Casa Pomona

_​Tortilla Española ($ 12)
_​Sautéed Spinach with Garlic ($ 5)
_​Spanish Hot Chocolate ($ 5)
Would return if in the ‘hood.

Bad service and unremarkable food.
Some of our dishes were way too salty, almost inedible, particularly he fried artichoke and the friend potatas bravas dish. The oxtail meatballs were covered in a tomato sauce that didn’t taste fresh, like out of a jar. The meat itself was bland.
The spinach was really great though, and the sangria wasn’t horrible, but nothing to write home about.
The service was incompetent. They brought us 2 dishes that we didn’t order, and they forgot to bring one we did order. They charged us for the dish that we never got.
We spent $ 40 a person for this meal. I felt angry. The food was so bad.
Take away, spend your money somewhere we you can actually get good food.

My boyfriend and I bought a Travelzoo deal that allowed us a choice of 2 tapas to share, an entrée, a dessert to share, as well as a bottle of wine or a pitcher of sangria.
Tapas:
Steamed muscles — the sauce was very flavorful, though it had an overpowering smell of white pepper (which can have a funky «barn animal» smell). The muscles were mostly tasty, a tad over cooked, and a couple that were quite fishy and not very fresh tasting.
Ensalada de Remolacha — This salad was extremely simple but the flavors and textures were completely balanced and matched well with each other. It consisted of roasted beets, caramelized walnuts, goat cheese, and… a mysterious chopped up fruit/​vegetable (?) of some sort that had the color and consistency of pear, but tasted like beets as well. Regardless, it was tasty.
Entrée:
Paella con Cosas (literally paella with things) —
This was definitely not the best paella that I have had, but that is not to say that it wasn’t tasty. The rice was flavorful and cooked well, however, it didn’t have the crispy bottom parts, that adds another dimension to the dish. There was sausage, chicken, muscles, ONE clam, and a fried wing and drumette (which seemed a little out of place). Zucchini, green peas, and red bell peppers rounded up this paella. It did contain some pretty random ingredients, I thought, but I was still pleasantly surprised and satisfied with the dish.
Dessert:
Churros with dark chocolate dipping sauce
I LOVE churros. These weren’t too bad, but I think we were too full and had to rush off for a showing to fully enjoy it. The outside was crispy and delicious, while the inside was just slightly under cooked. The dipping sauce was nothing out of the ordinary and didn’t quite pair well with the Churros, but I still enjoyed it.
Drink:
We chose the Sangria which tasted a bit watered down to me. After a couple of glasses, though, I started to feel a pretty good buzz. It had microscopic pieces of apples in it. Was meh overall.
I was compelled to write a review because, although I thought the food was about average, the manager was extremely friendly. I had an issue with getting a voucher # from the Travelzoo deal I purchased and I didn’t want her to think that I was trying to rip her off. I searched through my phone for the confirmation email and she just told me not to worry about it. I told her that I would write the review, but I also wanted to be honest about what I thought about the food. The staff is friendly, despite some of the reviews that I glanced through have mentioned.
TL;DR
Food was average, manager kicked ass.

My friends and I could only call this place… weird. Everything was tasty, but nothing came out the way we expected, and we’re still not 100% sure we got everything we ordered.
For example, the wild mushroom [flat] bread had zucchini and peppers on them. The mushrooms weren’t really featured at all.
About 10 different people came to our table, so there wasn’t much continuity in that aspect of our experience, as well.
So, I’m pretty indifferent to this place. I wouldn’t necessarily try to get back there soon. There is a ton of space, though, so I’d say this is a good spot for a large group — a large group that is in for somewhat of a food adventure. (And not necessarily the best type of «food adventure.»)

