremarkable, not bad, just not exciting and/or wow.
There was a fried shrimp tapas that I do not see on the on-line menu that was out right horrible. Â Fried and old could be used to describe it best. Â The grilled squid left a lot to be desired. Â The fried potatoes were so blah they were not even finished. Â The Ceviche De Pescado Y Mariscos was actually pretty good on the other hand as was the assorted meat platter that included serano ham, cucumber, olives and cornichon. Â In addition the baked rabbit was quite nice, but overall there were too many inconsistencies with quality to really be deemed a serious contender in quality tapas restaurants.
Your money is better spent elsewhere.
Sangria is great, I have been here too many times to count and the food is pretty good.
Its tapas- Pick a bunch of random things and if you don't like something, its not the end of the world. Go for the abondigas, croquettas, quail, gambas ajillo, lobster bisque, cheese samplings... anything! Dive in and enjoy the atmosphere. Sometimes the waiters seem confused on remembering everything we order, but it all comes out in the end. We always stop in whenever in Old Town. Waaaay better than Las Tascas across the street.
5th star: lost because of one bad bar experience. My boyfriend does not drink, and we stopped in the bar to get some appetizers and sangria. Bartender was a complete bitch to us in only ordering a sangria and an iced tea as we looked over the menu in an empty bar at 5:00 on a weekday. We paid the bill for the drinks and went to Columbia Firehouse and Hanks Oyster Bar instead. We will not go back to the bar side again.
Ladies: Bathroom is up a huge flight of stairs which sucks after a pitcher or two of sangrias. Just a side note when debating big heels and tiny skirt, or jeans and flats. Tall heels + sangria+ stone staircase= potential disaster.
Las Tapas. Just thinking about this place makes my mouth water. I have tried over half of their dozens of authentic tapas and each one is incredible! Â Fresh ingredients, large portions, reasonable prices. My all time favorites are the baked rabbit, chorizo with apple, and the lamb with tomatoes. The ceviche is good too. The hot, fresh bread is perfect for soaking up the amazing flavors of the tapas juices after you devour the dish. Olive oil and balsamic served by default. You don't have to ask for anything.
So that's the food. You can get it in the bar area or the dining room. The bar area is also the best hookah bar in old town! Weekends the live music is fantastic and you can find dancing and drinking by the stage. Â Tuesdays and Thursdays they put on a flamenco live music and dancing show on a wooden stage in the dining room. Â It's pretty neat to watch!
Finally, the staff is excellent and I've never had bad service, even if not all of them speak perfect English. ;)
My only 5-star rating. Ever.
So.........if Yelp would allow me to give NO stars...I would. Yes, it was that bad. I so wanted to love this place....its gorgeous inside and HUGE...but, EMPTY and now I know why.
So bad...I don't know where to start. Ok...so my friend and I was on a mission to find a new brunch spot in Old Town. One that serves waffles, french toast, omelettes...you know simple brunch food. We passed Las Tapas offering brunch til 3pm. Cool. We stop in and we are immediately seated in the dining area.
I order the Norwegian style crepes (Smoked salmon, shallots, and dill cream cheese) with potatoes and my friend orders Waffles-Berries and chorizo on the side. We waited maybe 10 minutes and finally the food arrived. I take a few bites and notice that I'm missing some ingredients in my crepes. Smoked Salmon-CHECK, Crumbled Feta Cheese-WTF???? and that's it. America's Driest Crepes for $12. So I flag the waiter and I ask him what's up with this feta cheese.
He just kinda nods and says..."what other cheese would you like...we have Swiss...?"
Me "No, on the menu...there's supposed to be a dill cream cheese."
He hurries off to get a menu....SIGH!
Me....(pointing at menu)..."Smoked Salmon, shallots and dill cream cheese."
He hurries off to the kitchen and comes back with a big a** bowl of dill cream cheese...that tasted like....cream cheese. SIGH!
I try the fried potatoes....and they are cold and seriously lacking salt. SIGH....
The waiter comes back..."How was it?" I just shake my head and he says "I will remove it from the bill." SIGH. Yet, I'm still hungry....
