Toro
“The highlights inclue the bone marrow, the beef heart, the chicken empanada, the deviled eggs, the mackerel tartare, and the pork belly.”
“Foie Gras Y Melocoton – The smoked peaches really make this a standout.”
“We ate absolutely everything, so Ill list my faves out:
Pan Con tomate – one of my favorite basic tapas.”
Toro
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Toro was slightly underwhelming.
The service was great, while the decor and the setting of the venue was beautiful.
The tapas were nothing too special, but still enjoyable. However, the paella left more to be desired. It was not wet nor dry, but something in between. The chorizo was almost rock hard. The bottom of the paella was burnt and inedible. Additionally, the half size was pretty small considering it was nearly $40.
I don't mean to copy this other person's comment, but this restaurant is a bit underwhelming.
I made me boyfriend take me out on a date, and so he picked this place (I hope it's because he knows I love tapas). However, the tapas this place aren't impressive. I had just recently moved from CA to NY, and they say that if a restaurant is still open after a year, then they must be doing something right and the food is probably amazing. No! We ordered a few tapas:
Hamachi Crudo, Tartar de Atun, Filete, and Asado De Huesos.
The Hamachi Crudo was this overpriced sashimi slices, you might as well get it from a legit sushi restaurant. Tartar de Atun was also another overpriced tapa that isn't impressive at all.
The Asado de Huesos was my favorite of them all. It's very fattening, and the little tangerine slices they put on it gave the bone marrow a proper citrusy flavor.
The Filete – not sure why they put blue cheese butter on it, the steak itself is flavorful enough. Maybe this is a personal preference thing.
The restaurant is noisier than other tapa restaurants I've been to. Overall, the service is great, ambience is decent, food is slightly below average.
I used to love Toro. Especially that unlike the Boston original, they take reservations. The meal was fine. The goat cheese was very good. I love squid ink dishes in general and their risotto was good but very salty. The razor clams were good. But overall, the food used to wow me. It doesn't anymore. Also very loud.
I was a tag-along to a dinner date here, so I had never heard of this place. My friend said it was rated highly in New York, so it seemed like a good idea. Never the fool, I checked out the menu before and it seemed both yummy and reasonable.
I'm not going to say that I didn't enjoy my Toro meal, but I didn't love it. Service was good and friendly and the atmosphere is pretty great too. My problem lay with the food. We opted to share everything and picked a bunch of stuff to support this. Turns out, sharing is hard with such small plates. For example, we ordered the dates and 3 came out – literally one for each of us. Similar problems were encountered with the asparagus and the goat cheese. While everything was good, it was just too small and then, by default, kind of expensive. I left after sharing 7 plates still feeling a little hungry.
I see some people complain about the location – it's not that inconvenient. It's by the High Line and Chelsea Piers and actually, quite close to the Hudson river pathways for parkside recreation or sunsets later on.
Overall, was it good? Yes. But I don't like feeling hungry and maybe a little ripped off after my meal so I'll likely head somewhere else next time.
Overpriced but the food was solid and the restaurant itself is absolutely beautiful! Try the bone barrow dish which is so so fatty and full of that deep boney beef flavor. They also have porron wine pitchers available which are so much fun to drink out of.
I love Spanish tapas so I've dying to try this place for awhile. I had tried to go to the original location in Boston twice but the wait was always too long. Luckily, I made a reservation and were promptly seated at 7pm on a Saturday at this location in Meatpacking/Chelsea.
FYI- entrance is a bit hard to find as it on the 11th Avenue side. Also, your whole party must be here to get seated. Cool vibe with high ceilings, massive windows, and chalkboards . There is the standard bullhead and Spanish accents to remind you it's a tapas place. You don't have to get overly dressed up (to dine here) either as it was sort of a relaxed vibe. Service was excellent whether it was to check on us, refill drinks, and bring new plates -our waiter was always around. The food came out in a nice fashion – not too rushed so you could enjoy the current course but fast enough that we weren't hungry between courses.
Now the food. We got 5 tapas and 1 desert to split. The first two dishes were a bit on the smaller size for tapas but the next 3 were much bigger portion tapas. All in all with what we ordered, we were stuffed.
Tortilla Espanola ($7) – egg, potato, omelette cooked into a pie. It was a smallish piece but absolutely perfect.
Escalivada Catalana ($9)- eggplant dip of sorts. It was very flavorful and creamy and came with bread to dip in. Nice compliment to the remainder of the hot dishes.
Patatas Bravas ($11) – the standard potatoes w/aioli and spicy pepper sauce. Among the best potatoes I have had – just the right amount of texture to make them crunchy w/o being overly fried They also put the sauces underneath instead of on top which made it so that each piece had some sauce. Delicious!
Chorizo y Garbanzos ($10) – chorizo and beans. Excellent chorizo w/the right amount of spice. The beans were also good but would have wanted a tiny bit more spice/sauce on the bean portion of the dish.
Gambas Al Ajillo ($17) – grilled garlic shrimp. So so good. The shrimp were drenched in the garlic sauce which was delicious and the shrimp were cooked perfectly.
Mousse w/olive oil ice cream – the ultimate in salty and sweet deserts. Loved the flavors together with the sweet mousse and salty, crunchy ice cream. Not only it did it look amazing, it tasted amazing.
All in all, a great experience from service to menu to food. A highly recommended dining experience.
The meatpacking district does not attract my favorite types of crowds, but the area does, somewhat to my dismay, house some great restaurants. As I recently discovered, Toro is one of them. The massive, trendy space, fun cocktail menu (which features lots of sherry based drinks), and eclectic choice of tapas make this a great place for a group of friends to share a night out at. It is pricey, but what place isn't. We over indulged and did not regret it at all, and I would recommend everyone do the same!
Great for groups, Toro is a bit of a trek on 11th Ave; however, if you're by the highline then its a nice spot where you can sit down and escape the crowds for a bit. I really enjoyed the ivy wall as well. Was fairly lively on a friday night and loud, but can still have a conversation. Thorough wine list as well.
Food wise this place is decent with the small plates nicely placed throughout the evening. We tried the following:
Pan Con Tomate – standard
Payoyo – very nice cheese!!
Jambon Serrano – this is literally a plate of ham, so best to order bread or pair with Pan Con Tomate
Tartar de Atun – this was great, the menu was vague "tuna with stuff we like" which meant radishes, cucumbers and some olive oil. I liked that they didn't do raw egg with it.
Salt Cod Fritters – I didn't love these, tasted like crab cakes (but I tend to dislike Cod)
Patatas Bravas – always good!!
Paella Valenciana – decent but not amazing
Empanadas – a bit over-fried
Desserts
Chocolate Mousse and, separately, banana churros – Both were very nice, but not a must
Not certain I'll be back but for what you get it's at an affordable price point.