ox bar de tapas

had a reservation for 4 at 8:30pm on a friday...called to say we'd be 15 minutes late and it wasn't a problem. the cocktails were wonderful and extremely well-balanced...and definitely rivaled the drinks at a michelin-starredrestaurantin san francisco. we shared tapas and everything was delicious: fried artichokes with pimenton aoili, salt cod, tuna, clams, olives, and the ham. desserts were the churros and creme brûlée...also delicious! our server was attentive, fun, and overall wonderful! all of the food came out fast yet well-timed. this was one of the best dining experiences ever had in calgary...drinks, food, and service were all impecable and we may just have to become regulars.

very rude staff. visitedrestaurantfor dinner recently and the staff were extremely rude at one point. we decided half way through our visit to cut the evening short and go somewhere else where we felt welcome.

tess, alex, mike and jena go to ox and angela and eat way to much.. i have a very boring job and i actually spent part of my day on the website, making a list of what i would be eating here, and boy i did not miss one thing on that list. first we had a few of the pinchos, just a few.. the delicias (persian dates stuffed with serrano, manchego, walnuts and pomegranate molasses) are my favorite! i would go to ox and angela just for them! they are sweet and salty and tangy and just delicious. we also munched on the aceitunas (marinated olives) throughout our meal and they would make a perfect bar snack anywhere. the queso was just like a blue cheese and was bitter and creamy the way a stinky cheese should be. there's nothing like a potato pie and the tortilla espanola (potato omelette with red pepper, and sour cream) was great. it's a big slice so there's lots to share. the pan con tomate (basically a bruschetta) was a favorite with my friends, and was fresh and full of flavor.

next we had the tapas verduras. i thought it would be nice to have a fresh salad and the ensalada ( lettuce, walnuts, apple, manchego, and sherry vinegar) was a nice palette cleanser. the apples added a fresh crispness, but it was a little underwhelming and felt like something i've made at home. however, the esparragos (asparagus with manchego, truffle, fride egg and orange) was a huge hit. the perfectly cooked egg and the truffle was a perfect sauce for the asparagus and the orange gave it a nice hit of zing to brighten up all those rich ingredients. the champinones (mushroom toast with egg and truffle) was also rich and creamy with yet another perfectly cooked egg to soak everything together. (my friend and i took turns on breaking open the eggs, there is something very satisfying about that feeling) the boys loved the patatas bravas (crispy baby potatoes with pimenton ketchup and garlic aioli) and i'm sure would have ordered more if we didn't have a whole third course to get through. perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, like an upscale twist on french fries with ketchup and mayonaisse.

lastly we had the tapas pescados y carnes to seal the deal on our already full tummies. i love scallops so i usually order them anywhere i go. the veiras (scallops with potatoes and spanish chorizo) were good, but a little over cooked for me. my boyfriend loves meatballs and sausages and the albondigos (chicken and pork meatballs with spices, tomatoes and manchego) and the merguez (lamb sausage with apricot, sherry and mustard) were right up his alley. they were both meaty and had refreshing accompanyments to balance everything out. last but not least we had the pato asado (duck breast with pomegranate, mint and pistachio) was perfectly cooked and the tangy sauce made my mouth very happy.

wewf. just reliving that made me full all over again. it was a wonderful meal all around and tapas style is always fun. therestaurantis very nice and the staff are very knowledgable about the food. go.

good ox & angela, good.. i finally had the opportunity to try ox & angela. a close friend works for therestaurantand 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'srestaurantscene!

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 the menu and 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!

we had a reservation for 8 pm. the male host sat us down and explained the $25 paella sunday special and said that our waitress (cassidy) would be over to take our drinks order.

our drinks order was taken. we asked if the small plates come out first and our waitress said they just come out as the kitchen has them ready.

for the small plates, we had the croquettes, broccoli, scallops and the steak. i thought that all of the dishes were over-salted but my husband enjoyed them. these small dishes were all taken out to us within 5-10 minutes of the other being finished.

when we had finished our small plates, our waitress came over and took them away and asked if we wanted anything else. we mentioned we had another dish coming (the paella)... it seemed she had forgotten.

30 minutes since our plates were taken away and still no paella. i should add, that therestaurantwasn’t busy when we ordered our food. we flagged down our waitress and she said that she didn’t put the paella order through until we had finished our last small plate.

we decided we just wanted the bill. we tried to get the waitresses attention while she was walking by and she ignored us twice. the male host came over and we told him we wanted to cancel the paella. he went and spoke to the waitress and she finally took the paella over. we tell her that we no longer want it, after waiting 40 minutes without anything and no prior warning.

she said “if i punched the order in, it would have been ready in the middle of your small dishes.” this contradicted what she said earlier, where she said the dishes come out in whatever order they are ready. if a dish takes 40 minutes, it does not make any sense to put that order in, when you are taking away the customer’s last small dish away. cassidy seemed to disagree and was rude. 

we have been to other restaurants, where some dishes take longer to be made and we have always been told prior. if we had been told, it would not have been a big deal. i have also been to tapas restaurants in europe and never waited 40 minutes in between dishes.

the male host came over and gave us our bill - he was very courteous and handled it well. 

we only left a tip because the kitchen staff should not be impacted by the waitress being incompetent.

good food but terrible ambiance. we had dinner at therestaurantand they were playing this irritatingly loud lame rap music. we had to shout to each other. i asked them to change the music and they only turned it down slightly. i guess if i was in a bar having a beer i would put up with rap music, but if i was on a date i would have left. what could kill the atmosphere more than loud rap music at a restaurant? these people have no class.

