Tapas Valencia

Tapas Valencia was a home run, out of the ball park. I say that since last night and this morning my wife agreed that going forward we see no need to go back to Café Baba Reeba or Iberico! now that we discovered this Spanish tapas gem blocks away from us.
Having lived in the area for 1.5 years, we’ve walked or driven by it on numerous occasions and often talked about going but didn’t make it until last night. From the outside, it’s somewhat unassuming since its in a condo building nestled on a residential section of S State Street. At 5p, we were able to secure reservations on a Sat night for 9p.
Below some of the highlights of our visit:
— live music until 10p along with a dancer
— pretty spacious inside, given from the outside it appears much smaller
— great Sangria that is not diluted by ice. They bring it in a pitcher with glasses filled with ice and fruit. (at $ 30/​pitcher, it was a little steep)
— food was A+. We ordered quesa de cabro (goat cheese with tomato sauce), grilled squid, bacon wrapped dates, stuffed mushroom, grilled shrimp on spinach, the paella and the chocolate cake dessert. Everything tasted really good. And I’d be hard pressed find a flaw.
PS: Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures!

We came here for Sunday Brunch, the Bacon wrapped Dates and the Spicy Potato with Manche cheese was awesome. We even loved the Alaskan King Crab with avocado… very refreshing!

Awesome place for a quite brunch with friends! Lots of hot and cold tapas. The roasted bacon wrapped dates are fantastic. And the Clara is a must have drink. One thing I am not sure of is if their service is a bit slow or that’s just how tapas are traditionally served. We had a bit of a long wait between every body’s order. The dessert wasn’t something to write home about.

Service was excellent. Food was delicious. First time trying tapas and my boyfriend and I really enjoyed the concept of sharing a variety of small plates. The Pipirrana de Buey «steak» and the pollo a la Parilla were my favorites. We ordered five tapa dishes, one desert, and two drinks. Our total bill was $ 72.00, excluding tip.

This is one of my favorites. Everything is delicious. Best value for brunch. Had an excellent time at their NYE party. The service is so-​so sometimes but will go back for the great food.

The food is incredibly tasty and they nail the classics as well as bringing their own spin to the table.
The wait staff is very attentive and knowledgeable about the dishes.
Prices and serving sizes are on point. Definitely worth the trip.

My roommates ordered tapas here before I came home. The delivery was really late and by the time we got the food, it was already cold. The driver apologized saying that the other driver cancelled on them – regardless there should be a credit or some sort of comp for a driver ditching them (plus our food) and not even having the food delivered at the right temperature! Super disappointing, the paella was room temperature and stuffed mushrooms weren’t hot at all.

This is one of my favorite restaurants and have been here many times. This place is great for going out with friends/​family, work colleagues, or on your own. They have a wide variety of tapas. A must try are the Tostadas de Centollo — toast points with Alaskan king crab & avocado. I also believe they have a prix fixe menu. The manager and wait staff are excellent — I’ve never had a bad experience. They have reasonably priced valet parking if you drive and it is also close to train and bus lines.
I really enjoy the Sunday Brunch which runs from 10:30am — 3:00pm. They have wonderful brunch selections and you get a very generous amount of food at a low price and you can also order from the regular tapas menu. On top of that during brunch, they have selected drinks for $ 5. So you can have a bloody mary with your sunny side up eggs. The desserts are also great!
I highly recommend Tapas Valencia.

I came here on a Friday for the start of a girls night out and thoroughly enjoyed myself! the atmosphere is pleasantly and lively and the food was DELISH! we had the scallops and coucous, shrimp with lemon butter, tiger shrimp with spinach, the king crab and avocado over toast, and the stuffed mushrooms, the pomegranate and regular red sangria and everything was good. I will surely return.

I ordered delivery, but they did not give me forks and napkins. The food is good but tiny size. The bacon wrap are very sweet which I did not expect. Others are fine.

Nice location close to home in the South Loop. Our waitress gave very good suggestions, and the desserts were delicious!

This place is great for family dinners. The dining room environment, menu options and price is worth another look.
We ordered about 10 tapas dishes and a few drinks, total bill around $ 140 excluding tip. I would recommend both the hot chicken tapas dishes; Pollo a la Parilla and Pincho de Pollo. Unfortunately the Sangrias were disappointing.

On Sundays they have all day $ 3 tapas menu at the bar. AWESOME DEAL! The scallop dish so good we ordered a second one. They give you FIVE scallops — what a steal for $ 3! They were super tender and yummy. I also got seconds of the steak with potato and mushrooms. Chicken skewers came with a yummy sauce. Mussels were very fresh and had BIG bites in every shell — also a steal for the price. Toast points with cured meats and cheese was nothing unique — exactly what I expected but gotta love it.
Two things I would NOT get again: Mushroom salad was mediocre and a bit too oily for my taste. Grilled portobello mushroom served in a roll was a disappointment. I love mushrooms too so these two were a bit of a bummer. But the seafood and steak dishes more than makes up for it.
Looking forward to the next visit!

This place is great. We made a last minute reservation on Open Table and went on a Sunday night. There were plenty of open tables and we chose to sit outside.
The servers were attentive to us outside and our waiter told us what his recommendations were.
We got 4 tapas…
Pipirrana de Buey– Steak with blue cheese, the steak was cooked well and was tender, great flavors
Croquetas de Jamon y Pollo– Ham and chicken croquettes! I love croquettes and these did not disappoint
Queso de Cabra– This is described as goat cheese and garlic bread but it comes with a delicious tomato sauce that is almost like a tomato bisque to dip the bread in
Calamares a la Plancha– Grilled squid… I do not like grilled squid typically because of the texture but I tried it and it was pretty good!
Sangria! We got both white and red sangria… the red tasted like it had more alcohol but I liked the way the white tasted better!
Free dessert with a check in on Unilocal!I chose a chocolate pecan cheesecake and it was really good! They have a rather large selection of desserts, included different kinds of cakes, flan and ice cream.

