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Europa Mediterranean Cafe
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
13 reviews for Europa Mediterranean Cafe
This idea is good, but it just lacks a little in execution. The Albarino was unremarkable, and the freshly uncorked Chianti had little bits of cork floating in it. The artichoke and leek "dip" was served with a tasty crispy flatbread, but it tasted a little Costco-y and metallic-y and seemed a little mayonnaisey. I liked the stuffed piquillo peppers -- stuffed with a paste of chicken, chorizo, carmelized onions, and manchego! There were also the fritters of crab and lobster claw, served with a dill creme fraiche. Well fried, but the creme fraiche was a little too stiff in texture. Good grief, I'm critical. :-(
Two stars for the food, bolstered one star by the excellent service.
We chose this restaurant over Hard Shell(??) next door based on the menu. Upon entering, we were greeted by a man behind the large support beam that straddles the entrance. Talking about ambiance? Though the restaurant was pretty much empty, the host said he'd go find us a table??? As we stood looming around, it felt more like CPK. Lights too bright for a Saturday night dinner. Horrible ambiance. We bailed.
After a few more visits to Europa, we stopped going. One night we walked in and 90s music bombarded my hearing. Why? Why ruin such a good thing? On a different night we came in and our pequillo peppers were dry and falling apart (not to mention, they made my mouth taste like cotton) and the broth to our clams were watery. Our service was slow nearly each time we have been in Europa. It's just a relationship we have to end. R.I.P.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/2/2009
Great atmosphere, lovely seating selection, delicious array of beers to choose from, attentative… Read more »
Go here for the music. They used to have dj's downstairs, but recently I saw a live band perform upstairs on a saturday night. It was really nice. Smoky bar though. Ew. It was disrupting my enjoyment of the music but whatever. Nice low lighting atmosphere. Truffles for dessert with some kind of liquor in it. Frothy french martinis. I like frothy. I guess people that know me know that. I'm always sticking my finger in their froth whether it be a cappuccino, a beer, or a frothy martini, pisco sour......I think it would be a good place to split wine with friends. Their wine list looks amazing.
I have to say, I was really excited to go to Europa. I had went to college in Richmond and always heard about Europa, but only recently went back to try it out.
The ambiance is great. Dimly lit, comfortable seating, small wait. The bread they serve at the table is just not good. Some sort of fennel seed blend. The wine list was pretty good, or at least our selections were. I love earthy mild wines so I got Azabache Crianza Rioja and my boyfriend likes stronger things like Shiraz so he got the Fife Redhead; we were both very pleased.
We decided to order tapas and got the following items:
1. Spanish Cheese plate: eh. I've had many cheese flights and aside from the excellent Cabrales (the bleu cheese), the others were pretty lame. The bread peices they served them with were equally unimpressive.
2.Parmesean Grilled Asparagus: Similar to all the other reviews, the asparagus was off the chain. Very crisp and light, with interesting flavors.
3. Seared Rare Tuna- Very very good. A really good mix with the golden raisens and fraiche sauce.
4. Mussels and Clams- why didnt i listen to my instinct? Mussels & clams are one of those things you feel you have to try, despite everyone having mixed feelings about them. I had never had mussels before so i wanted to try it, but i just didn't like them at all. They're probably fine if you like that sort of thing, but well.....I didn't.
5. Beef Empanadas- Both my boyfriend and I had the same reaction: EH. He ate more of this than me at that point because i was getting full and he just said that he felt the crust was too overwhelming....like too much of it to blend with the beef. I had a bite of it and i dont remember it being that great either.
I then ordered a french martini (which i love to sample at different restaurants to see how different the prep is)...Eh. Mediocre. My boyfriend didn't want a girly drink so he ordered the Dirty Martini, despite my warnings. Yeah I had to finish that for him since he was driving. I mean it's a dirty martini.....it's pretty obvious it's going to taste like paint thinner.
For dessert we had the hazlenut brulee. Devine.
Service was pretty good, although towards the end our waitress left us sitting for a good 20 min while we waited for her to pick up our tab. That was pretty annoying. We were thinking of going down and having a drink in the lounge, but it was WAAAAAAAY too smoky down there, so we went to another joint called the Hard Shell next door that had fine wines.
Overall, not overly impressed with the food. The wine was excellent, as was the ambiance, so I can see this being a key place for happy hour or just drinks. With all the other restaurants in Richmond, I probably won't be returning on my next trip back in town.
I loved the location in Richmond's Shockoe Slip and the interior decor. I attended a private party in their basement level, which provided a nice intimate dining experience despite the large party of over 50 guests. The grilled tuna was good, but I enjoyed the dessert tray we ordered more than the main entree. The sorbet and tiramisu were yummy. Our waitress was attentive and had a great personality.
This place is a tapas restaurant that also serves full size meals. We went for dinner on a Tuesday night and decided to go the tapas route.
1) Toasted Almonds - I'm not an almond person, but they were good.
2) Hummus - Very tasty, and plenty to go around
3) Hanger Steak - Good but served luke warm
4) Beef Empanadas - Flaky, buttery crust, savory, yummy filling
5) Asparagus - Good flavor, but the asparagus itself was wimpy
6) Potato Cake - Strange consistency and not too flavorful
7) Fried Calamari - this didn't taste good, it was cold and tough.
