El Porron

I have been here several times and had good experiences. However on my last visit it was very humid and they said they would turn the a/​c on. They did but only for a few minutes at a time. It was extremely uncomfortable. I hope they get their act together because I used to like this place.

Stopped in with my husband after a stressful afternoon and it was a delight. Many options — we tried 4 late lunch options-​2 cold: the artichokes and the manchego– excellent! The hot plates were scallops and the empanadas of the day– beef with tomato sauce– delicious. We shared the vanilla flan and dessert empanadas — wonderful. The décor was lovely and the staff excellent– we look forward to going back soon!

Romantic atmosphere! I love that they had candles on every table including the restroom. The lights where dim and the atmosphere was chic. The food were delicious! I have nothing bad to say about El Porron.
The service was very good. The waiter were walking around constantly. I never had to look around for a waiter. The entire night they were refilling my water as soon as it started running low.

Amazing love this place!
Only pros no cons
Romantic atmosphere I am a sucker for candles and they had candles on every table including the restroom. Lights where dim and the atmosphere was super chic.
Service
Very attentive! Great service never had to look for a waiter entire night waiters where refilling are drinks as soon as we started running low. They have a great team working here and what I liked is that all waiters helped on all tables. Everyone was so nice they made are experience very enjoyable!
Drinks they have a lot of great options we ordered the sangria because they sell it by the pitcher it was amazing!
Food love sharing so tapas are great!
I ordered chorizo and my husband ordered calamari very good! Are main corse was the paella it was delicious rice was good seafood was fresh.
Definitely coming back here when we are back in NY!

My second visit to El Porron with my husband. We had a good experience the first time we went so we decided to make a second reservation. We ordered Rose sangria in large pitcher, gambas ajillo, seafood paella, calamares al ajillo, and vieras con tocino en salsa de esarragos. Rose sangria was refreshing. Gambas ajillo was my fave~. Not too salty and flavor was just perfect. Calamares a ajillo had a similar sauce as gambas ajillo and squid was tender. Cozy place with good service and food. I will definitely return.

Delicious but a tad bit pricey is the best way to describe this place, the atmosphere is nice and romantic, while the wait staff is patient, was here pretty much past their closing time and not once did anyone shoo me out or remind me it was time to go.
Ordered the sweetbreads, pulpo (octopus) and the meat balls. The sweetbread were okay, a little tough and chewy but really enjoyed the garlic kick that came with the dish, the meatball was okay, didn’t really astonish me in anyway but was not bad either, my favorite thought was the octopus. With a healthy dose of olive oil, paprika, sea salt and a sprinkle of cilantro? the octopus was incredibly soft and tasted extremely fresh, while the olive oil paprika and sea salt pair beautifully together to give the octopus an extremely generous taste of olive oil with a hint of heat from the paprika.
overall a decent place, and I really appreciated the fact that they did not shy away from the more unconventional types of proteins like sweetbreads and tripe etc. Would definitely come back as the octopus was some of the best I’ve ever tasted, and the rest of the items on the menu have me extremely curious

First visit with my son, was a winner! Started with great wine by the glass. Fairly reasonable as well for NYC. We had tapas and shared about 6 plates some very good, some excellent.
Service was accommodating

First time here I went with my wife and my niece. We tried a lot of tapas to share, no main dish. I always enjoy the variety of different tapas dishes. The food and the creation was excellent. The service was also very good. Never had to wait. We look forward to coming back.

This was my first time at this restaurant and I must say I was really pleased. The goal of going to this place was to take my boyfriend to an authentic tapas place since I failed miserably before (he refused to let me live it down). We had a reservation for 8 and we were seated at 8:10. The space is rather small and can seem a little cramped if it is really busy (which this night they were). They have a coat check which recommend to use on a busy night to save some table space.
The server and the staff was very attentive, but not overbearing. The service overall was great. My boyfriend was unsure of what to get and the server was very helpful with suggestions.
I order a pitcher of sangria. It was one of my favorite sangria a I have ever ordered at s restaurant. The food was very good. I ate mostly shrimp, but I also tried the scallops which were amazing! I would say the food overall was great! And they even gave us a free shot, which was very yummy!

