el rincon de rafa

i try to visit here once every couple of months being one of my favourite places to eat around the city, with thefoodbeing hearty and the atmosphere homely. great selection of beers and wine to accompany thefoodwhich is fresh and cooked to order, brought to your table when ready. i would definitely recommend the gambas pil-pil, filetitos and pulpitos en salsa.

this is a great place, we were 26 people and yes we did book and pre order thefoodin advance but nevertheless that’s a lot of people to serve. thefoodwas excellent and the service first class.

we have visited el rincon a couple times and never been disappointed . thefoodis very authentic , good value and service excellent , i look forward to our next visit .

el rincón de rafa has been coming off and going back on the list for years - we've heard such mixed reviews, one minute you'll hear someone saying it's the most amazing spanishfoodthey've ever tasted then the next minute you hear tales of terrible microwaved tapas and hour-long waits for mediocre food. when my friend nat recently told me she had been and had a "sensational" meal, i started to consider adding it back onto the list - it is a manchester "classic" after all. well, fortunately we didn't need to wait long as nat liked it so much she decided to invite us all to go with her for her birthday meal!

thefoodat el rincon was brilliant, but the place needs to slow down. the staff were rushing around like a flustered benny hill sketch. greatfooddoesn’t bring people back if the service ruins it.

not enough wine in the frigde.. went with friends for a mealfoodwas average have had better tapas the sangeria was totally awful more orange juice than anthing else. it took three attempts to get a bottle of wine due to the wine not being available ended up with just a glass of wine the manager was very unhelpful and wasn't bothered about our complaint he was very rude and as no people skills. we will not be rushing back. last time we went it was very busy but this visit it wasn't could have something to do with the managers attitude.will go somewhere else for tapas next time.

such a shame. i first ate at el rinkon about 12/13 years ago, i loved it then, but not so much on return visits. . .

i've just read negative comments posted lately, and i tend to think that they've arisen from poor ordering, and a lack of understanding of the grub. in my (too long) experience of el rinkon, thefoodhas deteriorated because of poor competitors nearby. a certain complacency has set in, in my view.

quite a shame, as this place always had the potential to be marvellous

terrible - frozenfoodand stressful service. i was expecting authentic spanish cuisine, what i got was truly flabbergasting. frozen surimi crab claw that had been pre-bought, ready made and frozen (do a google search on frozen surimi and look at images) which was tasteless and pure white imitation crab meat (no fresh crab to or fresh anything to be found at el rincon except the side salad of half a tomato and 2 slices of cucumber on one of the plates!). everything was covered with tinned tomatoes on every dish, and all dishes tasted the same except for the frozen meatballs, the meat was tasteless but i got a hit of chilli with the tinned tomatoes this time. the same with the squid it was chewy and clearly pre-frozen. very disappointingly (because this place could be so good, and has gone very downhill) the management have obviously decided to cut corners in an effort to turn over tables. service wise everything came within 5 minutes of ordering and as we had barely taken the last contents of a dish the plates were whisked away from us within a split of a second. the wait staff were constantly hovering making it a stressful evening (we were in and out within 40 minutes!)

massively overrated. has to be the most overrated restaurant in manchester,great ambiance,but very average and expensivefoodand drink for what it is,tapas.not for us again.

as authentic as it can get !!!. if you manage to find it you have to congratulate yourself!!! in the end you will say it was well worth the search...only people you'll see are those who know it and it is packed even on a week day...on a weekend be prepared for a long wait..thefoodis brilliant and the staff is great....
try the paella and you won't be dissaponted..but the quantity is large so try not ordering starters!!!
have gone back again and again..also was a great place to celebrate the spanish victory at te world cup !!!