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Categories: Spanish, Tapas Bars
Neighborhood: HollywoodMon-Thu. 6:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 6:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
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Cobras & Matadors closed 08/02/09.
Opened 10/02/09 is the following:
1. Hamburger joint Umami Burger, location #2
http://www.umamiburger...
2. A champagne & oyster bar, Salaryman, from the original creator of Cobras & Matadors, Stephen Arroyo.
Lonely dinner for one.
While my heart weighed heavily upon me from some sad situation of romance, I had a craving for meat. I came down to Cobras at 10pm and told my waiter, I think his name was Stephen, to fire up some sangria, mussels and skirt steak for me.
Skirt steak-Delicious, comes with sweet cucumbers.
Mussels-kinda small but ask for extra bread to soak up all that delicious garlic juice.
He gave me a sangria on the house for the long wait, which surprised me, so I decided to reward them by ordering another plate.
Bacon-wrapped dates-the perfect end to the meal because they come stuffed with an almond and in a sweet port-wine reduction, which negated my desire to order a dessert.
Tip for servers: If people are on a date, they will probably eat less. If they are alone and quickly order alcohol like I did, they are probably there to eat and mope, so hook them up with booze and they'll pig out.
The bill came to 50 bucks, less than I thought. I'm going to miss this place when I move.
I like this place....... I have only been here twice and the first time the service was ok. This last time and it was much better.
I think the Menu is pretty good there are some vegetarian options here that sound great. I would like to see a little more. I think the place it self is nice and its seems always clean which is always important. I really enjoyed the vegetarian pasella alot, it was amazing. The Socca cakes with honey and goat cheese are great too.
They now charge $15 corkage fee which is outrageous. They also charge a $10 cake fee if you bring a cake for a bday. I think that is very unacceptable. What's next? A fee to use the restroom or a Hostess Fee. Not to mention that MOST of the menu items are over priced. 7 bucks for 2 small croquettas cut in half ? No thanks.
I do like this place but I just feel that this place is slowly becoming a typical LA restaurant. High prices that can't really deliver, this place really doesn't stand out to me as much anymore. They really need to make the customer feel wanted. Give us a reason to come spend our earned money here.
Coincidentally, again, I made it here on the last night they were open, which also happened to be my birthday. So, that made me happy, but totally bummed that they were closing the next day. I'll definitely miss this place.
Coincidentally, I've been on two first (internet) dates at this restaurant.... & they both ended… Read more »
My fellow lovers and friends congregated to celebrate the BFF's birthday, despite being completely sick of each other after a week long vacation together. I liked the idea of BYOB, and even more after cutting a deal with the manager (he comped 2 of the $15 corkage fees plus dessert). No rug burns were involved, so even better for us!
Being fat piggies, we ordered almost everything on the menu. I'd highly recommend the bacon wrapped dates and lamb shanks, but thought everything else belonged on the "OMG, did I really pay that for THAT?" side. Thank god our bread pudding was comped too, because it tasted more like stale french toast than anything.
Then again, I think I was much too spoiled by my most amazing visit to Primitivo to fully enjoy this place. The waitress was lovely, as was the dark and intimate ambiance, but in the end, I still felt a tad bit blue-balled. Luckily the Colombian was there to seal the deal.
First off, this location is NOT the one with no corkage fee!
The ambiance is definitely dark and romantic as so many others have said. It's definitely a date place or good place for a double-date. I don't suggest the dates wrapped in bacon... that was crap. However, their lamb and short ribs were good. Their albondegas was quite the dish. If you are unsure about what to order, the albondegas is a must. I can't see how their date crap dish was/is one of their popular dishes. Don't believe everything you hear, people.
I wasn't too crazy with how they only have one bathroom for the ladies and if you have to wait for the bathroom... you're standing in front of several tables. I don't know, but I don't like watching the awkward first date tension while I'm waiting to pee... kinda weird.
So, bottomline... ditch the dates wrapped in bacon and definitely order the albondegas!
This place is locked, and shuttered. . and I don't know why.
I was craving tapas after coming back from a trip to Spain, so when my uncle suggested we try Cobras y Matadors, I was all for it. And it was the perfect place to be going with two major foodies, my uncle and his partner.
