tapavino

after reading the rave reviews about tapavino, i was excited about sampling the menu when friends and i arrived for our 7pm reservation on may 3. unfortunately, my experience was underwhelming.

to say theplaceis bustling on a friday night is an understatement. when at capacity, the acoustics of the confined upstairs dining room make it difficult to converse with your companions without raising your voice to a ridiculous level.

during the meal, i sampled the crab, avocado and chilli tostado ($14), the stuffed piquillo peppers with smoked mackrel ($13) and the jamon, baby beetroot and goat's cheese ($16). i personally found the flavours a bit bland and unbalanced, but the dishes were far more enjoyable than my salty dessert experience. i opted for the chocolate terrine, olive oil and salt flake ($12) - a decision i can still taste 12 hours later. basically, it was far too salty and akin to indulging in a chocolate lick block.

on the liquid side of the equation, my three friends and i all agreed tapavino's red sangria lacked any real punch, which was disappointing after a long day at work. that said, the wine menu is exhaustive, and even the most hard-to-please wine buff will find something to tickle their fancy.

it was impossible to fault the service we received during our tapavino experience. our waiter was friendly, attentive and extremely knowledgeable about every aspect of the menu - something that makes life easy when you and your friends are struggling to make selections.

would i go back? probably not.

the restaurant felt really warm and intimate in it's upstairs small dining area. the wine selection was impressive, almost too many to choose from. we ended up having quite a few bottles of red wine from spain and they were fabulous. the nibbles were tapas style in small serving, perfectly complement the wines. if you are into old world wines especially red , thisplaceis worth checking out!

thisplacehad been on my list forever, with so many positive reviews, expectations were very high. it was not as busy as expected for a saturday night, there were plenty of tables available upstairs where we got seated. the service was friendly & prompt. they also had a good selection of drinks. the food though was some what hit & miss. loved the spanner crab, prawn & sweet corn “bolas” tapa; the jamon serrano on the charcuterie board was also great. on the other hand, the mallorquina, like a sticky chorizo filling without the sausage skin, was heavy & hard to eat. also not sold on the fried egg in with the mushrooms side. the “chicken wings” were more just frenched mini drumettes. overall was ok, maybe if theplacewas busier the atmosphere would be more exciting.

came here for a team lunch and loved the vibe !! food is amazing and the service staff is attentive. their wine collection is pretty good. lovelyplaceto get away to for a work lunch.

went to tapavino last about twelve months ago and absolutely loved it, but our recent visit feels like something has changed and it’s not for the better!

the service was excellent, fairly prompt and checked in on us regularly. sadly that was about it for the good.

firstly the menu, where’s the spanish staples? where is the albondigas? the croquetas? why am i being offered lamb skewers with zatar and lubna? is this el jannah in granville or a tapavino restaurant in sydney cbd?

the menu on the website does not reflect what you’re given in the restaurant and is really the focus on why it was a negative experience.

the jamón was ok, but not sure of the quality, was not a nice dried and lightly oiled cured meat as expected, but more squashed together, somewhat soggy, and thrown in with burrata and spanish onion mixed in to perhaps mask the flat yet overbearing taste of it.

the mixed olives, not really sure what you guys did there, three very large olives and a bunch of very very small olives.

overall - sad to see the direction thisplacehas gone and i hope to see it improve in the future!

loved to have a dessert here niceplacegood food good service presentation was nice can hangout alone as well as with a gang not overpriced all satisfaction are available

hidden gem at circular quay. really goodplacefor date night with your s/o or just a catch upplacewith your girlfriends.
theplaceis really small, ambience reminds me of what you would find in the alley ways of paris or rome type of feel.

pros
- when we ordered the charcuterie, we thought, oh is that all? but we actually enjoyed it. it wasn’t too salty, it had an element of sweetness, salt from the salami, sour from the pickles and the cheese to combine it all.
- ambience is nice, cosy
- my boyfriend really liked how the staff was attentive and continued to pour his glass of water
- stuffed chicken thigh was nice
- the pate!!!! so goooood

cons
- it’s very intimidate, close to other tables - if you like you personal space
- tables are small
- the individual servings are average, nothing wowed me
- tuna tartare was meh, thought it would be better

yearning for spain again - we really do love it there - we felt like some tapas for dinner so decided to go to tapavino near circular quay in sydney. we weren't the only ones! theplacewas busy. choosing the later sitting suited us as we could stay longer. from the tapas menu we had the crispy potato skins, zucchini pisto, goats curd pisto.  this had really nice flavours, the potato skins were lovely and crispy and the zucchini and goats curd pisto combined well.

stumbled across thisplacewhen we were staying at the marriott and was too lazy to venture far for food. the few tapas dishes we ordered were delicious, especially the jamon was really amazing. the sangria was pretty good too. only the space downstairs was quite tight and can be noisy with large crowds dining next to us.

excellentplacefor a drink and snack when wearing the pin-striped uniform and want to remember younger days in barcelona ! just had some glasses of an excellent tempranillo with a few tapas plates. manager was great but wait staff a bit haphazard and the food (while delicious) was a bit rustic. however great atmosphere in the otherwise soul-less city in the evening and a genuine spanish feel to it. not cheap but worth it - however go the bottle not the glass ! the red is delicious and after our group drank 9  reds by the glass we worked out we should spend more time planning our evening ! really niceplaceto go "of a tuesday" !

dear readers, i think i’m in love. in love with this gorgeous spanish sherry – tapas – wine bar! when you put those three things together, we usually know it’s going to be something special. tapavino is located on bulletin place, just a minute walk from circular quay station. thisplacehas been on my go-to list for a while, but i haven’t had a good excuse to visit. vivid festival in sydney became that perfect excuse.

thisplacefeels so melbournian & one of the first laneway bar /restaurants in the sydney cbd. get in early or be prepared to wait. grab a stool at the bar with a friend & chat to any of the friendly staff, learn about wine & sherry & try a few spanish drops. food is tapas style & you really cant go wrong with what you order. smashed broadbean & goats cheese bruschetta is fresh. chorizo stuffed squid is full of flavour. lamb shoulder is meltingly tender with pops of sweetness from sweet, juicy grapes. get in quick for the dulce de leche cake as they run out quick. even the spiced nuts are addictive. only downside is it can get a little noisy & as it is a small place, you & your clothing will smell of the delicious cooking that has been happening all night.

was planning to have dinner on the harbour before seeing a show at the opera house but found tapavino instead. thisplaceis quite small but full of atmosphere. staff here know exactly what they're talking about and can recommend wines to match any plate. the food here was fresh, fast and delicious and if you're tossing up between different plates, just get them all definitely worth it.

i never knew anything about thisplacebefore i went on friday and i was not excited about going to another tapasplacebut i was actually very pleasantly surprised after my friends had ordered on the groups behalf and food i had not seen at any other tapasplacestarted coming out!

i really liked the beef briskety thing, artichoke and truffle dip,  roast cauliflower which had a nice spicy sauce i mixed in with bread from another dish to mop up.

definitely will come back. theplacewas bustling on friday night too really great atmosphere!

i don't understand how thisplacehas such great ratings. the food was tasteless, tiny and overpriced. the meats were dry and paired with terrible vinegary sides. i have a big appetite but could not stomach any more of the crap. we had: scallops, pork belly and lamb shoulder paired with white sangria & appletiser de casa. the sangria was the only thing that was o.k.

the service was terrible. they were quite pushy and unpleasant. the waiter gave me the eftpos machine suggesting to tip them, they don't deserve it. we left feeling like we've been cheated. don't bother trying this place. worst restaurant i've ever been to. ruined my night!