Socarrat Paella Bar – Nolita
“My favorite paella by far is the Arroz Negro which is mixed seafood paella with squid ink.”
“both the Nolita and Chelsea locations are wonderful— nice lighting; solid energy (see: a bit loud, in a good way); in cool neighborhoods.”
“We had four tapas plates- scallop carpaccio, grilled cuttlefish, garlic shrimp and sauteed mushrooms.”
Socarrat Paella Bar – Nolita
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Paella bar, indeed! There are so many kinds of paella to choose from, and plates definitely is large enough for sharing. Our server suggested between the three of us to order one serving of paella and get a few dishes of tapas. He was right, and it was just the right amount of food. everything tasted delicious. Service was quick and polite. I enjoyed my visit, but was not thrilled with the dripping from the condensation of a vent, and wished they could do more about it — but all they could do was mop up the condensation every few minutes.
Make reservations ahead of time, they get busy!
Socarrat has been on my list for a while. Me and my mom finally stopped by to try some paella on an early Sunday dinner. It was a very quiet evening with only 3 other tables. The paella can be a bit pricy (cheapest is like $23 per person and a minimum of 2 people order) and we settled with the arroz negro and also got the octopus tapas while we wait for the paella. The octopus tapas was cooked well and so flavorful. I literally couldn't stop eating it. The pictures really don't do the paella's any justice and the seafood on it may look skimpy. However, when you start digging into the wonder paella, it's just So. Darn. Yummy. They also serve the arroz negro with a special spiced mayo. While you don't need a lot of the mayo, just a little bit mixed into the rice really does elevate the flavors. About the seemingly skimpy seafood, it's actually quite a lot once we started eating. For me personally, I would just eat the rice with the mayo alone. The "socarrat" (the burnt part of the rice) was just right for us. The table next to us ordered the same paella and their rice is considerably crispier than ours and really was stuck to the pan. Our rice had just enough bite that wasn't going to break a tooth.
Dinner at Socarrat can add up quickly since the paella itself already cost $50 for two people. The tapas average about $13 dollars depending on what you pick. However, the meal is definitely a treat and will make the lighter wallet worth it — occassionally anyway!
This was a cute place – had the paella main, and octopus & shrimp appetizer dishes. The only complaint is that the manager asked us to leave after a while (with our drinks unfinished) because another couple was waiting for a table but redeemed himself by offering us free drinks. Would return- enjoyed the flamenco too 🙂
I visited Socarrat with my 4 of my male co-workers and we had a pretty good experience. Even though we had 5 people, we were able to be seated almost immediately at around 8:30 on a Wednesday evening. We were seated at the tall communal table, and it was a pretty tight fit…but we were happy to have seats!
We decided to get sangria pitchers, and the sangria was really tasty. It definitely packed a punch, as I believe we had 2 pitchers throughout dinner and afterwards we were 'feeling it'. lol
We ordered some Gambas al ajillo, the croquetas, and 2 orders of the dátiles. Since I was eating with 4 men, we definitely could have used about double what we ordered.
We mostly wanted seafood, so we went for the pescados y mariscos paella. The price was per person ($26), so we ordered for 5. The paella took an extremely long time to be delivered. I want to say we waited 45 minutes. I know paella takes time and it's made to order…but it seemed longer than necessary.
We all loved the charred rice and the seafood was really tasty, however the portion was extremely small. If I was out with my girlfriends, we actually may have been satisfied (but we totally would have gotten dessert, or found ice cream after dinner)…but the men I was with found it to be way too small (I definitely could have eaten more). If you're planning to get full on the paella I'd say you may want to order for more than the size of your group. We could have probably eaten a paella for 8-10.
Overall, I would probably return with a smaller group of girlfriends to try some of the other tapas and wine, but I'm not sure whether I'd go for the paella again.
Stopped by for dinner with friends – ten of us. We were seated easily at the long table, though tight, was a good close, thin long table to let us chat comfortably with about half the table. Dark dark restaurant, so sometimes hard to tell what you were eating, especially if your candle went out.
We tried a bunch of things. Dates w/ bacon – delicious. The bread was dry, but try it with some of the garlic oil shrimp (Gambas al ajillo, sizzling shrimp, olive oil, garlic, guindilla pepper). Who doesn't love garlic aioli and potatoes? (Patatas bravas). Calamares a la plancha was squid with garlic in olive oil – tasty, though little squid. Pulpo a la gallega (octopus) was tasty, but again, had more garnish and less octopus to share…We also shared 3-person servings of two paellas – the squid ink was better (Arroz negro) and the Socarrat was so-so (mix of meats and veggies). Overall ambiance was good, and lends itself to the slow speed of tapas. Drinks like sangria in large servings with fresh fruit, and could have used something to cleanse the palate at the end – fresh fruit, perhaps?
Overall a good experience, will come back with a big group to try some more. Not too full at the end with about 1.5 shared plates for all and the paella (a third 3-person serving would have been too much, they were pushing the lobster though). Ended up being about $53/person, which was reasonable for a place like this.
Restaurant week winter 2016 review
If you say your paella is what you're known for, do it well and not mediocre.
Opentable res for 6 at 615 and the place was empty but was full shortly after. This location doesn't have a full bar, just wine and beer. We weren't automatically given RW menus, had to ask for them.
The waiter made sure to explain to us that each paella order serves a minimum of 2 which is in fine print on the menus. As a part of RW each diner gets appetizer, shared paella and dessert.
Now for the food- gambas al ajilo (shrimp) had good flavor, dip your bread in it! Others got kale salad, didn't try it but didn't hear any complaints. Aps came out very quickly after ordering.
Arroz negro is squid ink rice topped with shrimp, scallops, squid, fish and fava beans. The first several bites are good but the dish takes a dive in flavor and complexity soon after. We also got the vegetable paella which had great flavor but the vegetables were lack luster.
Flan was inconsistent in texture-too stiff mostly and passion fruit cream was inedible. Churros were served in a cup, pre-dunked which made them soggy.
Wouldn't go back or rec.
Nice enough wine bar with excellent happy hour prices. A good sized pour of a house red wine was $6.00. The pan con tomate was excellent. Four pieces of bruschetta were only $3.00. Datiles (dates wrapped in bacon) were OK, only $5.50 at Happy Hour.
I sat at the bar; bartender was nice enough. Room looks comfortable. I don't recall the background music. Early on a Saturday evening (5:30 PM) the place was almost empty. I will go back.
This is a nice spanish tapas place. We ordered the Calamares a la plancha,
Brochetas de vieiras (Scallops and shrimp skewers, romescu sauce),
Milhohas de cordero (Lamb terrine, spinach, potato, red peppers), and the Arroz negro (squid ink) Paellas.
The food was very good.
The manager was kind enough to sit us while 1 person from our party was late. He did come back and was pushy to ask us to order more while we waited for our late guest. The wait staff could have been more attentive and our glasses were not refilled with water throughout the evening unless was tracked someone down.
Overall, food was good, but staff could be more attentive and manager less pushy while we waited for our late guest member.