My friend inhales his soggy waffle with berries. I find it interesting that the waffle already had syrup on it...so it was soggy by the time it was delivered to our table. And the chorizo....SIGH.....was thinly sliced, lukewarm, and drowning in this spicy special sauce.
Would I be back? Yes....with Chef Irvine from Restaurant Impossible.
I don't understand why there are so many poor reviews here. Â I just came for brunch today after a long absence (since I'm exiled to Arlington for work) and we had a great meal. Â Boyfriend had the smoked fish and olives and what-have-you platter and loved the salmon, and I had the croquettes, shrimp in garlic oil, and lobster bisque. Â The lobster bisque is FANTASTIC. Â The shrimp and croquettes are both good. Â Mimosas at brunch are $3. Â
The portions are not huge, but, ah, they're tapas. Â Some things are better than others here. Â The service is a little "European". Â This is all okay with me since I don't like hovering waitstaff and if I wanted huge platters of food I wouldn't go for tapas. Â It's still better than La Tasca, which is consistently unremarkable and has the atmosphere of a Pier 1 Imports during some Mediterranean interior design trend. Â I have no idea what people are talking about in reference to the smokiness. Â Their smoke detectors must be more sensitive than mine, I guess.
FOOD: Â Okay. Nothing was stellar or out of this world. Â The croquettes were cold, and the boquerones (sardines) were not like ones I've had at other Spanish restaurants.
SERVICE: Â Bartender was good.
ATMOSPHERE: Â Guests can smoke in the bar area. Â I've become accustomed to non-smoking bars and restaurants, so I wasn't too pleased about that when we were sitting next to a bunch of smokers.
Would I go again? Â No. It beats La Tasca though.
My 3-star rating is an average.
The food is somewhere between meh and bleh. It beats being hungry. I can't think of anything else encouraging to say about it.
I love the entertainment here. I give it 5 stars. The live music is good and usually there's no cover - you can come in and watch the band, get something to drink, and chill. Live music is usually on Friday/Saturday nights.
The flamenco show is amazing (!!!), and easily the best thing about Las Tapas. I would sit through a meal here just to watch the flamenco.
Not sure I'd eat here after all the mangling this place is taking here on Yelp!
Came in on Saturday afternoon to have a couple of drinks and smoke some hookah, and that is exactly what we did. And that was perfect. The three stars I'll give it are for the nice decor, excellent sheesha and decent beer selection. They lose out on more stars with the not-so-welcoming staff and general state of unpreparedness. Seriously, 4pm on a spring Saturday afternoon on King St. and you're not ready for customers?!
Las Tapas is BY FAR THE WORST RESTAURANT in Old Town! I'm not joking!
When's the last time you remember walking into a restaurant that smelled like stale cigarettes? If you want to remember that feeling, just head to Las Tapas!
When's the last time you enjoyed spending $6.50 on 4 quarter size shrimp? Or were served 3 one-bite spanakopita which were clearly from Costco for $5.50? If you want to remember that feeling, just head to Las Tapas!
You might be asking yourself, why were spanakopita even on the menu? Â It's okay, I asked myself that too. There was hummus on the menu too. Â I didn't know Las Tapas boosted as Mediterranean fare. Oh, nope it doesn't - it's website states, "Las Tapas Restaurant offers the largest selection of authentic Spanish Tapas". Â
Note: There were no vegetables on the menu. Â I'm not even talking about vegetarian options, I mean, literally, no vegetables offered!
Now you might understand why I said Las Tapas is the worst! I honestly wonder how they are still in business? Don't say I didn't worn you!
While this place does try very hard, it misses the mark. Came in on Thursday night which has been pitched to me as the night when they have the popular flamenco dancers. Well it turned out to be one spirited dancer and her bored sister. Not a terrible show, certainly not worth fighting over parking on King Street. The shisha in the bar area is a notable attraction. Notable only in that it's available, and by the quality of the tobacco and the service to bring the pipes out and keep fresh coals on them, seems more like an after thought.
I'm trying hard to think of what was good and the only thing that pops into my mind is the hummus which was not bad at all. I think that tells you everything.
I've been to Las Tapas in Old Town Alexandria many times in the past, and until last Saturday I had never been disappointed.
