Espana Tapas House

Great atmosphere, great service, great sangria, but good food. The dates and scallops are a hit. Everything else we tried was just good. I would still recommend it.

Mediocre and forgettable. Much better Tapas choices in town…

One really gets the sense they are about to go out of business. Female server did her best but everything else was wrong. Incorrect drinks, wrong plates to table and excessively long wait for main dish. Had to take it home in a box. Just seemed like a mess with no leadership. Would have been nice to get a simple apology rather than convoluted excuses as to why nothing was right. Seemed as though the few other patrons in the place were confused as to what was going on too.
Extremely empty this Saturday night and the last Saturday nights we were there the last year and also had a mediocre experiences though not as bad as last night. Potential in this spot but they don’t seem to be trying.

Please be careful with this place. It’s unsanitary and it has many violations. The sangria jars have rotten fruits and fruit flies. The kitchen is super dirty and the basement not to talk about. Moving forward I am also a former employer and with the same attitude they treat your food, they treat their employees, they do not pay them and make them work a lot. Be careful with the owner Joe he is a two face man that will tell you how good the food is and how the restaurant is great. It’s not true, this place is failing and will keep failing. Everyone might have their own opinion but what I just told you are FACTS. You’ve been warned!

Having been to several tapas/​Spainard restaurants around the country, I was really looking forward to what Espana tapas house had to offer to Milwaukee. I was extremely disappointed.
I visited this location on a Saturday evening, about 520, so that We would have enough time to walk to the Bradley center well before 730 game start time. When we got there, it was not busy, yet no one greeted us or acknowledged us. It was not until I approached true bartender that someone sat us.
The first thing to come out of our server’s mouth was that she was hung over. I get that we all have our moments, but I don’t know that get being hung over should have been shared with our table. She proceeded to ask by what time we needed to be out of there and we said 7, so we could get to the game in advance. For the record, I don’t understand why they asked when we needed to be out there, especially when the food was so slowly brought out and our server messed up our bill — not once, but twice, so we didn’t get out of there until 8:10, well after what time we wanted to be out.
More than three times, people brought food to our table only to realize that they had served it to the wrong table then took it to the correct one. I can’t say i thought highly of the food there, it was fairly bland and very basic to what you would find in a tapas restaurant — nothing that made it particularly special or stand out.
Overall, I don’t know that I will be returning. The service was poor, our server didn’t really know the menu and the execution of the food being brought out was frustrating…

Having lived in Spain, I’m always a tad bit skeptical of tapas restaurants because they don’t seem to do their research on the dishes. This was definitely the case here. The paella was bland, the rice was quite dry. The patatas bravas with aioli and chorizo came out with a link of chorizo that had not been cut up, which was annoying since we were a group of 5.
One member of our group has a serious shrimp allergy and when we ordered the assorted Croquetas, the staff could not tell us which croquetas were which.
The décor and service were great, but the food was mediocre at best.
I would not return to this restaurant.

I was a little skeptical after seeing that this place only has a 3 star rating, but my husband and I couldn’t have had a better experience. We were seated right away in their really cool booths (it’s tucked away behind a curtain type thing, kind of a fun touch) and our drink orders were placed. I am not familiar with Spanish food but the menu is pretty descriptive. ALSO, this restaurant is very gluten free friendly! Everything on their menu is labeled if it’s gluten free. We ordered prosciutto wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese (so exquisite that we promptly ordered another plate), a pork dish that I can’t remember the name of, and braised short ribs with mushrooms and patatas w/​aioli (Castillo Championes). We both couldn’t believe the amazing taste of our tapas for such a small price. We also ordered the flan for dessert. I will definitely be going back.

Where to start? I never made a bad review, but this is beyond any bad experience I had before. We were not greeted for 20 minutes. First dish came 50 minutes after ordering. They forgot one dish (and they said an hour later that they run out of that!). Slow service. The food was pretty bad. Clearly they are cutting corners.
Then! They offer a free drink for the inconvenience that later showed up in the bill! When we asked for change to pay the bill THEY WERE OUT OF CHANGE. Total time there 2:30 hours.
The table next to us was even more upset.
Never again.

