Tasca Brava 607

Excellent meal and very personable service. The Spanish owner, Juan, is dedicated chef who is serious about creating updated versions of classic Spanish dishes. His wine pairings reflect well on his aesthetic sense. I highly recommend this restaurant.

I am a Chicago transplant and truly have a taste for Tapas. This. Place. Is. Legit. The owner was our server and spent time explaining where the ingredients were sourced from and how things were prepared. I highly recommend getting a bunch of different Tapas and trying EVERYTHING. The ceviche was amazing. His Postres (desserts) were out of this world. I highly recommend getting his homemade chocolates and crema castalana. Do not expect a quick in and out. This place is like a typical European restaurant where your experience takes a long time. Enjoy the delicious Sangria and end dinner with a Cortado made from house roasted espresso.

Excellent authentic Spanish tapas! Octopus salad, ceviche, blood sausage and beef tongue. We sat at the bar where the owner served us and was extremely friendly explaining the origins and preparation of our food

Delicious and authentic Spanish food! The owner is very passionate about the food he makes and what he serves. Wonderful service snd experience. This reminded of us of being in Spain. We will definitely be back!

My wife and I consider it a special treat when we visit. The owner, Juan, is quite a character and shows an obvious passion for his craft. Memorable meals and good wine. I highly recommend it. It's an experience!

Its an experience, not an eat and go type if place. Superb quality of food. Finally real traditional spanish food( from Spain) in Raleigh. Owner gives you great service.

Delicious food, a wonderful host, and great wine! If you're looking for something different and authentic to España, this is the place. Get out of your comfort zone and try it!

Very authentic food. Chef and owner came out, discussed all of our dishes. Staff was extremely friendly. They definitely take pride in the food. Very personal touch.

The Chef came to our table and also made a special dish for us to try. It was amazing. I can't wait to go back!

It is the most underrated restaurant in Raleigh. Selfishly, I almost hope the word doesn't get out!

Their figs are to die for! Everything is authentic and Juan is a riot!

Great food. Great service and authentic style.

I travel a great deal and sometimes am blessed to find a fabulous and fun restaurant. That is Tasca Brava all the way. The owner/chef takes his menu, ingredients and customers seriously. He is fun and makes a meal and adventure. The food was excellent, interesting to the palette. The chef recommended a wine pairing and was spot on. The next day I recommended this restaurant to all at the client's office. Thinking of last night's meal makes me smile and my mouth water. This is not a cheap restaurant. I like the normally sized portions of the food; it gives you the opportunity to enjoy several courses - food as it should be served. I would strongly recommend this restaurant to anyone in the area. You will not be disappointed.

Like the owner said with love you need passion, with responsibility you need accountability and he cooks this food from the heart! There were four of us at diner and this was one of the best dining experiences we've had in a very long time. Its not just the fantastic one of a kind cuisine this restaurant represents in North Carolina, it the Atmosphere, ambiance and personal attentiveness the owner brings to the dining experience!

This place is probably one of the best places to eat in Raleigh. The most authentic Spanish food you can get. The owner cares so much about what he is serving that you know you will have a good meal. It's not a quick eat kind of place, but if your looking for a dining experience this is the right place to go. Great wine, tapas, entrees and awesome desserts! Can't wait to go back!

We went for my birthday when everywhere else was closed due to a previous snowfall, and due to the weather, we ended up having an entire room to ourselves which was lovely. The food was truly delicious, we enjoyed everything. The wine list needs to be updated as it only had the region the wine comes from, not the type. The owner attended to us all night and helped us with our wine selection, though, and it was a great bottle. It was fun experience and we would go again. The cheese bread was a huge hit with my boyfriend :)

I have a background in the restaurant industry and was very impressed in the do all chef of tasca brava. We went on a Tuesday night and although service dragged slightly from the fact that the owner does everything, and I mean everything the experience was great. The cheese plate had an excellent range of Spanish cheese. The house made sausage was delicious. I would highly recommend it!

Yeah, the reviews for Tasca Brava are all over the place because the dining experience here is quite different from 99% of the other restaurants in Raleigh. What you will get here is excellent Spanish tapas and cuisine with a very personal touch. And it won't be cheap! But if you're up for all of the above, give Tasca a try. Located in a little white house on S. Glenwood, you'll have a very personal meal similar to eating in a friend's dining room. Juan, the owner and chef will serve you and entertain you with stories and descriptions of your forthcoming meal. Don't miss out on the pao de queijo cheese bread or the desserts here, they are excellent. Our paella valenciana was a huge dish full of sausage, chicken and seafood, yum. And yes, with a bottle of wine you're probably looking at $75 a person similar to other high-end restaurants in the area. Just be warned, you can have a great meal at Tasca Brava, just keep an open mind and attitude and you will be in a for a culinary ride!

