Went for dinner today (Thursday). It was recommended by a coworker while we are here on business. Surprisingly the place only had three tables, but I think it must have something to do with the area the restaurant is in. We had two appetizers, empanadas and a queso and jam dish (can't remember the name of it.) the beef empanadas were great!!! I got the Pechuga Rellena as my entree. One word AMAZING! Entrees come with two sides (I got three!); roasted potatoes, kick ass black beans, and sweet fried plantains. Everything was really good! I got a red sangria as well! I'd recommend to those who are looking for authentic Spanish food.
(4)
Danny G.
They never answer their damn phone... I've been trying for two days. Couldn't make a reservation for my wedding anniversary, so I'm booking with a different restaurant that picks up their phone when it rings.
(1)
A W.
Tapas were great. Atmosphere wonderful. I'm coming back!
(4)
Alden K.
Great food, music and fun. Make sure to go on a night when there's music. The paella is a fantastic value and the portions are firefighter approved. Excellent and friendly service.
(5)
Naimah S.
So the only reason I dined here was because of the Groupon deal and the 4 out of 5 stars on the reviews. Now, the food was not the worst but then again it was not the best either. Upon entrance to the restaurant, my friend and I was greeted in a delayed manner. This was due to the manager, a young looking Hispanic guy who claimed that title, was taking a nap! How did we learn this? Because he told us himself! His eyes were red as he yawned and rubbed them. He even felt comfortable enough to inform my friend and I that his worker called off today because he/she was hungover from being drunk the night before. Umm TMI! Display some professionalism, please? There appeared to be no one in the restaurant. However; the place was observed to be nicely decorated and clean. We sat at our table for quite some time without a menu. I had to get up and locate him to request two menus. Then I ordered a sangria and I pulled out my ID, but it was pointless because he didn't even check it! My friend went to use the restroom and witnessed this "manager" changing his clothes out in the open, with no shame of course. While we placed our orders, the guy did not have much input. But all of a sudden when he brought us our food he had quite a few suggestions on what to order and how we ordered the "wrong" items. He stated that he would demonstrate some food to us, which we did not understand at all. What demonstration!? Finally, our check arrived and he indicated that the group covered he majority with just a few cents left, which he had covered. I was very much thankful for that, however; I felt that this was his way of compensating for the unpleasant experience. Anyways, try out this restaurant cautiously. The atmosphere and decoration is nice. The service is not the greatest. The food is alright. Orlando has many more tapas restaurants of great quality. I will not return to this restaurant again.
(1)
Yung R.
Some of the food lacked authenticity, but all of it can be said to be overpriced. The paella I had was decent, but $45 is ridiculous. I never paid that much in my three years in Spain lol, or NYC for that matter.... If the owners are Spanish. They need to go back and see what calamares are suppose to be like, as well as ailioli sauce. For the price, which I think is inflated for groupons or something, just go to downtown and get better food (calamares that are round, lol) and atmosphere(real flamenco show).
(2)
Kady W.
Stopped by here for a Friday night dinner around 8. I haven't been back in a while so I was kind of surprised to see the dining room half empty. Anyway, our table sat down and began to peruse the menu. We ended up deciding on a few tapas and the El Bodegon Paella. Since paella takes a while to prepare, we had plenty of time to enjoy the atmosphere. El Bodegon is a great option for date night with it's dim lighting, Spanish decor, and live bolero style music. The tapas was delicious, but I wasn't much for remembering what we ordered since paella was on my mind. As expected, our paella was delicious! My only comments for my next visit would be to take out the beef and ask for the paella to be cooked a little longer to add a nice char on the bottom. Also, service is bit on the slow side even after being served so keep that in mind when dining.
(4)
Lani G.
My mom was craving paella so we went to El Bodegon to try it out, since we heard theirs was among the best in Orlando. Unfortunately, their reputation did not live up to their delivery. I was surprised walking in on a Friday night and it being near empty, as there were only 3 other tables occupied. We started off with a glass of sangria, but it fell flat. It tasted like it was a bottled version that you can buy from Publix (one that had been open for a while) and there was no fruit in the glass. It was not very good and neither of us drank it. We started with the mussels appetizer and it was so-so. The tomato sauce that the mussels were in was delicious! Lots of chunks of onion and garlic and perfect for dipping bread in. The mussels themselves were so-so. 1/3 of them never opened and while the jury is out on whether you can/should still eat them if they are unopened, I'm from the old school of thought that you shouldn't. That being said, 1/3 of the bowl went to waste. We got the seafood paella which had mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, and octopus. The shrimp, clams, and scallops and mussels were decent but the squid and octopus were inedible. Hard, like erasers on the top of a pencil. The rice had good flavor but was overcooked and mushy. We were going to order dessert but since nothing else we'd had "wow'd" us, we opted against it. The waiter, who seemed inconvenienced to be there working that night, boxed up our leftovers and brought it with the bill. We felt bad since we didn't ask him to do that as we hadn't intended on bringing the leftovers home. When we left without them, he flagged us down outside with our box of leftovers. I felt so badly when I saw the look on his face when we said we didn't want them. We should have just taken the leftovers and thrown them away somewhere...
(2)
Lucy W.
The Sunday brunch here is a hidden gem! It's an all-you-can-eat experience with delectable Spanish tapas dishes and bottomless sangria. If you have enough people in your dining party, be SURE to order the paella. It's delicious. Service was a bit slow for us at first, but that may have been because our large party wasn't as punctual as we should have been. Throughout the meal, however, service was quick and attentive. Can't wait to go back!
(5)
Foodlover D.
I went here with some friends a while back , this place is located off 17-92 and is next door to Rocco's Italian grill. We walked in and was asked immediately if we had a reservation. We where stunned, there was hardly anyone in there and we needed a reservation ? We were still seated in a small dinning table . My friends and I decided we will order the tapas along with some wine. When it arrived I wasn't impressed at the tapas at all it seemed not fresh and wasn't very flavorful at all. We quickly payed our bill and left . This restaurant has had many awards on the wall about past , but that has nothing to do with the atmosphere at this present time. I will not be returning simply because my first impression wasn't to enjoyable.
(2)
Lydia C.
Stopped in for dinner yesterday with my husband to use a living social deal that was about to expire. We had reservations for 6:30 and arrived early and we were seated right away. Our server let us pick any booth we wanted since the place was mostly empty at that time. We each ordered a glass of the red sangria and our server brought out a basket of warm garlic buttery toast. The sangria was excellent, not too sweet or heavy, and the bread was irresistible! For our meal we went with the tapas side of the menu. Ordered the fried cod, cod croquetas, pimiento stuffed with crab salad, and the manchego & quince. Everything was so delicious! The fried cod was crispy and the fish was moist and perfectly salty. The cod croquetas were crunchy on the outside and the cod filling is very gooey like melted cheese! The pimiento and crab was also really good. I love manchego and the sweet drizzle on the cheese and quince makes it a good dessert! Service was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the food. We didn't wait long at all for anything that we ordered and the tapas are very reasonably priced. I highly recommend this place!
(5)
Mark P.
Old world charm reminiscent of the 80s complete with persnickety service that was somewhat irked over our groupon coupon. I say skip that coupon and go in for a tappa or two with a couple of sangrias on happy hour to get out on the cheap.
(4)
Lisa M.
The atmosphere is much more to the intimate/romantic side, so this isn't really the place for a family-style "bring your friends" thing as I usually associate tapas with. However, it's a charming little place and is a great date spot for sharing little plates of tasty things. I'm comparing this to my favorite local tapas place, Ceviche, so I am a bit biased. They have a much smaller menu here and a good portion of it is the more expensive paellas (of which I am not a fan). Still, they have some real gems on the menu like the roasted/sauteed chickpeas. We came with a Groupon and were in casual clothes, so I feel our service may have been a bit discriminatory. We were slow to be waited on, even though there were a handful of empty tables. They also seemed to not like that we didn't order any alcohol (neither of us drink, why would we?). All in all, nice, but I'll stick with Ceviche.
(3)
Sandra C.
Had a family event @ El Bodegon Tapas and Wine and the Paella, Tapas, Sangria and salads were AMAZING! Service superb and the Churrasco wad delicious. Will go back any time.
(5)
Schannon B.
I went here on my 21st birthday with my family. It was such a great experience. We loved the Sangria and the paella seafood and Chicken paella. It was like being with family in Mexico. This was our first taste of paella and we loved it.
(5)
Barbee C.
Food is incredible! Sangria,best I have had. Perfect balance of flavor. Very authentic! Paella for 2 will feed four! Tapas, amazing!
(5)
Janelle L.
Unfortunately, the food was delicious but the owner treated us like crap!! Mother's Day 5/10/15. I am a first time Mother and my husband trying to treat me out by taking me out to eat some tapas, paellas etc. The restaurant had a great Mother's Day Special $45 2 different types of Tapas a main dish and a dessert. Not bad. I saw that the main dish Paella said 2 people in parenthesis so I assumed that they are describing it as being big enough for 2 persons. So my husband and I decided to just order 1 Mother's day special and we'll split the paella. My mother in law and her other son did the same thing. The waiter said sure ok. When we go to pay our bill. its $230 to our surprise. I called the waiter said there is a mistake we just ordered 2 mothers day special. He brought the OWNER and the quickly the owner doesn't even say hello or Happy Mother's Day, just "whats the problem?" I said "hello Happy Mother's Day to you, I explained that we must have had a mis communication with the waiter and we mentioned that we were going to split 2 specials only and we are being charged for 4 of them. The owner points at each and everyone at the table and says 4 people 4 people ate so 4 specials at $45 what is the problem? I said the problem is we only ate 2 paellas and 2 tapas sets. So if you all are going to charge me for 4 then I need 2 more sets of the specials given to me. The guy goes you all must be stupid or something but I am not going to give you that because the paella is for 2 people and it is 45 per person. I said how dare you call me STUPID on my very first Mother's Day, this is not the way you treat a paying customer. Then he said if I wanted 2 more paellas he will bring them to me but I have to eat them at the restaurant and CAN NOT take them home. I then lost my cool sorry but I did. I said If I want to take my paellas and throw them in the trash I can do whatever I want with them because I paid for them. He then got upset right back at me and said you can't do nothing with them because I am not going to bring them to you anymore. I am going to take off 2 paellas from your bill but charge you full price for each tapas that was given to you. If he did that it would have come out almost the same price minue maybe $10. I said no you are not you are going to charge me 2 Mother's Day special and that is all. Anymore money you want out of me you can call the police. He then disappears never comes back and the waiter brings me that BS modified bill of 2 paellas but all the tapas charged to me. I refused to pay that and searhced high and low for cash for exactly the price of 2 mothers day special and left with no tip at all!! They tried to follow me and yelled at me. I ignored them and took off. Sorry I have never in my life acted that way. I was a waitress at TGIF for 2yrs and do my best to always treat customers good and other waiters good because I have been in their shoes, but this one took the cake. Ridiculous!! NEVER will I recommend or give this place a star in any of my reviews and I have and will continue to publicize this in social media!!
(1)
Jakki K.
A group of my girlfriends gathered here for dinner we had made our reservation for 8, but when we had arrived there was no table available for us (they were waiting for another table to leave). They offered us sangria and wine to compensate for the wait time, which was very nice of them! The food was good, and the service was great! We all really enjoyed ourselves and this is a great place to go with a big group of friends or family!! P.S. the Paella was yummy in my tummy! and so is the multigrain bread!!
(5)
Andrew H.
Came here because of a Living Social deal, but I'm happy I did. I split a paella, which was wonderful, but the surprising star of the meal, THE BREAD. Wow. Scared of vampires? Chow down on this stuff. The garlic on this stuff was so good. As far as atmosphere goes, it felt like someone's house, which I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Staff was warm and friendly! If you have the chance, give it a shot!
(4)
Mike R.
We went for Sunday lunch and we ordered three dishes each. We were quickly served and the tapas exceeded our expectations. The calamari fritas was especially well prepared. The cheese empenadas were light and delicious. Definitely coming back.( used groupon ).
(4)
Allison G.
We had a groupon deal and they treated us like a trash!! If you are not happy with Groupon, then don't bother offering the deal. Food and service was horrible, definetely won't be back not even with a better deal.
(1)
Raquel M.
If you are looking for the real tapas españolas, feeling like you are in LA madre patria, this is the place. The food is amazing, their Sunday brunch incredible, the staff is 5 stars. Really sweet and professional people. My favorite by far: callos a la madrileña. This is my go to Spanish place. Go there no doubt. Don't be full by other places that seem "tendy" "fancy or whatever. This Is the place
(5)
Cecille R.
Soo we've been here several times since my first review. Food is still delicious. Service is a little "ehhhh"...on the last couple of times we've dined in, there has always been a large party seated during our meal. And when that happens, our service has dwindled. So don't go in expecting fantastic one on one service or you will be very disappointed! Also, the table we were seated at was off kilter and wobbly. We had to be careful of not rocking the table suddenly so that my sangria didn't spill. Surprised the restaurant couldn't take 2 seconds to fix this. Only weird observation were the pieces of buttered pumpernickel bread thrown in our bread basket. Eww? I feel like that was really random and I didn't expect that when I bit into it. Not a fan. Seems like they ran out of bread and picked up a random loaf from Publix.
(4)
Lizette H.
My husband and I were looking for some good Spanish food and we found it. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria which was really good but needed a little more kick. We had calamari and we could taste it was fresh. My husband had the churrasco and he said it was fresh meat, I had a bite and was very tender. I had the paella mixta and was amazing! This is by far the best in Orlando! To top it off some pears in a delicious wine sauce and vanilla ice cream. This restaurant is perfect for a night out with the husband, if you have kids it's a little pricey for me. I could bot come with my three children.
(5)
Russ F.
Excellent paella. I've been here a couple times once just for tapas and once for the paella. The first was with a group so I got to try several different tapas which were all delicious. The chorizo in brandy sauce was the best thing I had in a while, then I tried the Garbanzo Frito I love garbanzo beans and anytime a meat( this case ham) is cooked with beans it's a great idea. I have tried both the seafood paella and the meat and absolutely loved them. Seasoned just right, the seafood paella had enough enough shrimp, clams and other goodness for all four us( we also got some tapas). Most importantly the rice was perfect. I enjoyed the meat paella with my girlfriend along with a tapa and we couldn't even finish it. Can't go to a Spanish place and not get sangria which was equally good and fit well with the meal. Going into the restaurant I could tell it was authentic by the waiters who spoke with a very heavy Spanish accent. None the less they were very helpful and extremely nice and pretty entertaining by themselves. It is a smaller place and can get crowded so a reservation is a good idea. I have never had a bad experience and definitely will go back soon.
(5)
Glenda R.
El Bodegon Tapas and Wine, Winter Park, FL Visited El Bodegon on Saturday, August 9th, 2014 for a nice family dinner. As always, the service was awesome!! We ordered around 6 tapas to share and it was plenty for all. Our waiter was professional and friendly! Would we go back? Yes!!!! Great place to share with the family!
(5)
Issa J.
I have had way better Spanish food than this..don't think I'll come again. They shorted my paella with scallops and fish. Seriously.. When I asked the waiter about the bread tasting old he said it's because of the olive oil .my okayyy!!! Over priced for the quality of the food
(2)
Michael W.
I found out this place through groupon. And I like tapas. So I decided to get $20 for $40 worth of tapas Walked in and it was packed. It is not a very big place but it was packed. I m glad we made a reservation. Service- it was a slow in the beginning. We didn't get the immediate service that you expect normally, however the waiter was very nice and had personable approach. Food came out before the bread and sangria. I thought it was weird tht that the order of food was served. However his service was very nice. 3.5/5 Food: quality of the food - not bad: I ordered 5 tapas and two glass of sangria. Tapa de la casa - was pretty good; i wish they had more type of cheese like they have in ceviche. Salpicon de mariscos - I wish the seafood werent chopped as it looked. It tasted very good . Camarones al ajillo - big shrimps and very well seasoned and NOT OVERCOOKED! =) Chorizon al brandy- good tasting chorizon! Pulpo a la brava- that was very good portion for tapas. I wish they add a little touch of lime to that. Overall it was good. 4/5 Atmosphere - it was a bit crowded , it needs to be space out or have a bigger location. There was a grandpa playing guitar and singing old school songs from merengue, flamenco, or salsa. The decoration and atmosphere setting was nice , a bit out of the modern, I do wish the place was bigger though. 3/5 Overall I will give it a 3.5/5 because I HAVE NOT TRIED THEIR PAELLA yet. So I will be back and provide an update to this place.
El Bodegon, we hadn't been here for a long time, maybe a couple of years. The few times we had gone before we just got tapas and wine. This time we wanted to try the paella. First the tapas, we had garbanzo beans with chunks of spicy ham and a light tomato sauce, they were delicious. Then, we had the mussels, in a light tomato broth, yummo and a great treat to dip the provided bread in. The bread was warm and tasty but some slices had a lot of olive oil (like really a lot) and an abundance of caraway seeds. We had a wonderful Rioja wine called El Coto which was delicious and went with our dishes very well. The bottle of wine was also a reasonable price point which was nice. Ah, then on to the star of the show, the mixed paella (seafood and chicken and sausage). Well, the rice was perfect and the seasoning was excellent. Unfortunately the proteins were not so great. The chicken pieces were huge chunks of dark meat that were quite overcooked, the octopus were rock hard and the shrimp were rather undercooked. I guess we should have said something but it took quite a while to get the paella and we were getting full anyway. But we did have a lot of leftovers which just went home and straight to the trash. We finished with a piece of their tasty orange crusted cake which was nice. Ultimately, I wish I could give 3 1/2 stars since the tapas, the wine and service were all excellent. But in the future we will stick with the tapas, or maybe one of the alternate entrees. In all fairness, I have had paella in other restaurants and settings and this was better than most. It is a step up from the typical chicken, shrimp and yellow rice with peas you get most places and was even better than the paella we got from a popular street vendor in Barcelona. So, it wasn't horrible, just not great either.
(3)
Kay Y.
We came here via a Groupon offer that was available recently. I feel like I've seen them once more but we didn't bite the dust this time. It was a Friday night and we decided to try this place out with our offer. The setting is like old spainish style, bricks, little booths which was pretty cool but it had this smell. Like my friends grandmas house smell - a little unpleasant. We mainly got tapas and no full entrees. The most memorable tapas I had ordered was the Salpicon De Marisco - which is kind of like a ceviche and it was seasoned well and tasty. The least favorable dish we had was the Pulpo A La Gallega - it was supposed to be fresh octopus but it had a raw texture that I personally did not like. The taste was over powered with paprika. The host and our server was nice but there was a lot of people working there. We sat right next to the server station so I could see how it was not kept very well in that area and that was not appetizing. Maybe the paella is better? Kind of pricey tho...
(3)
Denise B.
2.5 stars. Really not very impressed with this place. We had some tapas and ordered mushrooms that were very disappointing (probably canned), shrimps that did not taste fresh at all and bread that had way too much oil (really really a lot!). Service was ok. It was definitely overpriced for the quality of food u get. Can't recommend this place and don't plan to be back.
(2)
Stephany R.
This is a late review, but hey it's better late than never. The entire family and I came in to celebrate mother's day to toast for our mom. I had made a reservation two weeks prior to May 13. Once I got to the restaurant, the hostess could not find our reservation. There were many tables that were taken and the remaining ones were reserved. We were standing there for about 10 minutes, and I was reassuring the hostess that I did make the reservation. She just said sorry, and there was nothing she could do which I believe. Then a guy approached us, he seemed like the manager, and told us he would find a table for us. The hostess said that maybe we could be seated in such and such table because the other party appeared to not come because an hour had passed since their reservation time. Once seated, my mom ordered a glass of sangria which she considered to be good. She did mention it wasn't better than hers though. But you know moms, nothing is better than what mom makes. My two siblings had a glass of water and a diet coke. My boyfriend and I had a glass of wine. I had a Tempranillo and he had a Garnacha. Spanish wines are up to par. We ordered a plate of cheeses and meats as an appetizer. It contained at most 3 variety of cheeses. One was gouda, the other cheddar, and the other one I really did not care for. The meats had prosciutto and the others I really didn't care for either. The plate was small and did not warrant the price. Our party was satisfied with the taste of the appetizer though. My mother and sister ordered the Paella Valenciana. They loved the dish. However, I also tasted it and to me, it did not taste as an original paella. I don't know, but it had the flavor of an Arroz con Pollo. It was still good, but I've had better paellas. I do admit that the better paellas have been outside the US. From the paellas I have tasted in the US, namely Orlando, it was the best paella here. Still, it tasted like an arroz con pollo to me, though it had seafood. This was very disappointing to me because I was the one who reserved the restaurant based on the great reviews on yelp stating that it had a very good paella and that it tasted original. My brother and I ordered the Churrasco. It was okay, but nothing to rave about. When I asked my brother his opinion, he said he liked it a lot though. My favorite thing was actually the side dish, the garbanzos were yummy! My BF ordered what I consider the best dish of the night, Cazuela de Mero y Mariscos. It's a broth with seafood. Still, this inadequate description does not do it justice. It was so savory and yummy. This dish alone made the trip to this restaurant worth it. When I asked the server about the flamenco guitarist, he said he was not playing today. When I called to make the reservation I specifically asked if there was going to be a guitarist and I was assured that there was going to be one. I was even told the time and made the reservation at that time so we would get to see the guitarist and hear his music. If they would have been truthful to me and told me there was no entertainment, I would probably not made the reservation. My mom always wants to hear someone playing music or singing when we go out for a special occasion, so this really put a damper to our night. The manager approached our table numerous times to make sure everything was okay. He gave our mom a rose and gave one each to my sister and I even though we weren't mothers. Also, he gave the two sangrias my mom ordered to us for free. He informed us of this after he saw my disappointed face when he told me there were no performers and I guess because they lost our reservation. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS: - Order the Cazuela de Mero y Mariscos - Stay away from the Churraco, it's good but not stellar.
