Boqueria West Hartford — Restaurant in West Hartford

(Last visited 12/26/2024.) Boqueria is a very successful restaurant "chain" (I put chain in quotations because they only have 11 locations with 4 of them being in the same big city) located in big cities such as Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Nashville, Atlanta, Boston and now West Hartford! So with a new big name in town, it's time to check them out to see why they've been so wildly successful!

Atmosphere/Appearance: Set right on the main drag of Farmington Ave is this gem. It's set back away from the road with inside of a building that looks like it's from the 1800s nestled right next to Fleming's. It's an odd exterior, but I'm sure the building owners wanted to keep the vintage charm of West Hartford alive a little bit. Inside is completely different! It's so beautiful and open. The ceiling is high, the lighting is smart, the floors are a light cement color, the bar is welcoming and I just loved everything about the ambiance here.

Service: Alonzo took excellent care of us and made sure we have everything that we needed. Alandra was also the one who cut up our Jamon and was super friendly as well as informative!

Food: I started off with the Shishito Pepper Infused Margarita. It was a very beautiful and appealing drink. It was smooth with strong citrus flavors that resembled a limeade of sorts. Zero burn, which made me think there wasn't a lot of alcohol in it, but.. if it's the good stuff you wouldn't taste much anyway!

My first tapa of the day were the Pintox Morunos which are lamb skewers with a salsa verde served on a type of toast. They were DELICIOUS. Tender, juicy, but could've been a bit more juicy. The salsa verde was a great complement that added some minty, citrus-y flavors. The bread tasted like foaccia and I was a big fan!

Next up was the Seared Octopus. No fancy name, just straight up. Lol. There were some cool seasoning names used in describing this dish, but it looked BEAUTIFUL. They also called their potatoes "crushed" instead of mashed, whipped, stirred or anything like that. The octopus was good, tender and decent. I'm not the biggest octopus fan so I wouldn't run to order this, but if you are, this is a good one to check out.

Next up were the Shishito Peppers. These were fairly straightforward. Blistered, a little bit of salt and on the healthier side. You know, it's a vegetable!

Next up was the Forget Me Not Mocktail, but then I added liquor to it because I didn't see anything like it on the cocktail menu. Lol. Butterfly pea flower, lime, honey, thyme and ginger beer made up this drink then I added gin. It was refreshing, cooling, not too sweet and a big gingery. I actually enjoyed it more than the margarita!

Ham Croquettes were next! The exterior was crispy, but the inside was so creamy, soft and cheesy. I loved these. I didn't get much of a ham flavor, but certainly got plenty of potato flavor. I really enjoyed these.

Next up was the red sangria! This was a bit on the drier side with some sweetness. Not bad at all.

The chicken wings were off the chain. It's best to get these here on happy hour because they were incredible. I could just order of couple of these and some drinks then be GOOD. Crispy skin, smoky flavor, charred texture, just simple wonderful.

Last but not least was the Cerdo Iberico which is a VERY special kind of pork leg that has been aged and cured for 48 months! So these are so thinly sliced that you can see your knife through each piece. As you put each piece on your tongue it seemingly dissolves. It melts so well providing a soft, salty, mildly nutty, mildly fatty flavor. Fantastic.

Value: It's more of an upscale Spanish tapas style restaurant, but it's not fine-dining by any means. Don't expect to save money however. Lol. So come prepared to spend a lil' bit, but you won't be upset at the final bill. Happy hour...