Stopped by for some tapas. While they were delicious, it was a pretty expensive menu. If you are willing to drop some money on a really nice date night, then this would be a good place to do so. You might also want to call ahead and make a reservation as the place is very small and can fill up quick.

Came to Tasca with some friends a few weeks back, on a Saturday night. Had been craving tapas, so we were all pretty excited. Although pricey, the food was good. Considering the prices, we'd expect it to be great; but it was just good. Even still, we'd go back. However, our waiter was clearly having a bad day. Was nothing but rude, rushed, and frankly unwelcoming. Got the impression, from a conversation I happened to catch a part of as I was walking back to my table, that he was the only waiter since the other two didn't show; so we cut him some slack. Might go back, but would rather check out other places in the triangle for better tapas and service.

I think how satisfied you'll be with this restaurant will depend on what you're looking for. If you want quaint, the European do-all owner with the authentic accent, wonderful atmosphere, red cloth tablecloths, romantic, leisurely dining, not over the top elegant - this is the place for you. If you're looking for fast service, good food, and low prices, look elsewhere. There were three of us. Two had the paella negra, and one the grouper. The grouper was acceptable. Nicely done. But nothing special. The paella, well, was just way too salty. All three of us agreed. But after waiting 45 minutes for it after ordering, I wasn't about to send it back. Other people around us were complimenting the owner on their food, so perhaps we just got unlucky. And there really wasn't that much seafood in our paella. Two medium sized shrimp, about a dozen baby clams, not that much squid, maybe some other bits of fish. And that was a dinner for two. (Yes, one shrimp per person.) The price for that, $52. The waiter/owner told us it would be 40 minutes after we ordered. So not complaining about the wait. And in many situations, that's not an issue. All in all though, we were there for about an hour and a half. We asked for water no ice, and we he brought us bottled mineral water, which we had to pay for. Acceptable if authentic European dining is what you want. This would be a great place to go if you're looking for a romantic place to bring her on your first date and you had plenty of time and plenty of money. It's in the Raleigh restaurant district. It was clean. Very professional. No really annoying aspects to it. Too often restaurant owners will not realize the one or two really irritating things going on such as nice music in the dining room being drowned out by the rock and roll blaring from the kitchen. None of that here. About the price - $115 for the three of us. No drinks other than the water. The paella, grouper, and a couple of appetizers. The cost was high for that food, but acceptable given all the other nice features of the business. We won't be going back, because our interests are in the food, merely acceptable atmosphere and decent price. The food for us was not quite acceptable, the atmosphere was more than we needed, and hence cost us, and the price was too high for our tastes.

To begin with, this place is the worst restaurant in the Triangle area! We went there on a Monday night at around 8PM. Our expectation was to have some decent food in a nice place. The food was not excellent but it was fine. However, the owner is a real salesperson. We wanted a glass of sangria to drink. We thought that he was going to bring a glass but instead he came up with a bottle. And then he charged us for $25+ for that! By the end of our dinner, he came with a pack of coffee seeds and wanted us to try. My friend has taken only 1 coffee bean from the package and he charged us the whole package which is more than $25. He refused to serve tap water and charged another $5 for the water that we were served. To be honest, the food was not worth the price yet alone the service! We will never ever go there again! Avoid this place! Do not get deceived by the owner's Spanish!!!

The food is wonderful. The gluten free bread was beyond awesome! The paella was full of chicken, amazing sausage, and seafood but the rice didn't carry any of those flavors, just tasted like sea water. The dessert was very tasty. But the owner is borderline rude and arrogant. He tells every table that EVERYTHING on the menu is the best in the universe ! He says it at the beginning when he takes your order, and again with each course. The tables are close enough and he is loud enough to hear his conversation and it's the same with every table. He has some sort of personal connection to each state somebody is from and has to tell you about his history etc. But the young lady that sets and clears and delivers food is wonderful but I get the feeling she has to keep her head down to avoid trouble with him. She is delightful and works fast and steady. I was complimenting her as he came around the corner, interrupted us and told her to go take care of table # whatever. The reviews here are accurate; he tells you what to eat and what not to eat ! But I enjoy letting a chef in this type of restaurant do that but he does it with such arrogance, boldness and authority that it's not received well. My mom also had an uneasy feeling watching him interact with the guests and staff. Not something I care to support regardless of the food.

