veronicafrance
100+ Posts
Our AirBnB host is a tour guide and every single recommendation she gave us was excellent. Most of these are around the Alameda de Hercules because that's where we were staying. In most of these places tapas cost 3-5 euros. In no particular order ...
Dos de Mayo. Our local. Always busy, very traditional tapas and decor, friendly staff. You can stand or sit at the bar and snag a table when one becomes free. We especially enjoyed grilled artichokes, and spinach with chickpeas. The fried fish tapas looked good too.
Al-aljibe. On the Alameda. A smart modern place -- you'll need to ask to be seated. Tapas quite expensive but unusual and quite generous portion sizes; my herb risotto was more than I could eat.
El Disparate. Also on the Alameda. Another smart place where you need to ask to be seated. A bonus is the lovely roof terrace (azotea) where you can wait for your table while sipping a drink. It's rather expensive, but the food is excellent. We had a delicious salmorejo and perfectly cooked bonito.
Casa Paco. Alameda again. Nothing fancy, a small place with traditional tapas. We liked the bacon-wrapped dates so much we had second helpings.
Santa Cruz: las Columnas. Just round the corner from the Alcazar. This is a traditional place with a great atmosphere. You have to push your way through to order at the bar, and the barman keeps tabs by scribbling on the bar with chalk.
Triana: las Golondrinas. A small traditional bar. It doesn't look that impressive from outside, but it's popular and the grilled pork skewers were really good.
You may think we did nothing but eat, but it's not quite true
Places we didn't try: our host's favourite, the Eslava on Calle Eslava. On a Saturday at 9 p.m. it was absolutely rammed -- we couldn't even get to the bar, never mind find a table ... the waiting list had fifty names on it. And I see it has over 5,000 reviews on TripAdvisor. If you want to try it, go when it opens! Similar story at the Azotea (which despite its name doesn't have a terrace). We'd walked past often and seen it empty, but on Saturday evening there was an hour and a half wait for a table.
Dos de Mayo. Our local. Always busy, very traditional tapas and decor, friendly staff. You can stand or sit at the bar and snag a table when one becomes free. We especially enjoyed grilled artichokes, and spinach with chickpeas. The fried fish tapas looked good too.
Al-aljibe. On the Alameda. A smart modern place -- you'll need to ask to be seated. Tapas quite expensive but unusual and quite generous portion sizes; my herb risotto was more than I could eat.
El Disparate. Also on the Alameda. Another smart place where you need to ask to be seated. A bonus is the lovely roof terrace (azotea) where you can wait for your table while sipping a drink. It's rather expensive, but the food is excellent. We had a delicious salmorejo and perfectly cooked bonito.
Casa Paco. Alameda again. Nothing fancy, a small place with traditional tapas. We liked the bacon-wrapped dates so much we had second helpings.
Santa Cruz: las Columnas. Just round the corner from the Alcazar. This is a traditional place with a great atmosphere. You have to push your way through to order at the bar, and the barman keeps tabs by scribbling on the bar with chalk.
Triana: las Golondrinas. A small traditional bar. It doesn't look that impressive from outside, but it's popular and the grilled pork skewers were really good.
You may think we did nothing but eat, but it's not quite true
Places we didn't try: our host's favourite, the Eslava on Calle Eslava. On a Saturday at 9 p.m. it was absolutely rammed -- we couldn't even get to the bar, never mind find a table ... the waiting list had fifty names on it. And I see it has over 5,000 reviews on TripAdvisor. If you want to try it, go when it opens! Similar story at the Azotea (which despite its name doesn't have a terrace). We'd walked past often and seen it empty, but on Saturday evening there was an hour and a half wait for a table.