(3)
Rebecca W.
After seeing the 4 stars we were hopeful to find a really good tapas restaurant, but we were sadly disappointed. Sangria was good, but the food left much to be desired. Water tasted like lemon pledge. My husband and I are just waiting for the food poisoning symptoms to arrive because everything tasted "fishy", even the non seafood dishes. Food was overpriced for what you get and not good at all. There was only 1 other table when we walked in on a Friday night which should have been a sign in itself. Our waiter was nice, but it was probably the worst $100 dinner I've ever had.
(2)
Lara B.
I'd give maybe 3 stars for the food, but if it were possible to give negative stars for service I certainly would. I've been here twice now, and both times the service has just been horrendous. The second time we were with a large group, so we expect things to take slightly longer, but when they only have ONE server waiting on half the restaurant, along wtih two other men who were basically bussing tables (and refused to help in ANY way, not even to refill water or get sweetener for tea), that's a BIG problem. One guest in our party was even told by the server that he was "...a pain in the a$$..." when he finally got up and walked over to the kitchen area after asking 4 times for a drink. Both times that I've been here the food has been ok - not fantastic, not horrible. It's definitely tasty, but very over priced for what you get. And, by the time that you get the food over an hour after you order, you're really too annoyed to enjoy it! My husband and I agree that we will never return here again. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me. You don't get the third chance!
(1)
Yulissa M.
From the outside you would never expect such an intimate little place inside. Came here for my birthday dinner and was quite impressed. The service was excellent and food was very good. Has the empanadas as starter Tapas and they were yummy! Then ordered the Churrasco which was tasty and served with vegetables and potatoes (you can also get with rice). Sangria was delicious!! Definitely need to come back to this place to try their famous "Paella"!
(4)
Jason L.
Fantastic tapas, old world feel. Really delicious food and a killer white sangria. The staff is very friendly as well.
(5)
Valeska F.
I have been here two times before and the experience was good, but today my lunch wasn't good. First there is complimentary bread, which is good to have it for free, but it was made with bad burnt oil so that It was very greasy and tasted very bad. Also, I had a salad that was overloaded with vinaigrette and lacked veggies, which was also pretty bad. The other things I ate were very good, croquetas and patatas bravas. But my friend had some chorizo and said that it wasn't good either. Also, through all this time there was a bug in the wall, which speaks a lot about the sanitation conditions of the place. They are trying, but it could be better. The service was nice though.
(2)
Rica R.
Definitely overpriced. Food was just okay... I've had much better tapas elsewhere. We had spinach croquetas, garbanzo with ham & chorizo, & pulpo (ceviche style) which was fine but nothing spectacular. Also had tapas a la casa which was underwhelming... I would skip it and get something else.
(3)
Rahul J.
The culinary star of our meals in Orlando. So worth the wait when we walked in without reservations on a Saturday night. You could tell right away that it was family owned and it seemed that the owners were of original Spanish decent. Even many of the patrons seemed to be from Spain (tourists). At first we were worried when we parked that the restaurant will be empty or closed but it turned out to be a 25min wait. The tapas were excellent NYC quality but large portions which was something we'd given up on in Orlando. Mussels 9/10 Octopus 7/10 Patatas Bravas 8/10 Shrimp 9/10 mushrooms 8/10 Creme Brulee 9/10 - just right - not too sweet and cold below the warm carmelized layer the server was a bit stuffy and left out our last tapas order but apologized when we asked and comped our glass of wine to make up for it. Very professional. I'd be back to try the paella the next time we're in town.
Did I mention I love Tapas. I know why I enjoy it but the operative question of the day is what is Tapas? Without divulging too much of the history; Tapas are appetizers that usually accompany sherry, aperitifs or cocktails throughout Spain in bars and restaurants. The Spanish philosophy being "Eat when you drink, drink when you eat". Tapas food is basically locally grown, seasonal ingredients presented with a creative flair, be it simple items such as olives, thinly sliced ham or chorizo, and Spanish cheese to more elaborate preparations like omelets, snails, stuffed peppers, and even roasted lamb or beef. The reason why I relish it? It is an amazing array of finger food designed to encourage comradeship in a relaxed atmosphere where food is a 'part' of the evening and not the entire experience. El Bodegon Tapas & Wine is a family owned restaurant which hits it right on spot with this ideology. The focus truly is on good food, warm ambiance, and most importantly great company. Whether you are celebrating an occasion, having Sunday supper with family, or simply hanging with friends/colleagues at happy hour; El Bodegon strives to create a warm and intimate ambiance which fits all. Initially, at first glance the menu does seem limited, especially since I am used cosmopolitan restaurants offering a multitude of dishes. By the end of my meal, I had to admit that keeping the menu limited ensures that every dish coming out of the kitchen is cooked with care and served with the same passionate zealous, Spaniards are most well known for. In this fast paced world to some, the service at El Bodegon might seem slow but to me they are creating a comfortable atmosphere where we in a manner of speaking our forced to relax and enjoy our food and stimulating company. Over all the dishes stay close to the Spanish roots and the chef has done a phenomenal job of maintaining authenticity in the dishes served at El Bodegon. Bravo!! For your next gastronomical venture, head over to El Bodegon. It very well might become your favorite happy hour destination.
(4)
Javier O.
My visited Orlando for the first time in 5 years. A old Friend, decide to have lunch on Saturday at this particular tapas restaurant. We order a pitcher of Sangria and we order a few appetizers . The service was great and the waiter was on top of his game.
(4)
Francisco M.
This review is solely based on the fact that we were turned away on Sunday night. We arrived at 7:55pm and were told that since they close at 8:00pm, they were not going to serve us. First of all, closing at 8pm is rather early for this area. Second, it was five of us and I just don't see how a restaurant rather close than make money. They mentioned they had no food left which I find hard to believe. It seems service is still not a priority at this establishment.
(2)
Ashley H.
I had my first experience at El Bodegon this week and I loved it! We were seated right away, as it was a Tuesday night and not very busy. Our servers were extremely friendly and sweet. We decided to start off with the beef empanadas and I ordered the chicken noodle soup. What a beginning! I expected a small cup of soup, perhaps even a small bowl, as most restaurants provide. Not here! I received a HUGE ceramic bowl of soup, filled to the brim with chopped vegetables, huge chunks of chicken, and a rich broth. I could not finish it all, and by the end I was really full! My only negative on the soup was that the broth was pretty salty. I think they use boullion and it shows. The empanadas were fresh and delicious. They give you two and cut them each in half, so it's easy to share. My boyfriend was loving them and he was ridiculously happy when I was too full to finish the whole thing, since he got to eat it. Then came the food...oh my goodness. The biggest advice I can give to you about this place is SHARE. I ordered a seafood medley in a paprika broth, which featured shrimp, clams, and mussels. Let me tell you, that was enough for three people. There was so much seafood! It was all delicious. My boyfriend had the churrasco steak which was delicious and tender. There was absolutely no room for any other food. You get so much food for your money and you'll definitely be leaving with leftovers unless you have a lot of people to help you out! I'll definitely come back to eat here again!
(4)
Doug W.
My wife and I visited last night on a Groupon deal. The atmosphere was very nice and well done. The restaurant is a tad intimate (tight and enclosed), but the decorations were nice. There was some soft music playing in the background which helped the atmosphere since it was pretty empty when we came in. The place did start to get loud after a few groups arrived as we were leaving. The staff was friendly enough but seemed a bit snootish. They were decently attentive and the food came rather quickly. The food was good, but not very memorable. We picked 4 tapas to share - empenadas, croquetas, manchego, and a potato quiche. All were fine tasting but didn't stand out much. The prices were higher than I would think the quality was. We had sangria to drink (since that was the only happy hour choice), and it was way too sweet. It was also $11 for two of them, which was much too overpriced for the amount of juice that I feel was in it. Sangria is not hard to make, macerate some brandy in fruits overnight and pour wine over it! Overall, we enjoyed the time there, but don't really need to be back.
(3)
Sarah K.
Went here for dinner with my friends, for the second time this week. It is a relaxing place. A great place to go on a date, or have a date night. We had 2 pitchers of the Sangria as it is delicious. We also had their cheese, olive and deli meat plate along with an order of beef empanadas, and Chorizo Al Infierno since there was 4 of us. For the meal the Pechuga Rellena was awesome. I highly recommend going here for lunch or dinner. Great place, and great service.
(5)
Adan M.
Awesome place!!! Food was excellent, best Spanish flavor in all Orlando. We Tried: Garbanzo Frito Empanadas de Carne Callos a la madrilène Tortilla Espanola Alcachofas Marinaras Everything was really good. BTW, The garlic fresh bread was awesome too.
(5)
Klara C.
Ate here for date night last Friday. First off, we drove by this place twice because the lettering on their sign is difficult to read from afar so drive a bit more slowly, otherwise you'll miss it like we did. Walking in, the restaurant immediately gives off a warm, intimate vibe. It feels like you're about to have a nice dinner at a relative's house rather than at a restaurant. Other Yelpers warned it can get crowded and noisy on Fridays, but on the night we went, it was quiet and not too crowded, perfect for listening to the Spanish guitarist performing. So live music - big plus! We immediately ordered a pitcher of sangria and just like others have said, it was delicious! Light, refreshing, and not too sweet. I'm a lightweight so sadly I couldn't handle more than a glass and a half. Times like that I wish I brought a tumbler with me so I can take the extra alcohol home. We ordered the following: CHORIZO AL BRANDY (recommend) This came out of the kitchen literally on fire! My boyfriend and I were disappointed when the flames died out before we could get a pic of it (yes, we're that couple that takes pictures of food). Adequately spicy and the meat was a bit tougher than I expected, but you get a lot in the portion. I found myself dipping bread and the other meats I ordered into the chorizo sauce since I liked it so much. CALAMARES FRITOS (standard fare) Standard calamari, nothing too special. Thankfully it wasn't overbreaded like other restaurants I've eaten at. CROQUETAS DE JAMON (very filling) You get three pieces, though one piece on its own is quite filling, partly because of how fried the outside is. I found that I enjoyed my piece more when I just ate the filling with only a tiny bit of the fried outside part for texture. JARRETE DE CORDERO A LA CASTELLANA (kinda bland, disappointing) I'm a sucker for lamb and will always order it if it's on the menu. This is the one meal I was disappointed with. The portion is good - they give you lots of steamed vegetables and rice with the shank. I just found the tomato sauce it was cooked with quite bland and the meat quite chewy. I've had lamb before that's melt-in-your-mouth-tender. Sadly, this wasn't it. Sometimes I dipped the lamb meat into the chorizo sauce for more flavor. Overall, I would still come back here since I really liked the music and atmosphere, and the staff is quite friendly. Though next time I'd order one of the paella dishes. The couple next to us ordered one and it smelled amazing!
(3)
Isabelle G.
My favorite Spanish place in Orlando. I recommend their Sangria which comes in a never-ending pouring pot, the chorizos chooked in brandy, the mussels in the red sauce (dip your bread in it, it's amazing!), the caldo callego, and croquetas de hamon. We always go and just order a bunch of tapas, sip sangria and listen to the live music. The place gets packed but you truly get a great unique experience, like you're not in Orlando anymore. The service is slow but don't let this detract you, this is how it's done in Spain, taking your time to savor your food, enjoy the music and some colorful conversation with your waiter, really such a wonderful and unique place. Advice: make reservations, be on time to them and don't come on a time crunch, go to enjoy the atmosphere and the great tapas!
(5)
Robyn Y.
My husband and I were excited to try this place last weekend on our date night. The service in our opinion was not bad- it was just funny when we walked in because the hostess had put a mint candy in her mouth a couple seconds prior, and she tried to greet us, seat us, and hand us menus with the mint in her mouth :D She tried to cover it the best she could. The waiter was really wonderful and nice- he took our order in a timely manner. They brought us some warm bread- my husband said it tasted like some of the bread was fresh and some of it was a little dry and old. We ordered 4 tapas dishes- artichoke (cold), potatoes, shrimp, and mushrooms. The artichoke heart dish tasted like it had been scraped from the bottom of the pre-made barrel which was sitting in the fridge for a few days. The shrimp was actually excellent, and so were the potatoes. The mushrooms would have been good, but they were drenched in salt. In my opinion, they should try to cook on the side of less salt to appeal to a greater majority of guests. Then if people want more salt, they can add it themselves. We weren't going to bother saying anything about the artichoke and the waiter actually asked us about it (since we had barely touched it) and took it off of our bill- how incredibly nice of him. It was freezing in the restaurant though. When we were done, I was just happy to get out of there. I don't know that there are any good tapas places in Orlando if this was supposed to be the best one- we won't be back. Edit: My husband asked me how I could have left this out-- in the basket of bread, there was a random cinnamon raisin bagel piece seasoned with garlic, haha.
(3)
Luv T.
Went to lunch yesterday. The service was ok but I felt that the food was less than adequate. I had the French platter. The chicken skewer was very dried out and the puff pastry was tasteless. It seemed like a frozen store bought item. My friend had the salmon carpaccio. It was the same smoked salmon that you can buy at Costco. I won't be back.
(2)
Kayli W.
A coworker and I came here one day for lunch, upon his suggestion. Driving by, i can say that this is a place that I probably wouldn't venture in. We walked in and the place was dead--i assumed because we walked in at about 2:30. I ordered mussels with a side of steamed mushrooms. the mushrooms were VERY garlicy, but the mussels were pretty good. They were cooked in a chunky, tomato-y type sauce. For how dead the place was, i was pretty disappointed with the lack of service that we had.
(3)
Joann R.
On this visit, everything was spot on. It's been a year since my last visit and it left me a little disappointed as some of my favorite things weren't available. They had exactly what I wanted this time! We had a dinner of tapas - shrimp, calamari, tortilla, jamon/chorizo/manchego/olives and caldo gallego. The shrimp were fresh and tasty with heavy minced garlic - yummmm! GD loved the calamari and ate most of it save a sample for me - thinly breadly and flash fried. The spanish tortilla was tasty with its layers of thinly sliced potato, onion, and egg. Our meat and cheese platter was tasty and provides me with some leftovers along with one of the pieces of tortilla for breakfast. One of my stars though was the soup. I can't get this soup anywhere else. So delicious with beans, pork, greens - brings a smile to my face. I was practically giggling when I learned they also had crema catalana - its crispy, crunchy sugary coating over a layer of orange and cinnamin tinted creamy filling. drool.... GD who was a little resistant to trying something new was hesitant but ended up eating over half of it. Oh, I just realized maybe I was giggling because I was drinking that huge full glass of sangria they brought to me (smile). I wish I could pack them up and move them to VA. The decor is not unlike what you might find in a small Spanish tavern - although maybe you get more Argentinian wine selections!
(5)
Paula Michelle A.
I came here for lunch with some friends. It was pretty empty but I'm guessing thats because they had just opened for lunch. The three of us shared four tapas which we thought would be the perfect dish to share but the servings were so small. What the food may have lacked in quantity it certainly did not lack in quality. Each of the dishes we had were delicious. They had a pretty good lunch special but for the amount it cost i would have liked a bigger portion.
(3)
Angel I.
Dining room is a bit outdated, service was good, food was ok. The octopus appetizer was the worst octopus we've had (skin was slimy and didn't have much flavor). Paella was good but very greasy.
(2)
Heidi A.
Wow! we (2) ordered 3 tapas.. I thought that we under ordered based on the size I'm used to. These were AWESOME and HUGE portions for tapas. The prices were more than reasonable, the staff was courteous, the savory bites were melt-in-your-mouth bliss. I won't hesitate to come back here .. in fact, I wished I could have tried more things on the menu! I can't say enough good things about this place, so I won't. I'll just let you go and try this gem of a restaurant for yourselves. Run, don't walk. Make reservations.. the place only holds 66, and it gets packed weekend nights. We went on a Tuesday - it was not crowded, but still busy.
(5)
Caroline A.
I've been rewriting this review for almost a month now. I just don't know how to quickly and efficiently capture how disappointed I am in this restaurant. This was the place I would bring all of my visiting friends and family, and it became the place they would want to dine at when they were in town. So what exactly has changed? The quality of service and the food quality. As an ex restaurant manager experience has taught me that if your service and food quality is lacking, something is really wrong. Either management is oblivious or there is a current change in hands. Service - Originally the servers were attentive, helping you with your order, checking in on you (such as bringing you water and more bread), and letting you know the status of your order. Amazing how what I recently experienced were highly inattentive servers who acted like we were more of a nuisance, no water/bread service, delayed table touch (this means actually having a server first make contact with us.. usually this is to be done within 5 min or less), and rarely getting checked in on. This was a HUGE issue when I came with a party of 9 to celebrate in my post half marathon meal - not only was I hungry, but to never be able to find my server to let us know what was going on was just flat out infuriating. To make matters worse, we were the only table present and arrived 2 hrs before closing time. On the second trip my mother insisted that we speak spanish to improve the quality of service - this thought logic infuriated me, regardless of the spoken language, service should be consistent. Quality of food - I love the cataplana mainly for the clams and the great bread dipping sauce, this is usually a large platter. Roughly enough to supply 4-5 people. On my last visit the platter was half the size at the same cost and was very gritty. This irritated the hell out of me, if the price was lower I could have understood, but maintaining the price and offering less just really makes me wonder what's going on with the cost-effectiveness in the kitchen. Is this a harsh review? Yes. This is a locally owned restaurant that I would get so excited to dine at, and to be treated so poorly by the servers, and to make matters worse, have my friends and family be treated the same way is such an insult. Add to the fact that a manager never checked in on us (since one would assume they would check in on the dining room every so often right?) is just disconcerting. So, I'm sorry. Wait, no. I'm not sorry. El Bodegon, you should be sorry. Whatever is going on right now behind closed doors/in the kitchen is clearly affecting your overall restaurant. Alexis Mariñez (the executive chef) and Nadine López (the operations manager) - get your act together and get some customer feedback, maybe even get some secret shoppers to assess your servers. Something is clearly wrong and you guys are not aware. As they always say, good food CANNOT fix poor service. Please let me know when you get your service fixed and then maybe I'll come back in, but for now I'm on the hunt for authentic spanish tapas elsewhere.
(2)
Jonnabel S.
El Bodegon gave me the worst service experience I've had in a very long time. Being a former server myself, I completely understand how hectic it can be serving a table of 12. However, there is absolutely no excuse for ignoring customers and only serving them when taking an order and giving out checks. I ordered the short ribs dinner and I just don't understand why it took almost an hour and a half for my food to come out (Ordered at 8:30pm, received my food around 9:50pm). Fortunately, I ordered the patatas bravas as an appetizer and I was having some good conversations with friends or I wouldn't have been as patient as I was with my entree. It was around the same wait time for half our party as well. What really bothers me about the waiting is that our server never stopped by to update us on when our food would be ready or offered to do anything about the wait. We had to flag him down several times for water and updates. To make matters worse it was quite obvious that he didn't care whether or not we were doing fine with our dining experience. I'm sorry, but are we annoying you by being here and helping you get a paycheck? I mean, c'mon, this is the SERVICE industry. It's not glamorous, but at least try to do your job. And that's not all of it. Looking around I saw there were a few tables with large parties such as ours so I would think they're used to it and have a system as to how to handle the bill at the end especially if it's a split bill. I just cannot understand why our server had to take our checks to us one by one and run to the back to cash us out one by one. Oh and he even wrote out our orders in individual boxes of his notepad at the beginning of the evening. That should've made it a little easier to split up those checks. So comes the time for us to pay our bills and come to find out that they've already added a 20% gratuity to our bill. Well, I guess that explains why our server just didn't care. It was because he was already guaranteed a nice tip whether or not he actually did anything but take our orders! Now I don't mind automatically adding gratuity to a large party, in fact, I was expecting it, but 20%?!?! I was highly insulted. And it's not like I was going to leave him with nothing, but 20% was definitely way more than he deserved. And at that point I just wanted to pay my bill, leave and never come back. It's really unfortunate that the service overshadowed what would have been a nice birthday dinner for a friend. The food was actually good, but again, the horrible service overshadowed it. I will NOT BE RETURNING here anytime soon that much is for sure. And I will most definitely be telling my friends to stay away.