Been here twice — once for dinner with friends, and another time for brunch with family. So I will combine both reviews into one and comment on both.
1 — Dinner
Not too crowded when we got in there, were seated relatively quickly. Pretty good assortment of drink selections, not much in the way of draft beers but I suppose we’ll let that slide.
pan con tomate, patatas bravas, albondigas and croquetas (chorizo in particular) were all amazing! actually, pretty much everything we had here was good or outstanding.
The service, however, is where they loose a star in my mind. very very long time in between tapas portions, they tried to take away dishes before we were finished, errors on the bill, etc. No apologies or anything like that so it did leave a bit of a bitter taste in the mouth…
…luckily, there was more patatas bravas to wash that bitterness away! Just don’t go if you are in a rush!
2 — Brunch
Went here the next week with parents, who were visiting from out of town. We did the bottomless brunch special — for $ 15 bucks you get mimosas /​sangria — we all stuck with the sangria which was pretty good! they were actually pretty attentive in refilling once we had ordered.
Again, it took about 15 mins to even greet us /​ask for drink orders (and the place was pretty empty at that time).
in addition to a few repeats, the pulpo (octopus) and calamari were absolutely outstanding.
***
bottom line — really solid food, pretty new place, hopefully they will iron out service issues quickly and ill be happy to bump this up to 5 stars!

Stumbled upon this place last Monday night. Tapas and the happy hour offer piqued my interest. I immediately liked the feel of the place as I walked in. It was early (6ish) and the place was pretty empty so my friend and I took seats at the bar. There is a sidewalk dining area for the warmer months, some high tables at the very front, a large bar in the center and a more formal dining area towards the back.
The bartender, Mar, was super attentive and friendly. She also made some pretty good recommendations for food.
We went with the 3 tapas for $ 15 happy hour special and $ 5 sangria (very good) and ordered the octopus dish as an extra.
For tapas we ordered the following:
*Spinach with pine nuts and raisins (very good)
*Tortilla Espanola — it was tasty but more like a soufflé. I prefer the more traditional style but it wasn’t bad.
*Pan con tomate — tomatoes fresh and tasty
*Pulpo — the octopus was nicely prepared and cooked just right
Overall I really enjoyed the place and look forward to coming back and trying out some other stuff. The dining area was pretty crowded by the time we left 2 hours later.

This is only the second time my husband and I have posted on Unilocal.This meal was so bad that we felt the need to warn others.
We ordered cocktails. I had one of the cavas. It tasted a little strange but as I am new to drinking cavas, I just thought maybe I had chosen one that wasn’t as good. My husband had an old fashioned. That was ok. Then he ordered the Pinot noir. I thought it was terrible but he thought it was ok.
We then ordered the short ribs tapa and a side order of the patatas bravas. This was the worst food I have ever eaten in NYC. Ever. I took two bites of each. The second bite was because I couldn’t believe how bad the first bite was. I wanted to spit the second bite out.
I lived in Spain and go back to vacation. This food is nothing like the food in Spain. Nothing. Eat here if you choose but you have been warned.
We Unilocal almost every place we eat. I am baffled by the four stars. Baffled.

Love the ambiance and the music for this place. I mean a quiet night with spanish baladas! Yes please! I’ve only come casually for drinks after the movies, but the service is always great. Nice and friendly. I am very picky, one time i came here for Sangria so i ordered one of the cocktails, I actually ended up not liking my drink. I can’t remember the name of the cocktail, but it had too much grenadine. The waitress happily took it back, and even helped me decide on another drink by having me try different wine and suggesting different cocktails. I actually ended up simply having a beer, but I do appreciate the gesture.
I think there’s a living social deal for brunch and dinner which I will probably get to give a try at their food.

Went for brunch and there seemed to be only one waiter for a dozen tables. But that was okay, we got the attention we needed, and managed to down a couple-​too-​many sangrias with the all you can drink brunch.
The tomato cheese bread is AWESOME. I could have ordered just that. My entrée was okay. I remember thinking that I didn’t love it, and now a few days later I actually don’t remember it. But it was good overall.

