Terra Nostra Tapas & Wine

Almost every bit of food we had was good. We ordered walnut and pear quesadillas, beef tips, a trout special, a moroccan dish, sweet potatoes, blue cheese puffs, chicken canneloni, spanikopita (which they didn’t call by name). I think that is it.
The only real miss was the polenta served with the trout, is was bland and pointless. Everything else was excellent.
However the restaurant did lack in value. Tapas, do tend to be more expensive than full meals because you’re increasing complexity in the kitchen, they have to do a variety of preparations to feed you. However, even taking them into account, the value wasn’t there.
Tapas, meant to be shared, should come in my opinion in easily sharable portions. The quesadilla had 4 pieces, the beef tips had 3 pieces, the chicken canneloni, had one canneloni!!! and inside was mostly cheese with less than an oz of chicken. It was good, yes, but was there value there? No.
The trout was one full small filet, on the polenta (about a 1.5 inch cube of it). For $ 20 or something, this wasn’t really good value. It was a special so I didn’t know the price when ordering it. Need I mention what trout costs and comes with at Red Lobster (I know, I know, comparing Red Lobster to trendy place on Frasier isn’t entirely fair).
Overall, with one coffee and two alcoholic drinks, the bill for two people was $ 92. The food was good, and I will pay that (or more) for something special, some new molecular gastronomy, a food experience. This, however, did not rise to that level. There was nothing inventive or special or unique about the food. So I don’t think it deserves that sort of premium.
We were there on a beautiful Saturday night, and it was dead. Service was great and our food came out super fast, but with only 3 tables (by the time we left there were more like 5) I wasn’t surprised.
I could have gone to Beast and Barrel across the street, and while I wouldn’t have been able to order and sample the same variety of food, I would have had as good of a meal, felt fuller, and paid less for it.

We first ate at Terra Nostra Tapas and Wine Bar right after they first opened and then life got in the way and we somehow never made it back. Until last week, when we were hungry and driving down Frazier Avenue looking for somewhere to eat. All I can say is, I don’t know why we waited so long between visits!
The first thing you notice is the charming red painted storefront. Then as you walk in, it is decorated in deep tones. There is a long bar and a row tables that runs parallel to the bar, with additional seating in another room.
The menu is divided into sections starting with cold tapas, paellas, seafood, meats, vegetables and then sides, beverages, and desserts. We asked for recommendations from our server and for the most part stayed with those. We chose The Avocado and Shrimp, the Buffalo Sausage, Free Range Chicken Cannelloni, Pear and Walnut Quesadilla, and the Mexican Chocolate Flan.
The Shrimp and Avocado was from the cold section. The shrimp was creamy and paired nicely with the avocado. The richness was cut with the lightly dressed tomatoes and lettuce on the side. The buffalo sausage was wonderful. It was perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
The Free Range Chicken Cannelloni was also excellent, creamy and cheesy. The Pear and Walnut Quesadilla was the perfect blend of earthy and sweet.
The Mexican Chocolate Flan was amazing. Rich and dense with chocolate with just the right amount of heat. Loved it!
We enjoyed all of our dishes and left feeling quite satisfied. We will definitely go back and try another handful of dishes!

Delicious food and fantastic service! The patio area is gorgeous. We started off with an assortment of olives and hummus– both were excellent choices. Then, we shared beef tips, lamb, and scallops. Everything was cooked perfectly, nicely seasoned and paired well with the wine selections. The blue puffs are a must have! We ended our meal with a Mexican chocolate flan that has a slight hint of cayenne. The food and atmosphere were extraordinary!

We just happened to walk into this place while it was raining. Had an absolutely lovely time. Our server was Grace, she was so kind and did an amazing job of suggesting dishes. Enjoyed a bottle of wine, several nice dishes, great atmosphere. Would definitely go back.

Went to Terra Nostra after a rather terrible experience up Frazier Avenue. This was our first visit here and we now wonder WHY we hadn’t tried it sooner. The service was incredible. We were greeted promptly and seated immediately. The waiter was very attentive and explained the nightly specials. The food was incredible!!! Easily one of the better meals we’ve had in Chattanooga bar none. We will be back! The tapas style also served us greatly, enjoying a few small plates and sharing each.

Excellent cuisine and friendly service. Everything we look for in a great neighborhood restaurant. Ask for wine recommendations and be open to new and creative dishes. It’s ALL good!

Going downhill. It used to be good, but the prices have been jacked, the portions shrunk, and now there is a general carelessness about the cooking. The last two times I went, the shrimp diablo had an unpleasant smell. The sangria had become much waterier than I remember. It used to be a very solid place, but most folks I know agree that there has been a real decline.