(1)
Esteban R.
Drove from longwood after reading all the reviews on the paella... What a horrible dish!!! And at $40 dollars !!! I got robbed! Asked for garlic bread and got sliced sandwich bread ( no garlic) .. Lol! Was I supposed to do a paella sandwich ? When you think paella you think seafood... I got 5 shrimp , no langoustines, no lobster, no scallops, I've ordered Chinese food at $12 whith more seafood , Do not come here, I know I won't!!!
(1)
A J.
Loved the place! Awesome Paellas, vegetables and seafood were excellent and tasty! 1 paella can be share up to 4 people. Sangrias: White was a little stronger than the Red, but delicious. Dessert are very, very good. Atmosphere: Small and cozy, like a restaurant you will find in Spain. They have live music some days of the week. Great touch! Service is excellent and prompt, but for those people that like to eat super fast and leave, this might be not your place for dinner. Remember this is a place to enjoy time and excellent food. There are offering Lunch specials for less than $11 for a 3 course lunch. Great value! Had visited Spain numerous times and towns, I can tell you this food is has close or even better than some of the dishes I had overseas. Give it try!
(5)
Michael y.
My dad wanted tapas in orlando, so yelp came through. This is very authentic. i just wished they had the green pimentos that are stuffed and grilled and topped with sea salt. the bread was fresh, soft, and grilled to perfection. The garlic shrimp were perfect and tender and the sauce was worth dipping. Sangria was a must do- perfect. the fried garbanzos and flambe chorizo were notable mentions. Service was perfect, our host was knowledgeable and attentive. Ole' Que pasa tronco!
(4)
Michelle D.
We were looking for a tapas restaurant in Orlando online and found El Bodegon. The food was incredible and the portions were HUGE. We are definitely going back.
(5)
Caroline S.
Probably my new favorite restaurant in Winter Park/Maitland. (there's not a whole lot of them) Came on the weekend around two and it was pretty empty. We got the small pitcher of sangria which was light and fruity...light on the wine, but still refreshing. We ordered the patatas bravas, the muscles, and the calamari. They were all quite delish. Our waiters were perfect, and watched the world cup with us! =] Will definitely come back!
(4)
Annette B.
My husband, myself and In-laws had dinner there last night. We ordered a Paella Marinara, cost $36.00, it was the worse paella ever. They should feel a shame of themselves. The color of the rice was not a traditional Spanish saffron yellow color, it was brown with barely any seafood. What a disappointment! Never again. Do yourself a favor and stay home.
(1)
Wendy m.
Paella is one of the best in town. I love the live music. This would be a great date place. Nice dim lighting and a good selection of wine. The booths are nice and service is attentive. You must try the orange creme brule. I am not a huge fan of orange flavored desserts but it is so slight and the texture of the dessert is dreamy.
(4)
Bob M.
I often turn to tapas when setting up a group dinner since everyone can spend as much as they want and there's enough variety to satisfy any set of taste buds. This time around we had a party of 18 and I'd heard good things about El Bodegon, so I thought I'd give it a try. They were happy to take the reservation and had a huge table awaiting our group. The inside is charming and very Spanish looking. They have a guitar player on the weekends and some old Spanish waiters that add to the charm and let you know you're eating somewhere real. The staff was exceptionally friendly and a single waiter managed to handle our entire party through the night without us ever needing to ask for a refill of water or sangria. Our food also came out steadily and nobody was ever left without a dish in front of them. There were no awkward moments occasionally encountered at tapas restaurants where one half of the table has food and the other is still waiting. That alone earns big points in my book. As for the food, it was really excellent. Very good, traditional tapas on one side of the menu and entrees on the other side. I personally stuck with the tapas and was not disappointed. The tapas menu is something of a 'greatest hits', with every one of my favorites accounted for. The empandas were great, with big chunks of bacalao, the croquetas were light and crispy on the outside and warm and creamy on the inside, and the mussels were just WOW. Portion sizes were great for sharing; any given dish had at least 4 items so it was easy to pass things around and still get your fill. I don't think there was a dish I didn't love throughout the entire night, which is really saying something. I will definitely be back to El Bodegon, hopefully soon.
I remember when this place used to be a Chinese restaurant. I went to middle school with the son of the owner, and sometimes, when I would go there I would see him sitting in one of the booths doing his homework. Anyway, the current restaurant in this building, El Bodegon, is awesome! We went there with another young couple and had a feast. The service was good and the food was very tasty. We had wine and shared a bunch of the tapas. Everything was great. We had a wonderful experience. Great place for dates and double dates. Good ambiance and atmosphere. Check it out.
(5)
Angie M.
Churrasco and pork chop were great! Great ambiance! Lacks on service and music was good, but too loud. We were "screaming" across the table.
(3)
Ross R.
We got to this place at approximately 830 on a Tuesday, the place is open until 10pm. We weren't greeted at all when we walked in, and I am not sure the host spoke English. Good thing I speak a little Spanish so I could understand that my table is ready...which he pointed at so I could seat myself. The food was decent and fairly priced, but I think they charge for smiles. The final straw was that they decided to move every table in the restaurant around us as we were attempting to finish our paella. Maybe if you go earlier in the evening it will be a better experience.
(2)
Angie P.
Such a great, cute ,cultured place! Food was excellent. Every time my boyfriend and I go here we order something different and have not been let down, ever! Food is sooooo Fantastic and the service is even better. Waiters are so Warm and mannerly and very friendly. They have live music most nights. You must go! They have a groupon for $20 to get $40 worth of food. Cant beat it! Go! Go! Go!
(5)
Annette G.
Hate to do it, but I need to take a star off my board for El Bodegon. The last time I was there, it was packed! Which is a very good thing for them. Unfortunately for us, several dishes that were ordered never made it to the table. Our server had no idea where our food was, or what had happened to the orders. There was enough food for the group to eat, but it was a big let down. Also the sangria was sweeter than Hawaiian Punch. Most of the food was still good, the mussels are definitely my favorite item on the tapas menu. Skip the quince and cheese plate... not much in the way of cheese for $8. Not a bad option for Tapas or authentic Spanish cuisine, but... not one I'm going to rush back to either.
(3)
Emily L.
Authentic traditional (and wonderfully fresh!) Spanish food served in inviting atmosphere. I took my parents here as well; and they gave it 5 stars too. El Bodegon is the only place currently I've found that serves the kind of tapas my parents enjoyed while living in Spain for 3+ years. I've had about 75% of the menu items, and loved them all. Some favorites are the muscles, stuffed peppers, garlic shrimps and paella. They do a happy hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well, a great time to enjoy your fill of the sangria as well as half off tapas.
(5)
Lilly I.
Wow! The tapas were excellent. We had the chorizo flambe. The chorizo was delicious and had just been on fire so the edges were just perfectly crispy on the edges. The tortilla espanola was tasty and well seasoned. The jamon con melon had salty, dry (this is a good thing), smoky and perfectly fatty ham slices, though the melon could have been a little bit sweeter (but it isn't honeydew season yet). The sangria was light and refreshing -- not too sweet. The pitcher was the perfect amount to get three of us slightly buzzed. The deserts were what blew me and my dining buddies away. The coconut cake was incredibly moist with a light and rum-flavored whip cream frosting. It was thinly frosted on the top and had a crispy carmelized crust that surprised and delighted us. The manchego with quince paste was sweet and tart and salty and generous. The roasted pears were soaked in a sweet brandy so they were tart, sweet, with an edge, served with almond and caramel ice cream. The above three deserts were my favorites, but the flan and the creme brulee with orange infusion were also very good. My dining partners loved the brulee but I'm never much of a creme brulee person. Service was friendly and it seemed to be a family affair. The chef came out and said hello. The waiter and the chef both talked about learning the recipes from "an old man from gallicia," though the flan was the chef's mom's recipe. Like proper tapas, we got food in four rounds -- our waiter did a good job of keepeing us eating letting food get cold. Food, friends, good stories, and generous sangria made for an excellent night. I wish I could put this restaurant in my pocket and take it back to San Francisco with me.
(5)
Greer R.
El Bodegon features high-quality, traditional tapas and a solid Iberian menu. Like many others, we had been meaning to try this restaurant for ages and finally got around to it--it's unassuming frontage and location across the street from the excellent Black Bean Deli kept us from it for a while. The tapas are lovely and their traditional style is a nice departure from the modern fusion tapas many restaurants feature. While some dishes could do with a little less salt to my taste, there's nothing I would advise against. The real steal, however, is the lunch special Wednesday through Friday: soup or salad (both of which are excellent), bread, one of several main dishes (including paella on Fridays) and a desert for $10.99. It's all good and easily one of the best deals in Orlando. And, as no tapas review would be complete without a mention of the sangria, it--like the tapas--is well-realized in a traditional fashion. Cool and refreshing, with just the right amount of a citrus--not an entire fruit salad plopped into a wine glass.
(4)
Myriam M.
I checked out this restaurant after reading other Yelps' reviews and fell in love with the place the moment I walked in. The tapas were excellent although I can not say the same for the paella. I've had paella at various restaurants in Spain and New York and this one unfortunately can not be compared. The sangria had a good taste but did not have any fruit in it - looked more like grape juice than sangria. The music was excellent and did not expect to dance when I walked in but ended up dancing the night away. It was so good that I called some friends so they could join me.
We have been meaning to go here for about 2 years!!! We finally went on Saturday evening Loved the decor, live guitar playing Very attentive service good suggestions There was four of us and my Mom in law is VERY VERY picky. We ordered 5 or 6 tapas The pork was FANTASTIC, the little red potatoes were so good we ordered an extra portion. Empanadas very tasty, the shrimps were seasoned perfectly, tortilla was excellent and Jamon croquettes were very tasty On the waiters recomendation we ordered the paella for two the meat not sea food and it was more than enough food, I even brought some home THe paella was truly excellent, fresh aromatic, pork, chorizo and chicken We had a great evening and would recommend to ANYONE Excellent
(5)
Ronn B.
My wife and I stopped in for tapas and were not disappointed. Very pleasant atmosphere and they pour a nice house Malbec. Our waiter was very Spanish and served in very authentic Spanish style. He wanted us to take our time, feel at home and that was very nice. We also met the young lady chef from Barcelona and talked about Catalunya. The only reason I do not give it five stars is that when all was done and we were REALLY ready to go it took a while to find the waiter, get the check, get paid and leave. That's usually OK in Spain, but this is the USA and when its time to scram it is time to go.
(4)
Victoria H.
Favorite restaurant in the hood! Everything was very good and mussels, patatas bravas, salad, calamari were all great. Service was helpful and friendly. Tuesday and Thursday 2 for 1 great deal.
(5)
Chris R.
second time around I enjoyed it much more the food was better or my attitude was. they had white sangria this time which was yummy but didn't taste that much different to me than red sangria, who knows I'm not a wine person anyways. Had some of the same tapas this time, but one I hadn't had before was really delish. The croquettas(5/5), I didn't read what was in it and assumed it was mashed potatoes but the excellent waiter said it was ham, cream, flour. Man those were really good with the aoili sauce which was mayo and red pepper paste. The clams again were bomb as hell awesome(5/5), it's cause of the creole sauce which uses the holy trinity + 1(onions, celery, garlic, bell peppers), even after the clams were done I used the bread to sop up more of that sauce. Also had the shrimp in garlic sauce which was pretty tasty(3.5/5). The have some really good specials on certain days of the week, I mean like amazing(2 4 1, all you can eat)! but you better call in case they've changed the day when you are reading this and planning to go. Restaurant.com has a great coupon for them too and a copy of their menu: restaurant.com/microsite… and if you figure out the discount code via slickdeals.net you will even get a discount on the purchase. You have no excuse not to go here now.
(5)
Trung N.
I really like this place. The employees were very friendly and the food was excellent. There was even a life band that night that did great job. It was quiet the romantic setting for dinner. I of course had to have some pork so I ordered the Chorizo al Brandy tapas dish and the Paella Valenciana. It was delicious and it went well with some Sangria. I think it's a great place for a date or just to take people who would like to try what tapas are like. It's also close to Park Ave if you want to end up there afterwards or to Winter Park Village. I am definitely coming here again to try some other dishes.
(5)
Victor V.
(2/24/2012) The atmosphere and service was appropriate for an evening dinner. The staff doesn't rush you and in fact are occasionaly asking if there's anything else they can bring you. We had "tapas de la casa" which was good not great in my opinion, especially for the $$ it costs. Our main course was the "Paella Mixta" which was very good and very filling, it serves more than two easily. The only letdown was some reviews here said the sangria was great, We tried it but it was more sweet than anything. The overall atmosphere sets the mood for a romantic evening and the food is as close as to the real thing found in Spain with a twist. I would recommend El Bodegon and will probably attend again in the future.
(4)
Scott L.
Overall pretty good - authentic tapas and paella. The croquetas de jamon were superb but the chorizo al infierno (sausage flambe) was a bit too oily. Some good choices on the wine list although a bit limited. Would return again to try other dishes. Prices were very reasonable.
(4)
Jorge G.
All of the Spanish tapas at El Bodegon are excellent. Live music on the weekends and a great place for large groups.
(4)
Joe D.
Orlando actually has some excellent Spanish food now. El Bodegon is no exception. Your typical assortment of Spanish tapas done very well and affordably. I highly recommend.
(5)
Luis G.
This is a fantastic hidden treasure in Winter Park. I have become a regular (no more Ceviches for me!) From the outside, it looks very unassuming. Don't let it fool you. In the Inside, the ambiance is intimate and cozy. They also have live flamenco music by an amazing guitarist on weekends. For the food, I have eating at the other tapas in the area and this one is by far the most authentic (not just the fusion stuff). The chorizo is incredible and according to the them, it is made fresh (not Goya). The Pulpo a la Gallega is just right. Finally a place that knows how to cook octopus!!! Tortilla Espanola is well seasoned (did not need to add extra salt). My wife loves the croquetas! For tapas, they were good portions and prices are reasonable. And unlike Ceviche, parking is available and free! A note, this is a real mom-and-pop restaurant, so need to be a bit patient during rush hours. On a Friday or Saturday, give yourself 2 hours, have a few sangrias, enjoy the live music, and you are coming back for more. I am!!!
(5)
Fred F.
We've been there twice, both times were wonderful. The first time we had no reservations and they were kind enough to fit us into an already crowded weekend night. The second time we called ahead to make sure we had a spot reserved. I have no idea about the entrees since we did tapas both times, but I can say that the tapas are excellent. I'm pretty sure we've tried virtually everything on the menu and all were good. The Tapas de Casa was probably the only one that I can't rave about as the olives were nothing special and the whole thing seemed a bit overpriced, but everything else... wow. The make their own chorizo and when they flambeau it, it is out of this world. The octopus is great, the mussels to die for, the clams excellent, the crab stuffed sweet red peppers are so good we ordered more to take home for the next day's lunch. The sangria is good, the life guitar is a bit loud but very good. We had the same waiter both times, an older Spanish gentleman and he was truly delightful. What can I say, if you are in Winter Park and want tapas, this is the place to go.
(5)
Alessandra V.
Love this place. If you are looking for real Spanish tapas in Orlando you have to check out El Bodegon in Winter Park. The place is small, but full of life. The sangria was awesome, and they don't skimp on the fruit, unlike some other places. The Spanish tortilla was melt in your mouth good and the fried calamari was perfection. We also ordered their paella and it tasted wonderful. I come from a Latin family and grew up around loud dinner tables surrounded by animated and heated discussions. Now, I think one way you can quickly tell a good Latin restaurant from the wanna-be's is by the noise level when you first walk through the door. It was my first time to El Bodegon, but as soon as I walked in I heard screams of laughter, heated conversations, and Spanish music all around the room. On the weekend they have a Spanish guitarist come in to play and sing. The atmosphere is lively, fun, and will certainly lift your spirits. If you're looking for a quiet night, check it out during the week.
(4)
Maria R.
I went to this place with my brother who came from out of town to spend some time with us. We arrived at El Bodegon ready to tackle some real Spanish food. The place is small but very inviting. We were greeted by our waiter who provided us with the menus. My brother was ready to dig into some good tapas that evening and he ordered 3 different tapas, classic tripe dish, cod fish empanadas and some ham croquettes. I on the other hand ordered some shrimp and yellow rice. I also made sure to ask for the Sangria (red) which was delicious and refreshing. Overall the service was excellent and the price reasonable. I liked that there was plenty of parking in the back of the establishment. I also took my mom there for a 2nd visit and this time we ordered the Seafood Paella...It was delicious in flavor the only small problem was that the Octupus was very tough and we mentioned it to waiter and they deducted from our bill. I would highly recommend this little spot whenever you feel like eating true Spanish food.
(4)
Anna B.
One of my favorite places! The olives are so good I can just keep ordering them, paella marinara is really yummy and enough for more than 2 people. Try the seafood mix ceviche- super good! Also,don't forget to try their amazing sangria(red or white-both perfect). Have been there many times, and the service has always been great!
(5)
Rocco B.
First time here and will come back again for sure. Traditional Spanish food and setting. Food was great plus live music good service .
There was some high and low points of our visit. I called Friday afternoon about 1:00 to make a reservation. I left a message on the answering machine and no one called back. I tried calling again about 4:30 and no answer. hmm. Are they open? we went anyway. Some of the high points; we were greeted in a very friendly and welcoming manner when we arrived, almost like old friends. They were out of the bottle of wine that we ordered so they substituted a more expensive bottle for the same price. The Tortilla Espana (Espanola?) was delicious. The low points, the music in the main room was SUPER loud. We asked to be moved to the little side hall that has a few booths. At least we could have a conversation there, but it was really hot over there. If you want wine by the glass, there is Sangria or the house wine. That's all. Everything else is by the bottle. I had the lemon chicken and it had highs and lows as well. The flavor of the chicken was good, but it had big chunks of garlic on top of it in the sauce. I ended up scraping most of it off because it wasnt all cooked. I really dont want raw garlic overpowering the rest of the food. It also had some olives on top of the chicken with the pits, so when I asked for a box, the server just scraped the entire plate into the box; chunks of garlic, olive pits and all. If there is a next time, I'll put the food in the box myself. Also, the vegetables that came with the chicken were the frozen variety. If I am going to pay that much for dinner, at least give me fresh vegetables! I am not sure if we wold go there again or not.
(3)
Steve S.
El Bodegon is small but cozy Spanish restaurant on Orlando Ave in Winter Park. The layout has a feel like someone moved into an existing location and just tried to make it work. The foyer is tiny and the dining room is just one big room with tables along the hallway to the restroom. Add in a singer and the usual table conversation, and the place gets loud! Taking singer/guitar player off the amplifier would have helped (no need for that in a place this size.) We ordered the Mixed Paella which was good. There is enough to split at least three ways, but you can augment that with some of tapas which were good overall. Salads looked fresh. Sangria was ok, but seemed overly sweet. Fortunately, the ice they pour it over diluted it making it more drinkable. The hostess was very good about seating us quickly even though we didn't have a reservation. Service overall was efficient and not overly intrusive, but a little awkward bringing out the dishes. Overall, El Bodegon serves up pretty good Spanish food with good service and a welcoming staff. The environment could be better, but they do a fine job with the space they have.
(4)
Kathy D.
I think this place has an awesome lunch menu for a great price of $10.99 for the type of restaurant that it is. You get your choice of soup or salad, one entree or 2 tapas and dessert. I ordered the salad with seafood paella and flan. They also provide slices of baked bread. Everything tasted amazing and fresh! Service did lack a bit, but I would definitely come back again. Very intimate and fancy place.
Every time I have eaten here the food has been excellent. The Paella Valenciana is a must have as well as the Calamari. Weekends offer live music which really adds to the ambiance. The service was great for our table, though I did notice what other reviewers mentioned at neighboring tables. But all in all I'll take hit or miss service for amazing food.
(4)
Pierre S.
Was ok. Had a living social coupon so thought we would give it a try. The chorizo was good but a little oily. The home made bread was great. Stay away from the octopus. Too slimy. Clams in tomato sauce was above average .
(3)
Mandy B.
