After we ate the pimientos de padron, we had tapas on our mind so we headed out to dinner at Tapas de España in Englewood, NJ with Josh’s parents. We used to go there a lot when the restaurant first opened but it’s been a few years I think since our last visit. It’s always crowded on weekends so we could never get in, but this time it was pretty late in the evening and there were only four of us. We called ahead for a table and luckily we didn’t have to wait too long before we were seated.
They brought us a basket of nicely warmed up baguettes while we went through the menu. The bread was basic but had a nice crispy crust and fluffy innards.
Yummy carbs
Although the restaurant does offer many full size dishes, we were here for the tapas, and the list is pretty long and extensive (no pimientos de padron though!). In addition to the regular tapas menu, they had another sheet that listed the specials of the day. So many things looked appealing to us that we ended up over ordering but at least we got to try a wide variety of the tapas offered.
Of course we couldn’t eat tapas without ordering a pitcher of sangria. The sangria is not to sweet and has lots of big chunks of fruit in it, which I like.
Red sangria with lots of fruit
To start off the meal, they served us some soup made with collard greens, potatoes, and sausage. The broth was light but flavorful, with a hint of smokiness from the sausage. They give the soup to everyone, kind of like an extremely large amuse bouche, and it’s pretty tasty.
Collard green, potato, and sausage soup
The first dish that we ordered was jamon serrano with manchego cheese. Serrano ham is kind of like prosciutto, and we ate a lot of it while we were in Spain (Museo de Jamon anyone?). Unfortunately, the slices we received here were awful. They were stale, lacking in flavor, and totally dried out, making them hard and tough to chew. The slices of manchego were decent at least, but even they couldn’t salvage the terrible jamon.
Decent manchego and spanish olives with awful serrano ham
Fortunately the next dish was much better. It was from the specials menu and was baby squid served in its own ink. The squid bodies were tender, not chewy, and covered in the rich, delicious black ink. I think some people might get a little squeamish from squid ink, but please don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! I can’t really explain it, but the flavor is just so deep and tastes like the sea. I really loved this dish and it was one of my favorites of the evening.
Baby squid in its own ink
They brought out the rest of our tapas on two tall towers so there was a lot of food all at once. I still made sure to take pictures of each dish though before everyone dug in. The beef empanadas were pretty solid. They were freshly fried with a nice flaky crust and the filling was well seasoned.
Beef empanadas
The lightly fried bacalao fritters were recommended by our waiter. The chunks of salted cod were lightly battered and deep fried. They were served with a tasty tartar sauce.
Bacalao fritters
Less successful were the chicharones de pollo, chunks of fried bone-in chicken. The chicken was also lightly battered but they didn’t have enough meat so what was there was really dried out and tough.
Chicharones de pollo
The empanadillas de atun were miniature empanadas filled with kind of a tuna puree. Sounds kind of gross but it didn’t taste fishy at all, and the crusts were light and crispy.
Empanadillas de atun
The patatas bravas, deep fried potatoes covered in a spicy sauce, were very poorly made. The potatoes were soggy and mushy, and the sauce didn’t have a good kick to it. It’s such a simple dish to make that it’s kind of disappointing that they screwed it up so badly.
Poorly prepared patatas bravas
The shrimp in garlic sauce were served with a lot of deliciously garlicky oil/broth, which we sopped up with pieces of baguette. It’s a standard tapas dish that we always order whenever we’re in a Spanish restaurant.
Shrimp in garlic sauce
We also got side dishes of tostones and maduros. The tostones were sliced thinner than at most other places, so they were light and crispy, not too heavy or starchy. And they came with a delicious garlic dipping sauce.
Tostones with garlic sauce
The maduros were soft and sweet and not too oily. We loved plantains in all forms so we polished off these plates pretty easily.
Sweet maduros
We were stuffed after all the food but we still had some room for dessert. We shared a flan, which was a bit tougher than I normally prefer and not quite silky enough. The caramel sauce was good though, and not too sweet.
There's always room for flan
In general, I thought the food at Tapas de España was pretty decent. There were some misses though that highlighted the inconsistency from the kitchen. I don’t think anything was ill-conceived, as what we ordered were all pretty standard tapas dishes. The patatas bravas, for example, were just poorly prepared. Service was ok. They delivered our food kind of all in one shot, and then everyone disappeared for a while. But we were still able to flag someone down when we needed more water or another pitcher of sangria. As I said earlier, the restaurant does get pretty crowded on weekends, and there seemed to be a lot of big parties the night we were there, so reservations are recommended. The tapas might not be the most authentic but the atmosphere of the restaurant is fun and festive, and we had a good evening overall.
Tapas de España (multiple locations)
47 North Dean St.
Englewood, NJ