El Pasaje Tapas — Restaurant in Seville

Imagine you're famished after an expedition just like King Peter. You would want an amazing meal nearby your crib of Real Alcazar. Now, lucky for us, we have the El Pasaje (while Peter had his half brother's fists as his last meal).

We all know that the Europeans are the best at handling the patatas. And you definitely should kick off your gastronomic adventure with the patatas bravas. With its house specialty sauce, it opens up your appetite for the many dishes to come.

Now, what's the best way to feel about yourself after a oily dish? Caprese Salad was definitely one way to go. No photo was taken but please take my word for it, the cheese and tomato was a great pairing.

The mushroom risotto was al dente and had a creamy texture that melts in your mouth. The cheese on top of the risotto was generously served as well.

The combination of the saltiness of the tuna fillet and the sweet caramelised onions was great together but the tuna was unfortunately overcooked.

The crem de la crem, the ribeye steak was to die for. It was cooked to medium rare, as it should. I would even declare that it is gout worthy. Every mouth was an experience by itself, almost like a story told by the cow.

Special shout out to Lua, who was our kind server who provided great service throughout...

Awful service. Do not recommend. Waited 20 minutes for our water. First tapas arrived, thrown down, before our water had even arrived. Asked 3 times before water was delivered. Waited even longer for wine. When it came (we did just ask for dry white wine), we were given a “tasting” and gave the obligatory, yes that’s fine. After one more sip, realised that the wine tasted like vinegar. Asked for some ice to see if would make it taste better. They took away our glasses (instead of bringing ice to us). 30 minutes later, and several requests later, we got our glasses back and were able to drink some wine. Which they confirmed our initial thoughts that it was awful wine.

Told the waiter we thought it might be corked and did not taste good. We did not ask for money back or complain heavily. We were very apologetic. Waiter got his boss. Both waiter and boss said the wine was fine, it was a local “sherry wine” that had a specific taste. Said we should have said at the tasting stage… yes yes, get that, but the way they spoke to us and dealt with it was terrible.

Meat came, which had been requested medium. It was barely rare - more blue. Asked for it to be cooked again.

At this point we actually considered just leaving the restaurant.

The service...

We have landed at this place quite accidentally. Apparently this place is heavy on reservations and it apparently was completely booked for the evening. But luckily for us, we were a bit early for dinner. So they were able to accommodate us on the covered rooftop which is reserved for overflow after 3 buildings are occupied.

We were the first ones on the rooftop. The ambiance is very pleasant and looked classy. Within 15 minutes of our arrival, the whole rooftop filled up. Our waiter spoke perfect english and helped us in choosing our dishes. We ordered 2 salmon based tapas and 1 tuna based tapa and red rice with spicy chicken and 2 glasses of local red wine. The salmon and tuna were so tasty that they simply melted in my mouth. The chicken was so good that we ended up ordering it again. Just when we thought we were full, just on whim I asked the waiter for any dessert suggestions and was promptly recommended for La Torrija which is a mix of sweet and spicy dessert. We loved it. This was our last dinner in Spain and this restaurant just sealed our good...