We tried a lot of the menu and it was all good, but I definitely remember the asparagus with manchego cheese, bacon-wrapped prawns, patatas fritas, ragout of oven-roasted vegetables, albondigas, and grilled octopus. (I still dream about the ragout and try to re-create it at home. It's got to be cumin that makes it so smoky and tasty.)
I loved the low-lighting and kind of sexy vibe--and we all enjoyed the male waitstaff eye candy. (Again, one of those places I wish I could transplant to the SF Bay Area. Or maybe I just need to drag my butt over to the East Bay for Cesar's.)
My second time there was with a friend when we drove down to LA for a weekend. She's vegetarian, so there were a lot of options for her. The food, again, was excellent. The company, not so much. Let's just say she likes to drink a lot more than I do and is kind of cheap. Even though she had several glasses of wine to my one, I was willing to split the bill but she had to figure out exactly how much she owed to see if it was worth it for her, 'cause, you know, I'd had a meat dish.
Needless to say, that trip and all her nickel-and-diming did our friendship in, but I'm more than happy to go back to CyM any time with better company.
For one HUGE PLUS that it's a short walk away from the Metro. I love that. I can get shitfaced and hobble back home to the Valley.
I love it here. The ambiance is dark and romantic, the music is chill and the food is exceptional.
My favorite is the cod fish fritters and mussells in white wine. The service is excellent and always attentive. My water was constantly filled and the empty plates were always taken away when we would be finished.
Great date place to seal the deal. Aka stick it up the butt
3 stars
I think I came here having too high expectations, having been to The Bazaar (I probably should write a review on that already). I heard this location (as opposed to Beverly) is better street parking-wise and sure enough, I found a spot right away. Came in as a party of two at about 9:00pm and the wait was fine. It was about 15 to 20 minutes, which is quite acceptable considering it was Saturday night. There is a bar area to the left of the restaurant that connects to the street as well as to the dining room. I'm not sure if it's actually part of the restaurant but it's somewhere you can wait to pass some time.
The menu consists of Spanish tapas. I don't think we were super hungry (we ordered four) but I would say 2-3 dishes per person is probably about right. I probably should have done some research on here for recommendations, but the plan to come here was somewhat spontaneous. They start you off with a small cup of olives (green and black) and almonds. So on to what we ordered:
1. Wild Salmon - There was an olive paste on top of the salmon and a dried tomato with "salsa" beneath the salmon. I get the feeling it wasn't salsa but I forgot what the menu said. Tasted fine, nothing special.
2. Prawns wrapped in Smoked Bacon - Three prawns on bread with a creamy-ish sauce. I honestly don't think there was any bacon. Tasted good otherwise. IF I came here again, I'd probably order this again since I'm a fan of bacon - sorry body )=
3. Lamb chops - Four chops total. I didn't think they were particularly outstanding, just your average lamb chop.
4. Asparagus - Very thin, but long asparagus covered with cheese. I probably could have avoided this, but I felt like getting some sort of vegetable to make me feel better. The cheese sort of overpowers the asparagus, so it defeated my purposes. Oh well.
There is a dessert menu, which includes typical Spanish style desserts - flan, churros, etc. We ordered the "Flourless Chocolate Cake". It kind of reminded me of a brownie, but there is also a small scoop of ice cream on the plate. Not bad.
They do have a wine list and sangria. As two people, we ordered sangria by the glass. The waitress said the pitcher is about six glasses total.
The crowd was pretty diverse, for the most part. The place is quite dark and gets loud. I'm not sure if it's always like this or whether it was for Earth Hour.
In general, I would say to spend your Saturday night elsewhere. For the prices (anywhere from $8 to $24ish? per dish), you can probably get a much better meal somewhere else. However, it's really not bad if you can't find another place.
Came here with the gf for vday and it wasn't too crowded. We didn't have a reservation and we just waited 20 minutes to be seated. We ordered the following:
Pago Joven Wine ($10)
Arbanta Wine ($8)- fruity wine. not bad
Cheese Plate ($13) - good variety of cheese with a good variety of bread, and they refilled the bread for free
Sweet Potato Fries ($6) perfect crisp, with a tasty ailoi
Mushroom Paella ($15) - it was good, but the portion seemed small. there were slices of bread under it. trickery
Tortilla Chorizo ($7) - good flavor, small portion.
Serrano Dates ($10) - interesting plate. I recommend trying this.
Bacon Prawns ($12)- Delicious... it comes out to $3 or $4 a prawn. Worth it? I unnnoooo...