At first, I would have given this four stars because the first three tapas dishes we had — the goat cheese, the tilapia, and the chicken — were all good. The tilapia and goat cheese were the best: the tilapia was thin and crispy and nicely flavorful; the goat cheese/​bread dish was so tomatoey and super savory. The chicken was a little dry, but it was not bad.
However, we ordered the seafood paella and everything about it was wrong. The seafood was overcooked and rubbery. Scallops should NOT taste like that; I shouldn’t choke on squid (or octopus) rings; shrimp shouldn’t be rock hard; mussels should not be tiny and shriveled inside of their shells. The seafood itself was a total, overcooked, nasty disaster. The paella itself was bland and had nO crispy bottom or anything like that. Nothing about this dish was good and we paid $ 20 for it. What a waste.
bright side — good sangria, and if you check in on Unilocal,you get a free dessert — the pecan cheesecake is to die for delicious, not too sweet and very tasty.

The south side has really changed, love the area, loved the service, the décor was exciting, the staff seemed to be having a great time, laughing, playing and making sure we all were well provided for. I’m a fan of tapas and they did not disappoint. Cheese fondue was great. Paella was excellent. My favorite was the skirt/​flank steak with mashed potatoes simply amazing

Being so in love with tapas I am surprised it took me until now to try Tapas Valencia. Located in the South Loop (sort of near Chinatown) I was surprised to find a tapas restaurant there, but I really am glad I did. This might be my favorite tapas place in Chicago for now.
I highly recommend the $ 35/​person prix fixe menu because you get to taste so many of the best dishes they have to offer. Here are some of the highlights:
— Jamon Serrano: Just how I had it in Barcelona!
— Tostadas de Centollo: My favorite cold tapa. The crab was delicious.
— Vieiras al Albariño: By far my favorite warm tapa. Perfect scallops and great flavor.
Ambiance: Fun, decorated with some tiles that seem to be Gaudi inspired. I would say Café Babareeba is a little more girls-​night-​out and fancy atmosphere than Tapas Valencia, but I would definitely pick here for the food.
Drinks: Sangria was a little bit of a let down compared to some others that I’ve had, but the food really makes up for it.
Definitely will be back!

Had a great time here celebrating a birthday. They have prix-​fix menu (min 2 ppl) as well as a regular menu. We had 5 ppl, 2 ordered the prix-​fix menu ($ 35 each) and the rest ordered 7 items to share. That’s plenty of good for everyone. It was hard to stuff in dessert.
Place — nicely decorated with Valencia tiles on the wall — imagine yourself in Parc Guell.
Drinks — tried the mango margarita and cava sangria. Have to say I have had better ones else where.
Food — excellent. The beef tenderloin were tender, scallops were fresh, crepes were thin and crispy. Very tasty all around. Dessert was good too! Not the usual super sweet type.
Bonus — free dessert with Unilocal check in and when I told the server we were celebrating a birthday, he came out with a ice cream puff with a candle on top!
Highly recommended and will return.

Can’t believe I’ve lived here for 7 years and never been to Tapas Valencia. Overall I like the place but none of the food blew me away. The décor and ambiance is very cool and the server we had was outstanding. Half price bottles of wine on Wednesdays? Yes, please! They give you some olives to start as opposed to a bread basket or chips and salsa. The food came out at a decent pace, slightly too quickly. I like that they have fresh plates and forks right at the table cause that is always the problem with tapas.
We started with the serrano ham. The dish was prepared nicely but the serrano itself was just meh. We got the empanada. It is one, huge empanada so not optimal for sharing. It was also soggy. The flavor was pretty solid but not a fan of the way it was served. We got the grilled shrimp with lemon butter, which was my favorite dish of the night. We tried the scallops which were okay. The spicy potatoes were decent. I know we got some sort of beef or lamb but that is not not memorable it was that I can’t even remember which. Overall, not a bad spot and none of the food was bad but nothing was awesome either.

FOOD– The tapas were pretty delish. We ordered mostly hot tapas since it was a freezing Chicago day. The menu is pretty extensive but definitely overwhelming to look at. I think we ordered a little bit of everything. Items that really stood out for me: Gambas ajillo, queso de cabra, crêpe rellena, and Chorizo y morcilla (was so excited that morcilla was on the menu! I haven’t had it in years and the last time I had it was in Madrid!). For dessert the platano con helado was my favorite.
AMBIANCE– The space is well-​designed. The décor reminded me of Spain and felt very culturally authentic. The mouthwash in the bathrooms were appreciated. But something was definitely missing though. It felt weirdly quiet… perhaps the music could have definitely been louder. Maybe the lighting/​temperature was off? I just didn’t feel cozy and comfortable being in the space.
SERVICE– The service was alright. The waiter suggested we order a few tapas and after those came out we could continue ordering. I think that is a good approach to tapas dining, however not when dining with a large group (we had 10 people). We ordered 3 tapas to start with, and they were devoured in 3 seconds. Then we waited for a while before the next round came out, etc. The wait period was too long for me between rounds of tapas. I just prefer when everything comes out all together.
Overall it was a good experience. I’d definitely come back with a smaller group. Making reservations was easy. ALSO– check in on Unilocal once you are there! There is a free desert coupon! =)