While the food wasn’t awful, the service was abysmal. I always wondered why this place was never crowded, now I know. Over the course of ordering 6 items, 2 were never brought out. We asked our waiter where one of the dishes was and he said that he simply forgot it. The best items we had were probably the croquettes. The drinks are decent as well. So this potentially, Casa Pomona could be a good option for a pre-​dinner drink/​snack AT THE BAR. A full fledged dinner is long, frustrating, and simply not worth the effort given all of the options around the city and even this neighborhood.
Moreover, we took a chance and ordered two desserts. We took a chance with the pecan bunuelos. They were quite odd – almost like undercooked mini pecan dinner rolls. We did not find them super appetizing. So we waited impatiently for the churros we had also ordered but did not show up. We stopped one of the presumed managers and told her. She said she’d send an order over on the house. The dough in the churros was overly dense thus giving them the consistency of being stale. Oh well.
Finally, we got the bill. The churros that were supposedly on the house were on there and we were charged for TWO orders. Of course, the charges were removed but had we not noticed, we would have been duped. They were apologetic about all the screw ups so I’ll give them that.
This place is a mess. I now understand why they were offering a groupon.

Very cool place on the UWS! The tapas and paella are great, although not necessarily authentic (but hey, they taste good). Drinks were pretty delicious as well, and definitely on the strong side.
Love the décor and feel of the place, and I did not feel claustrophobic the way I do at every other UWS restaurant. Great for a big group!
On a completely unrelated note, Sean and Catherine from the Bachelor dined there the same time as us. If it’s good enough for Sean and Catherine, it’s good enough for me.

***2.5 stars***
I think the best way to describe my experience at Casa Pomona was weird. Not necessarily bad, but just a little off. For example, none of the dishes were what we expected them to be so we were always a little confused when the food came out. And I didn’t always believe the waiter when he said a dish was the dish we ordered. Another example, when the croquettes came out, he pointed out which croquettes were which type; however, he was wrong about all of them. Similarly, because the food has a lot going on, there were parts of each dish that I liked and parts that I was indifferent to. Even though this place is super close to my apartment, I’m not sure I’ll be coming back anytime soon…

I had my birthday brunch here and it was a blast. The restaurant I guess isn’t known for brunch which worked out well for us. We didn’t have to wait for a table and there was plenty of room to spread out. There’s an amazing deal for unlimited sangria and mimosas for $ 15. Not too shabby. They were able to accommodate my friends that had dietary restrictions (vegan and veggies). I had the burger which was pretty good, albeit a bit dry. Everyone loved the food they ordered, which included pretty much one of everything off the menu. I definitely recommend trying this place if you don’t feel like standing in long lines at Good Enough to Eat.

Lousy. On the plus side, they were obsequiously apologetic for completely screwing up all the orders. On the minus side, the one order that they managed to get right, croquettes, was mediocre, all four of them tasting like a microwave. One star for the food; a second for the salaam-​like apologies. But there is no point, at all, in eating here.
Oh, yeah. I had a blackboard eats discount. If you don’t? Absolutely avoid.

We were here for a birthday dinner. The birthday boy knew the executive chef so we didn’t have to decide on what to eat, everything was served to us. 5 courses plus dessert, we were so stuffed after just the first round of appetizers. The chorizo croquettes were amazing, they also have veggie options. We also had a very good beet salad made with 2 different types of beets topped with cheese.
Sangria was strong! I wasn’t expecting that. There was a beer from Barcelona that my boyfriend tried that was HUGE that we had to share it, but it was one of the best beeers I ever had.
They also brought us decanteurs filled with cava and we had so much fun trying to drink the cava the «right way». Luckily the chef showed us how to do it and from then no one held back.
We chose the churros with chocolate sauce for dessert which were awesome.
I would definitely try this place again and highly recommend it.