La comida muy buena y el ambiente también.
Un buen sitio de tapas en manhattan.
Casi, casi como la comida de España.

I’ve never been here in person but my friend just picked up some dinner (we were in a paella mood) and it was pretty freakin’ amazing. By the time the food arrived, it was still deliciously warm. He ordered the Paella Valenciana– perfect mix of seafood and meat (chicken, veal, chorizo, monkfish, mussels, squid, calms, scallops, shrimp, and veggies). The order for 2 was HUGE btw– came in a pretty large platter and felt like it could’ve been perfect for 4. Not too greasy/​heavy like some paellas can be– rice was light and all the additions only made the dish more wholesome without feeling like I’ve been hit with the worst food coma afterwards.
Bread that came with was whole wheat (!!) and dipping it into our side dish of shrimp with butter/​olive oil was absolutely perfect.
Next time (and there definitely will be a next time), I’ll try to dine in if I’m in the area.

First time eating at El Porron and they exceeded all of my expectations! From the white sangria, to the croquetas, to the entrées and then desert, everything was simply delicious. Can’t wait to go back!

RACIST MIDDLE EASTERN owner. Not only Gonzalo «Mr G» Bermeo is racist and ignorant but he brings that european xenophobia to the US of A (and he is an African, middle eastern descendant himself so go figure).
I spent over $ 200 on this restaurant, brought my girlfriend on a date since she just finished a very important semester in medical school (I remember how hard each semester was for me). I thought the food was below-​average (not the best tapas), the wine was good but pricy to be what it was and the service was average.
The food was not worth the money, the tapas are below average, the service was average and the wine selection was quite poor.
As I walk out of the restaurant (after I paid and left 25% in tip) makes some juvenile, immature RACIST comments. I felt disgusted. I wish that the NSA, CIA and FBI would not allow people like him into this great nation.
God bless.

Out of the four tapas we had, three were outstanding. The chiporones were served in a wonderful garlic sauce, the scallops were interesting and the veal meatballs were smooth and tasty. However the tortilla was very dry, overcooked and rather tasteless — not at all a good representation of the wonderful food that can be found in Spain. Another big minus was the horrible bread, I don’t understand how a restaurant with such great tapas can have the cheapest and most terribly dry bread. This bread does not at all reflect the quality of the restaurant which is a huge pity as bread is usually such a great sponge to get all of the leftover sauces.

This review is very long overdue. My dad and I come to El Porron quite often because of the tasty tapas, wine, and lovely staff.
Now, my standards are very high when it comes to Spanish food. Blame it on the Spanish blood in me. So while El Porron’s tapas and paellas are very good, they aren’t the best I’ve ever had.
I recommend all the go-​tos, from the gambas al ajillo to the grilled chorizo. The seafood paellas are also yummy.
The staff is just incredible. From the chefs to the hostesses.
In sum, if you’re in the neighborhood and looking for a quality Spanish restaurant, this is a solid option.

We tried the sweetbreads, scallops, veal meatballs, octopus, squid, clams and tuna salad. All were perfectly prepared. Nothing was even a hint over cooked, which is easily and often done with most of those dishes. All had really great flavor and spice. Most tapas restaurants offer variety without the ability to execute perfect dishes. This place is an exception. I’ll admit my bar for tapas restaurants is low but there’s a reason the place has been around for 60 years.
Pluses for the comfort of the seats and modern looking interior.

Stopped in here for drinks and a bite while we were in the area. I love me some tapas but this place didn’t do it for me.
Nice big, spacious restaurant, but it lacks that typical cozy, cramped vibe of a tapas bar. Also, the clientele of this restaurant is definitely on the older side. We ordered a pitcher of white sangria. BIG mistake. That had to be the worst sangria I’ve ever had. It literally tasted like watered down white wine with apple and orange slices in it.
We ordered a couple tapas to share. Sweetbreads in a garlic sauce with vegetables and a stew with tripe, chorizo, pigs feet, and veal. Portion-​wise, they were fairly large for tapas, but they were just okay. The stew was the most interesting with all the different meats, but everything kind of tasted the same. I’ve had much better sweetbreads from other places.
Service was pretty good though.

