Cafe Granada

Love this place, but it might have closed :(It’s been shuttered the past few times I’ve gone by, and the phone is disconnected. So sad, this was my go-​to place for sangria and yummy tapas.

My bf and I went here a few weeks back and I loved the food! We started with sangria (of course!) and it was very tasty and affordable. I believe it was only $ 10 for a carafe, that has approx. 2.5 glasses in it. I could have easily drank one carafe, but I was pacing myself. We also had a cheese board for starters and it was a very nice spread with 3 or 4 different cheeses, bread, fruit and nuts. All the cheeses were Spanish cheeses. We then had two tapas– patatas bravas and my favorite, fabada. The fabada dish had baby lima beans, artichokes and sun dried tomatoes with cilantro, that was cooked in vegetable broth. We then shared a vegetarian paella. The paella was good, but a little on the heavy side because of the truffle oil drizzled on top. Over all, our bill came out to roughly $ 30, including tip. My only gripes about the experience was the slightly heavy paella and the loud acoustics in the place. There was a very obnoxious large table there that night that drowned out any conversation that my bf and I had with eachother. However, I understand that it’s not the restaurants fault. Anyway, Café Granada is a splendid restaurant in the Riverbend area!

My gf and I came here on a date night last Friday. I’d been wanting to try it because I live around the corner, and she really wanted some sangria. It turned out to be a GREAT decision! We ordered three plates: zucchini fries, albondigas, and duck confit; as well as a carafe of red sangria.
The zucchini fries were awesome! They were perfectly battered and not too heavily seasoned, leaving the good natural zucchini flavor to dominate. They were served with a saffron aioli for dipping, and it was a perfect complement. We’ll probably get these next time we go.
The albondigas are lamb/​beef meatballs with Moroccan style seasoning, served in tomato sauce with chickpeas. They were good, but had a really odd flavor and aftertaste. It wasn’t a bad flavor, just odd. Not sure if we’ll get these again.
The duck confit was amazing! It was served with a goat cheese and fig salad with a honey vinaigrette. I loved the salad, and the duck. The duck was cooked perfectly and seasoned to perfection. This dish is definitely worth getting again, but not until we try some other dishes first.
The sangria! Oh my the sangria! It tasted fresh and delicious and took the edge off perfectly for both of us. It is a must for next time.
Our server was very kind and attentive, but overly so. And the prices were very good for the quantity and quality food we got.
We will be back!

I’ve driven by this place countless times in my last four years in New Orleans and have always meant to try. Finally went with a few girlfriends and we were so surprised at how delicious it was! We had a great server who worked with us through the menu and we ordered 2 items per person (there were 4 of us) plus the cheese fondue/​tequila thing that lights on fire — so fun!
Everything was delicious, but some highlights were the mussels, the cheese, and the caprese salad. May not the best place for tourists because the location isn’t super lively, but locals should give it a try — it might even be better than Salu! Would be great for a date night, prices were great as well.

Excellent. We ordered the salmon and lamb. Holy shite. It was divine. I cant decide what I liked more. But the salmon was maybe my favorite thing. Server was great. Red sangria was delicious… better than two of the other sangrias I have tried at latin/​spanish restaurants in town.
I think people have forgotton about this place with the influx of new hip trendy places that have opened in the bywater & cbd.
Also ordered fried goat cheese w ginger sauce and chocolate mousse cake — also insanely good.
Definitely going back as soon as I can.

Great atmosphere, service, and food. I love tapas, but the menu here beats any tapas restaurant I have been to thus far. The patatas bravas had an incredibly rich and spicy sauce that is unforgettable. Do yourself a favor and check out this gem of a restaurant!

