Thursday, I rush home from school, get ready and meet Nicky and then hop right back on the train to the mystery place. Turns out he had TWO options so he said left or right?? We decided to go left but sadly saw that the first place, La Bota, was closed down, so we walked to the other option, (thankfully they were near each other!) La Boqueria. Both places Nicky had in mind were Spanish Tapas bars/restaurants which, if you've never had tapas, means that its basically a whole menu of appetizer sized dishes, so you would order a bunch to pick on! We got to La Boqueria and saw that there was a wait, we went in and the hostess told us there would be a 30-45 minute wait, we said "sure!" and waited outside on a bench. Luckily, we only waited about 20 minutes, which wasn't bad at all! We walked in, the restaurant is quite small, no wonder it gets packed so quickly and believe me when I say packed, I mean PACKED! We were lead to a cute two-top towards the back of the spot and I took the "booth" side (for once!)
What I liked about La Boqueria, right off the bat, was that there were allll types of people in there. It wasn't just a restaurant for a younger scene, or just hipsters, or just older people; the crowd was very diverse and I think that's what makes the place welcoming! There are people of all kinds, from all different places and couples ranging from first dates, to married dates- and there were we, right in the middle. :)
My only complaint about La Boqueria would be that the noise level is a BIT too loud, hey I'm no grumpy old man complaining about noise, believe me I like noise, but in a nice place like this that has a great "date" atmosphere, you want to be able to hear/speak to your date! I felt like Nicky and I didn't speak, we had to scream over the din and music just to have a conversation. If it was just a little less loud in there it would have been perfect!
We looked over the drinks first and I saw they had Sangria de Mora, Blackberry Sangria, and we were sold, we got a pitcher of it and not only was the pitcher was bigger than we expected, the sangria was delicious, probably one of the best we've had!! We had picked out 7 things that really caught our eyes, so we got them all! Remember, tapas are like appetizers, so we aren't just really fat and eating the whole menu! (but we probably could have done that anyway..) We ordered the Maiz Rustido, a special that night, which was roasted corn, lime segments, with smoked pimenton oil and manchego cheese melted on top! It was AMAZING! Nicky's favorite dish! We ordered chorizo and Idiazabal cheese which is made out of sheeps milk, is semi-hard, buttery and lightly smoked. The cheese was really, really good and the chorizo was cut thinly, like sopressata, I liked it but Nicky didn't "enjoy" it. I'm proud of him for trying it though! We also order Pan Tostado: which was basically toasted bread rubbed with tomato and garlic, Patatas Bravas: diced potatoes, fried and atop a spicy tomato sauce and drizzled with fresh cream, Bombas de Barceloneta: potato and beef croquettes that also came with that same "salsa brava" (spicy tomato sauce) and fresh cream, and last but not least we ordered the hanger steak which came with their version of chimichurri salsa! Everything was excellent, literally everything, I couldn't decide which dish was my favorite! They were all so tasty and full of different flavors, textures, spices! We loved it all, I loved it all, it was the perfect birthday dinner! After eating 7 dishes, that were pretty good portions, we decided NO dessert for us because we were full and satisfied! Our waitress was sweet and she didn't seem pushy, she didn't come over too frequently (which I like, especially if you're on a date and holding hands at the table) or rush us being there were people waiting for a table. The food came out perfectly timed - not all at once, it was two dishes at a time and when we finished on they brought the other a few minutes later; so it didn't seem like they were throwing food at us, it gave us time to digest a bit between dishes!
I really really enjoyed La Boqueria, it was a great place with great food, great service, a great atmosphere and I had a great date to take me ;) Really, Nicky, you did a great job!!
I highly recommend it to everyone! As I said, mixed crowd, so anyone fits in! I told my mom about it and she wants to go! I will definitely go back!!! And can't wait to!
His Take: Happy Birthday to my dearest Ariana! Ariana’s birthday is here and I wanted to take her somewhere special, somewhere different, and most of all somewhere I knew (or hoped?) she would like. I know Ariana loves Mexican, South American, and Latin food. I did my homework and looked up places, trying to find the perfect one. I stumbled across, La Boqueria, a tapas bar located on W. 19th street, in the Flatiron district. Boy am I glad I stumbled across this place, but well get to that in a second! Tapas bars for those who do not know, are places that basically serve only small dishes, roughly the size of an appetizer. The point is to share these dishes, and as you probably guessed it, Ariana and I ordered quite a things to share!
La Boqueria is a nice little place that the entrance starts narrow, and the place widens up in the back. I called to make a reservation and was told that they only accept reservations for parties of 6 or more. Ariana and I may eat for 6 people, but unfortunately we do not count as 6 people. The lady over the phone told me every one else is first come first serve. Ariana and I arrived to La Boqueria and walked in to see the hostess. Great sign already was EVERY seat was full. This included all the tables, as well as all the seats at the bar, La Boqueria was full to capacity of people eating and drinking. The Hostess told us it was be about a half hour wait, so Ariana and I went outside and sat on the little bench right in front. About 15-20 minutes later the Hostess came and got us. Not bad of a wait at all!
La Boqueria’s menu was full of things Ariana and I wanted to try. I think if we could have eaten everything, we would have ordered 1 of everything! We decided to order a pitcher of Blackberry Sangria to start while we looked over the menu. We finally settled on 7, yes SEVEN things to order. We ordered the Idiazabal cheese (goat’s milk), a type of chorizo, bread with tomato paste and garlic oil, patatas bravas (fried potato pieces with crema fresca and a mildly spicey sauce), hangar steak over peppers, maiz rustido (corn with manchego cheese and lime), and bombas de barceloneta (meat and cheese croquettes with that same mild spicey sauce from before). Sounds like a lot? Well it was, we had a tough time finishing everything because the portions were a very good size! Let me tell you, everything we ordered was excellent. Except for maybe the chorizo, I never had chorizo before, and I did not enjoy it, so that is just me personally. La Boqueria’s food was delicious, and I could have eaten 50 plates of the maiz rustido, I absolutely loved it. The service was great as well.
Ariana did not want me to tell the waitress that it was her birthday, BORING, so she got away with it. La Boqueria you will be seeing me again, the tapas and the service were excellent. Our waitress brought us a little of our food at a time so we got to eat and enjoy it. We finished our pitcher of sangria and enjoyed an amazing dinner to celebrate Ariana’s birthday! I hope you go to La Boqueria and enjoy it as much as I did!
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