Altogether, the amount came to $87.69. Not bad for the amount of plates we ordered. The portions were smaller than I expected, but it was definitely filling for the two of us. The service is great and valet isn't pricey. I'd come back to try the other plates.
10 of us from our Spanish group met here to socialize and enjoy some good Spanish cuisine. I had been to the CM location on Beverly before which is a tighter space compared to this location. The dining area here is a lot roomier and I really liked the ambiance. It's dimly lit atmosphere coupled with the dark wood tables and chairs is a perfect setting for a group of friends to have dinner and socialize.
The hostess of our group did a great job in ordering for us as we had so many great dishes from skirt steak, paella valenciana, tapanades on toast, chorizo on tortilla española, bacon wrapped dates, bacalao (salted cod) croquettes, sweet papas fritas, plates of manchego cheese with jamon serrano and patatas bravas just to name a few.
I thought the food was excellent and I was stuffed from everything we ate. We also had ordered a pitcher of sangria of which I tried for taste. I didnt think it tasted very good and was definitely way overpriced at $30 a pitcher so I think we can pass on this next time.
I give kudos to the wait staff for bringing out the food in courses giving us enough time to enjoy our dishes over the evening.
I would have given this place 5 stars overall but I didnt like the fact that they charged a $10 corkage fee where their counterpart on Beverly did not charge one at all.
Its a little on the pricey side as we paid $40 a person but since Spanish cuisine is one of my favorites, I would say its definitely worth it and would come back again.
My friend wanted to try this place out on a whim, so we found parking very easily on the street and requested a table for 2. We got there around 9pm and waited 10 minutes for a table. It's a tapas type restaurant where all the dishes are pretty small and a person can easily finish 2 dishes by themselves. The menu had about 15 dishes and there were some on there in which we had no idea if it was steak, fish, or veggies??? Anyway, we ordered the bacon wrapped prawns on top of bread (3 prawns on top of a single piece of bread), the salmon with finely chopped olive and dried tomatoes with salsa, the lamb (4 slices), and asparagus with finely chopped cheese on top. Out of the 4 dishes, I liked the lamb (which didn't taste gamey and I usually hate lamb because of the after taste) and the prawns (except I think they forgot the bacon because I didn't see or taste any bacon).
The food doesn't really stand out to me. The pairings they put on each dish was a bit odd because for example, I've never seen salsa with salmon. However, the food was nothing special and didn't taste exceptional. We also ordered sangria by the glass and for some reason, it tasted watery. I think the sangria by the pitcher (they say it would be about 6 glasses), would taste better.
Ambiance: Loud and SUPER dark! Had to lean in and sort of shout to have a conversation. The tables were comfortably spread out between each other, however uncomfortable when a waiter had to serve the table next to us because their butt would be right next to our table. Everyone was casual trendy.
Service was excellent. No qualms. :)
The meats were priced around $22 to $25. The veggies were around $8. Everything else was around $12 to $15. Dessert is $6. We tried the flourless chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and caramel. It was delicious because it was warm and literally melted in your mouth.
I would give it 3.5 stars, but I will probably try another restaurant than come here again.
Holy tender brisket, Batman!
Recently had dinner at this muy romantico Mecca of perfectly prepared tapas and was very pleased. The wine? Sumptuous. The tidbits? Mouthwatering. The wait service? Adequate, but the food more than makes up for it.
Two ladies, three tapas, one dessert and two glasses of vino - about $60, but we were definately well satisfied. Plus this is so close to my house! Too tempting to resist coming back way too much.
Not that I have much experience with TRUE tapas, but I love Cobras.
The Hollywood location is fun, vibrant and sexy. Lots of people, quick and easy servers, and delicious food. Sangria, bacon wrapped dates, cheese plates, y mas y mas!
I love the idea of ordering small plates to share and they make this work perfectly. I really loved every dish, including squid, scallops, everything!
I wanted to give it four stars soooo bad but bad service can screw a restaurant faster than anything. The ambiance was great, the food was pretty good, and the wine was decent. I did think the sangria was pretty weak, it tasted a bit watered down and didn't have any fruit in it. We managed to have a pretty good time but I can't stand going out to eat if the waitress isn't checking in on me from time to time. Our food came and I really wanted to have a glass of wine with it but it took so long for us to wave down the waitress that we had finished everything by the time she came by...
Small food, big flavor.