After reading over previous reviews, it’s clear that this place is very «hit or miss». Last night, sadly it was a «miss».
The hubby and I decided it would be a good choice for a light dinner before a show at the nearby Riverside Theater.
Same as other posters here — we walked in and the place was empty all but one other table. Our waitress was quite pleasant, brought drinks (mine a white sangria, my husband the «espana» sangria) and left us to look over the plastic covered menus.
The offerings are what you would expect in a small plate, although, then they have a good number of paellas on the menu too. We stuck with small plate as the paellas noted a 30 – 45 min. cook time and we were on a schedule.
We decided on 4 different hot tappas — the Croquetas de Jamón, Calamares a la Plancha, Higos Rellenos, and as an after-​thought, the Pan con Salsa de
Tomate y Queso.
The first item that came out was the Croquetas de Jamón. white the plating was beautiful (as all our items were), when I cut into the first one I was expecting it to be steaming (this is suppose to be a hot tappas filled with potato and ham), oddly to me it wasn’t. First bite and I knew these were not prepared to order — the were basically room temperature. Tasty, but would have been so much more appealing had they been at least reheated! ps: nice aioli mayo.
Next up, the calamari. Same deal, luke-​warm at best, (and rubbery). I didn’t comment to him as this was my husband’s pick and he normally loves calamari, but even he didn’t finish off the plate.
Thirdly we were brought the higos rellenos — my pick. Again, would have been a delightful dish — the flavors were there — but it needed to be at something more than room temp. We could picture this stuff sitting back in the kitchen under plastic wrap just waiting to be plated.
The waitress came back and asked if we would like anything else, I think my husband must have been starving as he picked up the menu and ordered the pan. I gave him a side-​look, but «whatever», we had some time to kill and sangria left in the glasses. While all the other dished came out in a timely manner, for whatever reason, this simple order of what amounted to cheesy bread took forever! We actually thought the waitress forgot to place the order with the kitchen. and were just about to ask her to bring the check when she appeared with the bread (sadly our sangria long-​gone).
Voila’! Not I got it, I understood what took so long — finally, a hot plate! The cook (not going to call him a chef) actually had to heat something up. The bread was good — it was dipped in a nice tomato-​based sauce then topped with cheese, then broiled.
Thus ended our experience at Espana. I’m not going to go into things like lay-​out and décor as they’ve been covered in other reviews. I give it 2 stars for effort (and the bread at the end). We won’t be back — there are too many other (much better) restaurants in Milwaukee to choose from.

I walked her from my hotel (The InterContinental) thinking it would be nice to get a couple of small bites instead of a full plated meal. The place was empty (first clue), the staff was «meh» about my presence, and food was mediocre; the deviled eggs were ok, but the papas riojas were nothing more than breakfast potatoes with an ersatz mayonnaise aioli and cayenne spice dollop. The full, but limited bar, solved my request for a good tequila, but it was served «neat» in a water glass.

Excellent place!!! We are always made to feel special when attending! Highly recommend this for birthdays or anytime you want something different! Sangria is awesome!

I’d given up on this restaurant a year and a half ago, but I met up with a friend Saturday night who was having a bad day. She REALLY wanted to try Espana, since she lived in Spain for a while. I obliged.
We reviewed the menu, which looked the same to me for the most part. A few tapas were off the menu and a few new ones on. What really caught my eye was the addition of a Moroccan section. I was intrigued.
We decided to order a few tapas and sangria.
Our server was Maria. A young lady originally from Bulgaria and a recent Milwaukee resident by way of Chicago. She’d only been working here for 3 weeks. It didn’t show. She was attentive, made no mistakes, and was extremely sweet and fun, which had this experience off to a great start.
A flamenco guitarist and dancer performed near by. This time the volume level was pleasant, not loud and obnoxious like my last visit.
The first dish to arrive was the Croquetas de Jamon ($ 10). They were crispy on the outside with a soft center. They were very good, but this dish should be easy to make, so I didn’t get too excited.
The Patatas Bravas ($ 6) arrived almost immediately after. The flavor of the sauce was better than my last visit, but the potatoes weren’t quite as crispy. Still a decent dish. No complaints. No cartwheels.
Then we tried one of the weekly specials, Lomo dal Valencia ($ 9.95). Marinated and grilled pork cubes are served with grilled tomatoes, roasted garlic and paprika mashed potatoes, grilled bread (which I believe was coated with the roasted garlic and paprika used in the masked potatoes) with goat cheese and a balsamic reduction. This dish gave me hope. The pork had a delicious flavor, not quite as tender as I would have liked, but the flavor made up up for it. The mashed potatoes, grilled tomatoes and grilled bread with goat cheese put this dish over the top.
There is no way this was the same chef from my last visit. I grabbed the owner as he was walking by and asked him when the new chef started. He said, «actually it’s me.»
I was surprised, but I didn’t press it. I was just happy to have food that had a key ingredient missing from my prior visits — flavor.
The Tortilla de la Semana ($ 6) arrived along with the Costillas Rioja Cortas ($ 12), rioja braised boneless short ribs served with roasted garlic and paprika mashed potatoes.
The tortilla was cooked perfectly and made with eggs, potatoes, onions served with a saffron and garlic aioli. This was not the traditional Tortilla Espanola found in Spain or even the popular Spanish restaurant in Chicago, but it TASTED GOOD, and the edge of the tortilla was crispy. The saffron and garlic aioli was also solid and added a nice dimension.
The short ribs were very tender and delicious, and I already mentioned I was a big fan of the roasted garlic and paprika mashed potatoes.
We were SOOO full, but Maria brought out a beautiful dessert tray and she was so sweet, we couldn’t say no to her.
We ordered the flan and Tres Leches cake. The flan was smooth, almost silky smooth. It didn’t have the custard-​y texture but had good flavor. The Tres Leches had a moist texture, and, yup, it tasted good.
I told the owner he should have been prepping the recipes from day one.
I will go back to try the paella and the Moroccan dishes. The owner is Moroccan so I expect those dishes to be good.
I really hope that night wasn’t a fluke. Espana is back on my radar, for now anyway.
I know upgrading from 2 stars to 4 stars seems unheard of, but this was a great experience and I want to give credit where do. Man I hope they can keep this up!