I don’t just hand out 5 stars for being in a good mood. As good as it gets right? Maybe the food itself wasn’t as good as food gets, I mean its NOT Per Se right, but it is a Spanish Tapas bar, and given that and the fact we had a very experienced Spanish food in Spain eating person in our group who also gave high accolades, I feel confident with my top rating on this.
Here’s what we ate:
Ensaladade Berros
Eggplant Granada
Pollo Al Ajillo
Albondigas
Fabada (lima beans)
coconut rum tres leches
Chocolate cake
The food was awesome, we’ve all eaten these types of things before, but when you eat something you think your familiar with, and you go, mmm, that’s good that’s really good, and you go, wow, thats interestingly delicious, wonder whats in that, and you can’t get enough, you know you’re happy, very happy. You are essentially foodgasming.
Service was awesome, prompt and the waitress actually knew the menu, had eaten just about everything on it, knew what was in it, even knew the special spices used in the Albondigas Morrocan (as opposed to Indian) coriander. How many waitresses can tell you this? I love her, she is my hero. She also highly recomnended the lima beans, acknowledging the fact that lima beans are not everyone’s favorite, but you need to try these lima beans. They were the best fucking lima beans I’ve ever had in my life. My mom tried for years to get me to eat lima beans. Hope she was watching, bless her soul.
We brought in a decent bottle of Carménère from Chile, nicely dry that seemed to pair well with all the food. Corkage fee was $ 8, wish it was BYOB free, but very minor negative.

The meatballs were really well seasoned, and I soaked up all the sauce with my bread. The Lamb was nicely pink in the center and well seasoned as well. The vegetarian options were delicious as well, but I felt like dessert was lacking a little.

Over the past weekend, with its lovely weather, I wanted to go somewhere where we could sit outside. Husband suggested this place, which neither of us have ever visited. I love tapas and they have outdoor seating. Sold.
We started off with a carafe of red sangria, which was quite watery. I’ll go to Lola’s if I want sangria. We had several things, some that I loved and some that were just ok. But the ones I loved were so good, I can’t wait to go back!
The delicious:
Brie with fig preserves: Hard to go wrong with this, except to do it like we did. One order for four people. Boo. Get your own.
Duck confit: The duck was on point and the salad it came with was fantastic!
The hangar steak: Perfectly cooked and seasoned. Served with very good french fries and what I think was a garlic aioli (menu said chimichurri but that it wasn’t).
The good:
Goat cheese croquetas: Served with some sort of mango sauce.
Shrimp croquetas: Not as good as the goat cheese ones. Served with a tomato sauce.
Carpaccio de res: This might have made the delicious category if there was some balance between oil and acid on the plate. It was drizzled with oil, fine, but needed some vinegar or something else.
The just ok:
Zucchini pockets with salmon and brie: The zucchini was good, I didn’t taste the brie and the salmon just didn’t work with the zucchini, to my taste anyway.
Manchego with tequila: I though booze, flame and cheese was a no brainer but it just tasted like soggy cheese with cheap tequila taste on top. Yuck.
The bread: Not good and with these kind of tapas, the bread is kind of important.
The aforementioned sangria.
$ 100 bucks for four people with drinks. Not bad at all.

Café Granada was Mom’s choice for a Mother’s Day lunch. And it was lovely. The staff was on point with fresh bread and waters and offering suggestions and descriptions of the dishes. My family shared a large assortment of tapas (and we polished off almost all of it!)
Highlights were the ceviche of the day: Redfish with Mango & Mint, the grapefruit salad, and the brie with fig marmalade.
Also yummy were the fabada, the potatoes, the salmon salad with anchovies (my Mom loved it), the mussels and the shrimp and garlic sauce.
Definitely much improved since my last visit. I won’t wait so long until next time.

Defintely the best tapas option in New Orleans. I love the area as well.
It’s definitely not as stuffy as Salu, and the menu feels more authentically Spanish.
Lots of options, great for lunch or dinner.
We came in the middle of a rain storm and the power actually went out while we were there. Needless to say we were set to leave but they were like «we have candles and a gas stove, sit down». They cooked our meal by candle light on a gas stove and it was excellent. That alone will make me come back here again and again

