1st Tapas Trail Of The Season: El Raso

We have successfully completed our first tapas trail of 2024 and put together our reviews and our own scores from the El Raso Trail, which we took part in on Thursday, 11th April.

For each location we visited, we judged ourselves based on four criteria. Firstly, the service: was it polite, friendly, or dour and unwelcoming?

Second was the ambiance of the venue. Was there a vibe, or did it look and feel like a UK Wetherspoons at 8 am in the morning?

Drinks were the third criteria, were they fresh, tasty and what measure were they served in. Finally, we come to the tapas. What was the dish, did it have taste and flavour, was it visually appealing and would it make us want to return to eat here.

Each section is marked out of 10, so a total of 40 points is the top possible outcome.

Service: X/10
Ambiance: X/10
Drinks: X/10
Tapas: X/10

Overall score out of 40 possible points

There are 10 venues taking part in this year’s Tapas Trail, so we visited all 10.

Restaurant Don Pepe The Taste Of Peru

We have been here and eaten previously and loved the food. As we were driving in from Quesada, this was the first bar we came to, so this became our first port of call.

Service: 9/10: Very fast, friendly service and the staff speak English, better then I speak Spanish
Ambience: 8/10: There were others here both inside and out, so there was a nice feel, especially as there was background music.
Drinks: 5/10: A beer and a coke, but these were served in tiny disposable cups, which is a gripe of mine.
Tapas: 8/10: Very tasty, colourful and enjoyable. Pulled Pork made with passionfruit reduction sauce served over a toast with onion salad for decoration. This was something different and didn’t fail to please the tastebuds.

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 30

Restaurant Los Rosales

We’ve never ventured here previously, despite passing regularly, and it always seems popular with the Spanish. After today’s visit, we would come back and try the menu del dia.
The dish today was Arroz Iberico and was a nice-sized portion.

Service: 7/10: The server was fine, he was tutting at a Spanish customer in Spanish but as soon as he realised we were there for the tapas trail, he smiled and welcomed us.
Ambiance: 6/10: it is a traditional Spanish eatery, but there were 10 or 12 people sitting outside on the terrace in the sun, enjoying their drinks and tapas.
Drinks: 8/10: Bottled beer, 20cl and a can of coke, both nicely chilled.
Tapas: 7.50/10: A generous portion, a typical dish but enjoyable and nicely presented.

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 28.50

Restaurant Manolo

Another place we pass often but have never gotten around to stopping off at. One reason is driving from Quesada, so the restaurant is on your right means there’s very little parking, but there is a big car park on the other side of the bollards. it is often jammed packed, so would be best to book.
We hadn’t realised how big this place is, they have a lot of seating available and plenty of staff on hand too.

Service: 8/10: Super fast service, very welcoming and friendly.
Ambience: 8/10: Although we were there before lunch would normally start, there were workmen having a snack and tapas. Staff were busy and there was a nice feel to the place.
Drinks: 7/10: Bottled beer and a glass of Coke
Tapas: 8/10: Describes as hojaldrito relleno de carne a la creme, this was a puff pastry dish filled with meat in a creamy type sauce. it was nice and got the thumbs up from us both.

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 31

We have added Restaurant Manolo to our list, so we can try their lunch menu in the near future.

Chillies Indian El Raso

As you may know I adore a good Indian curry, I’m originally from near Bradford and been eating these for well over 40 years. The only reason we’ve never visited here sooner was, they don’t open during the day.

Service: 8/10: Fast, friendly and welcoming.
Ambience: 7/10: Plenty of people sat out in the sun, created a nice atmosphere.
Drinks: 7/10: Bottled beer and a glass of coke, so that was ok.
Tapas: 6.50/10: The chicken was nice, it was tender and moist. The curry was a generic one though, almost a Pataks type bulk sauce. The rice was fine, my naan was dry and hard.

I think here it would have been better to do a starter dish such as an onion bhaji and maybe a chicken pakora and given everyone half of each of these. This would have given me more of an idea as to the quality of the food, where as the curry today would not inspire me to return to dine, I’m afraid to say.

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 28.50

Legends Bar

We’ve called in here once for a flying drink visit, so it was nice to be able to return.

Service: 8/10: Quickly attended to, friendly and welcoming. The dish was explained when delivered in a friendly manner.
Ambience: 8/10: busy location, great music playing in the background, sun on your back, what is not to enjoy.
Drinks: 8.50/10: Can of coke for Soph, my beer was a 33cl bottle!
Tapas: 7.50/10: A baby Sunday lunch, with Aberdeen Angus beef, roasted potato, fresh carrot, gravy all in a small Yorkshire pud. I’d have loved a homemade Yorkie, as I’m from Yorkshire, but I enjoyed this dish.

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 32

Patagonia Steak House El Raso

We have eaten at their Quesada restaurant, so we had high expectations for here.

Service: 8/10: Super fast, friendly service. The servers here worked well as a team.
Ambiance: 8/10: Plenty of people here, lots of conversations going on, and it had a nice feel.
Drinks: 8/10: Quickly served, all good.
Tapas: 8.50/10: This was a Chimichurri marinated Argentine flank steak with a Padron pepper, served on bread. Wonderful flavours, and the Padron pepper was delightful

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 32.50

Med Bar

This is another restaurant where we have eaten before as well as calling in for drinks, as they do a nice Guinness here as well as cocktails.