It took forever to get our food. Then when the food did come, we got three plates, then had to wait another long while before getting the rest of the dishes. The plates that you are supposed to serve your food on are tiny, think coffee cup saucer. How am I supposed to eat without making a mess? Especially with the asparagus which was longer than the plate!
We really enjoyed our dinner here. We didn't do the tapas, because I spotted something on the menu I NEEDED instead. It was the gorgonzola pasta, and it was SO yummy, I miss it. Good wine selection, too. And great dessert. This place reminded us of a restaurant we love love loved in Paris, and so maybe that gives me a bias, but I don't care.
If we end up moving here, this will be another place we will be regulars. Very nice and friendly staff, but you know what? I think all of Richmond is nice and friendly. So I guess you should just go for the food and atmosphere.
The atmosphere carries this place!!!! The tapas are good. I thought they were to small to share even though they are tapas....
Having frequented the subterranean bar in Europa more times than I care to mention, I had yet to try their actual menu until this past Saturday. I had friends in town for a "Girls Weekend" and this seemed like the perfect "two-fer" place-- eat dinner upstairs, retire for drinks and girl talk downstairs.
I love the dimly lit atmosphere of the place. All of the serving staff could not be more helpful or kind. They are professional and accomodating. We had no reservation and were told it would be 20 minutes or so. I think we only waited maybe 5 minutes.
Our table ordered an array of tapas. You don't have to stick to just tapas, there are main course offerings as well. The pastas looked pretty good and I might pop back in at some point to give them a try.
Here's the line up of what we ordered between 4 of us:
Garlic Shrimp
Steamed Mussels
Goat Cheese Trio
Crispy Eggplant Sticks
Parmesan Grilled Asparagus
Beef Empanada
Beef Hangar Kebabs
Chicken & Ham Croquettes
Spanish Meat Plate
Spanish Lamb Meatballs
Everything tasted fabulous. My fav's were the Chicken & Ham Croquettes as well as the grilled Asparagus. The Asparagus were cooked to perfection-- I was afraid they might be soggy and gross-- but, they were crisp with no mush in sight! The Beef Hangar kebabs were a little too rare for my taste. The beef Empanada seems to be made with pulled beef surrounded by puff pastry. A tasty little gem and large- I had to cut it up into little pieces for the table to share. The eggplant was also done well- coating crispy, vegetable al dente.
I will go back to any place that doesn't cook the life out of it's vegetables! :)
Our bill came to $30 a head, including tip which is $120 sum totalled. Which, I feel is a bit pricy, considering we were all sharing little plates. And considering no one ordered drinks since we brought ours up from the basement (we ordered them while waiting for a table). But, overall it was a satisfying experience. I def. think I'll be taking the hubs by there sometime soon b/c after writing about their asparagus, I'm now craving it :)
The atmosphere is nice with a pretty cool downstairs venue, but the food is mediocre. Ever since they switched to a Spanish/Italian restaurant, they don't seem to do either very well. The tapas are small and uninspired with a somewhat steep price tag. The pasta was tasteless and even more bland than the tapas. I got the Gorgonzola pasta and it tasted more like white paste.
If you want good tapas, go to Avalon or Si. If you want good Italian, hit up Sensei or Mamma Zu.
I went to Richmond for the weekend with some girl friends and we went to eat at Europa on a Saturday night. I first of all love that area of Richmond and had no idea how many shops/places to eat their are and I've lived in the VA Beach area most of my life.....but I digress....
So Europa.....first of all, it was packed! There were like 3 bridal showers/wedding parties happening that evening, so we definitely had to wait. You need to call ahead for reservations for sure. The atmosphere was definitely 5 stars. I like the dim lighting and the way the bar and kitchen are set up. Downstairs there is a little club area where you can sit on couches and hang out ( a little more chill and laid back than upstairs). You should dress to impress if you go here in the evening......not necessarily a ball gown, but don't wear a t shirt and flip-flops. I don't recall their being a huge wine list, but honestly, if you are going for tapas you have to have a pitcher of sangria...good stuff.
I'm not an expert on tapas, but I felt they had a wide variety of hot/cold, vegetable, seafood, chicken and beef chioces. A lot of times it's all about the sauce the food comes in. I enjoyed it all. I split the bill with 3 others, so it was perfect. I also suggest the paellas. I shared the seafood one and it was great. OK, now, lets talk service. The service was poor. The bar tender acted as though we were a hassle for one. Second, the hostess was not only the hostess, but she talked to everyone, waited tables, filled cups and ran around crazy all night. Our waiter forgot about us for awhile and after realizing how long we waited for sangria, he gave us a complimentary appetizer that I think was just a messed up order. I understand it was busy, but I was less than impressed with the amount of waiting time. I would go back. It could have been a fluke or the time of day, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. So...with all that said, go to Europa, drink a lot of sangria, and eat a variety of tapas.
I took my boyfriend here for his birthday. We ordered the paella to split as well as a few tapas. We were not impressed with the paella at all: it had absolutely no flavor. The hummus was good though. The atmosphere is nice too, but I'm not so sure we'll be going back after such a bland meal.