Notice: I have never had anything from El Bodegon other than tapas, dessert, and sangria. That being said, go forth. This is my favorite tapas place in the history of Orlando tapas. The menu is not elaborate (a la Ceviche) and overflowing with choices, but the food that they do feature is ON POINT. Patatas Bravas: Red potatoes in a spicy aioli...YES. Spain is proud. Camarones al Ajillo: Shrimp in garlic sauce...can you go wrong? Garbanzo Frito: Chick peas lightly sauteed with ham and spice? Sounds lazy, but it's fantastic. I see people have their gripes about service, and maybe I'm very lucky, but these people have always treated me right. I've never had to make reservations (their hidden location doesn't make them a hot spot) and have always been greeted with timely, energetic service. Also, this is an authentic Spanish restaurant, so, if you're a get-in-and-get-out type of diner, this isn't for you. Europeans take their time at dinner. It's not a reflection of poor service, it's part of the atmosphere. In short, I love this place and you will, too. The ambience is a nice change from you're typical foodie establishment of choice and on the weekends they have classical guitarists playing while Spanish futbol is streaming on the TV. Classy, intimate and just a damn good cultural and food experience.
(5)
Shea's Lounge S.
Yes the Sangria makes you smile, and the old Spanish decor relaxed my bones. I really wanted to enjoy the food but it was lack luster. Nothing was bright and aromatic enough to compel me to dive in with reckless abandon. We ordered two salads to share between three. Ensalada de la Casa Mix greens house salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing was a good portion with olives, onions, tomato . We ordered several tapas to share one of cod fillet which were fried and kind of bland but fish was flaky and moist, CHAMPINONES AL AJILLO Fresh mushroom in green garlic olive oil. but they seemed like canned mushrooms with dusting of parsley and garlic, not lovely fresh assorted mushrooms I was hoping for ,pork something that said it was tenderloin but it was so marbled with fat that I'm not sure of that either. It was braised and cooked slow and was very tender but again there was more fat than flavor. CALAMARES FRITOS Fried calamari Galicia style with alioli sauce which from a fried perspective really came out nice and light with very little oil, but again the plate was pale and boring and the seasoning and alioli sauce were just so so My company was great and the team of waiters caring for us were lovely. On a good note the rain did not spoil our plans and the wait staff was so warm and lovely that we enjoyed our dinner non the less. Would I choose to come back without a groupon? Probably not but I would return if again there was the promise of good company and conversation
(3)
James D.
You know the places that make you sadder with each visit? Our last few visits to El Bodegon have left us wondering what happened to a once wonderful restaurant. What's changed? In short; The service. Let's start with 2 visits ago. We had reservations for 9 on a slow night. The server began by asking how we were doing the checks, which I appreciate. 4 couples and 1 loner. There was a bit of confusion during the ordering process but when we finished, the server reviewed and it was all correct. Everybody ordered tapas, so as is typically done, items came out at different times. That's expected, but for items came out 20+ minutes after their duplicates. 3 people ordered the croquetas de jamon and 2 came out fairly quickly. After a long wait, the 3rd person asked about their order and was told it was coming. A few minutes later, the server returned to again ask what it was. So along with that person's croquetas, we let him know about 2 other missing items. On this visit, the food was all excellent, so read my prior review for those details. . Note: 1 of the items we ordered, as we often do, was the clams cataplana. As they usually do, everybody commented how big it was. Remember this for later. Time for the checks! Being the only party remaining, and their closing time approaching, we expected this to be quick. Instead, we got a Woody Allen movie. The server went through our 5 groups verifying what everybody ordered, and again was correct. Immediately after, he again asked what the 1st couple had, marks it down, and goes away. He comes back 10 minutes later with their bill. He asks if it is correct, they agree, give him a card, and he's gone for another 10 minutes. Now, we're wondering if that's really how he's going to do all bills. When he comes back, he goes through the same process with the loner, and is again gone for 10 minutes. He returns with her bill, gets her card, and leaves... for 10 minutes! When he comes back this time, we ask if he could bring the other 3 checks at the same time. We review the orders, he marks it all off and leaves... for 10 minutes! (We joked that it would be 30)When he returned, 2 of the checks, including mine, had errors. I spoke up and he left to correct the checks. As he left, I was admonished by my friends because they could all see what was about to happen. Yup, 10 more minutes of him fixing the checks. Before he returned, a friend spoke up: "When he comes back, the check is right no matter what... Even if it's wrong." Not wanting to drag myself home with a pair of broken legs, I agreed. When he returned, the checks were correct! We each gave him a card, and he went away for... You guessed it, 10 minutes! After dropping off the paid bills, a friend realizes his card was not returned. A few minutes later, he heads towards the kitchen to let the server know. The server comes back, asked if we are sure the card was missing. They search the floor and the other bill holdings and find nothing. The server checks his pockets and the area around the register... Nothing. 10 minutes later, the hunt is still on. Finally, the server finds it somewhere around the register. Our friend was a good sport for not doing something murderous with a novelty-sized wine bottle. In the end, we were there over an hour dealing with JUST the checks... 45 minutes past their closing! Most recently, my gal's mother was in town. Having gone with us before, she requested we go back to El Bodegon. My gal checks their website and sees they close at 10pm. We show up at 8pm to an empty parking lot and a sign saying they close at 8pm on Sundays. Later, we look and find 2 different closing times on 2 different pages (Reservations=10pm, Contact= 11pm. Neither are correct. We end up making reservations for a few nights later. The server, different from before, was very inattentive until my gal's mother started speaking Spanish. It wasn't a language problem as we've had that server before and he speaks great English, but for whatever reason on this visit he would only deal with the Spanish speaker. That's slightly insulting. With that "connection" though, you would expect great service. Instead, there were huge waits in between visits and he was only waiting on only 1 other table. What are these guys doing in the back??? Remember before how I mentioned the size of the clams cataplana? We've had this at least 4 or 5 other times, and this time it was half the size. The cost? The same $12. Also a downer, each of us had sand in multiple clams. Note: That's the first time that's happened to us there. Either of those issues would have been annoying, but both the shrinkage and the sand? This isn't a cold day at the beach! If this was only 1 visit, I would only be removing 1 star, but since the bad service was consistent between 2 visits I feel I should be consistent as well. I wish them the best and hope they can work through these issues to get back to where they once were.
(3)
Aldo F.
Came here for the second time to try the paella and i have to say i expected a whole lot better from this place. Bottom line, the paella was not very good, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that it was very amateur. I can not believe this paella came out of a kitchen who claims authentic. In specific, the rice did not have the right consistency or texture to make for a great paella. I would recommend to avoid paella here. also, our sangrias seemed to be water-down this time, it really lacked flavor this time. Also we should note that our paella came before our 2 TAPAS we have ordered. (apparently our waiter made a mistake and we were given someone else's paella) but this didn't really bother us. We actually appreciate the fact that it came quick and spared us an extra 25 min of the night. also i ordered the chorizo al inferno which i was looking forward to come light on brandy flames like the first time, but it did not happen this time. When i asked the waiter how come it didn't come in flames he said that the chefs had ran out of brandy lol. Whatever, the chorizo was still tasty. I'm now questioning their consistency so i don't Know if i would take a gamble next time. One thing is for sure though, i will not be ordering paella from here anytime soon.
(3)
N B.
Great food and service. Julio our server was super nice. Had a couple tapas and of course one of their three paellas... I'll definitely will be back
(5)
Anthony S.
This is my secret spot for upscale dining. Every item you order will be an adventure. You know that feeling of pure gratification, when you look at a dish and know immediately, before taste, that you never want to dine at any other place? All the effort of going out to eat and wasted time at other restaurants suddenly feels worthwhile. El Bodegon has never made me feel anything other than this. The service and atmosphere are true upscale Spanish style. The restaurant is the face of the restaurant and the servers are servers. Know what I mean? These servers are the classiest in Orlando; I've only found this style at one place in Sarasota and also at the Columbia, so El Bodegon is my new benchmark for how I wish all restaurants would treat me. Let's talk about cost, because the online menu doesn't. Two glasses of wine, two entrees and a tapas will be around $55 before tip. It's an amazing deal for an unforgettable experience at Orlando's blue ribbon holder.
(5)
A C.
The food is excellent! Both times I went there was a bit of a wait before anyone came to us, but our waiter was great! Would recommend highly!
(4)
Nilda B.
I really love "Caldo Gallego", it's like a white/navy bean soup... Thought this would be authentic, being it's a Spaniard place, so using a Groupon coupon, my father and I headed to El Bodegon, to try it out. I made reservations for Sunday at 5PM for 2, being it was to be used for "dinner", one of the "coupon's requirements". Also when reading some of the reviews, it sounded as a BUSY place where you may not get in on a timely manner without a reservation, especially on the weekends. It took 3 calls, to finally have someone pick up the phone... Anyways, when we arrived we didn't see too many people and we were seated right away, they brought us iced waters with a side dish of sliced lemons and a basket of sliced hot bread with I would say would be olive oil, spices and garlic. This was yummy... They took our order right away, starting with the ham croquettes as appetizer ($6.50 for 4 pieces), served with a garnish of arugula, 2 olvies and a dipping sauce, that tastes like pimientos. If you like pimientos, this would be good but I don't and felt it took away from the flavor of the croquette, so did not dip anymore... I have had better croquettes but it was Ok. I must say it came out piping hot, as well as the "Caldo Gallego" my Dad ordered served in a clay oven dish. I was disappointed because I felt the soup was really watered down, usually or what I'M use to, is a thicker consistency. It was OK but wouldn't rave about it. As my father ate his soup, I was still waiting for my order of "jarrete" a lamb shank ($17). When it arrived, everything was also very hot, very tender fall off the bone with some home made gravy seasoning, accompanied with a small medley of veggies, consisting of broccoli, carrots, squash and to the other side of the dish a small side of potatoes, which at first, I thought it was sweet potatoes because of its orange/pinkish color... Of course the lamb had a gamey flavor but the seasoning helped to disguise it... I think, maybe I should have tried their Paella ($38 for 2), I think, it's what they specialize in... I thought the place to be over rated, it is a nice authentic atmosphere but like I always say in my other reviews, "I go for the food" not the ambiance. I rated it a 3 star for their service, their bread in the basket, the piping hot dishes and just OK tastes... we didn't have dessert and we both ordered lemonade which was OK too... I might go back to try their paella but debating it because if there's ONE thing, I am picky about is seafood, and when it has a fishy smell to it, I KNOW it's NOT fresh. Fresh seafood, DOES NOT SMELL fishy and when one of the servers, came by to pick up our plates, they already had in their hands, an empty dish, of black shells of mussels from another table, so couldn't help noticing the smelly fishy odor. I find El Bodegon, to be a bit pricey for OK food and GLAD I had the Groupon Coupon. But to come back to pay $38 for a paella, if it's not FRESH seafood, it will not be worth it! But won't know, unless I try it right? decisions, decisions... =(
(3)
Shannon C.
The sign out front does not lie- having traveled to Catalonia region of Spain last summer, I can say this is authenticate Spanish food from the Catalonia and Basque region!! Only caveat- not good for a date night (if getting to know someone) because it is noisy and hard to hear a conversation (unless you prefer not to hear your date then a good place) and the service can be slow (but when in Spain do what the Spaniards do; Si?) Food Review- Calamari- A MUST; truly the best calamari in all of Orlando (so far) Churrasco- AWESOME; the meat was so juicy and cook perfectly with smoked garbanzo beans that were also amazing. Olives- disappointed; the husband and I are on a mission to find the Andalucia olives we so enjoyed in Barcelona...that mission continues. Croquetas de Jamon- RECOMMEND; Delicious and a traditional dish in northern Spain. This is another dish I recommend. Artichoke hearts- these were good; not too soggy and not too hard. Glass of Sangria and Glass of Tempranillo and..... Total Bill: $60 (not including tip). Finally, a new restaurant to add to the date night rotation......
(4)
Rob W.
This is a really fun place to dine. The staff were very nice and provided great service. Some highlights were the pimentos stuffed with crab salad, fried cod fish, and the home made desserts. The sangria here is excellent, not overly sweetened as it is at many places.
(4)
Foodie M.
If I could give 6 stars, I would. Went here while on vacation in Orlando. We had a voucher for the meal and they treated us great. The staff is SPECTACULAR. From the hostess to the server, to the wonderful musician/singer. The place is small and intimate and is reminiscent of a place in Spain. And oh Lord, the food.... absolutely wonderful. We had 2 tapas dishes. The chorizo is so delish! The bread basket is tasty as well. Then we ordered the meat paella. HUGE dish. We had enough for two people at two servings, plus dinner the next night with leftovers. The paella takes a while to cook because they do it fresh, but so well worth the wait. I highly recommend this place to anyone, local or traveling in the area!
(5)
Traveler F.
Old Spain in Winter Park. A perfect representation of the old country. Nestled in an old building, with charming Spanish architecture and very ornate interiors sits an elegant old Bodegon, which literally translates to a tavern for food, drinks, and fun. Live flamenco musicians pluck away at old tunes. The interior is very cozy with white table clothes and polished silverware. Although, very elegant there is still a laid back relaxed almost homey feel. Very comforting. The booths are lavish in leather. There are tasteful Spanish artifacts in various positions around the dining room. Tapas portions are generous. There are full bold explosion of flavors in every bite. Caldo Gallego Galician traditional soup with potatoes, beans and greens was okay. CROQUETAS DE JAMON Chef special Spanish ham croquettes with alioli sauce was more binder than ham. PULPO A LA GALLEGA Fresh octopus with olive oil and smoked paprika was outstanding. The octopus was soft, tender, and delicious. MEJILLONES A LA MARINERA Fresh mussels in marinera sauce was delightfully full flavored. Paella Marinera Spanish saffron rice with seafood and conch failed to deliver as their website claim "the best paella in Orlando." It was well flavored with plentiful seafood, but nothing special. There were many selections of Spanish wines by the bottle. However, choices for wine by the glass was slim pickings. Actually, there was none. House wine red or white? Thats it. Disappointing. With various tapas one would imagine a nice selection of wine by the glass to graze and share. Nada. Only one. House. El Bodegon has all the characters of a classic elegant old restaurant, but fell short on several key elements.
(3)
Michael M.
So its February 13 and everyone is celebrating St Valentines day a day early because it falls on a Monday this year. I've got a great surprise planned for Niki. She is a big fan of Jane Austin and the Orlando Shakespeare Theater is performing Pride and Prejudice, her absolute favorite. Having the entertainment in the bag I need a place for us to dine. In my search one spot stood out immediately. Tapas just sounded perfect, Niki and I really enjoy small plates and a pitcher of sangria. Having been disappointed as of late with some places in the area which serve tapas I made sure I did my research. Well I was confident this time with my choice so I called and made reservations. When we arrived parking was quite simple which is ideal. Just pull in the drive and it's right in the back. When walking to the door I noticed a green Stella parked in front and almost immediately I knew I had chosen wisely. The decor was to be expected and designed in the traditional Spanish restaurant style but a little more sophisticated and no fake grapes hanging from the ceiling. We were promptly seated which was nice because as expected they were busy but did not overbook, bravo. After scanning the menu we settled on two cold tapas plates and four hot ones with a pitcher of sangria of course. It didn't take long for the dishes to completely cover our table, and so it begins. The dishes were exactly as we hoped and everything was simply perfect. Of the six dished the stand out favorites were the thin sliced ham and honeydew melon, ham croquettes, and and the Spanish omelet. The sangria too was perfect here. A perfect balance of good wine and fruit with one not really dominating the other. By the way a pitcher brings about four large glasses so be thirsty my friends. We finished the meal by sharing a piece of the Tarta San Marcos cake. It was delicious, thin layers of yellow cake and fresh cream topped with a layer of baked orange. To die for, guaranteed. So this one has my seal of approval. Even my uncle Pedro couldn't deny the quality and service found at El Bodegon. Believe me, that's saying alot.
(5)
Luke M.
Leave it up to Yelp to help us find yet another fabulous restaurant in the Orlando area. My wife and I found ourselves in Winter Park on a Tuesday evening and were unfamiliar with the area. We fired up our Yelp app and started looking. El Bodegon was very highly rated and less than five miles from our current spot - so off we went. This place is cool from the moment you pull onto the property they share with an Italian restaurant. You drive under this awning and for some reason that difference alone makes it neat. Walking inside the place is instantly cozy and looks family owned. There is a very authentic feel to the vibe and the Spanish music in the background completes the theme. We were greeted promptly by an older man who appeared to be the only server on which was no problem as there were only a few other couples in. We were offered our choice of tables and took one that allowed us to see most of the restaurant. Menus and water were served quickly and our server was extremely patient and polite. I couldn't pronounce 99% of the items on the menu and thankfully they have English subtitles. We both ordered a beer - they offered two choices: Estrella Damm (Spain) and Bud Light (US). The spanish beer was 3.50 a glass, the bud light was 3 bucks. The menu has three of four pages of food from Tapas dishes to sharable plates for entire tables (family style). I couldn't even make it off the first page and found four or five things that looked asbolutely delicious. In the end my wife went with their cheese, olive and deli meat plate along with an order of beef empanadas. I chose the garlic and herb shrimp and an order of their pork tenderloin chunks. Each of our dishes were from the Tapas page, and as most other Tapas places go we figured there would be maybe a few bites on each. We were wrong! The portions here are unreal. The ones labeled Tapas are at least the size of normal dishes at other restaurants. Everything tasted wonderful. We have no complaints in any manner regarding the flavor and preparation of the food. We ended up dipping the bread that was served early in the shrimp and garlic juices and honestly if we had been by ourselves we would have taken a straw to it. The stuff is that good. For everthing mentioned, our bill was 54 bucks. This is a great value for the quality of food and service we received. Attention from the server was always prompt and courteous. We didn't have room for dessert so can't add any feedback there. If you are looking for a great dining experience in what feels like an authentic restaurant straight out of Spain - we can't recommend this place anymore.
(4)
Mia P.
Nice, cozy place with good sangria. Had calamai and shrimp tapas, both very good! The staff was very attentive even on a busy night.
(4)
Julie E.
Charming place. Food is very good and portions billed as small plates are very generous. Excellent Spanish wines. Outstanding service. Try it!
(4)
Ryan B.
The food at El Bodegon is spectacular. Authentic, large tapas on the reasonable side price wise. That said, if you are on the fence about El Bodegon, come for Sunday brunch. From noon to 3 they offer all you can eat tapas and all you can drink sangria for only $30. Both you plate and glass are always full. El Bodegon can almost go toe to toe with Civeche downtown, with the slight edge going to Civeche in the food category. Where El Bodegon shines is in the service and value. 5 stars.
(5)
Alex F.
This place is awesome. My Fiance and I have been twice now with our most recent trip being last night for Valentine's day. The ambiance is low lit with candles on the table for a nice romantic feel and there was a bongo and violin player that played sporadically through the night (not too loud either which was nice so you could talk without having to yell). The food was delicious and the portions were awesome. We started the night with a basket of garlic bread and their 'Tapas de la casa' which has Spanish cured ham, chorizo, manchego cheese, olives and a small salad with a nice what seemed to be balsamic reduction. For dinner we each ordered a glass of red sangria (Last time we went I believe we got a carafe of the white sangria) and it was spot on. Not too sweet with just enough of a boozy kick to really enjoy it. As our entree we got the 'Paella Mixta" which is a mix of their paella with just meat and paella with seafood. The rice was cooked perfectly so the consistency was nice and not mushy. The meats/seafood were clams, muscles, shrimp, octopus, squid, scallops, chicken, pork, and chorizo. I think what capped everything off is the fact that one of the owners came to our table to see how things were going and had a nice 4 -5 min conversation with us explaining how the food is prepared and that her, her mom, and brother have been running the place and that our satisfaction was their goal. A must try.
(4)
Dave T.
Cool little place with character. The food could improve, but was still good. Even more, the selection was impressive. Not sure if I could do an exact face off with Ceviche, but will try both again to figure out which I like better. Ceviche has a less intimate atmosphere as is it four times the size. So depending on what you're looking for give El Bodegon a try. They have Tapas as well as entrees. Not a big fan of the Sangria, but was spoiled by a Spanish party the night before (the party's Sangria had brandy and other stuff in it). Music was good. Service pleasant. Definitely mom & pop. Dafe
(4)
Dan O.
My new favorite restaurant in the Orlando area. The restaurant is small and quaint, but it's cozy and aligns with the overall concept. If you've ever been to Spain, than you will know most restaurants are in very small quaint locations. We were a party of 6. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria and 7 tapas. Everything tasted fresh, the flavors were simple but well executed and delicious. We ordered one paella and could barely finish it, we were all already so full from the tapas. They have a vanilla cake with a whipped cream frosting and a hint of orange liqueur you MUST order, it was so delicious I would go back just for that dessert. This is a great restaurant to bring family, friends or a date. Central Florida really lacks culture in the culinary world, but this is one of the few exceptions. We will be regulars from now on!
