laci's tapas bar

adorable bar and very well appointed restaurant. staff were friendly but the food was generally bad. our firsttapaswas a bruschetta and the tomatoes were pretty much not ripe. the other courses were almost all equally bad. drinks were expensive and not generous in size. too bad because its really a cute place,

my favoritetapasrestaurant anywhere. everything about laci's is quality. the food is really excellent and the service is also always very good. great selections across the board and reasonable prices. this is without a doubt one of the top 5 restaurants in syracuse.

fantastictapasand dining. i've reviewed laci's before and we love it. we've been back several times since 8/12. every time it has been excellent dining experience. last night, 10/11/13 martha and i took her cousins bobbi and sally to laci's. another feast. sue and i split a bottle of robert mondavi cabernet sauvignon, martha had clean slate riesling. bobbi opted for a refreshing glass of our local water : ).

tapas - beef wellington, grilled butternut squash risotto, shrimp & grits, parmesan scallops, roasted brussel sprouts, baked mac n' cheese, lamb chops, and ravioli caprese. sue and i loved the shrimp & grits. bobbi thought it was too spicy. martha doesn't like seafood. the grilled butternut squash risotto was a little dry but good. everything else was excellent.

desserts
raspberry lemon - vanilla cake, lemon mousse with a hint of raspberry preserves and lemon butter cream frosting, creme brulle and french press coffee. check it out!

never again. the staff were pleasant, but the food was not up to par, and frankly, i feel as though we were ripped off on our dinner. $14 for two beers - really? i've been totapasrestaurants before, so i understand the concept of small plates to share, but never left after dinner feeling hungry and pissed off. our petit filet was overcooked until dry (we were not asked how we would like it cooked, which seems a bit odd in retrospect). the lamb was cooked well, but did not justify $14 for two small chops. the cheese plate was ridiculous, with 5 random hunks of cheese that we couldn't identify, two tiny slices of bread, and unwashed grapes and strawberries taking up most of the plate. and finally, the brussel sprouts, billed as "oven roasted," had clearly been steamed or boiled to death, and then coated in oil flavored like burnt garlic. but the thing that most annoyed me was the lack of seasoning. if you are going to bill youself as a fine dining restaurant and so don't want to put salt on the table for fear of not being classy, then for heaven's sake, season your food! there was no salt at all on any dish we had. i almost asked for some but didn't really want to finish my dishes anyway. we really wanted to like this restaurant, having heard good things about it from friends, and it being close to where we live. needless to say, we will most likely not be back.

terrible, terrible food. awful.. i would love to construct a grand narrative describing the many offenses rendered to my palate by laci'stapasbar, but i believe that any creative effort on my behalf would constitute further thievery by the obscenely over-priced eatery. instead, i will simply state facts, chronologically: seated immediately on a friday night without a reservation (not surprising, in retrospect); wonderful, friendly waitress brings iceless cucumber water; we order wine--meh selection, slightly overpriced; first dish, mediterranean platter--ten dollars for bland humus, insipid tzatziki, "tabbouleh", two admittedly tasty dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), the very same olives and carrots that were placed on the table when we were seated, cold pita and slightly stale italian bread; second dish, mexican sliders--nine bucks for three tiny-ass (kennedy half-dollar sized) burgers with a tex-mex flair; third dish, brussels sprouts--bland--were they even seasoned, i wonder; fourth dish, butternut squash risotto cakes--decent flavor, i gave them the benefit of the doubt on being served room-temperature; maybe they were meant to be that way; and finally "chicken montados"-- i have no words to describe how absolutely incredibly awful this dish was--ten bucks for dry, unseasoned chicken on toast made soggy by "sofrita" that is definitely just ragu and vinegar, all covered in slightly burnt cheese. blech. grand total $85 plus tip. do yourself a favor and spend your money elsewhere.

