Mar I Terra

Excellent intimate little Spanish restaurant in the heart of central London off of Blackfriar Road. The cozy little space is hidden away at the end of a side street and the staff warmly welcomes you as soon as you walk in. The patatas bravas were a bit salty with way too much sauce, the tortilla española tasted authentic, and the chicken croquets were quite yummy.
I was impressed by the sangria jug and the authenticity of the drink.
As usual, the prices were probably normal for London, but they were expensive for me (an American not used to the high prices of London).

Excellent little find when all the other places shut down their kitchen. And we are glad they did… Everything was delicious. Don’t short yourself on dessert!!!

Quite on the average side of things.
Food, all of it, no matter what you order, will be covered in oil.
Plates are a good tapas size.
Nice outdoor place in the back.
There is most certainly a lack of quality places to eat in the vicinity of this is at the top.

Awesome staff. Olive oil, olives and sardins are excellent. Rest average. Patatas Bravas and bread really disappointing.

Hot damn, it’s time like this when you are reminded why it’s so good to drop money for food. So many times a disappointment, then a gem appears. It’s been a long, long time since I had tapas this good, and the A gameh as been raised.
Catalan spinach — fantastic. Patatas Bravas — looked worse but tasted better. Anchovies — not the salty memory from a pizza. Russian salad (a special) was a bit of an oddity at the table, but OK for me. Calamari — tender and tasty. I could go on, but you get the point. Aubergine in a tomato sauce — this is how tomato sauce should always taste, ladies and gentlemen. One bottle of house red down, with wonderful company and a happy belly, and big smiles all round.
Only downside (and something noted on other reviews), that the service can be hit or miss — and for us, it was fine until the end of night and the waitress became distracted with a late large party, causing some of my party to miss their trains home. Free weird drink to apologise though, without nary a complaint from us to warrant it — and a hello from the chef. So, can’t complain really — it didn’t upset our evening enough. It certainly makes me look at edinburgh tapas in a new light… and wish Southwark was just a little closer to home. A bright light of Spanish food in the UK.

It’s true that this place has some of the best tapas in London, but sadly I’ve had to stop going because it often turns unpleasant.
Always told to sit on tiny tables for 2 with 3 people (virtually impossible with tapas) especially given how crammed the place is. It seems to be house policy to ignore customers until we are waving our arms around. Rushed out after dinner, even if clearly the table is not going to be re-​sat. Finally when the bill comes they add the gratuity on to the bill but demand it gets paid in full in cash — I always tip in cash but it’s the cheek of adding it on to the bill as a requirement.
Having lived locally for 5 years and dined there at least 20 times, I can say this is not just generally the staff but an ethos that is passed down from the manager/​owner who is truly unpleasant. But yes the food is very good and the house wine very nice…

we took a long detour to find this place after seeing the 4.5 stars it had on Unilocal.The décor is rustic and along with the buzz of the Spanish speaking staff i feel like id been teleported to the south of Spain.
however, given it was only 5pm in the afternoon and the fact we were about the only people in there, it took about 15mts for get drinks and another 10 mts to get our orders taken. this was also strange given we were sitting at the bar at the time…
we ordered the Patatas bravas, Ensalada Terra, Chorizo a la parilla and the Gambas al ajillo. overall all the food we tried was on the slightly bland side. the bill for 4 drinks and 4 tapas was over £70 and we left quite disappointed. In summary, there are better tapas places in town that are much easier to find.

Great food, good décor. The garlic chicken and papatas bravas where phenomenal. Really wonderful meal.

This was quite a discovery, with easy access via tube and bus to home. We got a table within 2 minutes and a friendly waiter even provided us with seating choices. At 8:30pm on a Friday evening, the place was moderately busy. First impressions were — cute, convenient, quiet.
We were seated pretty much as soon as we got there. The service is prompt and often, there were a couple of people waiting our table; somewhat unusual. They were quite friendly, although not super efficient.
The «Chuletas de cordero a la plancha» comes as two lamb cutlets, cooked with rosemary, alioli herbs and mushrooms was superbly succulent and mention worthy. The roasted Piquillo peppers stuffed with fresh crab, baby squid sautéed with tomato, white wine, garlic and spring onions and the batter fried squid (although very standard) were good candidates in the seafood portfolio.
Overall, there is nothing unusually spectacular about the food. Standard quality, standard fare, premium location — but comes at a reasonable price. To conclude, I can see myself going there a few times, every year.

Friendly staff and a visually interesting location. It is not cheap, but most of the tapas we had were lovely.