A couple of my good friends took me out here for my birthday last year. We ate a ton of food and it was all delicious. Loved the lentils and cheese plate; the sangria made for jolly times. Unfortunately, I was still hungry afterward. I guess it's not that kind of cuisine, so don't expect to eat a full meal. It was also so dark, I had to hold up the candle to look at my food. But if you're into that kind of ambiance, then it's all good.
Tips: Good for hanging out and snacking.
Love the location and the aesthetics of this place. Although the wall with the red books looks unfinished. Not sure what they were going for there. My advice: add more books, or stock it full of wine(even better).
Some killer sangria, or well, as good as sangria gets. And the Tapas are authentic. My friend and I had:
-Pa Amb Tamaquet toasted catalan bread, spanish ham & manchego.
which was delicious. I love dried cured meats so they won me over with this.
-Pan Roasted Mussels oven dried tomato, saffron, wine.
which was very tasty. I enjoyed mussels for the first time ever. No creepy slimy texture. Very delish!
-Stuffed Piquillo Peppers, Queso Fresco, Goat Cheese, Tapenade
which was so yummy. These peppers were so flavorful and the goat cheese satisfied my always present need for cheese. But the choicest part is the tapenade that tops it all off. Yum!
We also had a dish with chorizo, but I can't seem to find it on an online menu.
And last but not least is the churros with chocolate sauce. We asked for vanilla ice cream which made the whole dish unbelievable.
I will be going back for the tapas and for the wine list which was pretty swell as well.
Forgive me father for I have sinned.
It happened last month, when myself and a friend of the opposite sex had a joint birthday party at Cobras y Matadors. No father, "y" is not a question, it means "and."
Several young and loose characters showed up at the party, each with his or her own bottle of spirits to contribute to the group. This establishment charges a corkage fee of $10/bottle, which I'm sure was more than all bottles cost collectively. So, to rebelliously buck the system, we opened the lone screw-top bottle ourselves and I DO BELIEVE that we were not charged a corkage fee for that one. We got out on a technicality and it felt really good. So good that I will commit that sin every chance I can get.
I feel bad, however, because this place does so many things right that it does not deserve our rebellion. The Los Feliz location is adorable, with a little French bar attached. The food is amazing (it even compelled me to eat "bacon," which is the word they use when they convert ungodly, poo-dwelling swine into salty, warm bites of greatness). The churros look like miniature fallen trees and make me miss my logging days, except I can't remember ever eating logs. And the waitress, whom I've "had" so to speak on both of my visits, is an old pro who has found the perfect balance of paying attention/leaving you alone.
As my penance, I shall find other places to eat bacon and drink Jesus' blood without paying someone to open the bottle for me.
This place is totally losing it...
I used to rate them near 4 stars, but now they are lucky to get 2.
If I were rating this place on our most recent experience alone, they would probably get NEGATIVE 4 stars:
1. Thanks to Erica, our reservation was lost. The host tried to blame it on us - "Oh, you probably made the reservation for our other location." No. No we didn't. So according to him, it would be a 25 minute wait. 1 hour and 15 minutes later, we were seated. Lesson learned: Call 8 times to DOUBLE CHECK YOUR RESERVATION. If you talk to Erica during any of those times, they don't count towards the 8. Whatever wait time they tell you it will be, add 50 minutes.
2. During the hour and 15 minutes waiting, we went to the attached bar. First, Bartender Billy ignored us for about 25 minutes. When we finally got a word in, he says, "We're all OUT OF WINE GLASSES, you're going to have to wait." 20 more minutes later, we order a bottle of wine and he comes out with a glass of wine. When we say, no, we ordered a bottle, he comes back with the opened bottle that he had poured the glass from. What classy service!
3. I'm not sure what good ol' bartender Billy did to the people next to us, but they were yelling and screaming at him. What a great place this is! The bartender is horrible at his job, and the clientèle like to scream in crowded restaurants. Billy thanked this group by spilling their wine and breaking a glass all over the bar (by accident, I suppose). Maybe that's where all the wine glasses got to?
4. Billy thought he did a great job, so he tipped himself 20% on my bill "by accident."
5. Our friends from out of town had remembered the bacon-wrapped-dates, which were essentially the ONLY reason we went back to this place. Once we were finally seated, guess what. They were ALL OUT of the bacon-wrapped dates. The waitress has the nerve to say, "Oh, well, you really need to get here sooner on the weekends if you want those." Oh really? You mean, an hour and a half sooner? Because we had a reservation for then.
