Bocados Spanish Kitchen — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

I'm really surprised about the reviews raving about how great this place is. It is absolutely AVERAGE and overpriced for the poor food quality. I do not recommend this place at all. We attended on a Thursday night in June 2021. I ordered a seafood stew at $32, a prawn tapas at $26.50, and a plate of garlic bread at $12. the seafood and chorizo stew came out luke warm, and was nothing special. The bread that came with the stew, tasted like is was stale. I had one slice of chorizo in the whole dish - literally the prawns tasted nice, however $26.50 for 6 prawns that in a bowl of oil, was underwhelming. It came with 'sourdough' which was also just stale white bread, and when I dipped it in the oil, it tasted exactly as it sounds - like stale bread dipped in oil finally, the garlic bread, you can't ruin garlic bread right? Wrong. The garlic bread was average, oil soaked and did not taste good at all. Overall, DO NOT RECOMMEND. The place is extremely overrated, the service is average, the tables are tiny, they make you wait 5 minutes to pay, and you leave hungry. I'm more than happy to spend money on good food and service - but this place...

Service was exceptional, all employees were very attentive, and polite; and they were more than happy to answer all of our questions.

There were 5 of us who all ordered the 'Barcelona' set menu. The portions were different depending on what the food was; Patatas Bravis were plentiful, however we were served 2 lamb shanks to share between the five people. I felt as though the quantity was not resemblant of the cost. Our final bill was over $800 and we left with room in our tummies (We're all small people, with average appetites).

The highlight of the night (For me) was the Calamares A La Plancha - I highly recommend this dish.

The atmosphere was not the high end vibe that would reflect the cost. The seats were hard and cheap, the tables joined together for our table were not even heights, and the lighting was as bright as a cafeteria.

In saying all of this; the food that we did get was delicious, just not appropriate for the quality of people or cost. If I go back, I'd try the single plates instead of the set menu as there simply wasn't enough to...

Finally got to the highly recommended @Bocados.Newcastle for dinner and got the small Paella (large also available): Rodriguez brother´s chorizo, Spring Bay Tasmanian black mussels, wild ocean caught prawns and organic chicken

Delicious flavoured rice, succulent prawns, tender mussels, juicy chicken, tasty mild chorizo, slight kick of chilli and a squeeze of lemon for freshness and this makes for the perfect winter warmer. The serving looks small but packs a punch.

Spanish donuts with hot chocolate and dulce de leche What a dessert! I love these delicious crunchy on the outside soft on the inside doughnuts covered in just enough sugar for that perfect touch of sweetness and dipped in the dulce de leche for gooey sweetness. I wanted more but after a dip of the ultra rich velvety hot chocolate, they balanced each of the elements perfectly.

Awesome finish to a lovely night out - big thanks to the friendly staff and for your spot on recommendations. I love the ambience...