I don’t know how people could give this place any lower. Everytime I come here, the people are extremely accommodating and sincere. The food is always fresh and extremely delicious. Sometimes they even give us free treats while waiting for our meals. They can make almost everything gluten free (great for celiacs) and they accommodate to all other allergies. I went here for mother’s day and it was the greatest restaurant experience of my life. My whole family enjoyed it and I will definitely be back.

So I did not want to come here. I made it clear in my email. Friend with Groupon: «well you can do what you want. This is where im going.» **sigh** I went. And kind of liked it, actually.
So this place sits on a bustling corner of plankinton with windows all around. There is a bar up front with happy hour specials. It was empty when i got in (6 pm workday) but full by the time we left.
The menu was huge! Almost too much going on on it. I was totally overwhelmed. The sangria flavors alone took up a whole page (flights available in 9s for $ 2.50 a flavor — they also do pitchers.) I settled on strawberry which was a little thick and sweet but I was pleased with it.
We started with mussels which were served with a pretty good thick sauce (see pic)
Does anyone besides me remember several years back when it seemed like everything Rachel Ray made had manchego cheese and Serrano ham in it? It seemed like she put it on everything one season. So the menu here had both those things… I ended up getting a steak with manchego cheese and potatoes with some sort of spicy tomatoe-​y sauce on top. It was a special for $ 10.95. The steak was sort of south American but the cream of the cheese made up for any toughness in the cut of steak.
My dining companion got paella which although served with a good deal of meat and seafood was a little light on the signature saffron and I found the rice a bit chewy. Acceptable though.
We got a slice of tres leches cake for dessert. So thick and decadent. While I am not always that into dessert, if put in front of me I always gobble it up. This was soooo thick and filling I couldn’t…and I felt like a real oinker asking for it to be wrapped up.
On the way out we started talking about the old Don Quixote restaurant (I can never think about Spanish food without thinking of them.) This led to a discussion of the old record store across the street and what the name of it was (Mainstream records-​thank you, Google). This led to a realization that it was approaching 8:30 & we were old and don’t stay out that late anymore.
Just kidding… but the food here was decent. Give it a try… especially the sangrias!

In October, my boyfriend and I took two of our friends out to dinner here using a Groupon while we were on vacation in Milwaukee. The three of them had never had tapas and the server was helpful in explaining the process and menu to them. When we first sat down the restaurant was not busy but as the night went on the tables filled up. Our server continued to be friendly and diligent, despite how busy he obviously was. I was also very impressed by the owner’s hard work and dedication to help each serve give better service. He was out on the floor, bussing dishes and helping out however he could.
The food and sangria were delicious, the server was extremely helpful and I’m glad we got to check out this place. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone in the Milwaukee area.