(5)
Vivian M.
We purchased a half off depot deal for this restaurant. We wanted to try something new and a different tapas restaurant in the area. Definitely make reservations. The place was very crowded and the wait would've been 45 minutes had we not had reservations. The food was good but nothing really stood out. The sangria was also good. I really liked their Crema Catalana for desert. It was reasonably priced. If we were in the area it would be a restaurant we would consider but we wouldn't driver 30-40 minutes to dine there.
(3)
Kurt R.
Tapas! Great! Olive medley, chorizo and potatoes, mussels marinara, ham croquettes. Everything was great.
(4)
Maira H.
Just went here last night and had a most FABULOUS time. We had the chorizo (not my fave, a little greasy), the octopus (definitely my fave, tender and delish!), manchego and quince (wonderful in it's simplicity), the croquettes (sublime) and the tres leches cake (orgasmic, seriously!). I loved the food and the atmosphere was absolutely splendid. Live music, dancing in the aisles with the waiters (I think that was just us though...) got to meet the chef and attentive service. If you go, sit in the back where the booths are, it's much more cozy than the front that is a big room with a huge tv in it (not my style at all). I can't wait to go back with my husband and try more of the dishes!
(4)
Karin T.
We dined here on a Saturday night and they had a pleasant older gentleman singing and strumming his guitar. Nice, but we were glad to sit in another room where it was quieter. The restaurant is casual and quaint and a good place for a relaxing dinner. We ordered 7 tapas to share between 3 people. The portions were perfect and the food was all very good. Favorites were the sweet red peppers stuffed with crab meat, expertly breaded fried calamari, beef empanadas, and the Spanish cured ham, chorizo, manchego cheese with olive platter. The furniture needs updating, but the food is great!
(4)
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Address :400 s orlando Ave,Suite 100
winter park, FL, 32789
Takes Reservations : Yes Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Dinner Parking : Private Lot Bike Parking : Yes Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Ambience : Intimate Noise Level : Average Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only Outdoor Seating : No Wi-Fi : No Has TV : No Waiter Service : Yes Caters : Yes
Janice W.
Went for dinner today (Thursday). It was recommended by a coworker while we are here on business. Surprisingly the place only had three tables, but I think it must have something to do with the area the restaurant is in. We had two appetizers, empanadas and a queso and jam dish (can't remember the name of it.) the beef empanadas were great!!! I got the Pechuga Rellena as my entree. One word AMAZING! Entrees come with two sides (I got three!); roasted potatoes, kick ass black beans, and sweet fried plantains. Everything was really good! I got a red sangria as well! I'd recommend to those who are looking for authentic Spanish food.
(4)Danny G.
They never answer their damn phone... I've been trying for two days. Couldn't make a reservation for my wedding anniversary, so I'm booking with a different restaurant that picks up their phone when it rings.
(1)A W.
Tapas were great. Atmosphere wonderful. I'm coming back!
(4)Alden K.
Great food, music and fun. Make sure to go on a night when there's music. The paella is a fantastic value and the portions are firefighter approved. Excellent and friendly service.
(5)Naimah S.
So the only reason I dined here was because of the Groupon deal and the 4 out of 5 stars on the reviews. Now, the food was not the worst but then again it was not the best either. Upon entrance to the restaurant, my friend and I was greeted in a delayed manner. This was due to the manager, a young looking Hispanic guy who claimed that title, was taking a nap! How did we learn this? Because he told us himself! His eyes were red as he yawned and rubbed them. He even felt comfortable enough to inform my friend and I that his worker called off today because he/she was hungover from being drunk the night before. Umm TMI! Display some professionalism, please? There appeared to be no one in the restaurant. However; the place was observed to be nicely decorated and clean. We sat at our table for quite some time without a menu. I had to get up and locate him to request two menus. Then I ordered a sangria and I pulled out my ID, but it was pointless because he didn't even check it! My friend went to use the restroom and witnessed this "manager" changing his clothes out in the open, with no shame of course. While we placed our orders, the guy did not have much input. But all of a sudden when he brought us our food he had quite a few suggestions on what to order and how we ordered the "wrong" items. He stated that he would demonstrate some food to us, which we did not understand at all. What demonstration!? Finally, our check arrived and he indicated that the group covered he majority with just a few cents left, which he had covered. I was very much thankful for that, however; I felt that this was his way of compensating for the unpleasant experience. Anyways, try out this restaurant cautiously. The atmosphere and decoration is nice. The service is not the greatest. The food is alright. Orlando has many more tapas restaurants of great quality. I will not return to this restaurant again.
(1)Yung R.
Some of the food lacked authenticity, but all of it can be said to be overpriced. The paella I had was decent, but $45 is ridiculous. I never paid that much in my three years in Spain lol, or NYC for that matter.... If the owners are Spanish. They need to go back and see what calamares are suppose to be like, as well as ailioli sauce. For the price, which I think is inflated for groupons or something, just go to downtown and get better food (calamares that are round, lol) and atmosphere(real flamenco show).
(2)Kady W.
Stopped by here for a Friday night dinner around 8. I haven't been back in a while so I was kind of surprised to see the dining room half empty. Anyway, our table sat down and began to peruse the menu. We ended up deciding on a few tapas and the El Bodegon Paella. Since paella takes a while to prepare, we had plenty of time to enjoy the atmosphere. El Bodegon is a great option for date night with it's dim lighting, Spanish decor, and live bolero style music. The tapas was delicious, but I wasn't much for remembering what we ordered since paella was on my mind. As expected, our paella was delicious! My only comments for my next visit would be to take out the beef and ask for the paella to be cooked a little longer to add a nice char on the bottom. Also, service is bit on the slow side even after being served so keep that in mind when dining.
(4)Lani G.
My mom was craving paella so we went to El Bodegon to try it out, since we heard theirs was among the best in Orlando. Unfortunately, their reputation did not live up to their delivery. I was surprised walking in on a Friday night and it being near empty, as there were only 3 other tables occupied. We started off with a glass of sangria, but it fell flat. It tasted like it was a bottled version that you can buy from Publix (one that had been open for a while) and there was no fruit in the glass. It was not very good and neither of us drank it. We started with the mussels appetizer and it was so-so. The tomato sauce that the mussels were in was delicious! Lots of chunks of onion and garlic and perfect for dipping bread in. The mussels themselves were so-so. 1/3 of them never opened and while the jury is out on whether you can/should still eat them if they are unopened, I'm from the old school of thought that you shouldn't. That being said, 1/3 of the bowl went to waste. We got the seafood paella which had mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, squid, and octopus. The shrimp, clams, and scallops and mussels were decent but the squid and octopus were inedible. Hard, like erasers on the top of a pencil. The rice had good flavor but was overcooked and mushy. We were going to order dessert but since nothing else we'd had "wow'd" us, we opted against it. The waiter, who seemed inconvenienced to be there working that night, boxed up our leftovers and brought it with the bill. We felt bad since we didn't ask him to do that as we hadn't intended on bringing the leftovers home. When we left without them, he flagged us down outside with our box of leftovers. I felt so badly when I saw the look on his face when we said we didn't want them. We should have just taken the leftovers and thrown them away somewhere...
(2)Lucy W.
The Sunday brunch here is a hidden gem! It's an all-you-can-eat experience with delectable Spanish tapas dishes and bottomless sangria. If you have enough people in your dining party, be SURE to order the paella. It's delicious. Service was a bit slow for us at first, but that may have been because our large party wasn't as punctual as we should have been. Throughout the meal, however, service was quick and attentive. Can't wait to go back!
(5)Foodlover D.
I went here with some friends a while back , this place is located off 17-92 and is next door to Rocco's Italian grill. We walked in and was asked immediately if we had a reservation. We where stunned, there was hardly anyone in there and we needed a reservation ? We were still seated in a small dinning table . My friends and I decided we will order the tapas along with some wine. When it arrived I wasn't impressed at the tapas at all it seemed not fresh and wasn't very flavorful at all. We quickly payed our bill and left . This restaurant has had many awards on the wall about past , but that has nothing to do with the atmosphere at this present time. I will not be returning simply because my first impression wasn't to enjoyable.
(2)Lydia C.
Stopped in for dinner yesterday with my husband to use a living social deal that was about to expire. We had reservations for 6:30 and arrived early and we were seated right away. Our server let us pick any booth we wanted since the place was mostly empty at that time. We each ordered a glass of the red sangria and our server brought out a basket of warm garlic buttery toast. The sangria was excellent, not too sweet or heavy, and the bread was irresistible! For our meal we went with the tapas side of the menu. Ordered the fried cod, cod croquetas, pimiento stuffed with crab salad, and the manchego & quince. Everything was so delicious! The fried cod was crispy and the fish was moist and perfectly salty. The cod croquetas were crunchy on the outside and the cod filling is very gooey like melted cheese! The pimiento and crab was also really good. I love manchego and the sweet drizzle on the cheese and quince makes it a good dessert! Service was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the food. We didn't wait long at all for anything that we ordered and the tapas are very reasonably priced. I highly recommend this place!
(5)Mark P.
Old world charm reminiscent of the 80s complete with persnickety service that was somewhat irked over our groupon coupon. I say skip that coupon and go in for a tappa or two with a couple of sangrias on happy hour to get out on the cheap.
(4)Lisa M.
The atmosphere is much more to the intimate/romantic side, so this isn't really the place for a family-style "bring your friends" thing as I usually associate tapas with. However, it's a charming little place and is a great date spot for sharing little plates of tasty things. I'm comparing this to my favorite local tapas place, Ceviche, so I am a bit biased. They have a much smaller menu here and a good portion of it is the more expensive paellas (of which I am not a fan). Still, they have some real gems on the menu like the roasted/sauteed chickpeas. We came with a Groupon and were in casual clothes, so I feel our service may have been a bit discriminatory. We were slow to be waited on, even though there were a handful of empty tables. They also seemed to not like that we didn't order any alcohol (neither of us drink, why would we?). All in all, nice, but I'll stick with Ceviche.
(3)Sandra C.
Had a family event @ El Bodegon Tapas and Wine and the Paella, Tapas, Sangria and salads were AMAZING! Service superb and the Churrasco wad delicious. Will go back any time.
(5)Schannon B.
I went here on my 21st birthday with my family. It was such a great experience. We loved the Sangria and the paella seafood and Chicken paella. It was like being with family in Mexico. This was our first taste of paella and we loved it.
(5)Barbee C.
Food is incredible! Sangria,best I have had. Perfect balance of flavor. Very authentic! Paella for 2 will feed four! Tapas, amazing!
(5)Janelle L.
Unfortunately, the food was delicious but the owner treated us like crap!! Mother's Day 5/10/15. I am a first time Mother and my husband trying to treat me out by taking me out to eat some tapas, paellas etc. The restaurant had a great Mother's Day Special $45 2 different types of Tapas a main dish and a dessert. Not bad. I saw that the main dish Paella said 2 people in parenthesis so I assumed that they are describing it as being big enough for 2 persons. So my husband and I decided to just order 1 Mother's day special and we'll split the paella. My mother in law and her other son did the same thing. The waiter said sure ok. When we go to pay our bill. its $230 to our surprise. I called the waiter said there is a mistake we just ordered 2 mothers day special. He brought the OWNER and the quickly the owner doesn't even say hello or Happy Mother's Day, just "whats the problem?" I said "hello Happy Mother's Day to you, I explained that we must have had a mis communication with the waiter and we mentioned that we were going to split 2 specials only and we are being charged for 4 of them. The owner points at each and everyone at the table and says 4 people 4 people ate so 4 specials at $45 what is the problem? I said the problem is we only ate 2 paellas and 2 tapas sets. So if you all are going to charge me for 4 then I need 2 more sets of the specials given to me. The guy goes you all must be stupid or something but I am not going to give you that because the paella is for 2 people and it is 45 per person. I said how dare you call me STUPID on my very first Mother's Day, this is not the way you treat a paying customer. Then he said if I wanted 2 more paellas he will bring them to me but I have to eat them at the restaurant and CAN NOT take them home. I then lost my cool sorry but I did. I said If I want to take my paellas and throw them in the trash I can do whatever I want with them because I paid for them. He then got upset right back at me and said you can't do nothing with them because I am not going to bring them to you anymore. I am going to take off 2 paellas from your bill but charge you full price for each tapas that was given to you. If he did that it would have come out almost the same price minue maybe $10. I said no you are not you are going to charge me 2 Mother's Day special and that is all. Anymore money you want out of me you can call the police. He then disappears never comes back and the waiter brings me that BS modified bill of 2 paellas but all the tapas charged to me. I refused to pay that and searhced high and low for cash for exactly the price of 2 mothers day special and left with no tip at all!! They tried to follow me and yelled at me. I ignored them and took off. Sorry I have never in my life acted that way. I was a waitress at TGIF for 2yrs and do my best to always treat customers good and other waiters good because I have been in their shoes, but this one took the cake. Ridiculous!! NEVER will I recommend or give this place a star in any of my reviews and I have and will continue to publicize this in social media!!
(1)Jakki K.
A group of my girlfriends gathered here for dinner we had made our reservation for 8, but when we had arrived there was no table available for us (they were waiting for another table to leave). They offered us sangria and wine to compensate for the wait time, which was very nice of them! The food was good, and the service was great! We all really enjoyed ourselves and this is a great place to go with a big group of friends or family!! P.S. the Paella was yummy in my tummy! and so is the multigrain bread!!
(5)Andrew H.
Came here because of a Living Social deal, but I'm happy I did. I split a paella, which was wonderful, but the surprising star of the meal, THE BREAD. Wow. Scared of vampires? Chow down on this stuff. The garlic on this stuff was so good. As far as atmosphere goes, it felt like someone's house, which I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Staff was warm and friendly! If you have the chance, give it a shot!
(4)Mike R.
We went for Sunday lunch and we ordered three dishes each. We were quickly served and the tapas exceeded our expectations. The calamari fritas was especially well prepared. The cheese empenadas were light and delicious. Definitely coming back.( used groupon ).
(4)Allison G.
We had a groupon deal and they treated us like a trash!! If you are not happy with Groupon, then don't bother offering the deal. Food and service was horrible, definetely won't be back not even with a better deal.
(1)Raquel M.
If you are looking for the real tapas españolas, feeling like you are in LA madre patria, this is the place. The food is amazing, their Sunday brunch incredible, the staff is 5 stars. Really sweet and professional people. My favorite by far: callos a la madrileña. This is my go to Spanish place. Go there no doubt. Don't be full by other places that seem "tendy" "fancy or whatever. This Is the place
(5)Cecille R.
Soo we've been here several times since my first review. Food is still delicious. Service is a little "ehhhh"...on the last couple of times we've dined in, there has always been a large party seated during our meal. And when that happens, our service has dwindled. So don't go in expecting fantastic one on one service or you will be very disappointed! Also, the table we were seated at was off kilter and wobbly. We had to be careful of not rocking the table suddenly so that my sangria didn't spill. Surprised the restaurant couldn't take 2 seconds to fix this. Only weird observation were the pieces of buttered pumpernickel bread thrown in our bread basket. Eww? I feel like that was really random and I didn't expect that when I bit into it. Not a fan. Seems like they ran out of bread and picked up a random loaf from Publix.
(4)Lizette H.
My husband and I were looking for some good Spanish food and we found it. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria which was really good but needed a little more kick. We had calamari and we could taste it was fresh. My husband had the churrasco and he said it was fresh meat, I had a bite and was very tender. I had the paella mixta and was amazing! This is by far the best in Orlando! To top it off some pears in a delicious wine sauce and vanilla ice cream. This restaurant is perfect for a night out with the husband, if you have kids it's a little pricey for me. I could bot come with my three children.
(5)Russ F.
Excellent paella. I've been here a couple times once just for tapas and once for the paella. The first was with a group so I got to try several different tapas which were all delicious. The chorizo in brandy sauce was the best thing I had in a while, then I tried the Garbanzo Frito I love garbanzo beans and anytime a meat( this case ham) is cooked with beans it's a great idea. I have tried both the seafood paella and the meat and absolutely loved them. Seasoned just right, the seafood paella had enough enough shrimp, clams and other goodness for all four us( we also got some tapas). Most importantly the rice was perfect. I enjoyed the meat paella with my girlfriend along with a tapa and we couldn't even finish it. Can't go to a Spanish place and not get sangria which was equally good and fit well with the meal. Going into the restaurant I could tell it was authentic by the waiters who spoke with a very heavy Spanish accent. None the less they were very helpful and extremely nice and pretty entertaining by themselves. It is a smaller place and can get crowded so a reservation is a good idea. I have never had a bad experience and definitely will go back soon.
(5)Glenda R.
El Bodegon Tapas and Wine, Winter Park, FL Visited El Bodegon on Saturday, August 9th, 2014 for a nice family dinner. As always, the service was awesome!! We ordered around 6 tapas to share and it was plenty for all. Our waiter was professional and friendly! Would we go back? Yes!!!! Great place to share with the family!
(5)Issa J.
I have had way better Spanish food than this..don't think I'll come again. They shorted my paella with scallops and fish. Seriously.. When I asked the waiter about the bread tasting old he said it's because of the olive oil .my okayyy!!! Over priced for the quality of the food
(2)Michael W.
I found out this place through groupon. And I like tapas. So I decided to get $20 for $40 worth of tapas Walked in and it was packed. It is not a very big place but it was packed. I m glad we made a reservation. Service- it was a slow in the beginning. We didn't get the immediate service that you expect normally, however the waiter was very nice and had personable approach. Food came out before the bread and sangria. I thought it was weird tht that the order of food was served. However his service was very nice. 3.5/5 Food: quality of the food - not bad: I ordered 5 tapas and two glass of sangria. Tapa de la casa - was pretty good; i wish they had more type of cheese like they have in ceviche. Salpicon de mariscos - I wish the seafood werent chopped as it looked. It tasted very good . Camarones al ajillo - big shrimps and very well seasoned and NOT OVERCOOKED! =) Chorizon al brandy- good tasting chorizon! Pulpo a la brava- that was very good portion for tapas. I wish they add a little touch of lime to that. Overall it was good. 4/5 Atmosphere - it was a bit crowded , it needs to be space out or have a bigger location. There was a grandpa playing guitar and singing old school songs from merengue, flamenco, or salsa. The decoration and atmosphere setting was nice , a bit out of the modern, I do wish the place was bigger though. 3/5 Overall I will give it a 3.5/5 because I HAVE NOT TRIED THEIR PAELLA yet. So I will be back and provide an update to this place.
(3)Mich W.
3.5 stars.Have been trying to get here for a while now. The 1st time we had reservations, they called to cancel it because their air conditioner broke down. Since then, we just haven't been able to sync with friends until now. The entrance is a bit odd, more like a side door. At first I couldn't figure out where the restaurant was. Then when I did, where to enter. The building is connected by a roof to a larger building that looks more like a restaurant, but turned out to be Rocco's, an Italian restaurant. Once inside I understood why the need for reservations, it's very small. That's not a bad thing, It was intimate and charming with an Old World feel. I imagine you could be in someone's abuela's home in Spain, and it would not feel much different. The music was beautiful but definitely loud for the space, which made conversation with our friends difficult when he was playing. The service was efficient, they seated us right away, took our order when we were ready, brought the food in reasonable time and made no mistakes with the order. Paella Marinera- moist, tasty could serve 3 or even 4 if you have added tapas, though it says for 2. Salpicon de Mariscos- I was disappointed at no ceviche on the menu but this sounded similar. It was well seasoned but lacked the acid of ceviche that I love. Also, it said "assorted" seafood but octopus and mussels dominate. Otherwise it was a good dish, just don't expect a ceviche alternate. Pulpo a la Gallega - good texture (soft) but had no flavor, just some paprika. We left most of it. Champiñónes Al Ajillo - Star of the show. Delicious, garlicky sauce. Clams in green garlic sauce - as good as the mushrooms. Very garlicky which I loved. Only issue was the huge chunks of it. I bit into a few undercooked chunks and while I love garlic, this was bad technique, it should've been minced. Churrasco steak - Ok, but no charcoal flavor as ir describes. Flan - not bad, missing that carmelized flavor though. Also, why have flan and creme brûlée on same menu? Bread pudding - left unfinished. Was way too compact. Not good. They need to improve the flavor profiles of some dishes, lower music volume and spread tables out a bit more. Overall though it was still an enjoyable evening.
(3)Bill T.