Ok, pardon my trigger happy check ins. I know the purists will give me a good tongue lashing but it reminds me to do reviews on places so am I forgiven? Besides, I’ve been cabin feverish all day today and just HAD to get some check ins in! Sometimes I feel like those desert rats/​mice (can’t remember) who drank water until they literally died because they were predisposed to drink water whenever they found it since it was so scarce in their environment. Yeah, I know I’m writing a diatribe but that is analagous of how I feel about check ins sometimes! Ok, yes I like to push the button, call me Pavlov’s dog with the bell, I accept it! hehe
Anyway, back to my review. I took a good friend here for tapas. I usually don’t go here because it can be a bit pricey but it is delicious. The octopus special was excruciatingly good which shocked me (hey I love calamari as much as the next gal) but damned it was good!) The croquette was yummy, the side salad was normal, the mussels were yummy, liked that sauce, and the seafood paella was sizzlingly delicious!
I took off a star because it can be quite pricey and the tables against the wall are on top of each other. My friend and I laugh pretty heartily so I’m sure as the restaurant filled up people were wondering what we thought was funny (hey, he’s a Colombian and I’m Filipina so we have tons of cultural references we laugh over when discussing culture difference with boring non-​ethnic Americans!). And of course we sometimes slipped into Spanish words which probably confused other people (hey Filipinos were occupied by the Spaniards for 200 years, do your homework people! hehe… the lingua franca in the Philippines was Spanish at one point, then of course it was English after the American occupation, and now it’s Tagalog but with over 7,000 islands there are different dialects, ok enough history lesson).
Oh, and my friend ordered the sangria which I sipped (sangria is one of my weaknesses but since I’m a lightweight I have to go easy on it) and it was yummy.
Parking can also be a pain because it’s street parking and there is a row of places like Lebanon Café, Basil Leaf and Panchita’s all next to each other. By the way there is outdoor seating for all of these places which is nice.
Happy Tapas eating!

We LOVE this restaurant!
Café Grenada serves authentic Spanish tapas in the heart of New Orleans. You all know by now that I love tapas style cuisine since it allows me to taste as many possible flavors in one go. This restaurant is located on South Carrollton in one of my favorite neighbourhoods. Besides the amazing food, sangria, service and ambiance you also get to sit outside under the oak trees and watch the street cars go by and absorb some of that New Orleans charm.
This restaurant is in my top 3 choices of places to dine in New Orleans. The food is always fresh and delicious and I just love the atmosphere. Once a month they also have flamenco nights where you can watch Spanish flamenco dancing while you dine. I highly recommend this restaurant.

I just really did not enjoy the food here and I was very sad I didn’t go to Barcelona Tapas, Lola’s, or Vega Tapas. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing or it was an off night, as my food certainly didn’t seem anything like what other reviews describe, but after two visits my tongue just said BLAH. I also drank my fair share of Sangria here and found it to be pretty weak compared to other comparable establishments. The service was non-​existent and it took an insanely long time to get served. Just not my kind of place and granted I do hate small plates at most places but if they are done the way Barcelona Tapas, Lola’s and Vega do them then I LOVE them. Unless something major happens I will probably never return to Café Grenada as there are too many other and far better choices.

Wackily diverse menu — huge for the size of the place — full of really good eats and no sticker shock when the check comes. Go, throw darts at the menu, drink sangria. You’ll have an outstanding meal.
What, you want recommendations? Sure. One of everything.
More specific than that? Oh, ok. The sauteed calamari are tender and wonderful. The duck confit on salad was rich and cooling. The meatballs were a big pile of cumin-​y goodness. Get the marinated olive/​artichoke plate, because hi, tapas. Flaming tequila-​soaked fried cheese — do I even need a verb there? And oh gods, the stuffed artichoke hearts — oh the heck with this review. I’m heading to the airport so I can go back.

I came here with a friend and an appetite. Since it’s tapas I decided to get three items, I was STARVING. Luckily the portions are actually really big and I had a lot to take home.
I had the potatoes sauteed in spicy tomato sauce which was good and heavy, probably all I actually needed. The zucchini fritters satisfied my fried food craving and it’s a huge plate so you could share it with the table. I couldn’t even eat the lima beans, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes in vegetable broth and sherry vinegar but it was good for leftovers.
The service was off and there were only a few tables of customers. The waitress forgot to bring us a few things we had asked for. The food is pretty good and you get more than you’d expect from tapas.