Perhaps it was the fact that it was crowded and the cooks were concentrating on the "set menus" for couples, but the tapas - almost all of them - that we ordered a la carte were not very good.
The pinchitos are some of my favorite tapas on the planet. When I lived in Spain, they were usually served using ex bicycle wheel spokes as the skewers. The ones that we got last night at Las Tapas were tasteless - they certainly didn't have that pinchito-unique flavor - and they were lukewarm, and they were tiny! They should be called tapitas, not tapas.
The Calamares Rellenos En Salsa De Tomate looked great, but when I went to cut into one of them, the stuffing popped out all in one lump, as it was also lukewarm and the dish had been allowed to settle back and separate, thus allowing the stuffing to congeal into one lumpy mass.
The Pulpo A La Gallega was acceptable, but once again, it was lukewarm and the thinly sliced octopus would have probably tasted a lot better if it had been hotter in temperature.
The Mejillones Al Vapor were hot and delicious; no complaint there. The Pa Amb Oli, one of the priciest tapas on the menu, was also good.
I had a half jar of Sangria and this is where La Tasca really failed. This was by far the worst Sangria that I have ever tasted in a restaurant, Spanish or not.
It was essentially made up of Triple Sec and wine, with the Triple Sec overpowering all the other stuff which is supposed to be in a true Spanish sangria and which I think was missing from this "sangria."
I suspect that what happened was that they ran out of the pre-mixed Sangria (we were there at 8PM) and they were just dumping wine and triple Sec and cut up apples into the pitchers.
As many of you know, and anyone who went to a Fraser Gallery opening between 1996-2006 can testify to, I can make one really decent sangria, which follows a recipe that I learned while living in Spain. This perhaps makes me a tough juror for Sangria.
But if you are a Spanish restaurant, and your Sangria tastes like watered down Triple Sec, then you have a problem.
Fail!
I would recommend trying La Tasca first. Â This place was ok. Â The clams we had were very tasty, and the bread was ok, but that was about it. Â I was disappointed with menu selection. Â For a tapas place, it was limited. Â I always expected to be blown away with so many choices that I can't make up my mind. Â This was not the case here. Â I actually just gave in and ordered whatever because nothing really called to me.
So this place wasn't bad..... it wasn't GREAT either.
About 8 months ago I discovered <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurant.com&s=0aab4cbd731f3d3b0d1453050d3abc56a8c80bd214e25469c7555b750dca8a51" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurant.com</a> and bought up a bunch of them for restaurants in the NoVA area that my wife and I hadn't tried yet. Â That was poor timing since the wifey became pregnant almost later that day. Â So during the first trimester of "work, sleep, repeat" we didn't use any of them. Â Now with just over a month to go, I thought ... we better use these things before crying baby ruins all our nice date nights! ;)
Anyhow, went here on a Tuesday. Â Had fair service. Â Food was fair. Â Flamenco entertainment towards the end of our meal was kind of cool. Â But then I got slapped with the old "we don't take these gift certificates anymore", even though it said plainly on the cert "Never expires". Â Sadness set in as I'm rubbing every penny together to prep for arrival of baby. Â I was offered a lame excuse that amounted to <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurant.com&s=0aab4cbd731f3d3b0d1453050d3abc56a8c80bd214e25469c7555b750dca8a51" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurant.com</a> selling without their permission, although she did say that they used to have a contract with <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurant.com&s=0aab4cbd731f3d3b0d1453050d3abc56a8c80bd214e25469c7555b750dca8a51" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurant.com</a>. Â In my opinion, you suck it up and and figure that $25 is worth not having this mentioned on your Yelp page, and politely informing the patron for the next time. Â
Overall disappointed and wanted to throw this up in case you are planning on buying/using a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurant.com&s=0aab4cbd731f3d3b0d1453050d3abc56a8c80bd214e25469c7555b750dca8a51" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurant.com</a> certificate there. Â I don't really hold grudges, but I can safely say I have zero desire to go back.
My husband and I were walking down King Street on Friday night looking for a place to eat dinner. We decided on Las Tapas since we love tapas and they had a small patio out front (we wanted to eat outside to take advantage of the nice weather). Being able to eat outside is pretty much the best thing I can say about Las Tapas.
