Silos 19 — Restaurant in Tarifa

OK, so I'm super behind on writing about the experience in Tarifa, but since I can still recall every detail like it was last night, I can safely declare it unforgettable.

Let's start with ambiance. We wandered down the narrow, twisting, lonely streets of the old city, with high, solid, whitewashed walls towering to either side as the sun was creeping to the far horizon, feeling like the only people in the world. We were beginning to be worried that we had missed it when we happened upon the open, steam-punk style gates in the wide, inviting doorway set into the wall. Our host in Tarifa advised that we would likely need a reservation, but we tried our luck since the visit was both early in the dinner service and just before the officially recognized beginning of tourist season. We were seated almost immediately, and our table set with a lovely bowl of the bright green olives that this region grows in abundance. I'm fairly certain I've never had better, fresher olives in my life, and that set high expectations for the rest of the meal.

We started with the Papas Bravas, since every guide for visiting Spain mentions the dish. You can get Papas Bravas in the States, so we knew we would be expecting fried potatoes topped with crema and drizzled with a picante salsa of some nature. One bite of the little square-cut home-fries dripping with the Silos 19's take on the silky crema and smoky, spicy hot sauce was enough to explain why this dish is near the top of things everyone must try in Spain. We cleaned every last morsel out of that bowl and considered calling over a server to cancel the rest of the order in favor of two more servings. It was just that good.

We were still debating the wisdom of more Papas Bravas when our actual dinner order arrived. We had both decided to go for grilled octopus, knowing that it would be far fresher than any we might find at home, and excited for the local take on the spicing. I nearly wept with joy at the first taste, and Raz declared the dish better than any he had tried in the world. I was too speechless to agree until I had savored every last perfectly marinated and grilled piece. Now, writing about it months after the fact, my mouth still waters.

We left a completely packed restaurant just as darkness fell on Tarifa, and completely understood why our host had recommended Silos 19. We make the same...

We had a terrible experience at this restaurant. Although the appetizers were decent, the main course was a disaster in more ways than one. We waited a staggering 1 hour and 40 minutes for our main course, gyozas de cordero. When we asked the waiter about the delay, he assured us the food would be out in a few minutes. Thirty minutes later, when we followed up again, he claimed he had just served our appetizers about 10 minutes prior, which was completely false it had actually been 45 minutes since then. We expressed that if it was going to take much longer, we’d prefer to cancel our order and leave. Instead of accommodating our request, the waiter refused and insisted the food was coming shortly. After waiting another 15 minutes, the main course finally arrived, but by then, the experience was completely ruined.

To make matters worse, it was nearly impossible to get the waiter’s attention throughout our meal. Overall, the service was frustratingly slow, communication was poor, and the waitstaff was difficult to reach. I would not recommend this place to anyone looking for a pleasant...

This restaurant is really trendy and had a very relaxed atmosphere. It was the first night of opening for their season and the credit card machine was not available to pay so had to dash to the cash machine for cash. The wine list was very good and the service was very good of not a little slow. One of our dishes we ordered was the king prawn salad with mango. It arrived with under cooked and cold prawns. So we sent it back and they replaced it. On tasting we didn’t not like it at all. It was not a great dressing and the prawns tasted awful. This could just be our taste but we did not enjoy it at all. We communicated with the staff and they were very good and removed it from our bill. The octopus was very tasty and the stuffed mushrooms were also very good. The steak we had was tasty but quite chewy. The pig cheeks was super and would def have that again. The desert was the carrot cake and it was pretty amazing. Great...