I was strongly suggested this place about 5 weeks ago by a co-worker who said it was a good meal and he liked it. Well...if they say it must be that good, who wouldn't want to go right?? Well here are the low-lights of my three attempts:
1st attempt: Kids were in school so I figured this would be a good day to take the Mrs. on a date-day outing. We show up at 12noon, just to be told that the entire restaurant is closed for a private party. They did have outdoor seating, but I guess that was closed too(even though noone was eating outside)
2nd attempt - About a week later (kids in school again)...I'm thinking date day again with the Mrs. She suggests we try Tapas 51 again and I say .."why not". They can't be closed for lunch again right...NOT!! Pull up to the restaurant at 12 noon and this time the doors are locked. Reallly? The website and online Yelp directory page both say that there hours are open for lunch. Now I'm agitated!. Tried to call the restaurant to see if anyone answers and to see what hours they are actually open. Phones rings then an alert comes on just to tell me that the mailbox is full and to call back later. How does a business not have a standard message on a phone system that states the hours and leads people to their website. Mailbox full, call back late?? THAT'S SLOPPY.
Now for our 3rd attempt: For some reason ( probably because neither my wife nor I liked to feel like we're defeated) we decide to try Tapas 51 for dinner and this time take the kids. Well we show up and they seat us right away, which is always great with kids. Well, they don't even have a children's menu. A little surprising, but ok.....We go ahead and find something for the kids then order ourselves. The waitress takes our order (never wrote anything down), then the order comes out wrong and missing items. I order the Chile rubbed beef tacos and the Champagne fish tacos. First thing I noticed when the food comes is the portion sizes..extremely small for the price. While YES the food was tasty, NO TACO that can fit laid out in the palm of my hand should cost $3 each. My wife ordered the Grouper cakes. She said they tasted pretty good but the size of the cakes are tiny for each cake costing $5 each...It's ridiculous. Those ARE NOT Pineville/Fortmill prices. Those are more like South Park prices where the bougie upper crust can go to a place with these menu prices and feel like they are getting a taste of ethnicity. At a certain point the balance between price vs.quantity vs. quality comes into play.
So there ya have it, my three attempts at Tapas 51...THERE WILL NOT BE A 4TH.