ox bar de tapas

great food but fixedmenuis a rip off. excellent food and drinks, but as a part of four we felt ripped off by the spanish table fixedmenuoption; it would have been much cheaper to have ordered the dishes separately. noisy by great decor. fast friendly service.

with the restaurant’s focus on high-quality and local ingredients, themenuchanges regularly so don’t get too attached to any one dish. but that also means more spanish plates to try on every visit!

good ox & angela, good.. i finally had the opportunity to try ox & angela. a close friend works for the restaurant and booked us a reservation for five this past weekend. i wasn't sure what to expect because i am not that familiar with spanish cuisine and was concerned not having a reference might make it difficult for me to review given my inexperience. this wasn't the case, it's easy to praise this exceptional addition to calgary's restaurant scene!

i was so impressed with the entire experience, from the aesthetic of the restaurant, the high energy clientele, and of course the beautifully presented, delicious food! we sampled many of the tapas items on themenuand shared a couple of entrees which included the duck and the paella mixta. the duck was probably the most perfectly cooked duck i have eaten in recent memory, the paella was also delicious though i did feel there wasn't enough protein in the dish. the price is a little high for certain aspects of the meal but in the end i felt that it was money well spent given how lovely our food was.

i would not necessarily recommend ox & angela as a place for a quiet, romantic dinner as it is quite loud and made for a bit of a struggle to have a conversation without yelling (good thing i love yelling). i would however recommend it for a night out with friends!

i hope if you haven't paid a visit already you have the pleasure of doing so soon, you won't be disappointed!

looking for paella? don't hope to get it... we went there with our mind set on paella and a spanish ham, and didn't get any of that.  as suggested we went with the spanish table $45 meal, confirmed it includes ham- we ended up not getting. hubby was ok with the dinner, while i left with a disappointed tummy. a $45 meal is not worth that price- bunch of potatoes, salads, olives and meats, cheese and pickles of supermarket quality, not delicatessen produces.  pleasant staff, but we will pass this place next time. our suggestion to the owners- do not advertise paella on the websitemenuif you don't serve it, or at least write it's subject to availability.

food is delish!! a bit pricey, but the atmosphere makes up for it. cocktails are also great! get the chefmenu- totally worth it, and you can try a bunch of options

came here as it was highly recommended and it was big taste calgary.  i honestly gave it an optimistic approach and here's my findings:

location had difficult parking (it is 17th, so not a huge surprise here). 

resos for 8:30 had us waiting for close to 20 minutes by a drafty door.  they had a server bring us a round of prosecco which was nice, and having to wait is a good problem for this place, as it means they were busy, and had a lot of people enjoying.  not a negative point in this writeup.

we were seated and there was five of us total.  4/5 got the big taste at $35/pp.  the 5th person ordered from the regularmenuthree items (but did not look at the big taste menu).  

when our food came, the 4 of us dove into a small portion of each course, and it was demolished quickly.  each course was simply tiny, maybe it was just the way tapas are meant to be?  small portions, shared, long delivery time in between courses means you get full faster?

the fifth person who ordered full items got an order of the steak (7oz), and an order of the potatoes of which we dove into with her to share.  now keep this in mind, one order of steak for one person was about $15 or something.  potatoes, a full plate, also about $15.  

to our surprise, those same items were on our big taste menu.  and between the four of us whom all ordered the big taste, a duplicate of one steak plate and one potato plate came out.  we had a good laugh at the fact the the 5th person ordered the same items, and then reality set in. 

if each of us was paying $35 and they brought us one steak and one potato to split between four people, the portions are clearly wrong and therefore gouging us who were duped into trying the big taste menu.  didn't leave very happy with the experience overall.

the sampler plates were literally just a small bite for everyone, of which, we were better off ordering off the menu.  this wasn't a good showcase of the hype we were geared for here.  

maybe we should have just had two of us do the big taste menu, as clearly the portions wouldn't have been really effected?  

service was great,

wow, i'm impressed by how much i like ox and angela - certainly wish i tried it sooner! my first experience was an impromptu trip for dinner. we ordered multiple tapas to share as the items on the spanish tablemenudidn't quite entice us. the roasted rainbow carrots were fabulous - the tahini, goat yogurt, and feta added just the right amounts of saltiness and tartness to the charred flavour of the carrots. of course, i also loved the famous patatas bravas. they were so crispy and the brava sauce and creamy alioli balanced each other perfectly. my favourite of the night was the mushrooms on sourdough toast with poached egg. the mushrooms were fragrant of truffles and the house-made sourdough bread was delicious. i would have ordered more sourdough if i wasn't so full from everything else! my dining partner's favourite dish was the fried chicken. the chicken was rich and succulent, but the acidity of the orange glaze cut through it. 
we returned to ox and angela over the weekend and indulged in the brunch table. the sautéed mushroom eggs benedict with truffle hollandaise and the olive oil dark chocolate pancakes with dulce de leche were my favourite items from the menu. overall, exceptional food quality and great service in a beautiful dining room. can't wait to go back!

ox & angela caters to everything i love about dinning out - intimate atmosphere, sharable meals and quality creations. i have gone out in larger groups, but recommend this place for date nights or other one-on-one occasions, as it has the perfect ambiance for a late night romantic bite.

the dishes change or are replaced somewhat frequently which i love. the quality is always there and i like to try new things. i would avoid the pre-setmenuthat servers occasionally suggest for groups, as i much prefer to have control over the items selected, but to each their own!

