Spanish Tavern
“I usually visit Spanish Tavern before Devils games at Prudential Center since it's only a short walk away.”
“Good food, with a nice selection of seafood, huge portions and very reasonable prices.”
“The Paella Marinera was huge and practically filled a 8×12" aluminum tray.”
Spanish Tavern
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: 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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I was extremely disappointed with my Spanish Tavern experience.
Service was excellent and the restaurant is lovely, so those were not issues. Free parking across the street was very important – particularly on a concert night at nearby Prudential Center. Soup will accompany your meal – on the night we went, it was a lovely caldo gallego (leek and potato, minus the sausage as they were out of it that evening).
Enter the negative. The garlic shrimp that everyone raves about was only okay. Yes, it was a huge portion, cooked properly. But it was fairly lackluster. The hubby's lamb special entree was tiny – seriously sad, especially in comparison to every other entree that walked by. My twin lobsters were literally rubber – quite overcooked. At the $50 market price, this was beyond disappointing. Fortunately there was a lot of food, so I was able to give one of the lobsters to the hubs to make up for his tiny meal. Sides of rice and chips were both under seasoned.
Cheesecakes were decent for dessert, but did not make up for the expensive and sad entrees.
I was staying at a hotel near the Newark airport and what I knew with absolute certainty was that I didn't want to be wandering around Newark not knowing where I was going. The Spanish Tavern has a complimentary shuttle from most of the area hotels, just let your front desk know and they will arrange it for you (FYI – Driver works on tips).
Strangely, no wine menu. They have wine but no wine menu. I ordered a chardonnay. Don't do that. It wasn't very good. That was when I noticed that all the locals had ordered the Sangria. So bring on the Sangria! Absolutely delicious.
Having never been before, we each ordered an entree and an appetizer to share. OMG! So much food. First, they bring you a huge basket of bread and a bowl of soup. I forget what it was called but it had potatoes and collard greens. It was really tasty. We ordered the chorizo for our app. So perfectly cooked.
By the time the entrees came out, we still had a half plate of chorizo left and were already feeling pretty full. But we powered through. Bacon wrapped filet, which was one of the most tender steaks I have ever had. My dinner companion had the crab stuffed shrimp which looked great. Although each of our entrees had a starch and veggie on the plate, we were also served a plate of house made chips and rice.
I highly recommend the Spanish Tavern if you are a local or just passing through. The portions are enormous. If I could go back, I would eliminate an entree and share.
Having not been down neck Newark for dinner in some time I was looking forward to hitting The Spanish Tavern before a show at the Prudential Center this past Sunday. With the Show early we arrived at 4PM for our 4:30PM reservation and decided to have small pitcher of Sangria with Fernando at the bar while we waited for a table. Make sure to ask for it a little "Forte" and Fernando will kick it up a notch with some Blackberry Brandy & Triple Sec the real secret Ingredients to the best Sangria.
Small 10 seat bar as you enter with main dining room off to the left and more dining areas downstairs for larger parties. Once seated timely by John, we enjoyed an ample order of Shrimp in delicious Garlic sauce that was enough for 3 or 4 persons at $10.95. The Rolls and butter were excellent for dipping as well.
More Sangria and it was complimentary Escarole & Beans soup. Certainly not my mother's but it was quite tasty anyway.. Moving on to Entrees first was Boneless Chicken Breast in Garlic Sauce. If it had had the same sauce as the shrimp this would have been a winner instead it was a bland watery type sauce that did absolutely nothing for the good quality chicken breast provided this dish unfortunately failed.
Medallions of filet mignon (20 oz.) sautéed with onions, garlic, and mushrooms were out of this world with great quality meat and delicious sauce on top, both entrees came with house rice cooked to perfection and homemade potato chips which were just delicious.
Desert was a sinful chocolate Oreo cake that was simply out of this world while espresso was hot and fresh.
All and all great ambience Chris our waiter an Fernando at the Bar were great servers, good solid quality product, great Sangria and a very nice option prior to any event in Newark or for that matter a designation in itself.. Only knocks off for the bland chicken but 4.5 Stars is our barometer here.