El Bodegon, we hadn't been here for a long time, maybe a couple of years. The few times we had gone before we just got tapas and wine. This time we wanted to try the paella. First the tapas, we had garbanzo beans with chunks of spicy ham and a light tomato sauce, they were delicious. Then, we had the mussels, in a light tomato broth, yummo and a great treat to dip the provided bread in. The bread was warm and tasty but some slices had a lot of olive oil (like really a lot) and an abundance of caraway seeds. We had a wonderful Rioja wine called El Coto which was delicious and went with our dishes very well. The bottle of wine was also a reasonable price point which was nice. Ah, then on to the star of the show, the mixed paella (seafood and chicken and sausage). Well, the rice was perfect and the seasoning was excellent. Unfortunately the proteins were not so great. The chicken pieces were huge chunks of dark meat that were quite overcooked, the octopus were rock hard and the shrimp were rather undercooked. I guess we should have said something but it took quite a while to get the paella and we were getting full anyway. But we did have a lot of leftovers which just went home and straight to the trash. We finished with a piece of their tasty orange crusted cake which was nice. Ultimately, I wish I could give 3 1/2 stars since the tapas, the wine and service were all excellent. But in the future we will stick with the tapas, or maybe one of the alternate entrees. In all fairness, I have had paella in other restaurants and settings and this was better than most. It is a step up from the typical chicken, shrimp and yellow rice with peas you get most places and was even better than the paella we got from a popular street vendor in Barcelona. So, it wasn't horrible, just not great either.
(3)Kay Y.
We came here via a Groupon offer that was available recently. I feel like I've seen them once more but we didn't bite the dust this time. It was a Friday night and we decided to try this place out with our offer. The setting is like old spainish style, bricks, little booths which was pretty cool but it had this smell. Like my friends grandmas house smell - a little unpleasant. We mainly got tapas and no full entrees. The most memorable tapas I had ordered was the Salpicon De Marisco - which is kind of like a ceviche and it was seasoned well and tasty. The least favorable dish we had was the Pulpo A La Gallega - it was supposed to be fresh octopus but it had a raw texture that I personally did not like. The taste was over powered with paprika. The host and our server was nice but there was a lot of people working there. We sat right next to the server station so I could see how it was not kept very well in that area and that was not appetizing. Maybe the paella is better? Kind of pricey tho...
(3)Denise B.
2.5 stars. Really not very impressed with this place. We had some tapas and ordered mushrooms that were very disappointing (probably canned), shrimps that did not taste fresh at all and bread that had way too much oil (really really a lot!). Service was ok. It was definitely overpriced for the quality of food u get. Can't recommend this place and don't plan to be back.
(2)Stephany R.
This is a late review, but hey it's better late than never. The entire family and I came in to celebrate mother's day to toast for our mom. I had made a reservation two weeks prior to May 13. Once I got to the restaurant, the hostess could not find our reservation. There were many tables that were taken and the remaining ones were reserved. We were standing there for about 10 minutes, and I was reassuring the hostess that I did make the reservation. She just said sorry, and there was nothing she could do which I believe. Then a guy approached us, he seemed like the manager, and told us he would find a table for us. The hostess said that maybe we could be seated in such and such table because the other party appeared to not come because an hour had passed since their reservation time. Once seated, my mom ordered a glass of sangria which she considered to be good. She did mention it wasn't better than hers though. But you know moms, nothing is better than what mom makes. My two siblings had a glass of water and a diet coke. My boyfriend and I had a glass of wine. I had a Tempranillo and he had a Garnacha. Spanish wines are up to par. We ordered a plate of cheeses and meats as an appetizer. It contained at most 3 variety of cheeses. One was gouda, the other cheddar, and the other one I really did not care for. The meats had prosciutto and the others I really didn't care for either. The plate was small and did not warrant the price. Our party was satisfied with the taste of the appetizer though. My mother and sister ordered the Paella Valenciana. They loved the dish. However, I also tasted it and to me, it did not taste as an original paella. I don't know, but it had the flavor of an Arroz con Pollo. It was still good, but I've had better paellas. I do admit that the better paellas have been outside the US. From the paellas I have tasted in the US, namely Orlando, it was the best paella here. Still, it tasted like an arroz con pollo to me, though it had seafood. This was very disappointing to me because I was the one who reserved the restaurant based on the great reviews on yelp stating that it had a very good paella and that it tasted original. My brother and I ordered the Churrasco. It was okay, but nothing to rave about. When I asked my brother his opinion, he said he liked it a lot though. My favorite thing was actually the side dish, the garbanzos were yummy! My BF ordered what I consider the best dish of the night, Cazuela de Mero y Mariscos. It's a broth with seafood. Still, this inadequate description does not do it justice. It was so savory and yummy. This dish alone made the trip to this restaurant worth it. When I asked the server about the flamenco guitarist, he said he was not playing today. When I called to make the reservation I specifically asked if there was going to be a guitarist and I was assured that there was going to be one. I was even told the time and made the reservation at that time so we would get to see the guitarist and hear his music. If they would have been truthful to me and told me there was no entertainment, I would probably not made the reservation. My mom always wants to hear someone playing music or singing when we go out for a special occasion, so this really put a damper to our night. The manager approached our table numerous times to make sure everything was okay. He gave our mom a rose and gave one each to my sister and I even though we weren't mothers. Also, he gave the two sangrias my mom ordered to us for free. He informed us of this after he saw my disappointed face when he told me there were no performers and I guess because they lost our reservation. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS: - Order the Cazuela de Mero y Mariscos - Stay away from the Churraco, it's good but not stellar.
(3)Rebecca W.
After seeing the 4 stars we were hopeful to find a really good tapas restaurant, but we were sadly disappointed. Sangria was good, but the food left much to be desired. Water tasted like lemon pledge. My husband and I are just waiting for the food poisoning symptoms to arrive because everything tasted "fishy", even the non seafood dishes. Food was overpriced for what you get and not good at all. There was only 1 other table when we walked in on a Friday night which should have been a sign in itself. Our waiter was nice, but it was probably the worst $100 dinner I've ever had.
(2)Lara B.
I'd give maybe 3 stars for the food, but if it were possible to give negative stars for service I certainly would. I've been here twice now, and both times the service has just been horrendous. The second time we were with a large group, so we expect things to take slightly longer, but when they only have ONE server waiting on half the restaurant, along wtih two other men who were basically bussing tables (and refused to help in ANY way, not even to refill water or get sweetener for tea), that's a BIG problem. One guest in our party was even told by the server that he was "...a pain in the a$$..." when he finally got up and walked over to the kitchen area after asking 4 times for a drink. Both times that I've been here the food has been ok - not fantastic, not horrible. It's definitely tasty, but very over priced for what you get. And, by the time that you get the food over an hour after you order, you're really too annoyed to enjoy it! My husband and I agree that we will never return here again. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me. You don't get the third chance!
(1)Yulissa M.
From the outside you would never expect such an intimate little place inside. Came here for my birthday dinner and was quite impressed. The service was excellent and food was very good. Has the empanadas as starter Tapas and they were yummy! Then ordered the Churrasco which was tasty and served with vegetables and potatoes (you can also get with rice). Sangria was delicious!! Definitely need to come back to this place to try their famous "Paella"!
(4)Jason L.
Fantastic tapas, old world feel. Really delicious food and a killer white sangria. The staff is very friendly as well.
(5)Valeska F.
I have been here two times before and the experience was good, but today my lunch wasn't good. First there is complimentary bread, which is good to have it for free, but it was made with bad burnt oil so that It was very greasy and tasted very bad. Also, I had a salad that was overloaded with vinaigrette and lacked veggies, which was also pretty bad. The other things I ate were very good, croquetas and patatas bravas. But my friend had some chorizo and said that it wasn't good either. Also, through all this time there was a bug in the wall, which speaks a lot about the sanitation conditions of the place. They are trying, but it could be better. The service was nice though.
(2)Rica R.
Definitely overpriced. Food was just okay... I've had much better tapas elsewhere. We had spinach croquetas, garbanzo with ham & chorizo, & pulpo (ceviche style) which was fine but nothing spectacular. Also had tapas a la casa which was underwhelming... I would skip it and get something else.
(3)Rahul J.
The culinary star of our meals in Orlando. So worth the wait when we walked in without reservations on a Saturday night. You could tell right away that it was family owned and it seemed that the owners were of original Spanish decent. Even many of the patrons seemed to be from Spain (tourists). At first we were worried when we parked that the restaurant will be empty or closed but it turned out to be a 25min wait. The tapas were excellent NYC quality but large portions which was something we'd given up on in Orlando. Mussels 9/10 Octopus 7/10 Patatas Bravas 8/10 Shrimp 9/10 mushrooms 8/10 Creme Brulee 9/10 - just right - not too sweet and cold below the warm carmelized layer the server was a bit stuffy and left out our last tapas order but apologized when we asked and comped our glass of wine to make up for it. Very professional. I'd be back to try the paella the next time we're in town.
(5)Troy S.
We came for lunch and had several tapas. Every one was excellent. Nice décor, great service. We look forward to coming back for dinner.
(5)Rashmi P.
Did I mention I love Tapas. I know why I enjoy it but the operative question of the day is what is Tapas? Without divulging too much of the history; Tapas are appetizers that usually accompany sherry, aperitifs or cocktails throughout Spain in bars and restaurants. The Spanish philosophy being "Eat when you drink, drink when you eat". Tapas food is basically locally grown, seasonal ingredients presented with a creative flair, be it simple items such as olives, thinly sliced ham or chorizo, and Spanish cheese to more elaborate preparations like omelets, snails, stuffed peppers, and even roasted lamb or beef. The reason why I relish it? It is an amazing array of finger food designed to encourage comradeship in a relaxed atmosphere where food is a 'part' of the evening and not the entire experience. El Bodegon Tapas & Wine is a family owned restaurant which hits it right on spot with this ideology. The focus truly is on good food, warm ambiance, and most importantly great company. Whether you are celebrating an occasion, having Sunday supper with family, or simply hanging with friends/colleagues at happy hour; El Bodegon strives to create a warm and intimate ambiance which fits all. Initially, at first glance the menu does seem limited, especially since I am used cosmopolitan restaurants offering a multitude of dishes. By the end of my meal, I had to admit that keeping the menu limited ensures that every dish coming out of the kitchen is cooked with care and served with the same passionate zealous, Spaniards are most well known for. In this fast paced world to some, the service at El Bodegon might seem slow but to me they are creating a comfortable atmosphere where we in a manner of speaking our forced to relax and enjoy our food and stimulating company. Over all the dishes stay close to the Spanish roots and the chef has done a phenomenal job of maintaining authenticity in the dishes served at El Bodegon. Bravo!! For your next gastronomical venture, head over to El Bodegon. It very well might become your favorite happy hour destination.
(4)Javier O.
My visited Orlando for the first time in 5 years. A old Friend, decide to have lunch on Saturday at this particular tapas restaurant. We order a pitcher of Sangria and we order a few appetizers . The service was great and the waiter was on top of his game.
(4)Francisco M.
This review is solely based on the fact that we were turned away on Sunday night. We arrived at 7:55pm and were told that since they close at 8:00pm, they were not going to serve us. First of all, closing at 8pm is rather early for this area. Second, it was five of us and I just don't see how a restaurant rather close than make money. They mentioned they had no food left which I find hard to believe. It seems service is still not a priority at this establishment.
(2)Ashley H.
I had my first experience at El Bodegon this week and I loved it! We were seated right away, as it was a Tuesday night and not very busy. Our servers were extremely friendly and sweet. We decided to start off with the beef empanadas and I ordered the chicken noodle soup. What a beginning! I expected a small cup of soup, perhaps even a small bowl, as most restaurants provide. Not here! I received a HUGE ceramic bowl of soup, filled to the brim with chopped vegetables, huge chunks of chicken, and a rich broth. I could not finish it all, and by the end I was really full! My only negative on the soup was that the broth was pretty salty. I think they use boullion and it shows. The empanadas were fresh and delicious. They give you two and cut them each in half, so it's easy to share. My boyfriend was loving them and he was ridiculously happy when I was too full to finish the whole thing, since he got to eat it. Then came the food...oh my goodness. The biggest advice I can give to you about this place is SHARE. I ordered a seafood medley in a paprika broth, which featured shrimp, clams, and mussels. Let me tell you, that was enough for three people. There was so much seafood! It was all delicious. My boyfriend had the churrasco steak which was delicious and tender. There was absolutely no room for any other food. You get so much food for your money and you'll definitely be leaving with leftovers unless you have a lot of people to help you out! I'll definitely come back to eat here again!
(4)Doug W.
My wife and I visited last night on a Groupon deal. The atmosphere was very nice and well done. The restaurant is a tad intimate (tight and enclosed), but the decorations were nice. There was some soft music playing in the background which helped the atmosphere since it was pretty empty when we came in. The place did start to get loud after a few groups arrived as we were leaving. The staff was friendly enough but seemed a bit snootish. They were decently attentive and the food came rather quickly. The food was good, but not very memorable. We picked 4 tapas to share - empenadas, croquetas, manchego, and a potato quiche. All were fine tasting but didn't stand out much. The prices were higher than I would think the quality was. We had sangria to drink (since that was the only happy hour choice), and it was way too sweet. It was also $11 for two of them, which was much too overpriced for the amount of juice that I feel was in it. Sangria is not hard to make, macerate some brandy in fruits overnight and pour wine over it! Overall, we enjoyed the time there, but don't really need to be back.
(3)Sarah K.
Went here for dinner with my friends, for the second time this week. It is a relaxing place. A great place to go on a date, or have a date night. We had 2 pitchers of the Sangria as it is delicious. We also had their cheese, olive and deli meat plate along with an order of beef empanadas, and Chorizo Al Infierno since there was 4 of us. For the meal the Pechuga Rellena was awesome. I highly recommend going here for lunch or dinner. Great place, and great service.
(5)Adan M.
Awesome place!!! Food was excellent, best Spanish flavor in all Orlando. We Tried: Garbanzo Frito Empanadas de Carne Callos a la madrilène Tortilla Espanola Alcachofas Marinaras Everything was really good. BTW, The garlic fresh bread was awesome too.
(5)Klara C.
Ate here for date night last Friday. First off, we drove by this place twice because the lettering on their sign is difficult to read from afar so drive a bit more slowly, otherwise you'll miss it like we did. Walking in, the restaurant immediately gives off a warm, intimate vibe. It feels like you're about to have a nice dinner at a relative's house rather than at a restaurant. Other Yelpers warned it can get crowded and noisy on Fridays, but on the night we went, it was quiet and not too crowded, perfect for listening to the Spanish guitarist performing. So live music - big plus! We immediately ordered a pitcher of sangria and just like others have said, it was delicious! Light, refreshing, and not too sweet. I'm a lightweight so sadly I couldn't handle more than a glass and a half. Times like that I wish I brought a tumbler with me so I can take the extra alcohol home. We ordered the following: CHORIZO AL BRANDY (recommend) This came out of the kitchen literally on fire! My boyfriend and I were disappointed when the flames died out before we could get a pic of it (yes, we're that couple that takes pictures of food). Adequately spicy and the meat was a bit tougher than I expected, but you get a lot in the portion. I found myself dipping bread and the other meats I ordered into the chorizo sauce since I liked it so much. CALAMARES FRITOS (standard fare) Standard calamari, nothing too special. Thankfully it wasn't overbreaded like other restaurants I've eaten at. CROQUETAS DE JAMON (very filling) You get three pieces, though one piece on its own is quite filling, partly because of how fried the outside is. I found that I enjoyed my piece more when I just ate the filling with only a tiny bit of the fried outside part for texture. JARRETE DE CORDERO A LA CASTELLANA (kinda bland, disappointing) I'm a sucker for lamb and will always order it if it's on the menu. This is the one meal I was disappointed with. The portion is good - they give you lots of steamed vegetables and rice with the shank. I just found the tomato sauce it was cooked with quite bland and the meat quite chewy. I've had lamb before that's melt-in-your-mouth-tender. Sadly, this wasn't it. Sometimes I dipped the lamb meat into the chorizo sauce for more flavor. Overall, I would still come back here since I really liked the music and atmosphere, and the staff is quite friendly. Though next time I'd order one of the paella dishes. The couple next to us ordered one and it smelled amazing!
(3)Isabelle G.
My favorite Spanish place in Orlando. I recommend their Sangria which comes in a never-ending pouring pot, the chorizos chooked in brandy, the mussels in the red sauce (dip your bread in it, it's amazing!), the caldo callego, and croquetas de hamon. We always go and just order a bunch of tapas, sip sangria and listen to the live music. The place gets packed but you truly get a great unique experience, like you're not in Orlando anymore. The service is slow but don't let this detract you, this is how it's done in Spain, taking your time to savor your food, enjoy the music and some colorful conversation with your waiter, really such a wonderful and unique place. Advice: make reservations, be on time to them and don't come on a time crunch, go to enjoy the atmosphere and the great tapas!
(5)Robyn Y.
My husband and I were excited to try this place last weekend on our date night. The service in our opinion was not bad- it was just funny when we walked in because the hostess had put a mint candy in her mouth a couple seconds prior, and she tried to greet us, seat us, and hand us menus with the mint in her mouth :D She tried to cover it the best she could. The waiter was really wonderful and nice- he took our order in a timely manner. They brought us some warm bread- my husband said it tasted like some of the bread was fresh and some of it was a little dry and old. We ordered 4 tapas dishes- artichoke (cold), potatoes, shrimp, and mushrooms. The artichoke heart dish tasted like it had been scraped from the bottom of the pre-made barrel which was sitting in the fridge for a few days. The shrimp was actually excellent, and so were the potatoes. The mushrooms would have been good, but they were drenched in salt. In my opinion, they should try to cook on the side of less salt to appeal to a greater majority of guests. Then if people want more salt, they can add it themselves. We weren't going to bother saying anything about the artichoke and the waiter actually asked us about it (since we had barely touched it) and took it off of our bill- how incredibly nice of him. It was freezing in the restaurant though. When we were done, I was just happy to get out of there. I don't know that there are any good tapas places in Orlando if this was supposed to be the best one- we won't be back. Edit: My husband asked me how I could have left this out-- in the basket of bread, there was a random cinnamon raisin bagel piece seasoned with garlic, haha.
(3)Luv T.
Went to lunch yesterday. The service was ok but I felt that the food was less than adequate. I had the French platter. The chicken skewer was very dried out and the puff pastry was tasteless. It seemed like a frozen store bought item. My friend had the salmon carpaccio. It was the same smoked salmon that you can buy at Costco. I won't be back.
(2)Kayli W.
A coworker and I came here one day for lunch, upon his suggestion. Driving by, i can say that this is a place that I probably wouldn't venture in. We walked in and the place was dead--i assumed because we walked in at about 2:30. I ordered mussels with a side of steamed mushrooms. the mushrooms were VERY garlicy, but the mussels were pretty good. They were cooked in a chunky, tomato-y type sauce. For how dead the place was, i was pretty disappointed with the lack of service that we had.
(3)Joann R.
On this visit, everything was spot on. It's been a year since my last visit and it left me a little disappointed as some of my favorite things weren't available. They had exactly what I wanted this time! We had a dinner of tapas - shrimp, calamari, tortilla, jamon/chorizo/manchego/olives and caldo gallego. The shrimp were fresh and tasty with heavy minced garlic - yummmm! GD loved the calamari and ate most of it save a sample for me - thinly breadly and flash fried. The spanish tortilla was tasty with its layers of thinly sliced potato, onion, and egg. Our meat and cheese platter was tasty and provides me with some leftovers along with one of the pieces of tortilla for breakfast. One of my stars though was the soup. I can't get this soup anywhere else. So delicious with beans, pork, greens - brings a smile to my face. I was practically giggling when I learned they also had crema catalana - its crispy, crunchy sugary coating over a layer of orange and cinnamin tinted creamy filling. drool.... GD who was a little resistant to trying something new was hesitant but ended up eating over half of it. Oh, I just realized maybe I was giggling because I was drinking that huge full glass of sangria they brought to me (smile). I wish I could pack them up and move them to VA. The decor is not unlike what you might find in a small Spanish tavern - although maybe you get more Argentinian wine selections!
(5)Paula Michelle A.
I came here for lunch with some friends. It was pretty empty but I'm guessing thats because they had just opened for lunch. The three of us shared four tapas which we thought would be the perfect dish to share but the servings were so small. What the food may have lacked in quantity it certainly did not lack in quality. Each of the dishes we had were delicious. They had a pretty good lunch special but for the amount it cost i would have liked a bigger portion.
(3)Angel I.
Dining room is a bit outdated, service was good, food was ok. The octopus appetizer was the worst octopus we've had (skin was slimy and didn't have much flavor). Paella was good but very greasy.
(2)Heidi A.
