Como Taperia — Restaurant in Vancouver

I had high expectations for Como Taperia, and had been wanting to visit for a while. The summer paella collaboration with Paella Guys seemed like a perfect first encounter. Unfortunately, my experience left me highly disappointed.

I'll start with the overall experience, and then discuss the food. We arrived about 10 minutes early to our 12:00pm reservation. We were seated at the patio promptly, and immediately told that the paella would take about an hour to cook. It was quite windy, and we were cold, so we wanted to order some appetizers to warm us up. We added their Pulpo Con Papas (grilled octopus with potatoes), Patatas Bravas (Spanish fried potatoes), and Fried Iberico Chorizo.

Considering that the Paella Collaboration is a special event, and guests buy tickets in advance, you know exactly how many you are cooking for in advance. An easy improvement would be starting the paella cooking ~30 minutes in advance so that guest are NOT waiting 1 hour waiting for the main dish. You can stagger the paella cooking for the rest of the day in the case of multiple rounds.

To our surprise, we were told that they did not offer hot water, or any sort of hot drinks (like coffee or tea), and the patio was not heated. While I understand that the weather is outside of the restaurant's control, having heating would improve the patio experience significantly.

Now, the worst part is that our first dish didn't arrive until 12:38pm. It was the Iberico Chorizo. We waited nearly 40 minutes for a tiny plate of what I imagine was 1 sausage. How can cooking a chorizo sausage take that long? To add salt to injury, the first bite we get after waiting for so long was very average. It's on the heavily seasoned side, but understandable considering that it's chorizo.

The octopus came about 10-15 minutes later, and was unfortunately a huge disappointment. It was over-seasoned for us. The balance that the potatoes offered almost saved the dish, but for $42, and the small portion, there's just not a lot of value to be had.

The paella was definitely the highlight of the meal. The seasoning was on point, and the rice cooked to perfection. I've had paellas that were on the soggy side, even in Spain, and this was not that. However, the mussel was undercooked. Mines was still clamped shut, and we were given a few bonus mussels to compensate.

By the way, the fact that the patio wasn't heated also meant that all of the food got cold within 2-3 minutes of serving. Creating an environment that keeps food at the right temperature for enjoyment is absolutely something I'd expect from a restaurant at this price point.

Maybe we ordered wrong, and we went with dishes that just weren't the restaurant's best. A lot of the neighbouring parties ordered their friend eggplant, and seemed to have a great experience. Maybe we should come back to give Como Taperia another chance.

Overall, the fact that the highlight of the meal was not even cooked by the Como Taperia kitchen doesn't give me high confidence that a return visit would lead to a significantly different experience. At $80-90 per person, there is just so much more options in the Vancouver food scene that do justice. Whether it be Zarak just down the street, or any of the other fantastic spots along Main street, I likely won't be back here...

Como Taperia came recommended by my physiotherapist, and as frequent travelers to Spain who regularly eat Spanish food, we were looking forward to the experience. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet expectations.

The restaurant interior is modern, clean, and thoughtfully designed, with Spanish details including fútbol paraphernalia and old fútbol matches playing on TV. We were seated at the bar with a full view of the open kitchen, prep area, and dishwashing station — which ended up offering more transparency than we bargained for.

We observed several line cooks crouching below the cooking station and eating during service. They used the same forks or spoons to eat as they did to scoop what appeared to be shared salt containers used to season guest dishes. We did not see them wash their hands before returning to food preparation. From our vantage point, we also saw staff in the back taking what looked like shots and eating food directly off prep counters, then returning to the kitchen while still chewing. Given the open view into the kitchen, these actions raised food safety concerns.

The food was underwhelming. The garlic shrimp were well-prepared. The pan con tomate was burnt and topped with a sauce that resembled spaghetti sauce. I suspect the oversaucing was done to mask the burnt bread . The Manchego cheese was standard, the goat cheese stuffed peppers were very sweet, and the tortilla Española was just basic — not great, not terrible.

When ordering drinks, I initially asked for a gin and soda but was steered toward a house cocktail. I chose the Como Martini. It was acceptable, though not worth the $19, and not what I originally wanted. My partner ordered an Estrella beer, which was as expected.

The music did not align with the Spanish theme. The playlist featured techno and indie-style tracks, which felt disconnected from the overall concept. A Spanish music selection would have been more cohesive.

Toward the end of the meal, we were considering ordering dessert or additional drinks, including the Basque cheesecake. A bartender casually mentioned that in 20 minutes it would be 8 p.m., implying we would need to give up our seats for a reservation. Shortly after, we overheard the hostess telling him there weren’t many reservations left for the evening — contradicting what had just been said to us and to the couple next to us. We were not offered another table, even though there were open seats. After we had paid and were preparing to leave, another bartender — who had been friendly and professional throughout — asked if we were staying for dessert. When we explained we had been asked to leave, he looked surprised and uncomfortable, but then proceeded to tell us we should have come earlier? We replies that would be an odd hour to come for Tapas, and we left.

Como Taperia has potential. The space is well designed, and some staff were attentive. But the overall experience fell short due to underwhelming food, poor communication, and visible kitchen practices that raised hygiene concerns. We were expecting more and do not...

i'm a fan of spanish food. i grew up eating it, and i've visited spain several times, so i think i can give you this feedback.

pros:

1- waiter service, very good. very diligent, attentive and friendly. amazing crew! 2- nice decoration 3- good location 4- shrimps with garlic: very delicious, but exaggeratedly expensive, like every single meal in that place. 5- bread: very good, perfect to eat with the garlic shrimp sauce.

cons:

1- overpriced: the prices were exorbitant, for what the portions of the food represented. yes, we know they are "tapas", but either lower the prices or increase the quantity. it was exaggerated.

2- too noisy. the music made it impossible to talk. we almost left without eating. it was that bad.

3- tortilla: terrible! the potato was a little raw and the egg was quiet too runny, plus it didn't have much flavor, and too much black pepper. you guys should ask javier from 'paella guys' for his recipe. his is the best in vancouver.

4- papas bravas: no flavor either. the paprika overpowered any other flavor of the potatoes, we practically left almost all of the potatoes.

5- bread with tomato: bread lacked the flavor of the grill... regarding the tomato: either serve it grated and raw, or pour with a sauce that is already cooked.... the tomato sauce was somewhere between raw and cooked, which was not at all pleasant.

6- sangria: the common denominator of almost all the tapas. no taste, barely wine in it, no body at all... it would have been better to order a coke. the cost we paid for 1 drink? as if it was a full bottle of wine.

paella: i know it's a collaboration between "paella guys" and your restaurant, which i understand, but the portions they served for the $100 we paid for 3 people, were very poor... i couldn't believe it.... "paella guys" was a few days ago at "londsdale quay", $15 a plate and it was 30% more than what we were served yesterday. i felt it was a rip-off, sorry.

in conclusion:

as nice as the restaurant is and the attention of the staff is great, i will never go back, or giving any recommendation to my friends... it is perhaps a great restaurant for those who don't know much about spanish tapas, but for those of us that have always enjoyed good tapas/quality/price, it is a big NO, to go back to your restaurant.

in total we paid...