La Tasca

Not impressed with the food to be honest. I came here with my boyfriend as we had free vouchers from redeeming some Tesco points and we thought tapas would be great. However the food was quite bland and not what I expected at all.
Spanish food in general has complex flavours and lots of herbs. However I thought the paella, huevos, chorizo and a mix octopus/​potato dish lacked any particular character and not particularly value for money. That was a lot more evident with the cheese starter that was just 4 thin slices for several pounds. Don’t get it!
The garlic bread starter was good and so was the mix seafood fry up but again you can’t go very wrong with frying some squid. The spinach croquettes were ok too but they could have done with some more herbs and spices.
For dessert we had the waffle with Malaga ice cream. The waffle itself was a bit hard but the ice cream was delicious. The sangria was also pretty good so it’s a good thing to order.
Personally I expected a bit more from the meal, especially since it’s a well known chain and the staff were very friendly so the service was pretty good. Unfortunately the food was not the best so I’m glad I did not have to pay for it. Definitely not going back there again.

It’s a great place for an evening out with friends. Tapas is tasty and portions are really big. They offer vast selection of dishes that will keep everyone happy.
We ordered 3 tapas each and that was more than enough food. And we also got offered a free jug of sangria!!!
Great atmosphere + fantastic food = awesome night out

Ahhh, this place is not what it used to be. I remember having incredible family dinners here and staying until they close.
The food standard is not the same any more and this is not just my opinion. They used to have amazing Spanish meat meals, but they don’t taste that Spanish now. My last dinner here was somehow disappointing and it tasted more like I just bough it from some cheap supermarket at the corner.
Maybe hiring the old staff again will improve the quality of their menu. La Tasca, you may want to consider this.

Great place to go get tapas. Favourite dishes: prawn gambini, potato bravas and cottage cheese and tomato salad. It’s a good place to grab a quick bite although it would be nicer if staff were a little more attentive.

Love la tasca! I was a little disappointed as the new iPhone style pads the waiters had meant they became a little detached and unfriendly. However as usual the food was great and Victoria is a great location too.

Popped over for lunch last Friday and food quality was really good. We ordered 3 tapas each as suggested and we were really full. We ordered pork cheek, prawn in oil, fish, chicken, beef stew, pork meatball, etc. the best tapas I had among all these dishes is the prawn in garlic oil! Oh my god, it is just so so tasty with the chilli and garlic. Not spicy and delicious. Restaurant is fine, spacious but you just have to be a bit patience with the waitress, kinda slow… too much siesta, maybe :) just kidding

We came across La Tasca after searching for a place to eat before watching Billy Elliot… let’s just say that I now wish I hadn’t eaten at all. The filthy menus should have been my first indication. But I figured, this place is full of people, how can we go wrong?
Well go wrong we did.
Let’s start with the service: the host was quite rude and abrupt and very unwelcoming. Our server was nice enough, but it definitely took her a while to get to our table.
Now for the horrible, terrible food: I just read another review where someone pointed out that they could have purchased microwavable food from M and S and had a better meal. I couldn’t agree more.
In short, the potatas bravas was average, the spanish tortilla (omelette) tasted like someone stole it off a a domestic Delta flight, my daughter wouldn’t touch more than a bit of her salad /​burger /​omelette tapas combination, and my husband mentioned his chicken tasted like airplane food. What I thought was pan con tomate was simply bread with a red pepper dip, and our butternut squash /​carrot salad was missing the butternut squash.
The Bottom Line: I don’t necessary expect to find authentic tapas outside of Spain (where they were FANTASTIC) but I do expect to find a restaurant that makes an effort. La Tasca is not that place — avoid it at all costs.

I think the tables upstairs are nicer. It’s a lively spot so might be worth booking ahead. Nice wine list. Great Paella with different options — vegetarian, chicken & chorizo, muscles & squid and the full selection of fish type. Top marks.

After an afternoon at the Theater, a group of us wandered in for some tapas. La Tasca was super busy with barely a seat available and unfortunately a minimal wait staff. The staff was running around like crazy, but unfortunately there were just too many people. I do not fault the staff for this as management sets the staffing plan, but I would definitely add a server or two.
We ordered 6 – 7 tapas and they were all fairly good. I thought the prices were a little high, but I think that is the standard for tapas. The sangria was excellent and I would definitely recommend buy a pitcher of it. If we are in the area again, I would return. However, I would not make a special trip for La Tasca.

I’m rather surprised by the experience of the first reviewer: I’ve come here a few times and have yet to be disappointed. Rather, I’ve found their food to be well-​cooked, relatively healthy and above all, good value. Similarly, I’ve always had good service and I like the décor. I’d happily come again.

