Dinner @ La Tasca

I have a great circle of friends. We are an eclectic bunch with wide and varied tastes and views. We started a practice of going out to different restaurants once a month. Our experiences have been very enlightening for me and I'd like to share them with everyone. I will try my best to take better notes of the goings on at our experiences, but I will say that my views aren't always the best side of a place. I'm not here to make friends with restaurant owners, I just want to say how I feel about my experience.

So, we all went out to a new restaurant in the Harbor Place gallery called La Tasca. It is Spanish type stuff and everyone really liked what they had to offer. The menu was extensive with plenty of choices to satisfy anyone....including me. I did have some criticisms though.

1. The service was very slow at times.

2. They have these sampler menus that have all kinds of things to try. The problem is that the tables aren't really big enough to accommodate all those plates. We had to have a server stand set up next to our table so that we could get rid of our plates. If it had been busier, I don't want to know how things might have been.

3. Unnecessarily expensive for some dishes for what you get. My example is the Buey al Jerez which, while very tasty, was a total waste of money. My plate came with two small strips of beef, barely covered with some mushrooms. I asked the waitress if my dish was the sampler or the meal and she said both portions were the same. I was like, for $8.50! She said yes, you are paying more for the beef. Apparently beef is really expensive in Spain. There may have been 3-4 ounces of beef total between both dishes.

Ok, so that said, what did they do right? Well for starters, the restaurant was very nice inside. Well decorated with a nice ambiance. Speaking from the thoughts of my friends, The Sangrias were delicious as was many of the other menu items. There was one dish that everyone balked at but I cannot remember what it was called but out of the 25+ items we all ate, having one that was objectionable isn't too shabby. We also loved the selection of desserts and recommend them but take care when ordering the dessert wines as they were very sweet.

I'm going to rate the whole experience at a 6.5 out of 10