Ahh, it’s Spring and nothing says it better then a glass of sangria, sitting outside on the patio and munching on some tapas from Café Granada.
Goods: Sangria, mussels, duck confit salad, crab balls, paella
Bad: scallops, for $ 12 you get two scallops on a bamboo skewer with some veggies. Not worth the $ 12.
Service: We came apparently during almost a shift change. The waitress was not happy, VERY UNHAPPY. Needless to say, we were glad she left. The second waitress was a whole LOT nicer.
Overall, a place to frequent for a refreshing glass (or five) of sangria. Sit outside if its nice out. You will not be disappointed.

Cool little tapas restaurant!
Very nice place for a casual dinner and a glass of wine.
We tried three dishes — little-​neck clams in a garlic broth with spinach — excellent! The strong flavors of the broth didn’t overwhelm the brine of the clams. Clams can be a bit tricky to find in this area and having them prepared this well was a pleasant surprise. I was impressed. The grilled marinated shrimp with pollenta is basically a slightly Spanish twist on shrimp and grits but the results were outstanding. Nicely grilled shrimp with a slightly sweet sauce over an amazing cheesy pollenta. Absolutely killer! The grilled charizo served with fries wasn’t on the level on the two previous dishes but still quite good. The sausage itself was loaded with smokey paprika — it was good but I have had better. The fries however were crisp and not at all greasy.
The wine list is a bit limited but but the prices are reasonable for decent, everyday vino. A glass of the house rioja went very well with the tapas.
As noted in other reviews service tends to be a bit casual. Not horrible, just very laid back.
Bottom line: excellent to very good food, reasonable prices, casual atmosphere — not a bad choice for a casual dinner!

What was once a relentless, harrowing search for tapas restaurant, after small plate cafes, that were anything close to the traditional tapas from Spain, finally came to an end here.
I’ll start off by saying I am married to a chef who lived, and basically ran his own tapas bar, in Barcelona for 2 years. That being said, he is constantly describing all the amazing little plates of food that hail from this amazing city, the sweet heat of the beaches, the nightlife, and the oh so amazingly (cheap) fine wines. Aside from having a full-​on, homemade tapas only weekend, we have yet to find anything near here that closely resembles the tapas there. But the names are still the same, so we are often taunted, to say the least by such menu items as Albondigas, Croquettes, or Patatas Bravas. None of them even really came close.
As Coca-​Cola once said, «You can’t beat the real thing,» but this place is pretty damn close. With breath held, I watched my husband as he went through the same motions of ordering some the aforementioned items, (plus a few more I’d never heard of) with a twinkle in his eye that expressed his skepticism. But when the Zucchini Pockets, the Grilled Sardines, the Patatas Bravas, and the Albondigas were brought to our little cozy sidewalk table he couldn’t contain his look of surprise. It grew larger of course, along with a huge relieved smile, with each bite.
So thank you, Café Granada for the little extra effort that you put into your tapas to make them the tried and true traditional plates that are the closest we will get to Spain (until July).

Ended up here because the place we’d originally intended to go (Boucherie) had a 30 – 45 minute wait, and we were too hungry to postpone dinner for that long. So, we walked around the corner, and voila! Café Granada had a table waiting for us.
My only complaint was that the service was rather slow, given the fact that only a handful of tables were occupied, but the staff was super-​friendly, so I guess it could’ve been worse.
The food was fantastic, and we only managed to sample a fraction of what was on the menu in spite of wanting to order pretty much one of everything. I had zuchinni fritters, which were essentially zuchinni tempura minus the tempura sauce (the best part!), and not nearly as crispy/​crunchy as I’d imagined they would be. On the other hand, the stuffed artichoke hearts exceeded expectations, and as far as I can tell the duck thing my friend ordered was equally awesome. As he put it, «this duck certainly did NOT die in vain,» which I assume meant that said deceased fowl was delicious.
It’d never occurred to me to seek out Café Granada, so I’m glad we landed here unexpectedly. I’ll keep coming back until I’ve tried everything on the menu (that’s vegetarian-​ish), for sure, along with many, many more glasses of white sangria.