6. We ordered vegetarian Paella, but it never came. Though, it did show up on our bill. We weren't too surprised by that though, considering the rest of our experience.
Seriously, this place is not worth it. Bacon wrapped dates are really easy to make at home. Save yourself the trouble of going to this restaurant - make the food yourself. Here's a decent recipe:
http://www.saveur.com/...
Just substitute Cabrales as the cheese. And if you want it to taste EXACTLY the same, just simmer some port wine in the juices of the bacon and use that as a sauce.
ALSO - if you do it yourself, you can have a vegetarian version! Just lose the bacon. It's still SO tasty.
Well, if the ambiance and some nice red wine is all you care about, this is the place for you. But if you're in it for dinner, maybe not.
To be honest, the service was great, i liked the wine and it was relaxing. Buuuuut, the food left a LOT to be desired. These were the dishes me and my dining-mates tried:
-Duck confit salad
-Sweet potato fries
-Prawns wrapped in bacon
-Short ribs
First, the duck salad was pretty "ok". Fresh greens and the duck was flavored ok. And, the sweet potato fries were also simply "ok". We were very excited about the short ribs and the prawn with bacon.
Now, let me say this: If you have something on your menu "wrapped in bacon", it should be awesome! Because bacon is awesome! Bacon makes everything @#$%ing awesome!- but this was NOT awesome.
There was no taste of bacon and the prawns were actually tiny dried-out shrimp (yes, they are different! I know my Dendrobranchiata!) smothered in a horrible mayonnaise-based sauce. No natural flavors at all.
The short ribs were cooked and tender -but had this completely predictable sauce and served with some terrible little fried-cake-thing. Too boring! After one bite I was over it.
...I dunno, i had heard good things and wanted to check it out. I wasn't hoping for the best meal in the world, but I did expect a good meal for the money. This was certainly not the case. I should have taken my $ and wasted it at Jumbos Clown Room...
Go to Vinotecta on Hillhurst instead.
Always have a great time at this place! The food is yummy and the sangria is excellent. Very fun environment, and priced well. Great to go with a few friends or in a large group - they do a great job of accomdating both.
The cheese plates are always great, and this is the only place in LA that I have found has decent croquettas. Most of the Spanish restaurants I have tried in LA have been mediocre, and Cobras y Matadors has been the best so far!
THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED. Apparently we got the horrible service I described below on one of the last nights. I'm sure the servers all knew they were losing a job and didn't care.
--orig review--
Unfortunately, this place appears to have gone down hill. I ate there last night after a year absence. The service was terrible, the mussels were chewy, the wine list is limited, and the other dishes lacked interest or subtlety. And the prices have stayed the way I remembered them -- very high. This is off the list.
A mixed bag.
First the good news:
- Pretty decent fusion food, in terms of flavor. Some items are downright good, and well-prepared and presented.
- Very hip & trendy ... being "seen" here will definitely bump up your Q-score a few notches.
- Just around the corner (walking distance) from the Dresden, and all the other restaurants, bars and craziness in Los Feliz Village, so you can make an entire evening of it without driving anywhere else.
OK now the bad news:
- Expensive ... a hip & trendy place like this tends to have hip & trendy prices. It's not outrageous like some of the 5-star restaurants around town, but more than you'd expect in this neighborhood.
- Food is not authentic Spanish ... it would be better described as "Spanish-influenced California cuisine". It's about as Spanish as PF Chang's is Chinese. That doesn't necessarily mean it's BAD food, just not the real thing you'll find in Madrid. Most people that go here have no clue what Spanish food is anyway.
- Long waits, even with reservations. Last time I was there, we weren't seated until an hour and a half after our reservation time on a Saturday night. Though I have no proof of this, it seemed to me that beautiful people that were part of the hipster crowd (and probably knew the staff) were able to waltz right in and get tables before us. And no, we don't look THAT bad.
This would be a great place to take out-of-towners or a special date or anyone that wants to experience that trendy "Hollywood vibe" with some pretty decent food without paying an arm and a leg for it ... they only charge an arm.
Beet Salad - Stellar, beets and goat cheese make me happy
Asparagus & Manchego Cheese - Great, not sure how much of a fan of Manch i am but no fault of theirs.
