Sotano — Restaurant in Great Britain

An intimate almost exclusive feel to the ambience, greeted at the door and all service was extremely friendly and professional.

Cocktails on point and a good selection of draughts available. Even made a great whiskey sour on request.

Started with the artisan bread which was delicious and came with balsamic glaze and oil - I would have preferred a mojo verde which would have been in keeping with the Spanish theme but was never the less well presented and tasty.

Then opting for the pork pate with cherries which seems a strange mix but in fact the subtle flavour of the cherry plays on the palate nicely.

We then ordered the cheese croquettes- these are incredible!!! Perfectly round parcels of delicious queso served at a great temperature simply melted in the mouth.

Followed by the Spanish black pudding - not one for me personally though the taste is there the texture was relatively gooey this may be subjective but I’m used to more bite with black pudding, again tasty but could be improved.

Up next was the calamari- again incredible… probably the best cooked calamari I have ever had and the saffron and dill aioli really works.

Albondigas / meatballs after the squid - the meatballs were nice but I was expecting a hint at least of spice e.g smoked paprika or smoked chilli in the sauce which was average and could definitely be livened up to make a real statement dish.

The steak came soon after and Cooked pink it was delicious tender and extremely flavourful, could have ate that four times over a real star of the menu.

Patatas bravas accompanied the steak and crispy fluffy and light were the order of the day a punchy garlic aioli and an earthy wild sauce rounded off another beatiful offering.

Had no room for pudding but if you’re looking for a great intimate friendly tapas experience in York I think you would do well to find better. Fairly priced I would definitely eat here again it felt authentic and...

I had dinner at Sotano with my friend on a Saturday night. We had a reservation but when we entered we were given the most uncomfortable table in the dining hall. I sat for the entire night on a little stool in the middle of the little area we sat and I was, of course, in the way for other people to move from their tables and go to the toilet. I asked the staff if we could sit somewhere else but they said the other two big tables were booked. In the end, while my friend and I were given that unpleasant table, I noticed that three big tables were given to couples while the other supposedly booked table was empty throughout our dinner. We could have had dinner over at that table but, for some mysterious reason, we were not allowed on that table. I am sure that few people from the staff noticed it but did not act on it. Very disappointing. Furthermore, I shall say that prices are not respectful of the concept of tapas. I have been to Spain quite few times and I know the tapas culture, which is little bites at little prices. Here, the bites are little but the price is not. Especially the galician steak which is £10 for quite literally 5 pieces of meat, and that is it. All in all, staff was friendly but did not try to accomodate our request and quality of the food was good, but when you get the TRUE tapas experience you can tell...

We had our booking and arrived on time.

Ordered our drinks, the place was beautiful and such a lovely atmosphere. We had our first drinks and then we ordered our food soon after arriving really... Nearly an hour went past and we'd already had to order another set of drinks, then we thought we best question where our food was? Not one to complain or ask but people had come and gone by this time... They came and apologized saying it hadn't been put through the till, which we was like no worries but we've got to be somewhere before 8, if it can be fast tracked which they said they'll sort it ASAP and said not to worry... Another 20 minutes or so went past and still no signs? And during this they took our table water away... We questioned where it still was and we're waiting still?... They went away and came back and said sorry we've not put it through as we thought you was leaving!!??... Which is crazy as we'd had the conversation with the waitress that we still wanted our food...

So we left hungry and not actually eaten, then having to rush to our show booking we had to make sure we got our seats. Just really disappointed as the food smelt amazing and the place was perfect and exactly what I'd envisioned when I booked it for this special occasion.

Very let down :(

Would have loved to have eaten here... But this really...