Restaurante El Tap S.C — Restaurant in Valencia

We had an amazing dinner at El Tap. Everything was right from beginning to end. It started well with the draft beer, El Aguila, which was so smooth and refreshing. Their house bread, under 4 euro, was massive and delicious. It was fluffy yet chewy inside and crispy outside, pairing well with olive oil and other dishes. The highlight for tomato valenciano was the capers. Those capers were appetite inducing. And the huge tomato made us feel healthy eating it. El pulpo, or the octopus leg, was cooked right. We had good octopus legs in various places in Europe, and this one was similar. We also got coca de bacalao. It is like a cod pizza. And I knew from the first bite that the sauce mixed with cod is something I will crave and come back for. The presa iberica, or the Iberica pork steak, cooked bleu to medium rare, was the best pork steak we have ever had in our lives. I love a good usda prime new york steak, cooked bleu with salt and pepper, charred outside, and this iberica pork steak was cooked in that style and rivals any that I've had. We plan to come back for more draft beer, cod pizza, and iberica steak. We had a glass of white wine and of red wine as well. The white wine was fruity but not overly sweet, with a strong smell of pear and apple. It felt like drinking spring the season. And the red had a stong smell of leather, which you do not taste, and taste of spices which I enjoyed. It reminded me of traditionally made rioja wine than new ones that are more fruity and bold/upfront. Beer was 4.5 euro and wine was 5.25 euro each, all poured genoursly. Service was excellent and very attentive. I believe Jesus was our server and he served us our next dish as we finished each dish. We went on a Wednesday night for dinner at 810pm and left at 10pm. We ate a lot and drank plenty, with the total coming out to 90 euro. Bathroom was clean and spacious. We plan to come back for more. Thank you to Jesus and the restaurant...

Best dinner of my entire stay at El Tap. The waiter/owner was so nice to me, even though I was by myself and tapas is meant to be shared. He took ample time to explain the menu to me and which ones he could modify for me being by myself. I chose the croquetta, the calamares and the ‘pizza’ like structure with Bacalau and aioli. All were superdelicious especially with the white wine he chose to pair it with. Looking around I noticed he was kind for everyone: he took his time serving food or explaining wines. The people next to me had the tuna tataki and the man kept saying how amazing it was! I almost felt a little jealous I hadn’t tried it! Even for a Monday night it became full house, so I can imagine you’ll have to make a reservation on weekends. Oh and PS: The bill was one of the lowest I had during my stay: he forgot 1 glass of wine, but he told me it was on the house! How kind! A nice bonus was that he filled my wineglass pretty full haha! A good price-quantity ratio i’d say! When I wanted to tip him generously, he didn’t even want to accept it. He told me: my house, is your house! In sum: it was a great experience and if I’m back in Valencia I’ll definitely come back and try the rest of the dishes with someone share 😊...

Total let down, was mislead by borh Lonely Planet and these reviews. Compared to great Valencian quality, eirther down to earth tapas placed to higher end ones, this one is a heavy tourist trap. Frozen pizza-like starter with bad supernarket quality burrifada, really low quality fried squid from frozen ingredients again, and even the bread with tomato was from microwaved buns; anywhere else in Valencia you'd get crispy, super fresh sliced baguette instead as a default. Didn't want to argue much just told were stopping here without risking further with the meat; there was no argument but was charged 40 euros, even leaving more than half of the squids. First big disappointed after dinging in Valencia...