The Islington Tapas Bar
Restaurant - Spanish in London
21 Essex Road
London
N1 2SA
Contact Numbers
Reviews
(3.5 stars) A good budget to mid-priced option
This restaurant is a 3.5/5 in my book.I've been to the Islington Tapas Bar (ITB) about six times since discovering them about a year ago. My partner and I are big fans of tapas and Spanish cuisines in general and had been looking for something in North London for quite some time. and Islington's close enough to North London for us.The food here will not knock your socks off like the dishes they serve at Barrafina, but I think the ITB serves good food, especially considering the price. Try the croquettes and any of the chicken dishes. Make sure you order bread to soak up the sauces.We generally order à la carte, but have also tried the "tapas for a tenner" offer they have. They would go out of business if they allowed their customers to order willy-nilly, so they restrict the menu to less expensive dishes and logically require that you finish the three (or so?) dishes you can order in one go. The trick is to order the light options first and the heavy ones last.Two people can eat here for less than £40 with wine. We generally come in around £50-60 because of what and the way we order.
A User - 04/12/2007 | report this review
Rubbish food
We went here at lunch time for their new 'All you can eat for £10' promotion, which is available all day Sunday-Thursday. You order (up to) 3 dishes per person at a time, and when you have finished them all you can order some more.They had 15 items on the menu, which is not a bad selection, and they were all the same as the full-priced menu.We ordered 12 of the 15 (didn't order the 2 salads, or fried potato and onion).We did not order more of anything because nothing was tasty or moreish. For instance, the chicken in white wine, which is a common tapas dish, used chicken breast instead of the much tastier meat on the bone, meaning the sauce didn't have much flavour.Paella did not have any taste of stock, while the chorizo was fairly insipid. Several items came with tomato sauce, which was sour due to the lack of any herbs or onions.Overall poor cooking, they need a new chef who knows how to make tasty food. If I had made any of these dishes at home I would be disappointed and seek to make improvements before cooking them again. That they serve this food in their restaurant every day demonstrates a total indifference.Service was fairly quick, although not attentive.There is a much nicer tapas place in Islington, on Upper Street: Sangria - go there instead.
A User - 11/10/2007 | report this review
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