Boqueria
“my recos are: the pan con tomate, txipirones, bacon dates, and patatas bravas.”
“Food to get: bacon wrapped dates, pan con tomate, patatas bravas, croquettes – the classic staples.”
“The favorite for the group seemed to be the Patatas Bravas, perhaps followed by the Dátiles con Beicon…or maybe the Churros Rellenos.”
Boqueria
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Coat Check: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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This place is great for a boozy brunch with friends (I would give it a 3.5). I came with a large group of girls and sat at the table in the back. I love how the table wasn't one of those long rectangle shapes that only allow you to speak to a few people – it was wide enough to have a conversation with everyone.
Overall, I would come back here for the boozy brunch special – it's called the "Brunch Feast". You get a ton of food, the atmosphere is fun, you get endless mimosas/sangrias for 2 hours, and it is priced decentl ($39 a person before tip/tax)
FOOD:
-Pan con Tomate con Jamón y Manchego: very good, I recommend getting this to start for the table
-Patatas Bravas – this was also good – and very large portion. Came drizzled with a flavorful garlic allioli
-Huevos Benedictinos: this was decent, but not my favorite. Comes on an english muffin, a large red pepper, a poached egg, and Hollandaise sauce. I would get something else instead of this.
-Torrija: this was the caramelized french toast, which was pretty amazing. I would get this again. It comes with bite sized pieces of caramilzed french toast, covered in a caramel glaze, and topped with fruit. So good!
-Churros con Chocolate: Okay, this was actually delicious. But I've also never had a churro I didn't like.
SERVICE:
-Quick and good!
Quaint quarters, tasty tapas, and stupendous staff! I absolutely adore Boqueria and strongly urge you to visit the establishment for some fantastic food and boozy beverages.
Tinto: red wine of the day(?) Whatever they had, which is fleeting my brain right now, was excellent; barely tannic and delivers quite the fruity notes you'd expect in a smooth red
White sangria vs. Red sangria: white won easily, though to be fair, the red tasted funky and management swapped it out for us hassle-free, gotta love it when the restaurant appreciates their customers' point of view
Fluke crudo: refreshingly light, perfectly dressed with olive oil, pine nuts, and scallions; this is the go-to pick if you're not in the mood for something heavy like lamb
Quail eggs: sunny side up over chorizo and on top of crostini; delicate and delectable, but I could've passed on this one but I do not recommend passing on the…
Dates: stuffed with blue cheese and a wee almond, wrapped with bacon and incredibly well-balanced; it's cheese, it's bacon, it's cheese and bacon, what can go wrong? Nothing! Well, unless you're lactose intolerant…
Pulpo: grilled octopus over a bed of mash and a side of citrus onions; my goodness, get this!!
Lamb: loin (or rather, a big medallion?), cooked to perfection, tender all around and a nice pink inside; lamb lovers rejoice!
TODO:
Yelp won't let me put this restaurant on a list unless I write a review (Yelp, please change this policy!)
Therefore, this is a stub review for the purpose of populating my list. I'll write the review later.
However, whatever rating I give the restaurant with this stub review is the rating I'd give the restaurant with a real review.
JVA AI Non-Salad Options – 5/5
AI Accommodation – Dunno, as I cheated.
I randomly stopped in as I was shopping in the area. I don't remember the exact options on the standard menu, but recalled that I had to decide among the various AI options they offered. I decided on the quinoa and greens citrus salad, which was ah-mazing!
Unfortunately, I deliberately broke my AI protocol and ordered the patatas bravas. (C'mon, a gal's gotta live!) They were so g-d-amn good! I figured I would pay for it later – and I did, as I passed out on the couch, unaware, about 30 minutes after I got home, for a good 2 hours. Suppose it took a lot for my body to process/digest the potatoes. But – damn – it was almost worth it!
Anyway, I could have easily opted to not have the patatas bravas, but I wanted to indulge.
Really 3.5 but since Yelp doesn't allow half stars I rounded down.
I made a reservation for lunch for the BF's bday at 1:30 in a Wednesday. But when we arrived I realized that a reservation wasn't really needed. The place was more than half empty.
The hostess sat us at a table towards the back where a few other tables were also occupied. It's a cute little restaurant with a comfortable feel. We decided on the chefs tasting menu $35 each for lunch. I was thinking sangria but BF wanted other cocktails. I tried the sangria made with gin, it was good. Then I tried the sangria made with vodka also good. I can't remember what the BF ordered.
The chefs tasting menu at lunch comes with 3-4 tapas and a paella.