Four of us met for a friend's birthday at 7pm on a Tuesday night. We got reservations, but were surprised to see that we were one of two tables the entire three hours we were there. We were hoping to meet for dinner and be out in about an our or so. As soon as we got there we were greeted jovially by the owner/chef/host/waiter who showed us our seats and poured us water. He was very charming and funny. He claimed he was from Spain and gave us the history of his family and the region of Spain he was from, which was interesting and really added to the experience. The decor was great. He started asking us where we were from and where we lived in Raleigh. We told him in the neighborhood and he asked us why we had never been in before. We told him we didnt know it was a restaurant and needed a bigger sign, which he seemed to argue a little. He said that he gets a lot of anonymous reviews online of people who talk about how bad his restaurant is and went on a good 3 minute rant while we were looking at the menus. He also says that he offends a lot of people who end up walking out, which i thought was weird to share with people who had never been there before. He told us about the specials, changing between spanish and english almost word to word at times. He talked us into getting 4-5 tapas to start which were all amazing. I recommend the Ceviche. He gave us the history of all of the dishes which was interesting as well. He talked us into a bottle of wine, but when i asked to see the wine menu he would not let me see it saying "i recommend the wine" so he brought us a bottle (Which ended up to be a $50 bottle, which i think he should have told us beforehand). We get our tapas 2 by 2 and they were all great. But, then he comes back and starts asking us about our political beliefs, our jobs, who we voted for, what our stances are literally any current political issue that you dont even like talking about with friends and family--no less a semi-stranger who is serving your food. He found out we all did not support Trump, then kind of insulted us a little and goes off on a 10 minute rant. He then challenged my friend to defend her beliefs. IT was clear he just wanted to talk, and i think under any other circumstances would not have been that abrasive. He then told us about some family matters that I do not feel like sharing, but needless to say we thought it was a bit oversharing for a group of four who just wanted to have a light dinner. We eventually order the paella--the negra and valenciana. The price was listed as $25 (min 2 per). What this is actually means is each dish is $50, which we felt was not made clear until we got the bill. There was also a 15% split check fee, and he only took mastercard and visa. The total bill for 4 people was around $250--which took us all by surprise. When i think tapas I think cocktails and small plates for under $30, not fine dining, political discourse, and a huge bill. I'll conclude by saying all of the food was great, and the presentation of the food was awesome. I feel like the owner upsold us on a few things we really didnt understand we were ordering but all of the food was good. We spent 3 hours there, and maybe half of that was spent talking to the owner, who seems to be a nice person, but maybe does not pick up on social cues. He gave us all a big bear hug at the end of the night, which was also strange but i didnt hate it.

Hey Everyone. I am a spanish native recently moved to Raleigh. I love spanish and mediterranean food and I love going out and exploring new restaurants. I had never been interested in this restaurant very much as I thought it is a little contrived. I finally gave it a chance and took my wife for a date. DO NOT GO. Exorbitant prices, small portions, slow and pushy service. The feeling of going to a restaurant and paying $150 for a meal you know for a fact costs close to $30 and having the guy talk you Sh**t about ingredients and food you he claims "imported" from Spain.... to the face of another spanish! come on. Microwaved "croquetas", 4 Boquerones in a plate.... some mexican crossover dish that he claims is from the actual Spain, octopus that tastes like the one from a can in Kroggers...

Worse service ever. Owner is a very rude person. No respect for clients. DO NOT GO THERE!!!!

I came here with a group of 7 for a going-away party. The serving sizes are tiny and ridiculously overpriced. The food is decent, and the decor is nice. If that was all, I would give three stars. The service is horrible. The waiter is extremely pushy. He refused to give us a wine menu, instead bringing three $50 bottles without telling us the prices. One of my friends is allergic to shellfish and octopus, and he tried to convince her to try an octopus dish even after she told him about her allergy. It made everyone extremely uncomfortable because he was being way too insistent. I guess he wanted to show us how to eat it "properly", so I offered him my fork. He got the potatoes and octopus on the fork, then proceeded to shove it in my mouth rather than hand it to me so I could feed myself. Everyone laughed nervously, but I was extremely uncomfortable and will not be returning. The bill was $350 for the seven of us, but almost half of that was just wine. We all left hungry. Final note: the person who we had the going away party for was Spanish. He wasn't particularly impressed with the restaurant either.