Sugar Chile Prawns - I have never understood prawns, i love all seafood but they freak me out. These were good but be prepared for the full prawn on your plate.
Clams - Amazing but lets be serious, it's hard to screw up boiling clams in garlic, wine and butter.
Bacon Wrapped Dates - Pork makes everything better (except fries at laurel tavern)
Paella - A must order, best paella ever, sometimes they run out and that is a bummer so order it when you sit down.
Cobras is consistently good, i have never had bad service or mediocre food here, it is time and time again spot on. I feel like whomever cooks/manages/owns this place really understands successful restauranteering. Not only is it a port in stormy LA inconsistent restaurants but they have to be raking in money hand over fist. That being said it isn't cheap, the wine menu is pretty steep and after three or four tapas with paella you will be at a cool one fidy or two hundie with tip. It really is worth it though, everything is consistently fresh and flavorful. Makes me sad i haven't been here since moving to the valley, i have a craving for warm olives and chill almonds... mhhhhh... droool.
Cobras and Matadors is one of my favorite places in LA. The atmosphere is relaxed, a little hip yet un-pretentious, not generic.
The food is great - tasty bits: dates wrapped in bacon, goat cheese and beet salad, crunchy sauteed lentils with bacon, artichoke croquettes, skirt steak , etc...
The selection of wine is pretty good and all the staff is always really friendly and helpful with questions regarding both wine and food.
I've only been to the Hollywood/Los Feliz location, but I've heard the Beverly location is good as well.
there's another location on beverly, right across from the grove. still open. same great food, plus its BYOB!!! and no corkage fee, what what!
this is where i realized that i actually like asparagus...when perfectly mixed with cheese, sauce… Read more »
Dined here last night for a friend's birthday. Okay that's a lie. She's really more like a fiancee. Anyways:
1. Muted lighting - check
2. Exposed brick interior - check
3. Dog friendly dining patio - check
4. Valet parking - check
5. Waitstaff dressed in casual all black - check
6. Affordable eats - check ($200 for 4 people, 10 small plates)
7. Good service - check
8. Extensive wine list - not so much but still serviceable (see next door for more)
9. Health Department 'A' Rating - it was a 'B', but no digestive problems to report
So yeah, the flank steak was pretty epic, but for F's sake - how many of these kind of cookie cutter hip casual restaurants with delicious food are there in LA? It's like paint by numbers.
Maybe next time I'm dining out, I just need someone to walk up to me and stab me in the eye with a mussel fork so I can appreciate that I don't live in say, Topeka.
I wonder what the Romans did when they got bored of the gladiator fights...
PS The attached Sgt. Recruiter next door is not only a novel idea for a mini wine bar (thus loads more intriguing) but an utterly sensational non-sequitor name, kind of like OJ Mayo.
This place is great. Their tapas menu is always changing, and it always has new delicious items on it. The socca cakes with honey and goat cheese are excellent and anything with Spanish ham is excellent as well. The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the calamari (but I'm not a fan of calamari to begin with but my date liked it) and the meat balls. The wine selection is also great.
This is a great place to take a girl on a date.
A great find. Food is very fresh and the service was professional and even at a level felt transparent.
My favorite dish was the grilled shrimp served with whole cloves of roasted garlic.
Other winning dishes. The meatballs had a great spice kick. The meat and cheese plates were both very fresh and the cheeses were Spanish wine friendly and served with a nice toasted raisin bread. My friend ordered the clams and chorizo. I enjoyed this dish so much it will be a must order next time along with the shrimp.
The only eh for me was the Paella. The rice was really too mushy. La Luna Negra in Pasadena still gets my favorite local Paella nod.
My wife and I finally ate here to celebrate her graduation, as it is out of our usual price range for casual eats.
First off, the ambiance is awesome, very dim and mellow, the menu is just a single page with mouth-watering descriptions. Our servers were very attentive and helpful with the wine selections.
The food however, seemed to lack something subtle, on every dish. The best dish we sampled was the vegetable risotto, with the artichoke and goat cheese croquettes coming in second. The egg dish (the name slips my memory, something 'tortilla') was blander than bland, and the only thing that saved the chick pea pancakes was the delicious cilantro-heavy sauce they arrived with. For dessert we had the churros, which L.A. Weekly recently praised as some of the best and most authentic in the city. They were ultra-rich and very tasty.