Bland, almost floury olives arrived with a soft tasteless baguette and stayed on the table throughout the meal, dessert and coffee, forlornly ignored by me and the servers.
Ham croquettes were school dinner-​like. Cheesy lumps of mashed potato in a fried til crunchy carapace. The same aoli that slightly redeemed them was also found on the one relatively decent dish, small goujons of indeterminate white fish, moist and flaky in a fresh dry batter. Roast aubergine was greasily anonymous and (possibly in embarrasment) hid under a slick of cheap mozzarella. Patatas Bravas were similarly muted. My real standout came with King Prawns in chilli and garlic infused oil. Five sorry looking specimens arrived swimming in an ‘authentic’ terracotta serving dish. The oil was a full inch deep and judging by the lukewarm temperature, hadn’t even been used to cook the cringeworthy crustacea. I wasn’t sure whether to use the bread to mop it up, or save it for an engine change.
A lemon cheesecake and an apple merangue pie arrived (just after the coffee, really? Before dessert? Don’t you look at what’s on the table?). Both came with identical lattice plate decoration writ large and sugary in a Mr Whippy Raspberry Sauce pen. The Vole declared herself satisfied, I suspect she may just have been feeling contrary. I took my fast developing stomach upset home and dreamed of Dehesa and Meson Don Felipe.

At this particular La Tasca I am giving the stars for the service. Although I enjoy small plates immensely, most of the dishes were almost too salty to digest. While on business I went alone a few times for lunch, and each time was greeted, seated and absolutely stuffed in a very short time. I lingered the second time with a glass of dry red. The staff recognized me and were very gracious. It was a perfectly located and immediately satisfying meal each time.

You know the lazy weekends, the ones where you really can’t be asked to do anything? Well, La Tasca served that purpose for me today. I went with a mate after finding a 50% offer and ordered a load of tapas. So much so that we could not eat it all! Satisfied with the service and the food, definitely one of my favourites.

Fairly typical of the chain. Food is reasonable and the staff try hard although are not always the most organised. As a previous reviewer noted, they cram a lot of tables very close together so expect to share your conversation with people who are not at your table!

Arriving with 7 other guys from the office for a team dinner, we were brought to a table and given time to decide. Maybe too much time, since it’s a rather set menu. We opted for the «excellente» menu for all of us and beers for everyone. San Miguel, which I learned later is brewed in the Phillipines. Odd choice for a Spanish restaurant, but whatever.
Food started arriving a short while later. First a plate of sliced prosciutto with a sharp cheese, bread, and a salad and then the waiter asked if we were ready for the main course.
They divided our table of 8 in half, with plates four and four. Big serving platters of a chicken and mushroom, tomato squash, roasted potatoes, prawns (shrimp) still with the heads and legs attached (ick), meatballs in a marinara sauce, sliced sausages in a vinegar dressing, a veggie rice paella. I didn’t care for the shrimp or the sausages, but the meatballs and the rice were my favorites.
Quite simply, too much food. Considering these are all big guys, we still left entirely too much behind, but we did keep drinking beers.
For the price — £19 each for the food — it was a pretty good value. I would return.

Having gone to La Tasca more then once for company meeting and celebration, it us fair to say that it the food is more than convinient. All dishes come fast and well prepared with no extra fuzz. The waiters there are not all Spanish, which does not really comes as a suprise, but will give you a smile or two for their try to pronounce the food the right way. All in all is the food good but nothing more then just an eating to go to on you lunch breaks. Which I believe is exactly what their are aiming for.

As I have been to a few La Tasca’s I knew what to expect. So it becomes more about the service and the environment than the menu which is pretty standard across the board.
I really like this La Tasca which is very Spanish in appearance with paintings and ornaments scattered around.
The service however was abit slow but in all fairness they were really busy. I recommend the chorizo, potato with peppers and the mushroom dish.
You pay extra for the bread basket which came out cold (hoping for warm bread). San Miguel is on tap here at 4.00 pint. Bottom line is you know what to expect at La Tasca but this place is one of the nicer ones.

I went here for a friend’s birthday lunch not so long ago and it was pretty relaxed and enjoyable. The lighting, candles and décor help to create a laid back atmosphere, and the cosy seats with the pillows add to this.
The service was good and unintrusive, which I always appreciate.
The food came pretty quickly and tasted just fine. There was a fairly wide selection for vegetarians, and so we were able to order something for everyone. The vegetarian paella was pretty good, as were the chilli potatoes. The food was hot when it arrived and looked good! Their sangria was also nice!
It’s also reasonably priced.

La Tasca is part of a chain of restaurants that offer reliable quick and simple tapas. They do a great £10 all you can eat offer on Monday evenings, which however does not extend to this branch (the nearest participating one is off Covent Garden). However, there are often good two for one offers available in the press for La Tasca, and even without these it is still good value. The tapas portions are big enough to share and 5 – 6 is great for 2 people. They have a very wide range of meat, fish and vegetarian options and also make their own jugs of sangria. The décor is cozy and Spanish themed, although the tables are a little too close, the restaurant is always packed.

Fresh from a holiday in Spain, decided to give La Tasca a go to try to have a repeat experience! The restaurant itself looks fairly authentic, although probably best left to a real Spaniard to be the judge of that one.
There’s a wide range of different tapas, categorised into sections, e.g. Fish, Meat, Vegetarian, etc. so it’s easy to still have a variety if there’s something, e.g. in my case, seafood, you don’t like. The mushroom croquettes are particularly nice!
Paella takes 45 minutes to cook (again, lots of different varieties, including a vegetarian one), so the idea is that you’ll have the tapas while you wait. I enjoyed the food and to me, it did seem on par with what I’d had in Spain.
One word of warning — they say the Paella is for a minimum of two people. When it came, it was absolutely enormous — two of us only just about managed half of it — there ‘s a picture above somewhere!
An enjoyable meal, which with tapas, paella and a bottle of wine between two came in at £60.