batanga

great great place!. tapas restaurants are popping up all over and this is one of the best ones i've been to. i had to plan a special birthday dinner/getting engaged dinner for 12 people who all have different food tastes and preferences. i talked with the manager, matt, to help me set this up. he was great to work with and extremely accomodating. he offered many suggestions which i used that night and helped me a ton. to the owner whomever you are, matt and damian (our waiter) worked extremely hard that night to make it special for my group. i love this place. the music was spectacular and the food was great. i enjoy the fact that you can order several plates for the table and eat family style. there was litterally something for every single person in our group. it makes for very fun and interactive group meal. i will be going to thisplaceas often as i can. i suggest it to everyone when asked about a great, fun, downtown location to frequent. our group was there for almost 5 hours.....that's not just a dinner....that's an event which is what you get with batanga!

thisplacehas very poor customer service. one of the restaurant hostess was extremely rude. she yelled at us because we asked to be seated inside. our waiter did notplaceour order on time and after waiting forever, he did not bring all that we ordered. valet parking cost $8 and they had only two guys taking care of it. after waiting like 20 mins for the car, they didn't even open the door of the passenger. i wish i could say that all this trouble is worth the food but theirs tapas are very disappointing. crispy calamari and chicken croquettes had the same bad taste, they add too much spices. potatoes had nothing special and i can't say how the cheese bread is as it was never brought to the table.

had a wonderful late saturday afternoon. the sangria is quite excellent and the beer is cold.

we had tapas including the mushroom croquettes that were great. surprisingly, they are a minced mushroom mixed with the flavors and sauces which were better than we expected even from the menu.
we had the bread that has rosemary and aioli and it looked like it was vivacious coveted in nacho cheese sauce, inin reality it was very delicious with crisp bread and complex flavor including a garlic that was not overbearing.
we lastly enjoyed the potatos fried with spices including a healthy dose of paprika. crisp outside and light and tender inside the sauce have a pronounced balance to the spices on the potatoes.
overall, thisplacehas a good energy, a gracious and good staff and would recommend it for a night out with anyone, especially friends.