These days, I don’t post restaurant reviews as often as I used to, and I rarely give low star ratings. But this time, I felt compelled to share our incredibly memorable experience with this establishment—memorable, of course, for all the wrong reasons. We were a group of nine, dining this past Saturday evening, excited about trying a highly rated tapas restaurant before catching a show at a nearby venue. We thought 1.5 hours would be more than enough time for a leisurely meal. Well, guess what? We were dead wrong. The Waitstaff: Apparently, our table warranted not one but two waiters to take our orders. Great, right? Except after that initial interaction, they vanished into thin air, leaving us in the hands of a revolving door of servers who seemed as baffled as we were. Every time someone brought food or drinks, there was a charming game of Guess Who Ordered This. Follow-up for additional drinks? Forget it. Most of us finished our first round within minutes and sat with empty glasses for the remainder of our increasingly frustrating wait. The Food Wait: We knew this was a tapas restaurant and expected dishes to come out as they were prepared. What we didn’t expect was for my partner and me to wait a whopping 1.5 hours for our food to show up—long after the other seven in our group had finished theirs. By the time our food arrived (in to-go containers, no less), the show was nearly starting. A new waitress—our fifth (?) staff interaction of the night— graciously offered to take my order off the bill, but not my partner’s. (Apparently, he didn’t wait long enough by her logic, even though we ordered together.) The Final Bill Fiasco: Now, here’s where the comedy of errors reached its peak. Not only did this waitress fail to remove my order as promised, but she also added someone else’s meal to our bill! With the show clock ticking, we didn’t have time to argue, so we paid for food we didn’t eat, service we didn’t receive, and mistakes we didn’t make. The Grand Finale (Spoiler Alert: It’s Not the Show): When we finally got home that night, I discovered that my $34 mixed grill dish included a chicken leg that was pink in the middle. Should I have been surprised? Probably not. Our friend, who had been sitting next to my partner and me at the table, ordered the same dish and left his nearly untouched for the exact same reason—his grilled chicken was pink inside too.

If this is what passes for a "highly rated" tapas restaurant, I shudder to think what a mediocre one might offer. Between the disappearing waitstaff, endless food delays, billing mishaps, and questionable food safety, it was an evening we won’t soon forget. Unfortunately, not in a good way. If you’re considering dining here, my advice is simple: don’t. Unless, of course, you’re into scavenger hunts for your server, playing roulette with your bill, and rolling the dice on...

Tonight, we had the pleasure of dining at Boqueria, a Spanish tapas spot in West Hartford Center, and let me just say—it delivered on all fronts.

Walking in, I was hit with a cacophony of sounds: music, friends laughing, and the clatter of dishes. But here’s the kicker—I could actually hear my server AND hold a conversation with my family. A rare feat for trendy places, where the acoustics often leave someone my age feeling like they need subtitles. Props to Boqueria for nailing the vibe and the volume.

Now, onto the food—and let me tell you, tapas are a foodie’s dream. Small bites of everything? Heaven.

We kicked things off with the Bikini Grilled Cheese, the Spanish cousin of a Croque Monsieur—but make it classy. No Wonder Bread here, folks. Serrano ham and burrata on perfectly toasted, airy sourdough, paired with a truffle allioli for dipping. I’m usually wary of truffle (too much, and it’s a train wreck), but this? Perfectly balanced. Smooth, creamy burrata and crispy bread—it was love at first bite.

Next, the Steak Skewers. Tender marinated sirloin and smoky chorizo, served on a bed of mojo verde. The steak was great, but the chorizo? That smoky, spicy bite stole the show. The tangy mojo verde tied it all together beautifully—vinegar cutting through the richness like a champ.

Then came the Ibérico Mac n’ Cheese. Listen, I grew up on the blue box, but this was a whole other league. A holy trinity of cheeses—Tetilla, Mahón, and Manchego—combined with Ibérico ham (basically the Beyoncé of Spanish hams) and topped with perfectly seasoned breadcrumbs. Creamy, smooth, and just the right amount of runny—not the gummy stuff you might expect. Absolute comfort food perfection.

For something unexpected, we tried the Roasted Carrots—and wow, did they surprise me. Caramelized to perfection, served with a Spanish wine reduction, orange honey yogurt, and more mojo verde. Sweet, spicy, tangy—it hit all the right notes. No wonder my wife claimed it as her favorite dish.

The Short Rib Flatbread came next, with braised short rib, pickled peppers, caramelized onions, and Mahón and Manchego cheeses. The short rib was melt-in-your-mouth good, and the sweet onions and creamy cheese brought the whole thing home. A flavor-packed masterpiece.

And finally, meatballs—because no self-respecting Italian skips the meatballs. A beef-and-pork blend served with a rich tomato sauce that had just a touch of heat. Topped with a sheep’s milk cheese and garnished with lemon peel ribbons. That bright citrus pop against the heat? Genius.

All in all, Boqueria nailed it. We’ll definitely be back because there’s still so much more to try. Trendy spot, great food, and a menu worth exploring....