tl;dr This was the only time I’ve ever walked out of a restaurant. STAY FAR, FAR AWAY!
I came here with a group after the dinner rush while at a conference. After we sat, the waiter promptly came to our table to tell us the specials. We asked for a moment to look over the menu and extensive sangria list. When he returned, three of us asked to split a pitcher of one of the white wine sangrias. Another person ordered a Grand Marnier neat and an espresso. One of us put in an order for something to pick at.
Everything went downhill after this moment.
He left to put in the order and returned after about three minutes to tell us that they were out of white wine. I found it strange that they ran out of one of the main ingredients in one of the only things they are heralded for in the middle of the weekend, but no sweat. We quickly reordered a red wine sangria.
He turned away again, and returned later to inform us that they were out of espresso. Interestingly enough, they still had coffee. And the espresso machine wasn’t broken. But espresso wasn’t an option. Again, strange. The light at the end of the tunnel was beginning to fade, but we kept strong in spite of the adversity. Never mind on the espresso. He’ll just have the Grand Marnier.
He scampered away again. But after no more that five minutes, yes, the killer of dreams returned again and informed us that neither he NOR THE BARTENDER knew what Grand Marnier was. After we had all stopped pinching ourselves to be sure that this was real life, we explained that it was «an orange-​flavored liqueur.» He seemed satiated by that response, and once more rode off into the sunset.
We’re now close to 20 minutes in and no one has any drinks, not even the folks who asked for water. We are in a daze. When suddenly, from out of nowhere and with no possible warning, there was a middle-​aged belly dancer at our table. It was at this point we were certain that we had fallen through the looking glass on our walk to the restaurant. There was a lot of side eyes and awkward silence and the dancer proceed to do laps around our table for several minutes.
But hark! On the horizon once again was our valiant waiter, with a single drink in hand and headed for our table. Progress! He then placed the clear drink in front of the man who ordered the Grand Marnier. He smelled it and recognized that he had been brought a kamikaze. We are simply stunned. Yes, the bartender served a triple shot of vodka, triple sec, and lime neat instead of the famous cognac, but triple sec tastes like oranges, so it was close enough I guess.
As if someone had announced that the building was on fire, we rose at the same time and began a blitzkrieg for the exit. The food never showed, nor did any of the other drinks. We informed our waiter that we were just going to go (he replied «That’s probably okay.») and after 30 minutes rejoined humanity outside the walls of this horrific excuse of a restaurant.

Flamenco dancers? Olé!
Slow service? Oh, hey! Hello? ¿Hola? ¡Mierda!
So, I liked the atmosphere here. The live music and dancing was cool. It’s in a decent part of town. We had no problem walking in at 7:00pm on a Friday night and getting a table for 5. The food is pretty tasty too; mostly. The paella had a bunch of crunchy rice that was undercooked. Two scallops for $ 12? Even in a citrus saffron sauce that’s a bit steep. The calamari was good though and most people were happy.
Drinks were a problem too. Mine wasn’t strong at all. When it’s a mojito, slacking on the liquor is pretty obvious. My companions drinks were almost unthinkably strong. Even when bringing it up to the waitress and getting it remade, it was terrible. Like most things this night, it was hit or miss.
The waitress came twice in 5 minutes when we sat, and then was absent for 20 minutes. I don’t know if she had too many tables or what, but it was pretty spotty service. She also messed up payment at the end by running our cards on someone else’s bill. To her credit, she caught the mistake and fixed it, but on top of spotty service it left a bad taste.
I feel like I need to give this place another shot, but right now, it’s a little off target.

