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Cozy, colorful Spanish tapas restaurant & wine bar with a tiny shop in back selling books & music.

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Cozy, colorful Spanish tapas restaurant & wine bar with a tiny shop in back selling books & music.

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Boston | Roxbury | Spanish Cuisine

NicholasNicholas
230

Boston | The 2025 Foodie Bucket List for Boston Eats

LishLish
3610

I always thought America was boring—until I visited Boston 😍

LouisaLouisa
1660

Boston Foodie Guide 🧋🍳🥘🥓

HermieHermie
200

A very detailed review from someone who has eaten a lot of tapas! Outstanding bartender! I’ve been a bit disappointed lately when I go into high-end cocktail bars, and they don’t have ingredients I need for making my favorite drinks. Not only was this bartender excellent and knowledgeable, but as I was naming my favorite drink, he knew it, and he loved it as well. I ordered off the menu though, and enjoyed the “kitty’s got claws” because I am a big Mezcal fan and it looked interesting. It was beautifully balanced. Then I saw him making what I thought was a corpse reviver, and we talked a bit about that, and I was thrilled that he knew how to make one, so as I watched him making one for somebody else. I ordered it as my second drink. I know I’m supposed to be reviewing the food, and I will get to that, but a quality bartender, who is interesting and fun, and above all… Knowledgeable, is a very big part of an experience that has a full bar. Bravo, to this bartender! I only wish I remembered his name. On to the food. Interesting interpretation of tapas. Especially the cabbage, which was different than any presentation I have had before. A large piece, braised perfectly, with a creamy sauce. Patatas bravas were an interesting take as well. Often they are either too small with a bit of sauce smothered on them or they are too big and only spiced a little bit. These were a great size and they were seasoned, but did not have any sauce on them, which is wonderful. And then there was some romesco sauce (made of tomatoes and roasted red peppers, and usually almonds) on the side; a really great interpretation of this classic Spanish dish. (Note that a typical bravas sauce has smoked paprika and tomato paste) and I really enjoyed the romesco as a nice change. We also had a lamb slider, which was big enough for lunch for one person. So keep that in mind when ordering. It was actually halfway between the size of a slider and a regular burger. Also, the homemade focaccia was very fluffy! The rosemary butter is a good compliment. Atmosphere is cute. Loud and bustling and definitely not the type of place that is quiet and you can hear the forks clinking. Really great vibe. Wonderful neighborhood place. We lived in JP for years and raised our kids here and it was great to come back and see this new (to us!) restaurant in the neighborhood.

Lockie HunterLockie Hunter
00

TL;DR: Ambiance was great, service was good, food was bad (extremely salty, churros served raw). Save your money and don’t go here! I honestly can’t believe this place has such good reviews. I’d been wanting to try Tres Gatos since I moved to JP a few months ago because I’d only heard great things. Unfortunately it did not live up to the hype at all. It’s a nice cozy space with small tables and friendly staff. The music was slightly loud but we were able to talk mostly comfortably. Our server gave us good advice on how much to order, and we ended up going with the tomato salad, the lentils, the mussels, and a small vegetable paella (which was the perfect amount for two). The tomato salad was nice and fresh and I appreciated the labneh, but it was way too salty. The lentils were literally just boiled lentils with an egg yolk and shishito relish on top (didn’t add much flavor), and the only thing you could taste was (too much) salt. The mussels were good but basically just mussels cooked in a simple red curry sauce that could’ve been from a jar. But the worst offender was the paella: it was cooked in a tomato sauce reminiscent of marinera and didn’t taste like paella at all, it was way too wet which meant it didn’t have any crispy edges, and of course it was over salted (notice a theme here?). To make matters worse, the only vegetables in it were peas, extremely tough green beans (like chewing construction paper), and a few slices of radish place delicately on top (??). I feel bad for our poor server who kept having to come over to refill our water glasses because of the extreme amount of salt in everything. Finally, we decided to order the only dessert on the menu, churros with chocolate sauce, because we wanted a break from the salt. The chocolate sauce was great but the churros were completely raw on the inside (literally batter except for a hard shell on the outside). The worst part is that when we called our server over to send the churros back, they said, “Yeah, that happens sometimes” and immediately removed it from our bill. HELLO?? If you’re consistently serving raw churros to customers, especially at such a high priced restaurant, they absolutely shouldn’t be on the menu! The only reason Tres Gatos is getting 2 stars is because of the service and atmosphere. Even if this was an off night, I can’t imagine the food quantity would bounce back so quickly to how it appears in other reviews. Please save your hard earned money and don’t go here.

Kayla BoxerKayla Boxer
20
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Overview

4.6(451 reviews)$$$

Phone

(617) 477-4851

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Website

tresgatosjp.com

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Deep Dive

A deep dive into Tres Gatos