Wow! we (2) ordered 3 tapas.. I thought that we under ordered based on the size I'm used to. These were AWESOME and HUGE portions for tapas. The prices were more than reasonable, the staff was courteous, the savory bites were melt-in-your-mouth bliss. I won't hesitate to come back here .. in fact, I wished I could have tried more things on the menu! I can't say enough good things about this place, so I won't. I'll just let you go and try this gem of a restaurant for yourselves. Run, don't walk. Make reservations.. the place only holds 66, and it gets packed weekend nights. We went on a Tuesday - it was not crowded, but still busy.
(5)Caroline A.
I've been rewriting this review for almost a month now. I just don't know how to quickly and efficiently capture how disappointed I am in this restaurant. This was the place I would bring all of my visiting friends and family, and it became the place they would want to dine at when they were in town. So what exactly has changed? The quality of service and the food quality. As an ex restaurant manager experience has taught me that if your service and food quality is lacking, something is really wrong. Either management is oblivious or there is a current change in hands. Service - Originally the servers were attentive, helping you with your order, checking in on you (such as bringing you water and more bread), and letting you know the status of your order. Amazing how what I recently experienced were highly inattentive servers who acted like we were more of a nuisance, no water/bread service, delayed table touch (this means actually having a server first make contact with us.. usually this is to be done within 5 min or less), and rarely getting checked in on. This was a HUGE issue when I came with a party of 9 to celebrate in my post half marathon meal - not only was I hungry, but to never be able to find my server to let us know what was going on was just flat out infuriating. To make matters worse, we were the only table present and arrived 2 hrs before closing time. On the second trip my mother insisted that we speak spanish to improve the quality of service - this thought logic infuriated me, regardless of the spoken language, service should be consistent. Quality of food - I love the cataplana mainly for the clams and the great bread dipping sauce, this is usually a large platter. Roughly enough to supply 4-5 people. On my last visit the platter was half the size at the same cost and was very gritty. This irritated the hell out of me, if the price was lower I could have understood, but maintaining the price and offering less just really makes me wonder what's going on with the cost-effectiveness in the kitchen. Is this a harsh review? Yes. This is a locally owned restaurant that I would get so excited to dine at, and to be treated so poorly by the servers, and to make matters worse, have my friends and family be treated the same way is such an insult. Add to the fact that a manager never checked in on us (since one would assume they would check in on the dining room every so often right?) is just disconcerting. So, I'm sorry. Wait, no. I'm not sorry. El Bodegon, you should be sorry. Whatever is going on right now behind closed doors/in the kitchen is clearly affecting your overall restaurant. Alexis Mariñez (the executive chef) and Nadine López (the operations manager) - get your act together and get some customer feedback, maybe even get some secret shoppers to assess your servers. Something is clearly wrong and you guys are not aware. As they always say, good food CANNOT fix poor service. Please let me know when you get your service fixed and then maybe I'll come back in, but for now I'm on the hunt for authentic spanish tapas elsewhere.
(2)Jonnabel S.
El Bodegon gave me the worst service experience I've had in a very long time. Being a former server myself, I completely understand how hectic it can be serving a table of 12. However, there is absolutely no excuse for ignoring customers and only serving them when taking an order and giving out checks. I ordered the short ribs dinner and I just don't understand why it took almost an hour and a half for my food to come out (Ordered at 8:30pm, received my food around 9:50pm). Fortunately, I ordered the patatas bravas as an appetizer and I was having some good conversations with friends or I wouldn't have been as patient as I was with my entree. It was around the same wait time for half our party as well. What really bothers me about the waiting is that our server never stopped by to update us on when our food would be ready or offered to do anything about the wait. We had to flag him down several times for water and updates. To make matters worse it was quite obvious that he didn't care whether or not we were doing fine with our dining experience. I'm sorry, but are we annoying you by being here and helping you get a paycheck? I mean, c'mon, this is the SERVICE industry. It's not glamorous, but at least try to do your job. And that's not all of it. Looking around I saw there were a few tables with large parties such as ours so I would think they're used to it and have a system as to how to handle the bill at the end especially if it's a split bill. I just cannot understand why our server had to take our checks to us one by one and run to the back to cash us out one by one. Oh and he even wrote out our orders in individual boxes of his notepad at the beginning of the evening. That should've made it a little easier to split up those checks. So comes the time for us to pay our bills and come to find out that they've already added a 20% gratuity to our bill. Well, I guess that explains why our server just didn't care. It was because he was already guaranteed a nice tip whether or not he actually did anything but take our orders! Now I don't mind automatically adding gratuity to a large party, in fact, I was expecting it, but 20%?!?! I was highly insulted. And it's not like I was going to leave him with nothing, but 20% was definitely way more than he deserved. And at that point I just wanted to pay my bill, leave and never come back. It's really unfortunate that the service overshadowed what would have been a nice birthday dinner for a friend. The food was actually good, but again, the horrible service overshadowed it. I will NOT BE RETURNING here anytime soon that much is for sure. And I will most definitely be telling my friends to stay away.
(1)Esteban R.
Drove from longwood after reading all the reviews on the paella... What a horrible dish!!! And at $40 dollars !!! I got robbed! Asked for garlic bread and got sliced sandwich bread ( no garlic) .. Lol! Was I supposed to do a paella sandwich ? When you think paella you think seafood... I got 5 shrimp , no langoustines, no lobster, no scallops, I've ordered Chinese food at $12 whith more seafood , Do not come here, I know I won't!!!
(1)A J.
Loved the place! Awesome Paellas, vegetables and seafood were excellent and tasty! 1 paella can be share up to 4 people. Sangrias: White was a little stronger than the Red, but delicious. Dessert are very, very good. Atmosphere: Small and cozy, like a restaurant you will find in Spain. They have live music some days of the week. Great touch! Service is excellent and prompt, but for those people that like to eat super fast and leave, this might be not your place for dinner. Remember this is a place to enjoy time and excellent food. There are offering Lunch specials for less than $11 for a 3 course lunch. Great value! Had visited Spain numerous times and towns, I can tell you this food is has close or even better than some of the dishes I had overseas. Give it try!
(5)Michael y.
My dad wanted tapas in orlando, so yelp came through. This is very authentic. i just wished they had the green pimentos that are stuffed and grilled and topped with sea salt. the bread was fresh, soft, and grilled to perfection. The garlic shrimp were perfect and tender and the sauce was worth dipping. Sangria was a must do- perfect. the fried garbanzos and flambe chorizo were notable mentions. Service was perfect, our host was knowledgeable and attentive. Ole' Que pasa tronco!
(4)Michelle D.
We were looking for a tapas restaurant in Orlando online and found El Bodegon. The food was incredible and the portions were HUGE. We are definitely going back.
(5)Caroline S.
Probably my new favorite restaurant in Winter Park/Maitland. (there's not a whole lot of them) Came on the weekend around two and it was pretty empty. We got the small pitcher of sangria which was light and fruity...light on the wine, but still refreshing. We ordered the patatas bravas, the muscles, and the calamari. They were all quite delish. Our waiters were perfect, and watched the world cup with us! =] Will definitely come back!
(4)Annette B.
My husband, myself and In-laws had dinner there last night. We ordered a Paella Marinara, cost $36.00, it was the worse paella ever. They should feel a shame of themselves. The color of the rice was not a traditional Spanish saffron yellow color, it was brown with barely any seafood. What a disappointment! Never again. Do yourself a favor and stay home.
(1)Wendy m.
Paella is one of the best in town. I love the live music. This would be a great date place. Nice dim lighting and a good selection of wine. The booths are nice and service is attentive. You must try the orange creme brule. I am not a huge fan of orange flavored desserts but it is so slight and the texture of the dessert is dreamy.
(4)Bob M.
I often turn to tapas when setting up a group dinner since everyone can spend as much as they want and there's enough variety to satisfy any set of taste buds. This time around we had a party of 18 and I'd heard good things about El Bodegon, so I thought I'd give it a try. They were happy to take the reservation and had a huge table awaiting our group. The inside is charming and very Spanish looking. They have a guitar player on the weekends and some old Spanish waiters that add to the charm and let you know you're eating somewhere real. The staff was exceptionally friendly and a single waiter managed to handle our entire party through the night without us ever needing to ask for a refill of water or sangria. Our food also came out steadily and nobody was ever left without a dish in front of them. There were no awkward moments occasionally encountered at tapas restaurants where one half of the table has food and the other is still waiting. That alone earns big points in my book. As for the food, it was really excellent. Very good, traditional tapas on one side of the menu and entrees on the other side. I personally stuck with the tapas and was not disappointed. The tapas menu is something of a 'greatest hits', with every one of my favorites accounted for. The empandas were great, with big chunks of bacalao, the croquetas were light and crispy on the outside and warm and creamy on the inside, and the mussels were just WOW. Portion sizes were great for sharing; any given dish had at least 4 items so it was easy to pass things around and still get your fill. I don't think there was a dish I didn't love throughout the entire night, which is really saying something. I will definitely be back to El Bodegon, hopefully soon.
(5)Anthony C.
Very authentic tapas, with a few kinks. Decor is perfect. Spanish guitar player, good touch. Let's get the kinks out of the way, then I'll dig right in to the goods. First, I don't know if it's because I look Spanish (I'm Italian), but the server came up to the table with a smile, speaking in Spanish, and immediately looked at me like I slapped him with a tiny white glove and challenged him to a duel once I told him I don't speak the language. His attitude went downhill after that, almost rolling his eyes when we asked him what "Cabrales" sauce was, like it was as common as ketchup. Minus 1/2 star. Anywho, OK, we got a bad apple, but what about the food? Let's start with what Spanish cuisine is known for: the Sangria. Another low point. Like another reviewer pointed out, it tasted like Hawaiian Punch, with no punch; where was the brandy? I make better sangria at home. Minus another (pretty important) 1/2 star. OK, all this negativity is bringing me down, let's hop into the good stuff. We ordered a good amount of small plates, which were all quite tasty. Camarones a la Valenciana -- shrimp cooked in wine, garlic, cilantro -- was divine; simple tastes come together perfectly here. Croquetas De Jamon, Calamares Fritos -- both deep fried classics with complimenting aliolis. Chorizo Al Brandy -- it's sausage, flambéed in brandy, need I say more? Easily the best dish we had. Pimientos Del Piquillo Rellenos -- baby red bell peppers stuffed with crab meat -- served chilled and has a sweet, rich taste, very good. Empanadas De Bacalao -- cod fish empanadas -- they were pretty dried out, but we dipped them in the left over garlic oil from the shrimp, and they were unbelievable. Bottom Line: definitely worthy of a dinner trip if you love tapas. Take the service and sangria with a grain of salt, and you will love it. I don't get how people trash a restaurant based on bad service and one bad item they had. I'm a bit more objective. Friday and Saturday night WILL be packed, expect it.
(4)Justin I.
I remember when this place used to be a Chinese restaurant. I went to middle school with the son of the owner, and sometimes, when I would go there I would see him sitting in one of the booths doing his homework. Anyway, the current restaurant in this building, El Bodegon, is awesome! We went there with another young couple and had a feast. The service was good and the food was very tasty. We had wine and shared a bunch of the tapas. Everything was great. We had a wonderful experience. Great place for dates and double dates. Good ambiance and atmosphere. Check it out.
(5)Angie M.
Churrasco and pork chop were great! Great ambiance! Lacks on service and music was good, but too loud. We were "screaming" across the table.
(3)Ross R.
We got to this place at approximately 830 on a Tuesday, the place is open until 10pm. We weren't greeted at all when we walked in, and I am not sure the host spoke English. Good thing I speak a little Spanish so I could understand that my table is ready...which he pointed at so I could seat myself. The food was decent and fairly priced, but I think they charge for smiles. The final straw was that they decided to move every table in the restaurant around us as we were attempting to finish our paella. Maybe if you go earlier in the evening it will be a better experience.
(2)Angie P.
Such a great, cute ,cultured place! Food was excellent. Every time my boyfriend and I go here we order something different and have not been let down, ever! Food is sooooo Fantastic and the service is even better. Waiters are so Warm and mannerly and very friendly. They have live music most nights. You must go! They have a groupon for $20 to get $40 worth of food. Cant beat it! Go! Go! Go!
(5)Annette G.
Hate to do it, but I need to take a star off my board for El Bodegon. The last time I was there, it was packed! Which is a very good thing for them. Unfortunately for us, several dishes that were ordered never made it to the table. Our server had no idea where our food was, or what had happened to the orders. There was enough food for the group to eat, but it was a big let down. Also the sangria was sweeter than Hawaiian Punch. Most of the food was still good, the mussels are definitely my favorite item on the tapas menu. Skip the quince and cheese plate... not much in the way of cheese for $8. Not a bad option for Tapas or authentic Spanish cuisine, but... not one I'm going to rush back to either.
(3)Emily L.
Authentic traditional (and wonderfully fresh!) Spanish food served in inviting atmosphere. I took my parents here as well; and they gave it 5 stars too. El Bodegon is the only place currently I've found that serves the kind of tapas my parents enjoyed while living in Spain for 3+ years. I've had about 75% of the menu items, and loved them all. Some favorites are the muscles, stuffed peppers, garlic shrimps and paella. They do a happy hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well, a great time to enjoy your fill of the sangria as well as half off tapas.
(5)Lilly I.
Wow! The tapas were excellent. We had the chorizo flambe. The chorizo was delicious and had just been on fire so the edges were just perfectly crispy on the edges. The tortilla espanola was tasty and well seasoned. The jamon con melon had salty, dry (this is a good thing), smoky and perfectly fatty ham slices, though the melon could have been a little bit sweeter (but it isn't honeydew season yet). The sangria was light and refreshing -- not too sweet. The pitcher was the perfect amount to get three of us slightly buzzed. The deserts were what blew me and my dining buddies away. The coconut cake was incredibly moist with a light and rum-flavored whip cream frosting. It was thinly frosted on the top and had a crispy carmelized crust that surprised and delighted us. The manchego with quince paste was sweet and tart and salty and generous. The roasted pears were soaked in a sweet brandy so they were tart, sweet, with an edge, served with almond and caramel ice cream. The above three deserts were my favorites, but the flan and the creme brulee with orange infusion were also very good. My dining partners loved the brulee but I'm never much of a creme brulee person. Service was friendly and it seemed to be a family affair. The chef came out and said hello. The waiter and the chef both talked about learning the recipes from "an old man from gallicia," though the flan was the chef's mom's recipe. Like proper tapas, we got food in four rounds -- our waiter did a good job of keepeing us eating letting food get cold. Food, friends, good stories, and generous sangria made for an excellent night. I wish I could put this restaurant in my pocket and take it back to San Francisco with me.
(5)Greer R.
El Bodegon features high-quality, traditional tapas and a solid Iberian menu. Like many others, we had been meaning to try this restaurant for ages and finally got around to it--it's unassuming frontage and location across the street from the excellent Black Bean Deli kept us from it for a while. The tapas are lovely and their traditional style is a nice departure from the modern fusion tapas many restaurants feature. While some dishes could do with a little less salt to my taste, there's nothing I would advise against. The real steal, however, is the lunch special Wednesday through Friday: soup or salad (both of which are excellent), bread, one of several main dishes (including paella on Fridays) and a desert for $10.99. It's all good and easily one of the best deals in Orlando. And, as no tapas review would be complete without a mention of the sangria, it--like the tapas--is well-realized in a traditional fashion. Cool and refreshing, with just the right amount of a citrus--not an entire fruit salad plopped into a wine glass.
(4)Myriam M.
I checked out this restaurant after reading other Yelps' reviews and fell in love with the place the moment I walked in. The tapas were excellent although I can not say the same for the paella. I've had paella at various restaurants in Spain and New York and this one unfortunately can not be compared. The sangria had a good taste but did not have any fruit in it - looked more like grape juice than sangria. The music was excellent and did not expect to dance when I walked in but ended up dancing the night away. It was so good that I called some friends so they could join me.
(4)Ricky L.
for photos visit: tastychomps.blogspot.com… El Bodegon is located right off of US 17/92 / Orlando Ave / Mills Ave (it has many names), a little north of Fairbanks Ave / Aloma Ave on the right hand side. I was here this evening to join up with a friend, Annette, the once and future Elite Yelper, who had grown up here in Winter Park and was meeting up with her friends for some tapas here at El Bodegon. At the entrance of El Bodegon stands a statue of a bullfighter in his regalia, greeting you to the large wooden doors. Inside, the feeling is like that of a restaurant in Spain, small and quaint, intimate with a soundtrack of flamenco guitar in the background. Annette and her guests arrive and we begin our tapas feast. I debated at first whether or not to get the red wine sangria, but hey, we are at a tapas place and they were originally meant to be enjoyed with a drink after all. Our friends remark that they like the feeling here at El Bodegon much more than Ceviche's which has a less intimate, chain-y feeling downtown. Our server is kind and accomodating, although a little slow at times. We begin with the tortilla espanola, a large fluffy spanish style quiche made with delicious potatoes. Definitely a favorite. We also had the patatas a la brava, boiled red bit potatoes sauté in Louisiana red hot sauce and alioli, which we enjoyed so much that we ordered it 3 times. We also ordered the tapas de la casa, which was a bit disappointing for the price ($17), which came with a few slices of ham and chorizo, manchego cheese, and a few pieces of olives. I really enjoyed the clams in tomato sauce though as well as the croquetas de jamon, Spanish ham croquettes with alioli sauce and the pimientos del piquillo rellenos, Spanish baby peppers stuffed with crab meat in romesco sauce. Overall, El Bodegon was a enjoyable restaurant though can be a bit pricey, especially if you order two pitchers of sangria with your meal. Definitely go in a group to share and taste and split dishes. The night was fun and I had a good time over the stories of old yelp battles and travelling lost stuffed animals. We ended our meal with a sweet dessert, the crema catalona, the special brulee made with cinnamon and sweet pears. for photos visit tastychomps.blogspot.com…
(4)ian r.
We have been meaning to go here for about 2 years!!! We finally went on Saturday evening Loved the decor, live guitar playing Very attentive service good suggestions There was four of us and my Mom in law is VERY VERY picky. We ordered 5 or 6 tapas The pork was FANTASTIC, the little red potatoes were so good we ordered an extra portion. Empanadas very tasty, the shrimps were seasoned perfectly, tortilla was excellent and Jamon croquettes were very tasty On the waiters recomendation we ordered the paella for two the meat not sea food and it was more than enough food, I even brought some home THe paella was truly excellent, fresh aromatic, pork, chorizo and chicken We had a great evening and would recommend to ANYONE Excellent
(5)Ronn B.
My wife and I stopped in for tapas and were not disappointed. Very pleasant atmosphere and they pour a nice house Malbec. Our waiter was very Spanish and served in very authentic Spanish style. He wanted us to take our time, feel at home and that was very nice. We also met the young lady chef from Barcelona and talked about Catalunya. The only reason I do not give it five stars is that when all was done and we were REALLY ready to go it took a while to find the waiter, get the check, get paid and leave. That's usually OK in Spain, but this is the USA and when its time to scram it is time to go.
(4)Victoria H.
Favorite restaurant in the hood! Everything was very good and mussels, patatas bravas, salad, calamari were all great. Service was helpful and friendly. Tuesday and Thursday 2 for 1 great deal.
(5)Chris R.
second time around I enjoyed it much more the food was better or my attitude was. they had white sangria this time which was yummy but didn't taste that much different to me than red sangria, who knows I'm not a wine person anyways. Had some of the same tapas this time, but one I hadn't had before was really delish. The croquettas(5/5), I didn't read what was in it and assumed it was mashed potatoes but the excellent waiter said it was ham, cream, flour. Man those were really good with the aoili sauce which was mayo and red pepper paste. The clams again were bomb as hell awesome(5/5), it's cause of the creole sauce which uses the holy trinity + 1(onions, celery, garlic, bell peppers), even after the clams were done I used the bread to sop up more of that sauce. Also had the shrimp in garlic sauce which was pretty tasty(3.5/5). The have some really good specials on certain days of the week, I mean like amazing(2 4 1, all you can eat)! but you better call in case they've changed the day when you are reading this and planning to go. Restaurant.com has a great coupon for them too and a copy of their menu: restaurant.com/microsite… and if you figure out the discount code via slickdeals.net you will even get a discount on the purchase. You have no excuse not to go here now.
(5)Trung N.
I really like this place. The employees were very friendly and the food was excellent. There was even a life band that night that did great job. It was quiet the romantic setting for dinner. I of course had to have some pork so I ordered the Chorizo al Brandy tapas dish and the Paella Valenciana. It was delicious and it went well with some Sangria. I think it's a great place for a date or just to take people who would like to try what tapas are like. It's also close to Park Ave if you want to end up there afterwards or to Winter Park Village. I am definitely coming here again to try some other dishes.
(5)Victor V.