good for a drink.. bad for food.. pros: nice atmosphere.
cons: food isn't that good.tapasend up being smaller versions of appetizers at chains. mac and cheese bites, sliders, quesadillas. even the higher end plates (beef skewers) are made with poor ingredients and not executed well. expect to be there a while - service is slow.

great time at laci's. i went to laci's this past weekend and had an amazing time! i loved the warm and inviting atmosphere, the friendly staff and the food. our server was attentive and knowledgable in regard to the menu. she advised us on portion sizes and made recommendations on what to order. we tried the martini beef skewers (beef marinated in vodka and olive juice...yum!, olives, and onions all grilled up). we also ordered the flat bread pizza, buttons marsala, ravioli caprese, and the brie and apples. this was a perfecttapasmeal for the 3 of us, the dishes cam out one at a time and we all shared and chatted over a bottle of loredona viognier. a wonderful experience, we will be back and make sure to tell all of our friends!

in a word, dreadful. we went with a large group of friends to laci's last night. the decor was beautiful, and the company was excellent. the food, however, could not have been more disappointing. it was truly awful. the steak skewers ($11)featured four one inch cubes of fatty, underseasoned, gristly meat that was much more like chuck roast or stew meat than steak, covered in a revolting warm blue cheese dressing. the marsala mushrooms ($4) were undercooked and flavorless, without even a hint of the garlic and wine promised on the menu. the potato skins were also undercooked, and the only thing i could taste was the dirt that had not been properly washed off. the worst of the night was the scallops, which were clearly frozen. again, underseasoned, overcooked to an inedible toughness, and swimming in an unappetizing clear liquid that featured a wilted cilantro garnish. disgusting.

while i did not expect a syracuse venue to offer the variety and quality oftapasi have enjoyed in spain and portugal, i was shocked to spend as much as we did on a few bites of food that neither my husband or i cared to finish. usually intapassetting, plates are passed to share the enjoyment of the food. last night at laci's, our friends were passing around plates because they did not like the food, and just wanted to get rid of it.

the service was friendly, but it took a long time to get anything, and the plates came out randomly, with long pauses in between. my husband later commented that he had hoped that they had forgotten that we had ordered the scallops, because everything that preceded them was so abysmal. also, our server has a lovely mane of hair that she had pulled into a loose ponytail that hung over her shoulder to her waist in the front. while it was an attractive hairstyle, it was inappropriate and kind of gross to have all that hair around food service...i can't imagine what they are thinking with that.

my husband and i left company that we were truly enjoying after about three hours because i was so hungry, and could not bring myself to order anything more. we paid our bill ($65, with gratuity included in, which in our case cheats the server, as we are generous tippers) and came home and ate waffles.

syracuse. we recently dined at laci'stapasbar and unfortunately were very disappointed. we were seatd near the front of the restaurant and eah time the door opened a bast of old air greeted us. we sampled a variety of tapa on the menu and most were mediocore. the service was very slow and below average. our cocktails sat on the bar for 10 minutes and finally had to ask for them to be brought to our table. we had asked for additional pita bread to accompany our dips and were never given to us. our party ordered irish coffees and expresso ....... received our desserts and check before the hot beverages !!!!!!!
defintely would not recommend nor return.