we have friends who insist this place tops the list of favourite restaurants in yyc. we were visiting for the weekend and decided to try some quality tapas. the waitress recommended the spanish table option (essentially their tasting menu), as this was our first time. the first courses arrived quickly, and but for the small serving sizes, they did not disappoint. what did disappoint was the service. there was a period of 40 minutes between courses, where no one checked in on us, while tables cleared around us. by the time our hot plates arrived, there were no apologies or recognition of the fact that such a delay was out of their usual character. i understand that there may be busy nights that cause backlogs in getting orders out, but given the fact that therestaurantwas over half empty, there seemed to be no reasonable explanation of why we were ignored for so long. ultimately, poor service overshadowed the meal itself, and i doubt that we will return in the future.

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 tapasrestaurantbalancing 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 tapasrestaurantlist dozens upon dozens of options for people to pull from. i’ve been to some with literally sixty options.

tapas must be difficult for arestaurantto 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 a menu offering the world stuck in an ice age. that being said, a successfulrestaurantin 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 a menu is 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 that menu is 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

i’ve been to ox & angela a few times before in the past, and some highlights of past meals were the sangria, paella, croquettes, pan fried duck breast, and seared albacore tuna. after my last visit being over a year ago, i decided to return with a few friends who have never tried ox & angela for big taste yyc. overall, our experience was pretty good, the food was delicious (a tad on the heavy side) and our server was really nice. the restaurant was fairly noisy and loud, so we had difficulty hearing each other and ended up shouting to carry our conversation.

we went for big taste 2016 and it was exquisite! big taste is the best time to get a good feel of what therestaurantoffers and we got to try the dates, roasted carrots, patatas bravas, grilled hanger steak, butter lettuce salad, cured ham, cod and potato croquettes and the chocolate tarte. the food was all rich and delicious and we all left feeling very satisfied. it is all tapas so keep that in mind for amount of food and price.

onerestauranti 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 set menu with 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.

i've tried ox & angela twice, and the first visit was less than impressive but i gave it a second visit and was pleasantly surprised.

we ordered lots of small dishes to share. everything was sooo good! i recommend the baked goat cheese if you love cheese like me, it's delicious.

the paella takes 20min to cook so if you know that's what you want, i would order it as soon as possible. the paella was what i tried both the first and second time, and i did not enjoy how salty it was the first time. i asked them to put in no salt at all on my second visit, and it came out still a little saltier than a normal dish. perhaps it's because of all the seafood inside the dish? i have no idea.

anyway, other than the paella, everything else is great here, including the sangria. definitely a must if you are on 17th and looking for a good meal. i gave it a 4.0 because therestaurantfeels kind of cramped and is extremely loud. not a good place for an intimate date for sure. also, make resos! the place is usually pretty booked.

this is great trendy tapasrestaurantwith a lively atmosphere. if you are trying to have a quiet conversation don't pick this place. the food is great and i have never been disappointed. i always leave completely full and having paid a reasonable price for a 17th ave restaurant. we have always been served by barbara and she is a delight!

first time at thisrestaurantand thought it was excellent. the food is delicious and fresh, great service and a nice atmosphere. the fried potatoes are so good, i'm craving them already! i also liked the complimentary water, it's starting to feel like most places nickel and dime over this stuff so hopefully they keep that around. it was kind of "refreshing" to not have to pay for water. we will be back!

good food, horrible service, not returning. i recently went to ox & angela for lunch over the weekend. it was my first time at the restaurant, and after entering and sitting down, i immediately noticed the setting of therestaurantwas quite nice - the decor was cozy and inviting. coupled with the guests at the bar and the other tables, i immediately fell in love with the energy of the room. after ordering, my food came pretty quickly but it turns out i had ordered a side dish instead of the full meal. i stopped the waitress to ask whether there was an additional component to the dish, as i had intended to order the full meal. i was very shocked at the way that she handled the situation- full of attitude, very defensive and straight out accusive and disrespectful. right away, she told me that i was wrong because instead of ordering the "the salt cod", i should have read out the full line of the menu, as there is a side dish that is also called the salt cod. i explained to her, that i did not realized that there was a side dish called salt cod and that she was so far away from me when i ordered, that i thought that ordering "salt cod" was sufficient for her to understand my order. i was very disappointed because even after admitting that i had misread the menu, she repeatedly said i was wrong and, in addition to that, she asked me whether i even knew what the dish was. if i was with my husband, i would have walked out out of thatrestaurantor spoke with the manager. i did not want to escalate the situation since i was with guests. overall, i was just shocked/disappointed that instead of her thinking of ways to make the situation better or for us to come up with a solution that is agreed upon, all she focused on was me getting the menu wrong. since i didnt want to escalate the problem, i suggested ordering another item from the menu (since she did not make any suggestions to improve the situation). and... really, if she had a bit more common sense, shouldnt she have clarified with me during the ordering process? it was lunch time, and the rest of my friends ordered full meals... wouldn't it be out of the ordinary for me to order 3 little 1 inch balls of cod and a french pressed coffee for lunch? it pains when i think about how excited i was to try this place out and hang out with my guests to enjoy a nice christmas brunch, and in exchange for $26.00 (as she ended up charging me for the cod without even telling me), and all i get in return is this type of treatment. after this experience, i fully understand how horrible service can ruin an experience at a restaurant.