First up shishito peppers, nicely flavored very tasty
Then bacon wrapped cheese stuffed dates, very traditional tastes like you'd expect
Ham croquettes, just ok I didn't finish mine
Potatoes, these were meh. Topped with mayo? I didn't really like this
Next the seafood paella, really not spectacular. The rice was a little under cooked and I would say over seasoned. BF who loves salt said it was too salty. Big bummer since that was the star of the show.
Ambiance 4/5
Food 3.5/5
Value 3.5/5
Service 3.5/5
WC 5/5 super clean
Came here with one of my friends for dinner last night. Lively crowd – mostly couples and small groups of friends. In a nutshell, the service was spotty (host was decent but waiters and other servers were impeccable), the watermelon sangria was very refreshing, the tapas we chose were OK, the dessert was so yummy but, at the same time, standard, and the bill was pretty hefty for the quality of the food we were given.
SERVICE: I don't mind waiting 25 minutes for a table at all but I didn't appreciate it when the host told us that we were next to be seated but proceeded to seat 3 parties before seating us. As for our waitress, she was great! Extremely attentive but not overbearing – just the way I like it!
FOOD: UGH, I wish I was crazy about the food like others have been but I was slightly disappointed. We ordered patatas bravas, croquetas (3 jamon, 3 mushroom), the dátiles con beicon (bacon-wrapped dates) and churros. The best part, for me, was the aioli that topped the patatas bravas & the churros. As for the bacon-wrapped dates, TOO MUCH CHEESE for my liking. I could barely taste the bacon! The croquetas were so standard – not terrible, just not memorable. I've had better elsewhere for half the cost. We ordered Nutella stuffed churros for dessert. You really can't go wrong with anything Nutella so those were a hit for us.
SANGRIA: The sangria we had was seasonal. White wine, watermelon, gin, basil. Very tasty and refreshing. $44 for a pitcher.
VERDICT: Fun experience but probably won't be returning for a second time. On the hunt for better tapas that can compete with the ones I had in Barcelona!
It's been about three years since my first review, so here's an update.This time I came with a group of 6 on a Sunday night without a reservation, since reservations require you to order from the Chef's menu at $45/person. We could not be seated without everyone in the party present. One person was 30 min. late, but the restaurant was fairly empty, so we were seated as soon as she arrived.
We ordered the red sangria. Out of their red, rosé, and white sangrias, I still prefer the white since it's the sweetest, but the red and rosé are just as refreshing.
Dátiles con Beicon (Dates stuffed with almonds and Valdeón blue cheese, wrapped in bacon) – This was one of my favorite things to order at Boqueria and still is. I love the pairing of the dates and bacon. Eat the seed in the middle too.
Salteado de Setas (Sautéed wild mushrooms, Manchego cheese, thyme) – The mushroom were delicious, especially with the manchego cheese on top. So savory. But the dish was tiny and expensive at $12. Despite how tasty it was, I'm not paying $12 for a tiny mound of mushrooms in the future.
Croquetas Cremosas (Creamy croquettes; three each of mushroom and Serrano ham) – Tasty croquettes, but again why so tiny and expensive? They are $12, same as the mushrooms, but slightly more filling than the mushrooms,
Patatas Bravas (Crispy potatoes, salsa brava, roasted garlic aioli) – The potatoes were crispy as advertised, but I'm not a big fan of aioli in general.
Gambas al Ajillo (Shrimp, garlic, brandy, and Guindilla pepper in olive oil) – I loved the garlicy sauce that covered the shrimp. The shrimp unfortunately were kind of small and dried up.
Piquillos Rellenos (Braised oxtail stuffed Piquillo peppers, celery root purée, shallots, red wine jus) – This dish was amazing! The oxtail was tender and I loved the pairing with the celery root purée. Wish this came with a piece of bread to mop up the delicious red wine jus. Just like the rest of the dishes though, the portion was tiny.
In general, I feel like the portions got smaller. I was definitely still hungry after we ate. The table service wasn't bad, but definitely more lacking than the previous times I was here. It was really hard to flag down the waiter, but we were in a corner table so maybe it was hard to see our group. Boqueria is still a great location for tapas + sangria + wine and still one of the places I would take a friend visiting NYC.
Terrible tapas and bad service. Our waiter was obnoxious and kept trying to make us order what he was recommending. We order the bacon-wrapped dates, which would have been good if they were not overstuffed with so much blue cheese you couldn't eat them. The lamb skewers were ok, but everything else was terrible, including the shrimp and the octopus.
I ordered a beer, which they informed me after 15 minutes they could not get because they had to clean out their machine or decanter or whatever, so I ordered the Si Breeze, which was disgusting. Overpriced and inedible tapas, don't waste your time here.