the bovine must be a significant contributor to a business to receive top billing over poor angela. the ox could be a dude i guess. there are celebrities named after stones, liquid fuel, and money, so why not. ox & angela (which could be compressed to o&a…but i never will) is a spanish tapas restaurant balancing the knife of edge of what defines tapas. don’t get me wrong, it’s good, and my crystal ball foretells an extremely positive review, but i adhere to the tradition demanding a tapas restaurant list dozens upon dozens of options for people to pull from. i’ve been to some with literally sixty options.

tapas must be difficult for a restaurant to offer given the number of options required. you have to support a large enough staff to handle the orders, or else freeze everything beforehand, a horrid idea leading my preference to limited tapas over amenuoffering the world stuck in an ice age. that being said, a successful restaurant in a town like calgary shouldn’t have that problem. ox & angela offers less than thirty options that can be classed as actual tapas. not bad, could be more, but far beyond some of the insults to the name i’ve been to. a local business in my hometown only features tapas in title only, renaming the appetizers page. a disgrace. ox & angela is birthed from mary’s womb in comparison. however, to enjoy the full experience, the suggestion is to order the “the spanish table”, which is, let’s be honest, actually a chef’s menu—a set list of small plates (about ten). at $45 per person, such amenuis a remarkable deal. i’ve spent triple that on some tasting menus.

the décor is charming, with a wall splitting the establishment. i love restaurants that do this—it increases intimacy, but more importantly, it greatly decreases sound pollution. i’ve been in colossal restaurants where one cannot hear friends across a table. ox & angela takes it one step further by altering the décor in each half, leading me to think one side is the ox while the other side is the angela. i would wager i was on the angela side…it looked more feminine.

there were three of us that day, a day where the the spanish table was $10 off. given its two person minimum, it became the obvious choice. each course was shared, and of course, it had to open with olives, followed by persian dates wrapped with serrano ham and stuffed with manchego cheese, walnuts, and coated in pomegranate molasses. sharing that plate was dry cured spanish serrano ham. then came the (apparently) famous croquettes with salt cod, potato allioli (not a spelling mistake, the spaniards add an “l”) and chili oil. so far, so good. what was elaborately described as toasted pan rustica with crushed tomatoes, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil was really a mouthful for bruschetta. after that was a personal favorite, albacore tuna with tomato relish and crispy capers. it remained a favorite for about three minutes, followed by something that shouldn’t have been amazing but was--ensalada escalivada--charred marinated vegetables, whipped goat cheese, and anchovies. yes, anchovies. after which, we had a butter lettuce salad with toasted walnuts, apple, manchego cheese, and a sherry vinaigrette.

bored yet? not i. patatas bravas--crispy fried baby potatoes, something i’m going to replicate the first chance i get. it was followed by the only course i was not a fan of--grilled spring onions on romesco sauce. but redemption came moments with grilled hanger steak with browned mushrooms, olorosso sherry butter, and pickled onions. we had room for dessert, so while one of us had the flan, the rest had churros in chocolate sauce.

by the way, i just love saying flan. flan, flan, flan.

along with drinks, the bill came to around $150, pretty much a bargain in my book. ox & angela is a legitimate score. the food is fantastic, sublime and astounding. i immediately wanted to return. however, i would not order the “the spanish table” again, as thatmenuis fixed. i would spice it up with other options, or better still, challenge the chef (whose name is listed on menu) to create something entirely original. given the selection, i bet he would take up the task. ox & angela makes virtually no mistakes and knocks everything else out of the park.

flan, flan, flan…

food: 5/5

service: 5/5

presentation: 5/5

value: 5/5

recommendation: 5/5

food was fantastic but it ends there.
waiter didn't want to be there. very short and bothered when anyone in the group asked for something. with a group of 8 you are unable to pick off themenuand forced to only have the spanish table dish. portions are very small for any adult. let's be honest our daughter would leave hungry. all this for $45 a person, way overpriced to be forced to take what they give you. the service was horrible and your obligated to pay 18% gratuity. which i understand is standard in many places with groups. i've never liked this as my tip is based in service. great service gets a bigger tip. last, you are unable to get your own separate bill. they will not split a bill, it says right on the menu. they will split payments off the bill but good luck with that! we will never go back and i'm left wondering why anyone would😔

big tastemenuwas delicious. just the right amount of food and the ability to try many dishes was perfect. i love the carrots and the chocolate tarte was to die for.

one restaurant i could not miss was ox and angela on our calgary trip. it was a few block away from our hotel and we love spanish food. i really wish we had more spanish restaurants in vancouver. m and i came on a weekday dinner around 6:30 pm to give their spanish dishes a try. the interior is nice and there are 2 dining areas. they serve a spanish table setmenuwith 10 dishes that are shared family style for $45 per person. m and i were tempted to get it but we heard so much about the paella that we went to go without the set menu.

food was great:) service was okay. perfect place to dine with friends. desserts were awesome! do not order the tastingmenuas it is not as good as other dishes on the main menu

second time here. definitely a favourite as i do not make a habit of repeating restaurants. the patatas bravas are amazing every time and the experience of the sharing style dishes makes it fun as everyone gets to taste the same foods. killer cocktailmenu... vanilla whiskey sour!!

having only ate here once before, we took our time to look through themenuand select a few tapas to share. ..the rice was deliciously buttery and i eagerly scooped the crunchy bits from the side of the pan. new to saffron, i have a hard time describing what it tastes like – all i know is that i love it. it makes the dish look so mediterranean, bursting with colors of red, yellow, and orange...too stuffed for dessert, we passed on the sweets and sauntered home.
highly recommended (and reasonably priced to boot)!