Overall I found the experience enjoyable, but dinner for two with one glass of wine ran us $75. If that's in your budget for hit or miss dining, try it out.
Another friend highly recommended this one so I met her for dinner and toured her favorites. Great place -- great ambiance, deco, service -- tavern tapas. A truly diggable experience. Loved the sangria.
Started with the Spanish cheese plate, added the Paella Valenciana, and the prawns with piquillo and garlic salsa (salsa d'ajo). Wow... I just started salivating.
Dude. Two things-
1. Please cut back on your salt usage. You club-fisted salt sprinkler.
2. Sangria is NOT wine poured in a pitcher with one green apple cut in quarters thrown in!!! I want to scream at you for doing this. I have forever banned you from my life because of this sin.
That is all.
Oh wait. Your almonds are pretty good.
BE WARNED - the Maitre d' is a TOTAL jerk and nothing will get me to revisit this place again because of the rude service our party received.
Despite having a reservation for a party of 4, the Maitre d' insisted on seating us at a table for two as we were arriving separately to our guests. When we proceeded to order for the table, the waiter asked where the other two people were going to sit. Our point exactly. He went to speak to the maitre d' but returned shaking his head and apologizing that the maitre d's rudeness has been costing them a lot of return business.
When our guests arrived shortly behind us, rather than seating us at the table for four right next to our table, the Maitre d' made us all wait whilst he had a crappy, noisy table right by the front door set up to seat four just to make his point. He didn't even have our food and drinks brought over so we had to do that ourselves too.
I will never go back there again! Please do yourselves a favor, go to Denny's , they probably have hostesses with better manners.
Very unpleasant experience.
hmmm first time was great..food was okay, love the decor.
Second time not okay had hair in my food also did my friend. I didn't remember ordering the hair pie.. it was gross I haven't been back since.
My friends and I have been on a quest to find authentic tapas restaurants ever since we got back from our trip to Barcelona. Needless to say, the food there was amazing! Although Cobras y Matadors isn't AS good...it's pretty darn close. Out of the things we ordered, my favorites were the garlic shrimp - which was served on top of a slice of bread, oddly enough - and the sweet potato fries. The one thing that disappointed me, however, was the paella. It was way too sour - the only flavor you could really taste was lime.
I wish I'd drank more sangria...that would've made the food even better, I'm sure. They have glasses of sangria for $5, which isn't bad at all...but because wine makes me get the "Asian glow", I just sipped on one glass the entire night for fear of turning too red at the table...
Pitcher of sangria for $30! HUGE pitcher, BTW.... Flatbread pizza thing with carmalized onions and mushrooms absolutely yummy, and the steamed mussels in the white wine sauce was delish! Really cute place, nice and dark, and the patio out front is great for people watching. Good time!
great happy hour. got tossed on sangria and went into a food coma from all the appetizers we ordered. we were a rowdy bunch of 6 and there were no people in the place so i think we entertained the waitstaff at first but then i felt bad once couples started filtering in. maybe not the best place for groups in that respect, but in another regard, it's awesome for groups because you can share everything.
This was a Solid tapas place for me. I had dinner with an old friend here and she picked it as a place in her 'hood that she liked - I agree.
It leans on the expensive side but everything was good...
GREAT:
Sangria
asparagus (w/manchego and nuts - YUM)
bacon wrapped prawns... in cream sauce.. on bread... w/garlic
GOOD:
mussels
papas fritas
olives
churros with chocolate dip (just like in SPAIN!)
2 people, 2 sangrias each $70. A very cute place and atmosphere. Valet parking available.
service
The first time I visited this restaurant, it was days after I returned from 3 weeks in Spain (that was two Summer's ago). Unfortunately, I wasn't a Yelper yet so no previous review. Recently went with friends for a bday and well, can say there wasn't much improvement and the cuisine is very nouveau Americanized. Could also be the products used. Not sure. I like the decor and the dinning room. The red paint and dark ambiance can set you into a different dinning experience close to Spain.
About the same experience food wise from our first time there and my daughter (age 15) was really disappointed too. Guess our standards aren't bendable once you have the real deal, at least for tapas! The last thing is, it is a bit pricey for tapas.
Neighborhood: Mid-City West
Category: Tapas Bars
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Category: Lounges
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Music Venues
Neighborhood: Mid-City West
Category: Spanish
Neighborhood: Mid-City West
Category: Tapas Bars
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