didn't work for us. on a cold january evening we decided to try laci'stapasbar. friends of ours had been to it a couple of times and had only good things to say about the place. since it was a friday evening we made reservations and one of the owners took my call - very pleasant and even inquired whether i was interested in viewing the flamenco dancing. i mentioned that our 11 year old son will be dining with us. she told us that they didn't have a kids menu but something can be worked out. which was very nice, but luckily our son goes everywhere with us and has learned there are times when burger and fries are not available! she also informed us that there was parking behind the restaurant. this was useful information as we would have been driving around looking for street parking. out first impression was very positive. an old house, with a red door, updated with contemporary colors and modern fixtures. we waited briefly inside the entrance at the foot of the stairs for the hostess. we were led to the front dining section. it was one big room with dining at the front with the bar at the end where the "tappy hour" was in progress. the bar seemed pretty full - about a dozen or so people were there. i spied another dining area beyond the bar, which was partially walled off. even though the bar was in close proximity to where we were seated it was not noisy and we didn't have to shout to have a conversation. the first indication of trouble was when my son refused to remove his jacket. this is a child walks to the bus stop in the winter in a sweatshirt. he had his back to the entrance and every time someone opened the door a cold arctic blast would hit him. soon all of us felt the cold draft, and since we were the only people in the dining area i wondered whether we could be seated elsewhere away from the cold air. my hope was that we could be moved to the room in the back. we were told that there was a room in the back by the side of the bar. this was going from bad to worse - a lonely cozy table at the end of the bar - with three windows. now we were banished to the back of beyond. we were isolated and cold. our table was next to three windows and a cold draft found its way into the room via every crack and crevice of those old windows. i had to go back to the entrance and get my jacket. i almost ordered a space heater with my food. speaking of food, the menu had tapas, petitetapasand group tapas. i was a little confused since i was under the impression thattapaswere equivalent to appetizers. i was wondering what the petitetapaswas and the server told me that thetapaswere to be shared and the petitetapaswere bite size. we skipped the grouptapasas none of the items seemed unique. my son chose the "mac 'n cheese eggrolls" my husband the "lamb chop lollipops" and i ordered the "mustard pork empanadas". the wine we ordered, an australian shiraz and an argentinian malbec, was nom! the bread and hummus was nom as well (however the server had to check to see whether the hummus was homemade when i complimented the dish - one would think the server would know the origins of the food served in the restaurant - when i re-read the menu it stated the hummus was homemade). the food was plated tastefully but it didn't wow us - eggrolls were all mac 'n cheese and we couldn't taste the lobster or ham, the empanadas were mostly puff pastry with a teaser of pulled pork, the lamb lollipops were good, but the bed of baby spinach didn't have anything to hold it together. the mango apple chutney accompaniment didn't taste like mango or apple. i used the hummus on the baby spinach and it worked. all the plates had three items so we could share. i have dined at many similarly priced restaurants where i was content just with a glass of wine and an appetizer. we were all still hungry. so, my husband ordered two more items - sliders flight and baked sweet potato fries. we waited, and waited and waited for our order. finally a dish arrived and the server said "sorry - it is getting busy" - but the dish was not ours. we hailed the server and returned the dish. again we waited and waited and waited. by now we were cranky, frozen and still hungry. my husband ever the diplomat wanted to wait patiently. i revolted and my son backed me. my husband reluctantly cancelled the order paid the bill and we left. i did not hear any one apologizing to us for the confusion. at the entrance we met another couple and they were gushing as to how wonderful everything was. i didn't say anything. i felt bad for our son, as this was sort of a celebration dinner for him for a recent accomplishment. he wanted to go to chiles which we vetoed. as a consolation i got him a hot fudge sundae at mcdonalds for a dollar which he relished.

an absolute must!. they've only been open since june 2010, but with a beautifully decorated interior and delicious small plate menu, this hawley-green establishment easily tops my list of syracuse restaurants.

thetapasis a fun fusion, mixing american diner gourmet (mediterranean potato skins, multi-ethnic sliders) with more traditional fair like a french fruit and cheese platter. the unfussy decor combines warm colors with tasteful, yet eye-catching, lighting fixtures and wall hangings. get a big party together so you can take advantage of the awesome upstairs area that comes complete with a lounge space.

my party enjoyed a lot of what the menu had to offer. the mac n' cheese tray was some of the best homemade comfort food i've ever had; the thing that makes it worth the money is the addition of lobster and ham. the mediterranean spinach dip stands out for putting the emphasis on the spinach and not on the cheese and salt like common restaurant versions. i paired my meal with the house sangria, which was fresh and fruity without being overly sweet.

the brunch is reasonably price and they have a great variety of egg dishes and breakfast fare. but that's not important - they bring pots of french pressed coffee right to your table. nuff said.