Service: 7.50/10: We had grabbed a table but there didn’t seem to be staff returning outside to serve us. The table behind followed us in, and the 4 of them sat down, and across from them, 3 Spanish came in more or less at the same time. Then a server came and took the drinks order, so we paid her. The drinks came out quite quickly as did the tapas.
Ambience: 8/10: Busy restaurant, plenty of atmosphere sat on the terrace.
Drinks: 4/10: I was able to ask for a beer, but Soph was told she could have water or orange juice, as the non alcohol option, so no soft drinks were available. Sad really when you consider the wholesale price of water and this was only a small bottle, not the standard 500ml size.
Tapas: 8/10: Teriyaki Mushroom with garlic bread. This was tasty and enjoyable and had flavour to it.

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 27.50

El Bar

It had been a while since we were last here, which was back in October.

Service: 7/10: Quickly served, but the table had balsamic on it from the previous occupant and could have been wiped over before the drinks and food were delivered.
Ambience: 7/10: There were plenty of people, so the atmosphere was ok.
Drinks: 8/10: Here we managed to get the beer and coke, which was good.
Tapas: 6/10: Rather hit and miss. Italian stuffed peach was advertised, and this was a large piece of peach wrapped in Iberico-type ham. Sadly, it wasn’t the easiest dish to eat, and now we understand why there was balsamic over the table from the last person!

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 28.

O’Briens Bar & Restaurant

We called in here once for a drink, last year. The place was busy, but there was a line dancing class or show going on out on the terrace, so seating was scarce, but we did manage to grab a table inside.

Service: 4/10: You had to order at the bar for the tapas trail participants. As Soph joined the queue, 7 people were in front of her. The drinks came in plastic cups, and the tapas was being cooked 2 portions at a time, which slowed things down
Ambience: 6/10: if you blanked out the line dancing out on the terrace, the inside was quiet and quite soul less actually. I guess though you’d not want a juke box or TV to be competing with the entertainment outdoors.
Drinks: 5/10: Both the beer and Coke were served in a small plastic cup, which was poor form as it was, but the fact Soph only got a 3/4 measure kind of summed up this experience.
Tapas: 5/10: It sounded nice: ‘BBQ pulled pork in filo pastry on a bed of mixed salad’, but the reality wasn’t anywhere as close to what we had hoped to get. The deep-fried pastry was in dire need of some type of sauce, such as sweet chili sauce or something to liven the salad up

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 20. It is telling when you see people look at the offering on their plate and screw their faces up. We left here and went to Stan & Ollies, where we heard 2 couples talking to each other. One had just come out, and this was their first restaurant, and they asked their friends about O’Briens. Their friends replied, “Don’t bother”, which kind of summed it up.

Stan & Ollies Restaurant

I’ve often seen them advertise on Facebook and thought their menus sounded interesting,so it was nice to give them a try. These were last but by no means least on our day out. They were advertising chorizo and mozzarella arancini ball, topped with fig chutney on a truffle mayonnaise.

Service: 9/10: Fabulous service, the guy who served us was very welcoming, friendly and full of energy, plus he spoke excellent English and Spanish.
Ambience: 8.50/10: The place was very busy, we did manage to grab a table on the terrace. There was a lot of people, the chatter and laughter made it sound like a ‘fun’ place to be.
Drinks: 8/10: nice cold beer and Soph’s Coke was in a proper glass, too
Tapas: 8/10: Now, this isn’t a dish I would order on a menu, to be honest. I’ve had arancini balls in hotel lounges, etc, and as a personal preference, I’m not a fan. However, this was very good, from the feedback Soph gave me and the presentation was stunning. So, coming from someone who likes this dish, that is all I needed to know. Yes, I ate mine and, to be honest, I might just have been converted!

Overall score out of 40 possible points: 33.50
The fact this was a restaurant type of service made all the difference. Proper knife and forks, proper glass for the drink plus the really great service just tipped the balance today.
Where we were seated, they had a menu on display on the wall, and some of the dishes on there sounded really nice, so much so that we have added this place to our list of restaurants to visit in the near future for a lunch or dinner.

The Tapas Trail Winner Is

Drum roll please, our favourite today is Stan & Ollies Restaurant. They just pipped Patagonia Steak House El Raso and honourable mentions to Legends and Restaurant Manolo.

Final Thoughts

I may at times sound like a broken record, but these types of events should be where a bar, cafe, restaurant or coffee shop can showcase their food offerings. The worst thing is to be offering drinks in disposable cups, small measures especially when other establishments are offering a bottle of beer. If it’s unviable to take part, then don’t take part, to be blunt, but don’t short change customers. The local town halls and social media pages are going the advertising for you, for free, so embrace this opportunity.

Yes, you will get your regulars in there, the same as they are possibly in your bar 7 days a week. This is them wanting to be part of the event and don’t really care what is served to them, in all honesty.
The flip of the coin though is the people like Soph and I who travel to visit different towns to take part in these tapas trail events. For us, this is a chance to sample food and if the experience is good enough, then we will return and have a meal and/or drinks, further down the line.

One final suggestion for any restaurant taking part in an event like a tapas trail is upsell to visitors. By this I mean give out a business card, with a QR code on that links to your website where you have your menus updated. Include on your card your social media page details and make it easy for people to know what you offer.
Getting folk through your door is easy on the tapas trails, but getting them to want to return is harder. Soph and I will be back next year and will look forward to visiting the venues once again.