Descriptive phrase: Casi lo mismo que estar en España.
Espana Tapas House is a good restuarant, and a great addition to the Milwaukee food scene. I’ve been here twice now, once a month after it opened and just this past week. It should be noted, too, that I lived in Spain for half a year and became intimately familiar with their cuisine.
On my first visit all of the food was as authentic as possible. More recently, about half of the food is still extremely authentic and the other half has an American twist.
Katie and I had 7PM reservations on a Friday night. We were seated immediately, but had to ask a few minutes later to have a server come over. This was okay, because they had live Flamenco music and dancing to entertain us while we waited.
We started with the Sangria Espana ($ 8) and Blackberry Sangria ($ 8). The Espana was exactly like you’d get in Spain, except with apple pieces instead of oranges. Katie liked her Blackberry, but it was a bit rich for me.
The Albondigas de Madrid (meatballs) ($ 9) came out first. Four relatively large meatballs in a spicy tomato-​based sauce. I thought these were good, with well-​cooked meat (not too dry), but they were not very authentic.
Next were the Croquetas de Jamon (Spanish-​ham fried potato balls) ($ 9). This is one of my favorite Spanish dishes, and ETH did not disappoint. Three large, fried balls appear on a plate sitting atop individual dollops of ali-​oli (a creamy mix of mustard, mayo, and olive oil? I never actually figured out what it was but I’d put it on everything). They could’ve used a bit more jamon inside, but the ali-​oli added the perfect amount of Spanish flair.
We then had the Vieiras a la Plancha (grilled scallops) ($ 12). Three large sea scallops topped with some sort of green garnish (pretty, but we didn’t eat it) and drizzled with a saffron sauce. Again, the sauce was sweet and tasty but didn’t seem very authentic Spanish. However, the scallops were absolutely perfectly grilled, and melted like butter in your mouth.
A Spanish staple, Patatas Bravas ($ 5), were next. In Spain these typically are made with ali-​oli and a spicy ketchup-​y sauce. My first visit they were exactly what we ate in Spain. This time we had a smaller portion (still okay for $ 5) with more of a tomato sauce on top. Tangy and good.
Last was the Queso de Cabra (goat cheese) ($ 9). Goat cheese pieces were melting in a hot and tangy tomato sauce (different from previous sauces tried) in a small bowl with four little slices of olive-​oil-​drizzled bread. ¡Que fantástico! This was our favorite dish. The goey, creamy cheese mixed so well with the spicy sauce and the bread was the perfect vehicle. There was not enough bread for the whole bowl, so we ordered another side which came out immediately ($ 1.50).
Last, we took our server’s recommendation on the Tiramusu ($ 9). Not Spanish in any way, but who cares. It. Was. Great. Katie and I agreed it was the best tiramusu we’d ever had.
If I had reviewed Espana Tapas House when it first opened it would’ve gotten a 5 for being 100% authentic and fancy to boot. My current complaint is not about losing its authenticity, but its fanciness. What used to be white-​linen covered tables is now paper placemats. Just doesn’t fit for the price.
I have to address what I think are misleading reviews for ETH. Americans in general and Milwaukeeans in particular have warped views of what Spanish food and service is really like. I know this, because I was in the same boat. Spanish food is rarely, if ever, spicy. It’s usually mild and, to American palates, bland. So while you may not like a dish you order, it’s more than likely because it’s authentic rather than bad. In terms of service, I’ve definitely had better but again, service in Spain involves purposly making you wait extended periods of time. This is so that you can talk and interact more with your companions. Americans are too rushed all the time. No pasa nada chicos y chicas.
I feel strongly that Espana Tapas House is a delicious and worthwhile restaurant. I wish they’d fancy-​up the place more for the price you pay, but if you want to actually experience a different culture’s food and can do so with an open mind, this is the place to go in Milwaukee.

I just wanted to share my disappointing experience with Espana Tapas.
I purchased a Groupon back in September, I planned on using this on Valentine’s Day — there were no restrictions. I made my Valentine’s Day reservation a month in advance and planned on a fun and romantic evening with sangria and tapas. Unfortunately, when we showed up for our reservation, there was a note on the door that says they will not honor the groupon that night. It’s disappointing that there was no mention in the groupon and no mention when I made my reservation.
Besides the fact we drove 45 minutes to the restaurant, and paid for parking downtown — it was quite embarrassing showing up to this unexpected turn of events. To make things worse, the host didn’t even apologize — he just told me I can come back tomorrow (really?). So, there we were 7:30pm on Valentine’s Day and no where to go. I couldn’t afford to pay $ 100 for a meal — I already paid for the groupon and organized/​paid for another Valentine’s Day event over the weekend.
Anyways — just overall an extremely disappointing (and embarrassing) experience.

Sorry Espana tapas — your food sucks.
Call me a snippy biznatch if you’d like but after living in Chicago and getting really awesome Tapas, this is extremely below any expectation I had tonight.
We only liked 1 of 7 tapas — a braised beef. 1 had to get sent back it was not edible — some kind of meatball dish, don’t get it. They said they ran out and had to make more and they did not taste fresh AT ALL so I am assuming «make more» meant heat up in the microwave. GROSS and unacceptable way to create food if this is correct. The rest all were nothing to write about…
This was a groupon and I’m beginning to wonder if groupon associated restaurants need the groupon boost because of their lack of getting clientele on their own which would be from serving awesome food!
One positive is the Sangria was very good and I liked the options of different Sangria’s to choose from.
I won’t suggest going back for food.