The food was very disappointing. We ordered calamari, patatas bravas, tortilla espagnola, fried chicken and manchengo cheese, and caesar salad. When the highlight of the meal is the salad, that says something. Our first four dishes all came with the same two dipping sauces - tomato sauce and aioli. The patatas bravas were really just home fries with a side of sauce. The tortilla espagnola was too spongy and not good at all. The calamari was just OK - nothing bad, nothing great. The chicken and manchengo was decent, but most anything that is deep fried is fine. The sangria I tried was good, but definitely not the best I have ever had. For two drinks, the 4 tapas dishes, and the salad, our bill came to $42 before tip.
Overall I found this tapas experience very disappointing. If you are a fan of tapas, I recommend finding another place in Old Town to try.
meh. I've experienced better.
I couldn't care less for the wine I picked - maybe I've become really overpartial to California wines...?
I couldn't care less for the patatas aioli we got, it was like fried potato cubes with mayo.
The two points goes to the spanokopita, ironic, because it's not even a spanish tapa.
I said it before and I'll say it again, tapas outside of spain just aren't good.
Atmosphere:
HUGE. There's a full bar area, a full dining area, and an upstairs dining area as well. To access the restroom you have to go through the bar area, then up the stairs which was kind of a pain.
We had window seating, so was able to people watch. The also offer a handful of tables for outside seating. The decor is Spanish but nothing authentic appealed to my eyes.
Food:
Five tapas (mixture from hot, cold, and meat dishes), three beers, and warm bread was enough to fill up two people. I enjoyed the Mediterranean salad (tomato, fresh mozzarella, and olives) and the chicken quesadilla (which had a spicy kick) but the remaining three dishes were nothing spectacular.
I normally enjoy ceviche but felt they squeezed in too much lime juice which took away any taste of the seafood. However, all the dishes had distinctive flavor and nothing was bland.
Service:
Our waitress was a bit slow to start (forgetting our waters and so forth) but became a lot more attentive towards the middle of the meal.
Overall:
The portions to price ratio seems a bit high for what they charge with nothing spectacular or standing out. I might return but only to check out their happy hour (I saw $2 signs on their HH chalkboard).
REVISED- I went back (3rd time's a charm) late on a Saturday evening (9pm) and to my suprise the server was very nice and competent, food was much better than usual and I tried their ceviche for the first time- mouthwatering. Â I have upgraded my previous review to 4 stars now, don't knock this place until you try at least 6 different tapas and a dessert, you won't regret it.
------------------------------previous review.
I ate here for the second time ever for my Valentine's dinner with the GF. Â My GF actually told me about this place and made certain I did not confuse it with the giant evil chain; La Tasca. Â Which brings me to my first postive, this place is a mom & pop joint, there are no other Las Taspas around, a big plus for me since I enjoy supporting these establishments, especially if they're providing yummy food. Â
I have yet to have a bad experience with the food here and I have tried just about every tapas item on the menu. Â I would say my favorites are the meatalls in red sauce and the pollo al ajillo (chicken n' garlic) followed by the patatas bravas and shrimp in wine sauce. Â We each ordered 3 tapas and that was more than enough to satisfy us both; until I convinced myself to split a dessert as well. Â We decided on the profiteroles, a dessert consisting of vanilla icecream, puff pastry and raspberry/chocolate drizzled all around. Â Yes, it tasted just as good as it sounds!
Food was great, dessert was great, prices could definitely be a bit lower, and atmosphere was fitting for the flamenco dancing nights. Â I'm not a big fan of paella, so I'm not going to even comment on it, but the service here needs some work. Â The server seemed like it was his first night and was awkwardly trying to upsell items to us every time he came by. Â My greatest concern though was that the bar is not divided from the dining area very well, because near the end of my meal, some jackass basically smoked an entire pack of Camels on the other side of my wall and it almost ruined my entire night. Â Lastly, they unexpectedly changed their perfectly good menu to some commercialized mess of a "Valentine's menu"; very annoying, since most of their best tapas were not even available.