I was excited to find a tapas bar in the area, but was pretty disappointed by El Porron. First things first, DON’T ORDER THE WHITE SANGRIA. It was literally the worst sangria I’ve ever had. It was basically shitty white wine with slices of apple and oranges. That’s it.
As for the food, it’s just ok. Shared the sauteed sweetbreads and the spicy stew. Sweetbreads were just okay. I liked the stew more, but it was basically just a bunch of random things thrown together to the point where if you didn’t know what was already in it, it’d be pretty hard to tell (outside of the tripe and chorizo).
I wouldn’t come back.

Muy buena paella! Muy buena aproximación a la española
Las entradas muy bien también
Recomiendo la paella valenciana. Aunque tarda vale la pena la espera. Ya que es hecha en el momento

We tried El Porron for the first time after searching for good paella on the Upper East Side.
We walked in without a reservation around 8pm on a Saturday and were luckily seated right away. The restaurant has romantic, dim lighting and cozy tables located by their glass wine cellar.
The menu is full of cold and hot tapas as well as their different paella options and other full fish or meat entrees.
El Porron has a great wine list with authentic Spanish wines. We asked our waiter for a suggestion with what would pair best with the paella, and the wine he chose was incredible!
We ordered the Paella Valencia for 2 ($ 26 a person which we weren’t aware of). The restaurant gives you a fair warning that their paellas are made from scratch and take about 45 minutes to prepare after ordering.
We didn’t have any problem with this and decided to try the clams as an appetizer to start. You get about 8 large, littleneck clams in a delicious white wine sauce for $ 9.
The paella valencia came in a pan big enough for a small family to share full of shellfish, meat, and fish (definitely worth the $ 52!). The flavors were fresh and you could really tell they made it fresh from scratch. It contained clams, mussels, monkfish, chorizo, chicken, bay scallops, and veggies.
You can also get a veggie paella or even a paella with only shellfish without any meat.
Unfortunately we were too full for dessert, but will definitely be back in the future to try some more tapas on the menu!
When you’re ready for the check, they bring you an after dinner drink which is a nice touch to end a great meal.
We will definitely be back!

I came here for tapas with 4 friends on a Saturday night and I had a pretty decent meal.
We started with a pitcher of red sangria for the table which was so good– I would definitely recommend this. The larger pitcher had about 5 glasses in it.
For a meal, we split 6 tapas among us. The tapas were tiny but I wasn’t that hungry so the food was enough for me. My favorite tapas was the garlic shrimp– it actually came with a decent amount of shrimp and it was perfectly garlic-​y and fresh. The octopus was good, but the sauce was a bit spicy and had a strange texture, perhaps from too much olive oil.
After splitting the check among 5 people, the bill was about $ 16 per person, which wasn’t bad for what we got. The entrees were a bit pricier.
Great, attentive service. The host was very accommodating and took less than 10 minutes to find us a table for 5 on a crowded Saturday night.

Delicious beyond belief with incredible service. This place is just classy, welcoming, romantic and very accommodating with every customers need.
My bf’s birthday was the primal reason we decided to visit this place and after reading a couple of Unilocal reviews/​stalking their menu we really wanted to try the paella. The preparation takes 30 – 40 mins for this dish. Yikes! So, I decided to call in advance and asked if I could pre-​order the paella valencia. There were no hesitations, no extra charge just a yes we’re happy to do so. (It also helped that I had made reservations via open table).
We also wanted to take advantage of their hh which is Sun, Mon, Tues, and Thurs (3 – 6:30) and serves $ 6 sangrias, $ 6 wines and $ 5 beers. Just a heads up you can only take advantage of the hh by sitting at the bar or at a high table. Once again, after asking my waiter if we could please be relocated there was no hesitation nor bad attitude.
The food. Yuuuuum! It was just sooo good. I can not stop raving or craving this dish. The only negative is the $ 26 cost per plate BUT honestly this is what any paella dish would cost. I prefer to pay it here now that I know that it is just unbelievable delicious. Final note: this is an ideal location to celebrate any historic moment in your life! The place just won’t disappoint and you will not regret dining here.