| rev:text
| - Three of us came here on a Friday night with a reservation and a craving for Spanish food.
Five stars for the atmosphere and decor. It's perfectly cozy yet still chic and cool. The restaurant is in a heritage building but the decor is modernized. Excellent for a romantic date!
Four and a half stars for the service. Our main server was super friendly, helpful, attentive. Water was filled without being asked. The meal ended a little awkwardly, that's my only complaint. Maybe 15 minutes after our plates were cleared from our last dish (we got the tasting menu), the server came over and said "so... that's the end of the tasting menu" and it was kind of weird. Probably should just say that when the dish is being served.
The food, three stars. We got the $50 tasting menu. I thought the tasting menu would be its own thing, or you would get better "value" than if you bought the same items a la carte, but that's not the case. You still get billed for the items separately, and they just add up to ~50/pp. Ours added up to $152 for three people before alcohol. If I had known this was the case, I would probably have asked them to tell me upfront what we would be getting and make modifications or just ordered a la carte. I honestly regret ordering from the tasting menu and wish I had just ordered items a la carte. Also, no dessert!
What we had:
1) Potato soup with diced potatoes, scallion strands and scallion flan (9/person): cool service (they pour the broth from a teapot) but rather bland. Not worth it.
2) Ceviche with octopus, shrimp, mussels (15): meh. so much liquid, it was basically a soup. It was fine but I've definitely had better.
3) Shrimp with Israeli couscous and peri peri sauce (14): everything about this dish was amazing. one of my favorites of the night.
4) Clams with chorizo, white beans, and bread (12): very good as well, though the broth was quite salty
5) Catalan noodle dish with goat cheese (18): definitely not worth $18. Interesting mix of ingredients but the dish was kind of bland and the noodles were overcooked (way too soft for my liking).
6) Lamb shank with crispy kale and sweet potato puree (34): probably my favorite dish of the night. The lamb was so tender, the crispy kale provided excellent textural balance, the sweet potato puree was amaaaaazing (I just wish there was more of it)
7) Sea bass with braised and crispy chickpeas and caramelized onions, on a garlic and onion puree (I think??) (32): Really good dish, though we were getting really full at this point. Fish was cooked well and the combination of braised and crispy chickpeas works well.
It seemed like most tables got sangria but we got mojitos and rose - no complaints there.
My only other experience with Spanish cuisine in Toronto is at Patria, which I do think is better in terms of food but also value. With that said, Barsa Taberna puts up a good effort! And the decor is totally beautiful.
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