We went to Tasca Brava last Saturday night before our Sunday morning flight out of town for Christmas. My husband is very allergic to scallops and we asked the owner if the paella dish could be made without them. He said that it could be, but he obviously just removed the whole scallops from what was apparently an already-made bowl because hours after we got home my husband became violently ill and had to go to the Emergency Room. Even beyond this major violation of customer trust and putting people's health at risk, we found the owner (who was the only one working as the waiter as well) to be rude and arrogant.

This was one of the worst "dining" experiences I've had in a while. I say "dining" because we didn't even get to eat anything beyond a starter. My boyfriend and I came on a Wednesday at 8 pm after working a 12 hour day. We had seen the menu online and we were very intrigued and both wanted the Paella. After being told we could sit anywhere by the only server with dishes in his hands when we came in, we were offered flat or sparkling water. The menu online did not provide prices, so this was my first hint that it would be a bit pricey. The entrees range from $20-26, so I had expectations at that point, as both my boyfriend and I have experience working in restaurants of a similar caliber. The server came to us 3 times before we ordered to ask if we wanted beer, wine, or sangria, even though we had said no thank you each time. I felt that was a bit pushy. The server went on to say that he makes these breads as a starter himself and listed a few. He brought us sweet potato chips that he makes himself. So I guess he's the server and the chef, which makes sense as the rest of the night continued. We ordered one of the breads, Pan de queso and the Paella. We were told upon ordering that the Paella would be 30-40 minutes. This is what we came for, so even though we were pretty hungry, we were going to wait. The bread came out 10 minutes after we finished the chips and they came in a basket lined with a coffee filter (not what's expected for a place with $25 dollar entrees). There were 4 small dumpling sized rolls, which we were told by the server how to eat them "we use our hands, we don't poke them or squeeze them or cut them or put anything on them." Ok, got it. They were hot and good, but I'm not sure $7 good. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. He came by a few times to fill our waters quickly and would leave without saying a word. The only 3 or 4 other tables in the restaurant received their food. I over heard a woman complain to him that her and her company's meat was grisly. He didn't apologize, just told them he imports it from Montana. So he's the owner too? After 45 minutes of waiting he finally came over to say everyone ordered Paella, so there was only enough space to cook them, but ours would be out in a few minutes. 20 minutes later, nothing. We asked him what was going on and he said 10 minutes. That was it. We were leaving. He tried to argue with us about how he told us how long it would take. Then was going to charge us for the rolls. Finally he said "ok" and we did not have to pay, but he did not apologize for anything. I would never return even if this was the best Paella in the triangle. I don't care if he imports every item from Spain (which he doesn't, the meat is from Montana), the prices do not reflect the ambiance or service.

Horrible experience. Owner was a jerk. I was born in Spain and he gives Spanish people a bad name. Not all Spaniards are as rude as this man. Food was ehh. It was OK not worth the money. Save yourself and find a better Spanish restaurant or just go Mexican Luckily I can eat Spanish food at my momschool house

Rude beyond belief. As a business owner I could not believe how the waiter treated me. I absolutely was polite, and tried even to use humor. I have some dietary issues so I was asking questions. He huffed and moaned (literally) but when he rolled his eyes and questioned why I would not eat antelope that was it. They lost their table, and a big fat tip. I will never ever go there again, and I would not recommend to anyone.

Terrible service, pushy, not clear on prices, adds random charges. Makes up random "minimums" of 25 per person. Saw all the bad ratings and thought people were picky but they were spot-on.

If I could put negative stars, I would! Owner was very disrespectful and shady!

Owner who waited on us was rude beyond belief and food was overpriced.

The Owner/Waiter/Chef is obnoxious. If it was mediocre I would not return. Factor in the prices and I don't know how this Guy stays in business!!! Mexican food is better without all the stories of a special rice he uses that comes from Spain not China. This cheese bread that he raves about and you over pay, for is bland and tasteless. Apps, entrees, deserts, coffee are all overpriced. Ive had Espresso in NYC and never paid $4.95. I give this place 0 stars, just a horrible dining experience.