Love this place. Family owned. Wonderful menu and selections. Great feel to the place. Outdoor and indoor seating. Also nice bar.

Recently moved to Chattanooga north shore and love the food scene. Have wanted to try this place, as we have traveled extensively in Spain and are lovers of Spanish wines. First, wine selection is OK, very limited by the glass, but managed a good one! Tapas were Ok. Spinach and black bean quesidellia was our favorite, Paella was Ok. We would have loved to try the lamb, but at $ 21 for a TAPA, it was not worth trying. Service was outstanding! Granted we were there in a Tuesday evening and only 5 – 6!tables were being served. With all the food choices in downtown, not sure we would go back, except for the unique experience, I think there are better places that you could just order appetizers and wine and have a better meal.

I LOVE this place more every time I go! Delicious small plates, great wine deals, and yummy specials. The pear walnut quesadilla and blue puffs are my go to dishes. From there I branch out and try a new dish or special each visit. The spinach ravioli special was delicious.
Great deal on wine til 7 every night of the week as well as a decent beer selection for fiancé.
It’s a little pricey for an everyday dinner out but great for date night or girls’ night.

I had been here a number of times in the past so I didn’t hesitate to buy a Living Social deal for Terra Nostra when I saw it offered a few months ago. Perhaps I shouldn’t have hit the ‘buy’ button so quickly, though… All the things I remember liking about this joint in the past were just «eh» tonight. Maybe it’s gone downhill? Maybe there are just so many better places in town now? Maybe I’m pickier? Regardless, I’m sad to say this will probably be our last visit.
My family and I walked in and were seated by the door. It was quite chilly outside and I expected that we’d be cold every time the door was opened, so I asked to be reseated elsewhere. The hostess dismissed me and told us that «we’d warm up being so close to the kitchen». Hmm, but, am I not the customer? Having worked in the service biz since I was 16 (ahem, more than a few years now), I didn’t expect any reply other than «of course». Though we weren’t frozen solid by the time we left, I will say that my mother never took off her jacket the whole time we were there. And I’d be remiss not to mention that the hostess did come back over to check on us, though I was pretty annoyed by that time and just dismissed her right back.
The food was fine– equal parts standouts and duds. That being said, the delicious menu items are actually so easy to make at home (blue cheese puffs, artichoke dip, asparagus in cream sauce), it’s silly to spend the kind of money they charge. I can make a whole tray of blue puffs for the price of one order. Same goes for the dip and artichokes and well, everything we had and would want to eat again. Additionally, having been to Spain MANY times and eating tapa after tapa, the amount of food served just didn’t warrant sharing.
I’m really bummed to be writing this– I really enjoyed this place on previous visits, I love supporting local businesses, and I think I know what they’re ‘trying’ to do/​be… It just doesn’t seem to be working at the moment.

This place was pretty good. As a hungry guy I was most happiest about the beef tips and also the paella. For sharing, definitely get the hummus. For dessert you can’t miss with the peanut butter pie. Don’t go super hungry as with any tapas place. It’s more about the flavor and experience than the quantity. I’d go back. It was good.

I had not been here in over a year because last time I was here, I tried to pay for my then boyfriend’s meal and our male waiter asked for his permission to let me pay because he «would be insulted if a woman paid for him»! I really should have complained, but I was so shocked and it was so close to their closing for the night that I just let it go and didn’t come back again… until now.
I decided to give this place another shot and I’m still disappointed. We came an hour before closing, and the waitress seated us before informing us we would have to be fast with ordering because the kitchen was almost closed. Despite there being plenty of seats, we were sat right next to the only table with other diners. I thought it was a little bizarre, but I’ll try to withhold judgment because I don’t know if their rotation required that or something. It did irritate my boyfriend though.
Other than that, our waitress was very friendly and attentive.
My real qualms are with the food and the price. The food tasted very home made, but not in a good way… more in a «Mom decided to get a little fancy with some Internet recipes and it didn’t turn out well». I’m pretty open minded with trying things, so it’s not that I have a picky palate. Nothing just seemed to really mesh together. The one non-​cooked item I ordered was a cheese plate. Judging by the speed, coldness of the bread and staleness of the cheese, this was pre-​assembled long before I ordered it and sitting in the fridge all day. I would give my meal a 5/​10, and I can safely say other than the cocktail he ordered, my boyfriend enjoyed his meal even less than I did.
I think the real kicker is how ridiculously expensive Terra Nostra is for the mediocre food and small portions. For example, a not very good spring roll costs eight dollars. I could have eaten at St John’s or Easy Bistro and had way better food for the same price. Hell, I could have eaten at a less up scale restaurant for a fraction of the price and enjoyed my food three times as much in terms of taste AND portion size.
Unless you have a lot of money to spend and want to try a ton of different things, I don’t recommend eating here.