Has too some of the Best Tapa’s on the planet Hands down. Great Service, Great Food, Great Price. + I’m from NY!!!
I have visited this place every time i came to London, i’m going to make it a tradition.
This is a Must visit for New Yorker’s Or Foodies!!!

Happen to come across this place last night and was very glad I did, excellent tapas, really top notch and a lovely quiet and warm place to talk, warm. The staff were very friendly and wine was good.

This is my favourite tapas place in all of London. Located moments from The Cut and Southwark Tube Station below a railway pass, this unassuming Spanish restaurant is a diamond in the rough. Actually it’s only about a 10 minute walk from Waterloo as well.
Mar I Terra is simply furnished, taking advantage of as much space as possible with a well equipped bar for an establishment this size. The place usually gets a good lunch crowd, regulars mostly who return again and again.
The patatas bravas are absolutely incredible! I’ve never found its equal — and I’ve eaten a lot of patatas bravas. I could have sworn a newspaper did an article on this place once and listed the recipe but I can’t find it anywhere. I’m pretty sure my mind made that up as a coping mechanism for when I am away from this place for too long. Everything I’ve ordered here is amazing, but I can’t say enough about the patatas bravas.
If you are in the area, visiting the Tate, or taking up a show at the Old Vic — get down here!
PS — And I just saw on Delia’s website this is also her favourite tapas place in London! She has an recipe for patatas bravas inspired by Mar I Terra… I’m defo gonna make that this weekend!

I was taken here for a lovely dinner last week, and as I’ve never ever ever been able to find it, I was super excited about going. Staff here were friendly, and the bar is cute. It’s not the fanciest of tapas restaurants (certainly not as pretty as Maison Del Philipe around the corner) but it’s cute and charming.
Food was mostly excellent. The Jamon gran reserva was actualy the best ham I’ve EVER eaten. But it comes at a price — it’s £15 for six slices. I’d still buy it again though. The rabbit dish was fantastic (and I don’t even like rabbit). It’s actually the simpler dishes where they fell short — calamari wasn’t anything to shout about. I’m inclined to think the sauce on their patatas bravas sauce wasn’t freshly made. But they serve croquettes, and that makes everything better.
But it’s not cheap. £8 for five little gambas prawns?! That’s a lot of money (and explains how a bill creeps up very quickly). But then they serve salted caramel ice cream and I forget all about the things I don’t like. There’s probably a whole load of sins I’d forgive in exchange for caramel ice cream.
I had an awesome time here. I like the staff, I like the venue, and I mostly like the food. But it’s expensive and I think there are better tapas places in London. I think I’ll try one of those next time, although I wouldn’t be sad about winding up here again. I wouldn’t be sad at all.

Our friend D suggested this place as it’s in his neighborhood, so we’re walking along and on and looking up toward the end of some street I see this faded yellowish building and D announces that that’s the place up ahead. Not much to look at from the outside.
As you enter there’s a bar and a couple of 2 tops scattered about and a second room with some larger tables. Décor is pleasant. Not a warm greeting from the guy at the door, we’re just a 3 spot dropping in, but we’re seated and our waitress is right there with menus and smiles, an instant uptick in tone.
D’s eaten here before and being flesh adverse he has his favorites picked out in no time at all, me and J take some time reading every line and being very pleased with what we see.
The short of it is this: great meal, very good prices for the most part, wines should be better priced, excellent service. Check it out if you’ve a mind to. Enjoy!

This is a really cool, small tapas /​Spanish restaurant. It’s a really peculiar little building and is pretty cute and homely inside. It’s not big and posh or flashy and is really all about the food, the friendly vibes and the good service.
The prices are really great, nice and cheap just how I like them. The atmosphere was awesome, as I said, just really friendly vibes, before the food comes out, you just feel it’s going to be nice from the casual feel of the place.
I ordered the Arroz a banda, which was saffron rice with seafood through it. Perfect — no complaints — really tasty, fresh and had a home cooked feel.
To end the meal, we went for the spanish cheeses which was around £10 but the selection was awesome and we were all sharing and splitting everything so it didn’t feel to expensive.
I had a great, relaxed evening here. Stop by if you can, have a cocktail and enjoy some tasty home cooked Spanish food!

Excellent Spanish food at reasonable prices, served charmingly and with pride and panache. Sure, you get the staples like Patatas Bravas. But you also get unusual and less well known specialities from regional Spain. What is certain is distinct flavours and mature cooking.
The choice of Sherry to accompany the tapas is stupendous. The house wine is superb (an indicator that this place takes pride in doing things properly). There are two branches (the other is in Soho). Neither disappoints.