Tapas De Espana — Restaurant in North Bergen

My friend told me about this place and said you need to go eat here whenever you are in the area or plan and outing. So I am out with my friend who said she was in the mood for some Spanish food and I am always in the mood for Spanish food lol and had this place pop in my bookmarks on Yelp only 1.3 miles away Sooooo you know what happened next lol. This an Amazing Spanish restaurant, with real authentic cuisine from Spain with a busy live atmosphere. Everyone is moving at 100 mph lol but I liked that in a strange way. The inside is pretty cool with paintings and candles etc.. a little dark but not too dark to make it annoying soothing setting.

So we arrive inside and the hostess who was nice says it is an hour and half wait now I am patient but I am not that patient lol but my friend was like lets wait she really wanted to try it. (Not to self make reservations in the future for this spot especially if you are starving). we wound waiting about 40 minutes or so and were seated. The reason for the long waits is that people literally eat their meals and then stay and talk amongst themselves for another 20 to 40 minutes lol seriously smh. For us to show up on a Saturday night around 8pm with no reservations cant really complain about 45 minute wait. Also the place is very small from the entrance it looks bigger than it is which is another reason why the waits are long because of lack of seating combined with the popularity of the place.

Well, shall we get to what we ordered LOL. The Chicken breast stuffed with crab meat in wine sauce with yellow rice. A M A Z I N G !!!!!! The amount of crab meat stuffed inside was impressive as most places kind of stingy and sauce was just EVERYTHING. Perfect tender chicken breast (Fork just went through meat like a hot knife through butter) perfectly seasoned and rice OMG !! . The "Salted Cod Croquettes" were done just right and literally melted in your mouth. The Stuffed Crepes with crab meat should have been illegal it tasted so good and one again the texture and seasoning really were flawless. Every bite of these foods was heaven seriously. The Coconut Martini was not only sexy but tasted as good as it looked so winning there as well. Our server was cool very great personality and cracking jokes about me butchering the menu names saying it in Spanish lol he was very informative and took pride in what he was doing and it showed the whole night. Very good environment from the staff to the customers everyone. Smiles all around everywhere you looked.

The cost of the entrees and tapas were very affordable. The price to portion/quality ratio was definitely a positive for this establishment. We were stuffed off one entree and two Tapas/Appetizers so definitely come hungry when you arrive. Parking is not the most convenient for anyone who is familiar with the whole North Bergen, Weehaken NJ area but if you arrive early you should find parking on a near by side street no problem.

Overall one of the best dining experiences I ever had as far as quality of service and food. If you are not a patient person do not come here lol but if you don't mind a wait for a seat the food and service will more than make up for it based on my experience. The question is not if I will be back but when I will be back. My only advice is RESERVATION other than that...

I found this place a few years ago on yelp when the app came out on the original iPhone we were new in the north bergen area, we when at night and loved everything about it the food, the service, the atmosphere, after that night this became one of our top choices whenever we wanted to go out and eat without playing russian roulette, fast forward to 2014 and we still go there we have now a daughter and this place is kid friendly but you have to pick the right table to make easier for us and the others dinners since kids will be kids and will start to move and make noise for these reasons we pick a conner table and all the waiters are very attentive, we try to avoid the dinner rush since the service tends to loose quality but thats normal because this get really crowed am surprise they can keep up.

Now the food is amazing these guys know what they are doing, we had tried almost all the tapas and all of them a really good, from oysters to sardines, calamaris, and the soup is really good by the way is always on the house, i also go to the bar to get lunch and never been disappointed, Miguel and Javier at the bar will always take care of you, am at the point that I let them pick my meal and so far never had a meal that i don't like and the locals are great and friendly you will most likely talk about sports and current events that are happening I already know a few regulars that go for lunch.

Dished that you must try with cup of cabarnet , Bacalao with potatoes (codfish that melts in your mouth), chuleticas de cordero (baby veal chops also try the lamb chops), chorizo a la plancha (Spanish sausages) Vasca salad (stuffed peppers) there are many more that i don't remember the names, try the Pedro Jimenez dessert wine, and even the coffee is really good.

Also if you want to rent the second floor go for it, we had our daughter 1st birthday and these guys are so good and make you feel that they care about your event, never at any point I got bad vibes when approaching the owner about the event he was very polite and professional, we agreed on everything in less than 10 minutes, i rented the place at least 4 moths before the date and they always called me to see if our needs have changed like how many people and type of food we wanted and what colors we needed for the theme, now the day of the event, we had 2 servers that were amazing and attentive they make sure everyone had their drinks and the food was coming in at the perfect time, they were very friendly with our guest and treated everyone with the most respect we had a great night the party was not big around 35 guests mostly children's and everyone gave the food and the service a very high praise.

At this moment am always worried to see this place on TV because we don't want outsiders to come flocking the place down, this gem has been under the radar and that`s the way we like it, are we been selfish? of course but am sure others neighborhoods do the same thing, i can say without a doubt this is the best tapas restaurant in the entire...

I called Tapas over month before my father’s birthday to inquire about having a surprise lunch for him. My dad goes to Tapas almost every weekend and my family and I have been going there for at least 20 years. I understand COVID has changed things for restaurants and Tapas no longer takes reservations. We’ve seen large parties come in all the time and didn’t think it should be an issue. However, from the start Ricardo was rude and dismissive to me. Wasn’t willing to try and work with me and was acting like he was doing me a favor for wanting this lunch to be at his restaurant. I offered to move the lunch an hour earlier so we weren’t “taking too many tables” (which he kept saying but it didn’t make sense because we were filling those tables with 15 people) into the busier hours. Once we were there he was not welcoming. Told me I was in the way at some point. His customer service/hospitality skills were awful. I felt very unwelcome and it was strange overall. While the wait staff was great and attentive, without even asking they brought out the cake, trying to rush us out (at the direction of management I’m sure). The cherry on top was when I went to use the restroom upstairs (as I was told I could use because the downstairs one was occupied). Ricardo saw me go upstairs and told me I should use the downstairs one. Then made a point to wait until I was out of the restroom to tell me I wasn’t allowed upstairs…for a second and then a third time. The interaction was strange and aggressive. My friends and family were already wrapping up to leave and there was no need to be rude to me or rush me. We had spent a lot of money on a big lunch and did not deserve to be treated this way. I indicated that he had given me a tough time the entire process when he, again, reminded me he did me a favor…by providing a service we paid for (?). He ruined the end of what should’ve been a great day for my dad. I will sadly never be...