I should not have doubted the Unilocalers who warned me about the price of this place, but I am new to the area and figured I’d give their tapas a shot. $ 100 later, I walked out irritated and still hungry.
I’ve done tapas in Spain and in the U.S., and I expected that the plates would be a bit on the small side based on my U.S. experiences and on the other Unilocal reviews. What I didn’t expect was to pay $ 11 for two tiny shavings of jamón ibérico that my husband ordered. Seriously, that menu item should come with a disclaimer: «For $ 11 you get the two smallest shavings of ham EVER.» Smaller than a Ritz cracker, thinner than a Kleenex. Eleven. Dollars. (I’m sorry, but if I’m ever going to happily pay that much for jamón ibérico, I’m going to do it in Spain where the pig actually lives and its frozen meat hasn’t been flown and trucked all over the world first.)
The papas bravas were so spicy neither my husband nor I could finish them, and they came with a shrimp tail hidden in there under the sauce. Which would not have been a big deal, except we’d disclosed already that my husband is very allergic to shellfish. Our server said she didn’t know how it would have gotten in there, since they do all their food prep separately and as items are ordered. She was very apologetic, but later said that she «forgot» to take our last two drink orders off the bill so there wasn’t anything she could offer us to make up for it. Uh, ok.
Our server was very nice and friendly, but after the place started to fill up she disappeared for long periods of time. At one point I clocked our wait time as more than 15 minutes to ask for a refill of water and to put in an order for another drink and plate. As in, we sat there with nothing to eat and nothing to drink on our table, halfway through our meal, as our server (and others) walked by us several times to attend to other customers.
The cheese plate was good, though, and at $ 11 was a pretty decent value. Maybe I’ll come back another day, sit at the bar and order just it and some wine.
All in all, we paid $ 100 and had to eat again after we left. Terra Nostra definitely does not get in on the «sharing» aspect of tapas, so unless you’re just looking for a snack and don’t mind paying way too much for it, skip this restaurant.

Very disappointed (and I don’t like giving low ratings but on this one I have to). The service was excellent but the food was vastly over priced. The venue is cute, but over rated and still not worth the price. The portions are very small at extreme prices that in most other tapas restaurants would be considered only partial portions. There weren’t very many options that were authentically or even inspired by Latin and Spanish cuisine. I was really looking forward to some chorizo! It’s a bit of a novelty in Chattanooga, I have yet to find others in town, but having had good and not over-​priced tapas before, it’s just not worth it for me.

Great service, wide range of meat, seafood, vege, dessert, wide range of prices.

Terra Nostra was certainly a great experience.
The atmosphere is very unique, with sillouette figures on the wall that remind me of an intimate french restaurant… from the movie Ratatouille, and some colorful animal figures here and there as well.
The food was excellent. Cooked to order, the chef was right infront of us. Not just us, but the other guests that came by would perfonally compliment the chef as they left.
We knew the portions were small, so we blasted in a handful of orders at a time. Everything came out PIPING hot (so be careful!). We tried…
Coconut shrimp and scallops — nice flavor, not fried (caught me off guard),
Fried Shrimp — excellent, possibly my favorite thing on the menu. Very tasty, crispily breaded fried shrimp with a nice sauce
Scallops in bacon were amazing, served on top of a mashed potato with another different sauce.
Lobster ravioli was good. (I normally don’t like ravioli, but this was tasty)
Asparagus au gratin was nice.
Overall, food was excellent, portions were small (so order a lot), atmosphere is very nice — romantic and eclectic, but the prices (if you order like we did) are high.
All in all, a very good date restaurant.
Here’s my «brilliant» suggestion: watch Ratatouille on video and then head here for your date night.

Had some fine dishes. Empanadas, Pieta, and leg of lamb. Fine wine too.
Great waiter and overall atmosphere.

We went here for dinner with a friend. We were seated right away and the hostess was pleasant.
The menu was quite extensive and almost everything we had was delicious. We had the pumpkin ravioli which wasn’t stellar.
Service was great and there was easy parking behind the restaurant. The atmosphere was nice and there was plenty of cool art to be seen. There’s an outdoor area but we didn’t notice it until our way out.
The only downside is that this place is pretty pricey otherwise it’s worth checking out.

This place is perfect for what it is: Wine & Tapas. They have a great wine list at decent prices, but the strength is there food selection. They have 10+ tapas under Seafood, Meat, Vegetarian, and Appetizers. They also have a number of deserts.
A great intimate atmosphere without being overly romantic. The outdoor seating in the alley is a unique, quaint place to eat that is fun and intimate as well.
If you want to have fun, intimate conversation while experimenting with different foods, this is perfect.