Sabores Tapas Bar — Restaurant in Arlington

I was so excited to hear we would be getting a tapas restaurant on the Pike! I waited a few weeks before dining here to get a more intimate experience. It was everything I could have hoped for. The service was amazing, the food was AMAZING, and the atmosphere is very warm and comfortable. We actually stopped by once again the next day for takeout. Highly recommend going Iin and enjoying the whole experience, We tried several of their dishes.

Ensenada de Remolacha - By far, my favorite of their salads. Roasted beets hold the base to their mixed greens, walnuts, pickled red onions, and one of my personal favorites; goat cheese. Topped with an amazing honey balsamic dressing you'll want to bottle and take home.

Ensenada de Manzana y Manchego - This salad packs a punch with the sherry vinaigrette and Manchego. The fennel gives that bit of licorice flavor while adding crunch along with the apples. This salad is great, but pales comparison to the Remolacha for me.

Crema de Longosta - This will be one of the most creamy, luxurious lobster bisque you'll ever have. It did have a sweet taste to it that made me think of coconut milk or some kind of curry.

Garbanzos de Espinacas - This one surprised me. Completely blew me away. I have never had a chickpea stew or soup taste so wonderful! The chickpeas were cooked perfectly both days we ordered this dish. This is a dish you may not think to order, but you should. Delicious!

Setas al Ajillo - The mushrooms had so much flavor. I'm not sure if they grill them, but they certainly had that kind of flavor. We joked that out of everything we ordered that night, the mushrooms we knew we had to have, were outshine by all of the other dishes. Certainly worth a try, though! They were perfectly cooked and drenched in flavor.

Croquetas de Pollo - For those of you lucky enough to have had Jaleo at least once... You will understand our love for Croquetas. These are a MUST order. We had them both days, and they were amazing in restaurant and to go. Just heavenly little crispy pockets of pure love. I'm holding back the urge to order them again as I type this. Total comfort food.

Churrasco - The steak was perfectly cooked, flavored, and wonderfully jucy. The chimichurri sauce really kicked off the grilled flavor of the skirt steak.

Cerdo al Pastor - We ordered this the second day. It has an absolutely amazing, smoky flavor. The bits of sliced grilled pineapple were a pleasant and delicious surprise as well.

I can't wait to try more of their dishes! Everything I have tasted and experienced so far has been amazing! It's my new favorite restaurant on the Pike. Not to mention reasonably priced! It is definitely worth your time to give them a try. The entire staff is amazing. You really can tell the food is made with love and a joy for what they...

If you were a restaurant trying to figure out how to charge people the most while giving them the least, you'd probably land on something like Sabores Tapas Bar.

This was our first time here, and honestly, we should’ve listened to the reviews. Most of the complaints we read? Spot on.

Our party of four was seated right away on a Saturday at 1:00 PM. The place wasn’t busy at all, which made what followed even more frustrating. We all went for the $33 unlimited brunch, excited to try a variety of dishes.

We’re familiar with tapas and know they’re supposed to be small, but these portions were microscopic. A couple bites, max. The meat dishes tasted good, but they were definitely stingy with the proteins—something a lot of other reviews mentioned, and they weren’t exaggerating.

But the biggest issue by far was the service. Our waiter was friendly, but the entire setup felt like the restaurant was actively trying to avoid its tables. There were long stretches where we didn’t see anyone—20 minutes at a time in some cases. That’s a problem when you’re doing tapas, where plates are small and meant to be ordered in rounds.

You’re limited to two dishes per person per order, which is fine. But with how long it took to get our server’s attention, I was only able to order twice over nearly two hours. That’s four plates total, which is not what I expected from an “unlimited” brunch. And again—this place was not slammed. We saw multiple staff members, but they seemed to vanish the moment anyone needed something. Other tables were clearly having the same experience, and we overheard one group venting about not seeing their server either.

As if all that wasn’t enough, someone in our group decided they still wanted to try the waffles. We knew what was likely coming, but figured—how long could waffles take? Turns out: 20 more minutes. And when they finally showed up, they were cold. Not even full waffles, either—just a corner of what you’d consider a regular-sized one. At that point, it felt like performance art.

All in all, this felt like a restaurant designed to slow-roll you just enough that you don’t get your money’s worth. We left annoyed and still kind of hungry.

Can’t recommend it, and definitely won’t...

October 2023 (5 months later): 4.5* Definitely improved. Service from everyone was attentive. Everything was delivered quickly and hot (or cold) than cleared when empty instead of everything sitting. The sangria was less cinnamon and mocha better. I tried different dishes and everything was cooked properly this time. I still want smaller size plates at a better price but with a large group, the experience was much better. The live musician created an amazing atmosphere. I'm very glad I returned and they grew into what my original expectations were.

June 2023: 2* Meh... I had high expectations given the reviews and Jose Andre background, but it was far from either. We tried a variety of options and the best dish was the salad, so that's not saying much. The guacamole was good but most of the chips had so much salt on them you had to scrape half off. The bacon wrapped dates were coated in bread crumbs and the bacon was a mushy mess of nothing. The mahi mahi was so overcooked it lost all flakiness and was so chewy it was like eating jerky. The steak ordered medium-rare came out medium-well to well-done, again jerky. We ordered a few other things but nothing to remember, just meh. The plates were decent sized but larger than I consider tapas for just two people, I would prefer half the size and price. I also tried all three sangrias... the only one that didn't taste like pure simple syrup was the red, which had cinnamon in it and not quite the refreshing I wanted on a hot day. The other saving grace was the bartender, he was amazing!! The other staff stood around and didn't help him, not even refilling water by who appeared the manager/owner and the ones bringing food never cleared...