This place is a sad case of great dining and desserts drowned out by a poor table layout and poorly trained servers. Â Want to know how to make this a 4-star tapas place? Find out if they will let you carry-out!
This place is awful, OK I love tapas but I went there a Tuesday night and for the server ask us for a drink took like 10 min.
And the food, overpriced and too simple is like the chef have no passion for what he does. The service is really bad.
The decoration is pretty bad.
The flamenco is good.
I never coming back I rather go MC Donald's
Okay... so lets set this up a bit. Â We went there .. called ahead.. for a lunch on a holiday weekend... to let them know we were looking for a place to host our 40-50 person rehearsal dinner before the wedding.
The manager was very nice and walked us to the room upstairs to show us where we'd likely have the party. Â Fine..
It was 12:00 Noon... one would expect some people eating, but only 3 tables were taken. Â Fair enough...
But they had 2 servers.. and the service was so mediocre, though polite... getting a refill on my diet coke was like pulling teeth. Â
We asked for their recommendations... and he gave us a list of 10 things.. we tried 8 of them.
Not one of them was what I'd consider tasty. Â Only one was awful (the fried calamari... seriously, how do you screw that up?).. but the rest were okay at best.
I think they're a 2/5 place, but from the food we ate.. not ONE thing stood out as tasty and great. Â In a tapas place, i expect a few dishes to be better than others.. and understand that some may not be as great (or suit my taste). Â But nothing stood out. Â
Even the bread was ..eh...
Sorry.. looking for great places in alexandria for the event, and this wasn't worth it at all to me.
One bonus for being moderately priced.. (though it was lunch, and they likely have a more expensive dinner menu)
I like Las Tapas for their tapas AND for their sangria. We used to eat here alot, but now we do to-go. We got take-out from here last weekend, and the staff was so nice to us! It was a little before dinner time, so the place was pretty much empty. We waited by the bar for our food. We had our 1-year old, and he was walking around, and several staff members would stop and pick him up and love on him. Anyway, I digress.
We always get the potatoes with the aioli sauce, the tortilla (omelette), the sauteed mushrooms, spanakopita, and then the garlic soup. You get lots of bread with it, also. I just think their food tastes better than La Tasca. It's no Jaleo, but I think Las Tapas has more veggie choices.
We are moving in a couple of weeks, and I had a "Farewell Tour" of our favorite restaurants, and Las Tapas was on the list. Good-bye, Las Tapas! *sniff* You will be missed!
My friend and I went to Las Tapas on a Friday night at about 10:00 pm. Â The band was decent but we sat at a table at the bar and didn't get served for over 15 minutes. Â We approached the bar and were ignored for another 10 even though it wasn't busy. Â Both bartenders were doing nothing... simply inattentive. Â We basically had to flag them down. Â
In short, the service was awful and the drinks are extremely over-priced. Â
The whole environment was awful and you could tell it is poorly run. Â Management doesn't care about the customer. Â
Whatever happened to being attentive to the paying customer... don't they want our business?
and one more thing...
The bathrooms were leaking and stinking.
Went here the day after Valentine's Day and was pleasantly surprised at how romantic and attentive my restaurant experience was here. Â My fiance and I tried too many different tapas, and all were varying degrees of good or great. Â I was brave enough to try their rabbit tapas, and the sauce made the Little Bunny Foo Foo-eating experience pleasant and flavorful. Â The dishes were alright, but the sauces accented the flavors of the dishes marvelously. Â I debated taking my bread and dipping it into the sauces as my main meal. Â
The decor was Spanish romantic and the wait staff was attentive. Â What set this place from the other tapas bars I've been to were the flamenco dancers. Â They come on every Thursday nights and they have other live entertainment other nights, so check out their website for what.
I treated my cousins to dinner on their 5th wedding anniversary at Las Tapas.  The food was okay.  The spanakopeta was good, but the mushrooms were too salty for my liking.  The bread complimented the mushrooms, but it was missing something...  Most of their wines were from  Spain; perhaps the reason they were over priced?  I expected a better tasting wine for the cost, but maybe I'm just not well versed when it comes to Spanish (red) wine.  Maybe I should've tried the sangria...
The place was crowded, so it seems that it's one of the places to hit when you're in Alexandria.
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