LAS CANARIAS — Restaurant in Calgary

On a warm September evening, myself, Mr M and another couple went out for dinner at Las Canarias, a Spanish/ Roumanian eatery on 17th ave, SW. From outside the place looked very inviting due to the wide, busy patio. From the door I had a glimpse at a very dark interior and decided to sit at a table outside. It turned out to be a good decision. We started with the drinks. Mr M ordered a glass of red Romanian wine , a light, ordinary one. The rest of us went with no alcohol strawberries margaritas. They were great! We are not drinkers… Then we ordered few tapas: the much talked about and highly recommended patatas bravas. It is a very simple dish: some fried potatoes with a bit of sauce on top. No surprise here, very plain, no creativity . We didn’t even finish the dish… Then we had the house salad. Your regular vegetable combination, red onions, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes and a great selection of baby greens, everything arranged nicely on a plate. Too bad that I found quite a few wilted , yellowed lettuce leaves in the mix…Then came the shrimp in wine and garlic sauce. All the ingredients were perfectly combined, not too much or too little of anything. The beans soup with smoked pork was declared as very good by my friends. Then we had the traditional Romanian mititei, the skinless sausages, grilled and served in the traditional style, with bread, mustard and French fries. The mititei were very moist, while the seasoning was very “ cautious “ . In Romania they have a much better flavour, with lamb suet, lots of garlic and black pepper. But they were good. The fries that accompanied them were really good! They were thin, perfectly fried and properly salted. We ate them all. After about 11/2 hours of waiting we got the paella. It was supposed to come in 40 minutes but the place was very busy… Our friends ordered the simple chicken and chorizo one. It was huge ! Enough for three people. They declared that it was very nice. I guess they were already full because they decided to take it home after few bites. All in all the food was ok, kept on the “safe” side , not much creativity. Not a high end restaurant by any means but definitely a place to get together with friends and grab a meal . The star of the evening was the musician! Being a Saturday evening, Las Canarias had live entertainment. The young, Spanish singer had a beautiful, velvety voice that we all loved. That music , combined with the traffic of the area (pedestrian and auto) made us feel like being in...

This was the second time we came to this place with a groupon.

The good: the groupon is definitely worth it. The ambiance is nice. They had live music and a big outdoor patio. Food is okay. We wanted the coconut shrimp but they were our so the older gentleman suggested the garlic shrimp ($15) which was good but a bit over salted. We also ordered the house bread ($4) which came with this really good flavoured butter the only problem was that the butter super hard and not spreadable. The paella mixta ($36) was okay, not as flavorful as we remember it to be from last time I had to add salt and hot sauce to it. The rice was also grainy and undercooked, you would think after about hour of cooking that shouldn't be the case.

The bad: service is super slow, inattentive and not really friendly. We tried to call to make a reservation but no one picked up. When I mentioned it to the older gentleman that works there he was like ya we were busy. Didnt care. No one smiles. You have to flag them down when you need something and before you can say anything when they bring the order they leave. They do warn on the website that paella will take 45 mins but it generally takes an hr.

All in all we won't come back again and if you would like to go get...

Brilliant! Truly a taste of Spain. We've had Paella in Spain and the quality of Las Canarias is equal to the best we've had in Barcelona. The menu tells you upfront it takes time to prepare, so enjoy yourself with the excellent tapas and a drink.

We shared three tapas between six people and definitely should have ordered more - not because of the size but because they were delicious. The coconut shrimp and garlic bread was outstanding - could have had double orders. The Papas Bravas was delicious, but one order was sufficient to let everyone have multiple tastes.

Our main meal was two orders of Paella and a single order of seafood tacos. Food was all fantastic and huge portions. That was more than enough for 6 of us. Of note, the calamari in the paella was incredibly tender, this was easily the best I've ever had.

For dessert we shared some churros and the Crema Catalana. This also took time because they had to make the chocolate dipping sauce from scratch. Everything is fresh and made for you when you order. Crema Catalana... I described it afterwards as just a better version of creme brulee. All around best dessert.

I highly recommend this cozy spot on 17th Ave and am looking forward to...