Opera Tavern — Restaurant in London

The Opera Tavern is an Italian- Spanish tapas restaurant in Covent Garden part of the Salt Yard Group. Having recently been refurbished, the restaurant is modern and has a great atmosphere inside, with dining split across two levels.

We started off with some cocktails as an aperitif. We tried the “As Cool As…”, Tanqueray, clarified cucumber water and elderflower (£10), which was refreshing. The “El secreto“, Tanqueray, acquavite grappa, quince jelly and parmesan crisp (£12) was sweet and designed to reflect the ingredients of a cheese board!

With the cocktails we enjoyed the Jamon & manchego croquetas (£7.5), N’duja scotch egg (£7.5) and the Padron peppers (£6). Given the time of year, 1 in 10 padron peppers are incredibly hot and we got one of them! They were so amazing though.

The scotch egg was packed full of filling and a very generous portion and the croquetas were deliciously creamy.

We shared the following dishes:

Chargrilled gameroni, garlic, chilli with warm focaccia (£9), Chorizo picante with smoked almond hummus (£8) Iberico pork burger, aged manchego, crispy red onion rings and aioli (£9) Courgette flower, monte enebro & blossom honey (£5.5) and Patatas with bravas and aioli (£4.5)

The prawns had a fantastic punchy flavour, the chorizo was perfectly spicy, and the pork burger was a well thought out and crafted dish.

The potatoes were equally delicious and we can never resist a courgette flower with creamy goats cheese and honey!

We paired the main dishes with a glass of Chiaretto leccio, il cascinone (pinot nero, barnera) piedmont 2017 rose wine (£8) and Fauno, bodegas murviedro (garnacha/syrah/monastrell) Valencia 2017 red wine (£6). All of the wines are organic which is a fantastic additional touch.

For dessert, we tried the Meringue with chervil, lemon curd and sable (£7). It was tart and sharp as you would expect. We were also given a special off the menu coffee cake which was very light!

Opera Tavern is a fantastic tapas restaurant in Covent Garden with a relaxed atmosphere, lovely service and brilliantly flavoursome dishes. Perfectly located in the heart of the West End, it is the ideal place to share great food with family or friends. If you visit a lunch Monday to Friday there is an amazing deal for 2 courses with a side...

4.5 stars for food, 3 stars for wine and service.

Some really good tapas - the smoky, grilled octopus (wish there was more) and minty fresh and meaty (yep that's right) artichoke were the standout dishes. A close second were the croquettes and a simple but tasty dish of Padron peppers and a surprisingly subtle goats cheese filled courgette flower. Holding up the rear was a sea bream cerviche - it was ok, but just lacked a real zingy freshness and coldness.

Decent wine, although very expensive and wasn't chilled. Some remedial ice sorted that issue but bit of a letdown to be honest. We went for a Riesling that you retails at £8.95, but cost £33 here! But hey, this is London.

Onward to dessert. The opera cake - a drier and more refined version of tiramisu, and pistachio doughnuts were excellent. Rich, chocolatey and steeped in a pleasant coffee. All accompanied by a gorgeous - but not too creamy (!) - ice-cream that really hit the spot. My date's nutty and light doughnuts were well received too.

Service was good, although I didn't warm to our waiter. Call me pedantic but he was reluctant to serve us tap water, so to save the hassle we went for bottled instead (£4 a pop). Also he made a point of me sampling the wine, whereas I wanted my date to do so. "Etiquette is for the man to do this." Yes it might be, but this is the 21st century and no, I'm not part of the woke brigade but just ask you to respect your customer's wishes. However, he was always polite, recommended some good dishes - well dessert anyway - and was responsive to our service requests and gave good descriptions of the dishes that we ordered.

£124 for 7 dishes with wine wasn't cheap but still very tasty and overall I'd say it...

Exceptional service, the staff here are absolutely brilliant. You are welcomed in to this dimly lit and cosy venue with a smile and you can expect friendly and professional service throughout.

Our waitress gave us excellent recommendations of food and wine and they all seem to know the menu very well without the need to oversell anything. They were so accommodating and it feels like they genuinely want you to enjoy your whole experience.

Came here with a group of friends and we all had the chefs tasting menu and ordered a couple of additional recommended dishes. All the tapas here is delicious and served to look as good as it tastes. I knocked off a star for my food rating but only because I was left a little disappointed with the dessert! I have such a sweet tooth and the churros on the set menu were a little greasy and not coated evenly or very well with cinnamon and sugar, although the chocolate and the lemony mascarpone they were served with were both delicious. We also ordered a pistachio tiramisu which didnt taste of much at all and so was a bit disappointed with that.

Overall though, this is a great date night or group night out! The atmosphere is so nice and cosy and relaxing. The music isnt too loud and every thing is just right. I think it would also be great to hire out the upstairs as it is a nice sized room, with a projector screen available and a separate bar. Also extremely good value for money. The tasting menu was £40pp and there was plenty of food. None of us left hungry! The yellow tail tuna...