L'Oculto Cocina - Wine Bar - Shop — Restaurant in London

I've eaten here 3 times before reviewing, to see whether the problems I've encountered previously have been rectified. On my last visit, this sadly was not the case. And so they just about scrape 3 out of 5.

The seafood we had (Devonshire crab blinis and boquerones) was really not as fresh tasting as it should or could have been and the blinis were SOGGY. Both dishes left that 'day or so older than you'd like' fishy taste in your mouth - not what I'd expect for a fiver a blini and £2.50 an anchovy!

The tortilla (£5 a slice) was cooked well but under-seasoned and the single slice of glazed aubergine (in a cold curry sauce) at a tenner(!), was full of flavour - but, not enough to stuff in your eye! I'd be very interested to see it being shared. I'm left wondering whether/why an extra slice of aubergine and a (tea) spoon more sauce is just too much?

That said, the food on the whole is tasty - beef canelon (£14) was nice. It consisted of 2 King Size Rizla length tubes of delicately made pasta - stuffed loosely (sadly not generously) with a rich beef and tomato cheesy combo. Think cannelloni with some of the filling missing.

The wine and beers on offer are well thought out (although there were no alcohol free beer/wine options) and fairly reasonably priced. BUT the portions (even for tapas) are small and, therefore I think overpriced. At £75 a head (inc. £14 on drinks) I shouldn't really be leaving hungry. The service is generally a bit slow and can be patronising or otherwise, amateur.

I live locally and having been a number of times, unfortunately the overriding feeling I am left with is one of discontent. For a family run Spanish business there seems to be a lack of warmth and hospitality and I can't help but feel that the team who run this place are mostly interested in $$$. Don't get me wrong - I know people need to make their business worthwhile but to not serve a slice of bread with dishes that have juices to mop up and for the server to then say "would you like a portion of bread?" ( £4.25) is not really the kind of...

Table of 7 on a Wednesday evening, 1 vegetarian, 1 pescatarian. We had the whole menu (bites to desserts) plus a couple of repeats. The place felt Spanish and had a great atmosphere. We experienced attentive and friendly service with a good wine recommendation (we had 5 bottles of a very tasty rose, and a bottle of lovely dessert wine). The espresso martini was just ok.

The food highlight was the jamón ibérico - I've never had anything that melts in the mouth like that before. The pork atop the first plate of paella we ordered was also delicious. A leek dish was also very nice; their flan was lovely; and the party were positive about the hake. However, on the whole we found the food a bit over-salted; inconsistent throughout the evening - the second pork paella was overcooked; and a bit underwhelming. Thus, when the bill came, the experience felt a tad overpriced at c. £80pp.

I'd be happy to go again (mainly for that ham), but I'll be more selective in the...

I’ve been meaning to try this restaurant for a while now but was left disappointed. Even though it is tapas, the majority of dishes are priced the same as a restaurant main course but the portions are absurdly small. For example, we ordered a mixed platter (£19), which was frankly a depressing sight. It included a few (extremely thin) slices of chorizo and cheese, and two small pieces of sourdough (no butter). You would probably have to spend around £80-100 a head to leave with a full stomach. After seeing how small the dishes were, we decided not to order more. While the service was initially friendly, it seemed all they cared about was pushing you to order more and became notably less welcoming when they realised we were not planning on doing that. I understand they may need to charge more for the current economy but the place had a lot of empty tables so it wasn't like we were taking up another...