In short: Really fun atmosphere, excellent prices, very good eats.
In long: I’m wary of sangria, as it’s typically too sweet or winey, but the version here — a rosey balance between red & white — was pretty spot-​on, fruity but with a dry finish, and a touch of booziness from orange liqueur. $ 28 pitchers are a steal.
Also on the booze front, the staff comp’d some sparkling rose for our party of four, and it was served in this cool decanter vessel that we used to pour the bubbly into our mouths from a long spout. Definite bonus points for fun freebies.
As for food, we had the …
*Croquette trio — Nicely fried exterior and excellent side sauces, but the salt cod and fava bean varieties were dull and a little off-​putting when it came to the insides.
*Octopus — Not at all bad, but too chewy, especially for a restaurant next-​door to the soon-​to-​reopen Kefi, which does a lights-​out octopus.
*Pan con tomate w/​serrano ham supplement — Really well-​executed, from the crushed tomato to the finely sliced pork. Bread could use just a touch more toasting, but very nice.
*Pintxos platter — Superb. Adored everything (anchovy with pickled pepper, pork belly w/​dates, crispy sausage w/​tomato, olives, spiced almonds, mushrooms). A great value at $ 11.
*Suckling pig with peaches — Classic flavor combination, really lovely. One quibble — not really presented in a shareable format, so some pre-​carving would be nice.
*Patatas bravas — Textbook version of everybody’s favorite Spanish potato dish. Ultra-​crisp spuds, fiery tomato sauce, rich cream. Win.
All that food and two pitchers of sangria came to $ 128 and resulted in four stuffed, slightly tipsy patrons who will most definitely return.

Good: nice décor and atmosphere.
Bad: slow service, drinks came after the food. Food was just ok, seemed to be pre-​made and microwaved. After making the order we were told that some of the items were unavailable.
Not coming back.

I left this restaurant planning my next visit! The food and dining experience were amazing! Our waitress was very pleasant and so was the manager. He really made us feel welcomed. The selection of tapas was great and as a big seafood lover was happy to see the shrimp and grilled calamari. The oxtail stuffed meat balls were pretty good too. Let’s just say it was hard to pick just four tapas for my boyfriend and I.
Desert was AMAZING! The mini pecan donuts were my favorite!!!
Very convenient, with the 1 subway station close by. Can’t wait to return!

Having recently moved into the city, my goal is to have one All-​Star restaurant for every different cuisine ( Unilocalers, as soon as my collection is extensive, I’ll turn it into a list!). I’ve already got my Israeli and Mexican places; this may as well be my Spanish go-​to.
Casa Pomona offers an amazing selection of authentic Spanish tapas, with a handful of innovative additions. The décor is beautiful, very emblematic of restaurants in Madrid. This is THE places to go «tapear» (Verb: try different arrays of tapas, to obtain a diverse culinary experience, and to shun the individuals who suggests everyone order their own main course).
I came across this place through Blackboard Eats, a site that emails out new restaurants offering discounts; I took advantage of the 30% off deal to try out Casa Pomona.
As for the individual tapas, here’s what I thought. Patatas bravas: best fried potatoes I’ve ever had; crispy perfection, topped with a sublime tomato-​paprika sauce. Cochinillo: pork skin wasn’t entirely crispy, but it was juicy and flavorful. Cheese sampling: let the chef decide for you, he knows best! Albondigas: mama mia what an amazing meatball.
Only two downsides: the sangria was nothing to write home about, and the service was slow (took a while to pay for the check, servers weren’t super friendly). However, we had a large pitcher of water (steady access to water is important for me while eating out), so they were pretty minor issues.

As documented in a recent Crains piece, this relatively new tapas joint on Columbus Avenue has had a rough go, starting from liquor license issues and subsequently being out of business for six months due the bursting of a frozen pipe in January. These issues alone make Casa Pomona worth a visit, but don’t sleep on the food or the service, both of which are fantastic.
3 stars for wonderful tapas
1 star for friendly, attentive service
1 star for supporting a local small business that could deserve the help
Minus one star for difficulty finding a lot of options on the menu (to my eye anyway)
Minus another for obvious fake reviews shilling on Unilocal