This was my first time at Spanish Tavern
We came late on a Thursday evening and the place was busy
As soon as we sat down they brought menus and we ordered wine
Before they bring bread they have a free soup service. I am not sure what kind of soup it was but it was pretty good
The bread looked great but was not warm but good for dipping in sauces
We started with the shrimp in green garlic sauce. I was a bit disappointed in this classic dish because the shrimp were not cleaned great and the green sauce was bland
We were not in the mood for more shellfish but regular fish. Many of the specials that sounded great were already gone. (Too bad).
I had a Dover sole that was very good but kind of boring with only lemon to spray on top. Needed a sauce
The other person had baked salmon which he enjoyed
The vegetables were simple but good
Not a great meal like Seabras and Fornos but I would come back another time to try some of the other dishes because any place that has so many regulars during the week and was busy must be good
I had this craving for paella one weekend, so my BF and I decided to swing by the Ironbound to pick up some food on the way home from the city. I was pretty hesistant to order from Spanish Tavern, having not tried them before, but their star rating on Yelp helped sway my decision. Having been just the two of us for dinner, I had ordered the PAELLA MARINERA. I had also ordered a side salad and questioned if the paella came with a side of Spanish Potatoes (potato chips) and bread. The gentleman on the phone said that they didn't come with potatoes but yes to the bread, so I left it at that.
I told that my order would be ready in 20 minutes. By the time I had entered the restaurant, my bag of food was already on the bar counter waiting for me. The host who happened to be the same person on the phone told me that he was able to throw in the potatoes as well! When I got home to open everything, I was immediately impressed. The side salad appeared very fresh with bib/butter lettuce! (Nothing is more disappointing that iceberg lettuce). The Paella Marinera was huge and practically filled a 8×12" aluminum tray. The seafood wasn't the absolute freshest, but satisfactory to standards. The bread was fresh and soft just like it should have been.
Spanish Tavern did not disappoint for my first try, and I can't wait to try them again, perhaps dine-in!
Excellent service, decent prices and great fish selections. The wine was good, but it wasn't so stuffy that you felt like you needed to dress up or not speak loudly. A family place.
Spanish tavern on a Friday night after work was nice and chill. Plenty of space in their private parking lot at 530p.
Jorge was our waiter and he was just awesome….I rate him 5 stars, but the fried calamari we had was a bit soggy….I like it crisp.
Shrimp in garlic sauce…mmmmmm dip some bread in butter in that bad boy sauce…delish and addicting!
Their paella marinera was tasty and it fed the 3 of us ladies with lots of leftovers….well we did order a pitcher and a half of white sangria…oh man that was good! Because of the sangria I was getting full.
I wasn't fond of their cinnamon apple cheesecake and their chocolate cake was just ok. I'm a dessert freak so I was a bit disappointed.
Like I said, my review was based on the service. He really was great….always on top of everything and I appreciate that.
I can always come back here.
I came to The Spanish Tavern for a birthday celebration. Although, we were downstairs, I did catch a good glimpse of the main dining room. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, I almost wish I was up there to get the full experience. Since we were there for a party we had a fixed menu so I will share from this menu.
We ended up having a total of 5 servers for the party when we started with 3. I did appreciate the manager overseeing the party off and on. Overall the waitstaff was great. They were friendly and seemed to not mind the few children running around. Except the one guy he was completely rude and made a lot of people uncomfortable with his jokes, snickering and comments to the crowd. Several people made complaints so the manager removed him from our party. Thanks!
The food was meh. I mean I would probably go back if I was invited because I definitely think I've had better. I had the seafood paella which I thought was good, it could have had a little more seasoning. Other items up for discussion is the bacon wrapped filet mignon. It wasn't great. I seen at least 2 people not eat theirs. What a shame! The salmon was good. As an appetizer we had collard green and bean soup (not sure of its name) it was delicious!!! My goodness! The shrimp was good although the sauce was a little oily.
I don't know if I need to go here again, but it's pretty good. You should try it out. I hope that one terrible waiter was just having a bad day because he can't be good for business