La Chalá — Restaurant in Seville

DON’T GOT THERE, THEY ARE THIEVES:

You order 6 plates of tapas (for 2 people), at the last round, they suddenly assume -on their own - that the last one you ordered is meal-sized and not a tapas… You get charged twice the price.

When we asked the waiter an explanation, she said « don’t try to trick me, you saw it from the size of the meal, it was not a tapas and you did not ask for it explicitely »

So: you have to explicitely say every time you are going to take the tapas size (even if you said at the beginning: « all as tapas »).

If they do a mistake and bring a meal and not a tapas, you have to guess, without any reference that it is meal-sized (and for the record, it was not really big, 0% chance we would have guessed)

Don’t try to argue with them then, they are theives, lack of honesty and are going to threaten to call the cops on you if you don’t pay.

TL;DR: It’s a scam, don’t go there, you are going to be over charged and you are going to get angry arguing with them.

Édit: Their answer doesn’t make any sense, they are talking about a menù, which has 0 link with what I just said (I suppose they can’t read english) They also basically don’t respect tourists apprently since they have problems with a lot of them… I made the effort to try to speak spanish with them, I see this matter of respect...

This is by far my favourite restaurant in Spain and among my favourites the world over. I planned my current trip to Sevilla around getting back here with my wife.

The dishes are a thoughtful blend of authentic, regional ingredients with a daring (but no over the top) modern twist. I've had about 6 items off the menu and every one has been super-tasty.

The environment is super-chill; come in a suit, come in jeans and kicks ... You'll be fine. I prefer the tree filtered sun of the terrace, but there's seating inside too.

The staff are beyond great. Pleasant, professional, proud of what they offer and above all super friendly. They speak great English, but will humour butchered Spanish patiently :)

La Chala fills up fast! Waits over an hour at peak are not uncommon, so ride it out, come back, or show up a few minutes after opening. Just make sure...

This tapas joint redefined my understanding of tapas.

Where I live in the United States, if you got food this quality you would have to pay at least $12 per plate, another $15 for each glass of wine, olives would be an extra $5, and then tip 20% because we don't pay waitstaff properly stateside.

I figured in Spain, especially in a touristy city, there would be a similar premium. My wife and I got two plates and a glass of wine each for under $40.

I'll probably never visit an American "tapas" place again now that I know what real tapas is like. What we had at La Chala was an exploration of a creative menu and a convivial dining experience. It was a beautiful evening that we could truly enjoy without the added tension and dread that sitting with us until the check...