(2/24/2012) The atmosphere and service was appropriate for an evening dinner. The staff doesn't rush you and in fact are occasionaly asking if there's anything else they can bring you. We had "tapas de la casa" which was good not great in my opinion, especially for the $$ it costs. Our main course was the "Paella Mixta" which was very good and very filling, it serves more than two easily. The only letdown was some reviews here said the sangria was great, We tried it but it was more sweet than anything. The overall atmosphere sets the mood for a romantic evening and the food is as close as to the real thing found in Spain with a twist. I would recommend El Bodegon and will probably attend again in the future.
(4)Scott L.
Overall pretty good - authentic tapas and paella. The croquetas de jamon were superb but the chorizo al infierno (sausage flambe) was a bit too oily. Some good choices on the wine list although a bit limited. Would return again to try other dishes. Prices were very reasonable.
(4)Jorge G.
All of the Spanish tapas at El Bodegon are excellent. Live music on the weekends and a great place for large groups.
(4)Joe D.
Orlando actually has some excellent Spanish food now. El Bodegon is no exception. Your typical assortment of Spanish tapas done very well and affordably. I highly recommend.
(5)Luis G.
This is a fantastic hidden treasure in Winter Park. I have become a regular (no more Ceviches for me!) From the outside, it looks very unassuming. Don't let it fool you. In the Inside, the ambiance is intimate and cozy. They also have live flamenco music by an amazing guitarist on weekends. For the food, I have eating at the other tapas in the area and this one is by far the most authentic (not just the fusion stuff). The chorizo is incredible and according to the them, it is made fresh (not Goya). The Pulpo a la Gallega is just right. Finally a place that knows how to cook octopus!!! Tortilla Espanola is well seasoned (did not need to add extra salt). My wife loves the croquetas! For tapas, they were good portions and prices are reasonable. And unlike Ceviche, parking is available and free! A note, this is a real mom-and-pop restaurant, so need to be a bit patient during rush hours. On a Friday or Saturday, give yourself 2 hours, have a few sangrias, enjoy the live music, and you are coming back for more. I am!!!
(5)Fred F.
We've been there twice, both times were wonderful. The first time we had no reservations and they were kind enough to fit us into an already crowded weekend night. The second time we called ahead to make sure we had a spot reserved. I have no idea about the entrees since we did tapas both times, but I can say that the tapas are excellent. I'm pretty sure we've tried virtually everything on the menu and all were good. The Tapas de Casa was probably the only one that I can't rave about as the olives were nothing special and the whole thing seemed a bit overpriced, but everything else... wow. The make their own chorizo and when they flambeau it, it is out of this world. The octopus is great, the mussels to die for, the clams excellent, the crab stuffed sweet red peppers are so good we ordered more to take home for the next day's lunch. The sangria is good, the life guitar is a bit loud but very good. We had the same waiter both times, an older Spanish gentleman and he was truly delightful. What can I say, if you are in Winter Park and want tapas, this is the place to go.
(5)Alessandra V.
Love this place. If you are looking for real Spanish tapas in Orlando you have to check out El Bodegon in Winter Park. The place is small, but full of life. The sangria was awesome, and they don't skimp on the fruit, unlike some other places. The Spanish tortilla was melt in your mouth good and the fried calamari was perfection. We also ordered their paella and it tasted wonderful. I come from a Latin family and grew up around loud dinner tables surrounded by animated and heated discussions. Now, I think one way you can quickly tell a good Latin restaurant from the wanna-be's is by the noise level when you first walk through the door. It was my first time to El Bodegon, but as soon as I walked in I heard screams of laughter, heated conversations, and Spanish music all around the room. On the weekend they have a Spanish guitarist come in to play and sing. The atmosphere is lively, fun, and will certainly lift your spirits. If you're looking for a quiet night, check it out during the week.
(4)Maria R.
I went to this place with my brother who came from out of town to spend some time with us. We arrived at El Bodegon ready to tackle some real Spanish food. The place is small but very inviting. We were greeted by our waiter who provided us with the menus. My brother was ready to dig into some good tapas that evening and he ordered 3 different tapas, classic tripe dish, cod fish empanadas and some ham croquettes. I on the other hand ordered some shrimp and yellow rice. I also made sure to ask for the Sangria (red) which was delicious and refreshing. Overall the service was excellent and the price reasonable. I liked that there was plenty of parking in the back of the establishment. I also took my mom there for a 2nd visit and this time we ordered the Seafood Paella...It was delicious in flavor the only small problem was that the Octupus was very tough and we mentioned it to waiter and they deducted from our bill. I would highly recommend this little spot whenever you feel like eating true Spanish food.
(4)Anna B.
One of my favorite places! The olives are so good I can just keep ordering them, paella marinara is really yummy and enough for more than 2 people. Try the seafood mix ceviche- super good! Also,don't forget to try their amazing sangria(red or white-both perfect). Have been there many times, and the service has always been great!
(5)Rocco B.
First time here and will come back again for sure. Traditional Spanish food and setting. Food was great plus live music good service .
(5)Jessica B.
I've driven by this place a million times, but never stopped in until their Groupon showed up. Parking was a little difficult since it was really busy when we arrived (Friday @ 8:30), but we eventually found something. Walking in, I was pleasantly surprised at how warm and welcoming of an environment it is. Even if the brick inside is fake (which it clearly is) it gives the right energy. Very romantic, and the live Spanish musician helped set the mood as well. We did have one major problem, unfortunately. While we were sat immediately, we did not have someone take our drink orders for a solid 10 minutes. Several people walked by us, but I think assumed we were okay because we had water and garlic bread, (which is good, by the way.) Once we did finally order drinks, my white wine was room temperature. No problem, I just took some ice from my water to cool it down. I think the waiter felt bad, because he gave us some amazingly generous pours and gave us a round on the house at the end. One thing that turned me off was that when I asked our waiter what his favorite tapas were, he hastily said "all of them," and didn't offer any additional input. The food was good, but I think we ordered the wrong things. We decided to just order four tapas for the two of us and chose the following: CALAMARES FRITOS Fried calamari Galicia style with alioli sauce. WAY TOO SALTY. We couldn't even finish it. I've certainly had better. CHAMPIONENS AL AJILLIO Mushrooms in green garlic olive oli. Delicious. I basically ate the whole thing myself, but they were reminiscent of mushrooms you would put on top of a steak. Luckily, this is right up my alley, despite not having a steak to go along. VERY garlicky. PATATAS A LA BRAVA Boiled red bit potatoes sauté in Louisiana red hot sauce and alioli. I thought they were lackluster. But my boyfriend, who is a true potato-lover, found them to be his favorite menu item. Who knows? TAPA DE LA CASA Spanish cured ham, chorizo, manchego cheese with olive and spring mix. My favorite item, but I'm a sucker for charcuterie boards. A tad on the greasy side, but what are you going to do with a plate that heavy in saturated (amazing) fats? The service, after the initial hiccup, was quick and we left VERY full. Next time I will be more adventurous. The boyfriend doesn't like seafood, so even though I was dying for the paella, I didn't get to try it this time as it's portioned for two people. We will probably return just to try four different menu items. I would need another Groupon though, since this place is a tad out of my price range. I'll definitely try the sangria next time too.
(3)OrlandoGirl F.
There was some high and low points of our visit. I called Friday afternoon about 1:00 to make a reservation. I left a message on the answering machine and no one called back. I tried calling again about 4:30 and no answer. hmm. Are they open? we went anyway. Some of the high points; we were greeted in a very friendly and welcoming manner when we arrived, almost like old friends. They were out of the bottle of wine that we ordered so they substituted a more expensive bottle for the same price. The Tortilla Espana (Espanola?) was delicious. The low points, the music in the main room was SUPER loud. We asked to be moved to the little side hall that has a few booths. At least we could have a conversation there, but it was really hot over there. If you want wine by the glass, there is Sangria or the house wine. That's all. Everything else is by the bottle. I had the lemon chicken and it had highs and lows as well. The flavor of the chicken was good, but it had big chunks of garlic on top of it in the sauce. I ended up scraping most of it off because it wasnt all cooked. I really dont want raw garlic overpowering the rest of the food. It also had some olives on top of the chicken with the pits, so when I asked for a box, the server just scraped the entire plate into the box; chunks of garlic, olive pits and all. If there is a next time, I'll put the food in the box myself. Also, the vegetables that came with the chicken were the frozen variety. If I am going to pay that much for dinner, at least give me fresh vegetables! I am not sure if we wold go there again or not.
(3)Steve S.
El Bodegon is small but cozy Spanish restaurant on Orlando Ave in Winter Park. The layout has a feel like someone moved into an existing location and just tried to make it work. The foyer is tiny and the dining room is just one big room with tables along the hallway to the restroom. Add in a singer and the usual table conversation, and the place gets loud! Taking singer/guitar player off the amplifier would have helped (no need for that in a place this size.) We ordered the Mixed Paella which was good. There is enough to split at least three ways, but you can augment that with some of tapas which were good overall. Salads looked fresh. Sangria was ok, but seemed overly sweet. Fortunately, the ice they pour it over diluted it making it more drinkable. The hostess was very good about seating us quickly even though we didn't have a reservation. Service overall was efficient and not overly intrusive, but a little awkward bringing out the dishes. Overall, El Bodegon serves up pretty good Spanish food with good service and a welcoming staff. The environment could be better, but they do a fine job with the space they have.
(4)Kathy D.
I think this place has an awesome lunch menu for a great price of $10.99 for the type of restaurant that it is. You get your choice of soup or salad, one entree or 2 tapas and dessert. I ordered the salad with seafood paella and flan. They also provide slices of baked bread. Everything tasted amazing and fresh! Service did lack a bit, but I would definitely come back again. Very intimate and fancy place.
(5)Jeff K.
I was hoping for at least a four star experience here. Maybe next time I'll be able to upgrade the rating. Inside, the restaurant is cozy and intimate, nicely decorated in a clean and tasteful manner. We came in for a Saturday lunch, and were one of three occupied tables at the time. Upon being seated, we were given menus and glasses of water, and then... nothing, for a while. Eventually our friendly waiter, who was Joe Pesci, returned and took our order. There was another long delay, and then the bread came maybe two minutes before the plates came out. We ordered the calamari, which was pretty standard fried calamari, the mushrooms, and the empanadas. We liked the beef empanadas, and loved the mushrooms. Wanting one more thing, we decided to order the artichoke dish. My fiancée liked it, but I didn't care for it because it tasted extremely oniony and it was too overpowering for my taste. After finishing our meal, it took another 15 minutes or so to get our bill paid, since business was picking up a bit and Mr. Pesci was apparently the only server working, and he kept disappearing into the kitchen. One other odd thing was the music. Beautiful, soothing Spanish guitar being played at a really high volume, so loud that it was hard to hear each other talk. I mean, it was really loud. Then out of nowhere the song would change right in the middle, the volume might go down, but then it would go back up again. This happened numerous times, and I have no idea why. Overall it was still a positive experience, and I'm hoping that the return visit will see an extra star added to the review!
(3)Sarah K.
Every time I have eaten here the food has been excellent. The Paella Valenciana is a must have as well as the Calamari. Weekends offer live music which really adds to the ambiance. The service was great for our table, though I did notice what other reviewers mentioned at neighboring tables. But all in all I'll take hit or miss service for amazing food.
(4)Pierre S.
Was ok. Had a living social coupon so thought we would give it a try. The chorizo was good but a little oily. The home made bread was great. Stay away from the octopus. Too slimy. Clams in tomato sauce was above average .
(3)Mandy B.
Notice: I have never had anything from El Bodegon other than tapas, dessert, and sangria. That being said, go forth. This is my favorite tapas place in the history of Orlando tapas. The menu is not elaborate (a la Ceviche) and overflowing with choices, but the food that they do feature is ON POINT. Patatas Bravas: Red potatoes in a spicy aioli...YES. Spain is proud. Camarones al Ajillo: Shrimp in garlic sauce...can you go wrong? Garbanzo Frito: Chick peas lightly sauteed with ham and spice? Sounds lazy, but it's fantastic. I see people have their gripes about service, and maybe I'm very lucky, but these people have always treated me right. I've never had to make reservations (their hidden location doesn't make them a hot spot) and have always been greeted with timely, energetic service. Also, this is an authentic Spanish restaurant, so, if you're a get-in-and-get-out type of diner, this isn't for you. Europeans take their time at dinner. It's not a reflection of poor service, it's part of the atmosphere. In short, I love this place and you will, too. The ambience is a nice change from you're typical foodie establishment of choice and on the weekends they have classical guitarists playing while Spanish futbol is streaming on the TV. Classy, intimate and just a damn good cultural and food experience.
(5)Shea's Lounge S.
Yes the Sangria makes you smile, and the old Spanish decor relaxed my bones. I really wanted to enjoy the food but it was lack luster. Nothing was bright and aromatic enough to compel me to dive in with reckless abandon. We ordered two salads to share between three. Ensalada de la Casa Mix greens house salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing was a good portion with olives, onions, tomato . We ordered several tapas to share one of cod fillet which were fried and kind of bland but fish was flaky and moist, CHAMPINONES AL AJILLO Fresh mushroom in green garlic olive oil. but they seemed like canned mushrooms with dusting of parsley and garlic, not lovely fresh assorted mushrooms I was hoping for ,pork something that said it was tenderloin but it was so marbled with fat that I'm not sure of that either. It was braised and cooked slow and was very tender but again there was more fat than flavor. CALAMARES FRITOS Fried calamari Galicia style with alioli sauce which from a fried perspective really came out nice and light with very little oil, but again the plate was pale and boring and the seasoning and alioli sauce were just so so My company was great and the team of waiters caring for us were lovely. On a good note the rain did not spoil our plans and the wait staff was so warm and lovely that we enjoyed our dinner non the less. Would I choose to come back without a groupon? Probably not but I would return if again there was the promise of good company and conversation
(3)James D.
You know the places that make you sadder with each visit? Our last few visits to El Bodegon have left us wondering what happened to a once wonderful restaurant. What's changed? In short; The service. Let's start with 2 visits ago. We had reservations for 9 on a slow night. The server began by asking how we were doing the checks, which I appreciate. 4 couples and 1 loner. There was a bit of confusion during the ordering process but when we finished, the server reviewed and it was all correct. Everybody ordered tapas, so as is typically done, items came out at different times. That's expected, but for items came out 20+ minutes after their duplicates. 3 people ordered the croquetas de jamon and 2 came out fairly quickly. After a long wait, the 3rd person asked about their order and was told it was coming. A few minutes later, the server returned to again ask what it was. So along with that person's croquetas, we let him know about 2 other missing items. On this visit, the food was all excellent, so read my prior review for those details. . Note: 1 of the items we ordered, as we often do, was the clams cataplana. As they usually do, everybody commented how big it was. Remember this for later. Time for the checks! Being the only party remaining, and their closing time approaching, we expected this to be quick. Instead, we got a Woody Allen movie. The server went through our 5 groups verifying what everybody ordered, and again was correct. Immediately after, he again asked what the 1st couple had, marks it down, and goes away. He comes back 10 minutes later with their bill. He asks if it is correct, they agree, give him a card, and he's gone for another 10 minutes. Now, we're wondering if that's really how he's going to do all bills. When he comes back, he goes through the same process with the loner, and is again gone for 10 minutes. He returns with her bill, gets her card, and leaves... for 10 minutes! When he comes back this time, we ask if he could bring the other 3 checks at the same time. We review the orders, he marks it all off and leaves... for 10 minutes! (We joked that it would be 30)When he returned, 2 of the checks, including mine, had errors. I spoke up and he left to correct the checks. As he left, I was admonished by my friends because they could all see what was about to happen. Yup, 10 more minutes of him fixing the checks. Before he returned, a friend spoke up: "When he comes back, the check is right no matter what... Even if it's wrong." Not wanting to drag myself home with a pair of broken legs, I agreed. When he returned, the checks were correct! We each gave him a card, and he went away for... You guessed it, 10 minutes! After dropping off the paid bills, a friend realizes his card was not returned. A few minutes later, he heads towards the kitchen to let the server know. The server comes back, asked if we are sure the card was missing. They search the floor and the other bill holdings and find nothing. The server checks his pockets and the area around the register... Nothing. 10 minutes later, the hunt is still on. Finally, the server finds it somewhere around the register. Our friend was a good sport for not doing something murderous with a novelty-sized wine bottle. In the end, we were there over an hour dealing with JUST the checks... 45 minutes past their closing! Most recently, my gal's mother was in town. Having gone with us before, she requested we go back to El Bodegon. My gal checks their website and sees they close at 10pm. We show up at 8pm to an empty parking lot and a sign saying they close at 8pm on Sundays. Later, we look and find 2 different closing times on 2 different pages (Reservations=10pm, Contact= 11pm. Neither are correct. We end up making reservations for a few nights later. The server, different from before, was very inattentive until my gal's mother started speaking Spanish. It wasn't a language problem as we've had that server before and he speaks great English, but for whatever reason on this visit he would only deal with the Spanish speaker. That's slightly insulting. With that "connection" though, you would expect great service. Instead, there were huge waits in between visits and he was only waiting on only 1 other table. What are these guys doing in the back??? Remember before how I mentioned the size of the clams cataplana? We've had this at least 4 or 5 other times, and this time it was half the size. The cost? The same $12. Also a downer, each of us had sand in multiple clams. Note: That's the first time that's happened to us there. Either of those issues would have been annoying, but both the shrinkage and the sand? This isn't a cold day at the beach! If this was only 1 visit, I would only be removing 1 star, but since the bad service was consistent between 2 visits I feel I should be consistent as well. I wish them the best and hope they can work through these issues to get back to where they once were.
(3)Aldo F.
Came here for the second time to try the paella and i have to say i expected a whole lot better from this place. Bottom line, the paella was not very good, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that it was very amateur. I can not believe this paella came out of a kitchen who claims authentic. In specific, the rice did not have the right consistency or texture to make for a great paella. I would recommend to avoid paella here. also, our sangrias seemed to be water-down this time, it really lacked flavor this time. Also we should note that our paella came before our 2 TAPAS we have ordered. (apparently our waiter made a mistake and we were given someone else's paella) but this didn't really bother us. We actually appreciate the fact that it came quick and spared us an extra 25 min of the night. also i ordered the chorizo al inferno which i was looking forward to come light on brandy flames like the first time, but it did not happen this time. When i asked the waiter how come it didn't come in flames he said that the chefs had ran out of brandy lol. Whatever, the chorizo was still tasty. I'm now questioning their consistency so i don't Know if i would take a gamble next time. One thing is for sure though, i will not be ordering paella from here anytime soon.
(3)N B.
Great food and service. Julio our server was super nice. Had a couple tapas and of course one of their three paellas... I'll definitely will be back
(5)Anthony S.
This is my secret spot for upscale dining. Every item you order will be an adventure. You know that feeling of pure gratification, when you look at a dish and know immediately, before taste, that you never want to dine at any other place? All the effort of going out to eat and wasted time at other restaurants suddenly feels worthwhile. El Bodegon has never made me feel anything other than this. The service and atmosphere are true upscale Spanish style. The restaurant is the face of the restaurant and the servers are servers. Know what I mean? These servers are the classiest in Orlando; I've only found this style at one place in Sarasota and also at the Columbia, so El Bodegon is my new benchmark for how I wish all restaurants would treat me. Let's talk about cost, because the online menu doesn't. Two glasses of wine, two entrees and a tapas will be around $55 before tip. It's an amazing deal for an unforgettable experience at Orlando's blue ribbon holder.
(5)A C.
The food is excellent! Both times I went there was a bit of a wait before anyone came to us, but our waiter was great! Would recommend highly!
(4)Nilda B.
I really love "Caldo Gallego", it's like a white/navy bean soup... Thought this would be authentic, being it's a Spaniard place, so using a Groupon coupon, my father and I headed to El Bodegon, to try it out. I made reservations for Sunday at 5PM for 2, being it was to be used for "dinner", one of the "coupon's requirements". Also when reading some of the reviews, it sounded as a BUSY place where you may not get in on a timely manner without a reservation, especially on the weekends. It took 3 calls, to finally have someone pick up the phone... Anyways, when we arrived we didn't see too many people and we were seated right away, they brought us iced waters with a side dish of sliced lemons and a basket of sliced hot bread with I would say would be olive oil, spices and garlic. This was yummy... They took our order right away, starting with the ham croquettes as appetizer ($6.50 for 4 pieces), served with a garnish of arugula, 2 olvies and a dipping sauce, that tastes like pimientos. If you like pimientos, this would be good but I don't and felt it took away from the flavor of the croquette, so did not dip anymore... I have had better croquettes but it was Ok. I must say it came out piping hot, as well as the "Caldo Gallego" my Dad ordered served in a clay oven dish. I was disappointed because I felt the soup was really watered down, usually or what I'M use to, is a thicker consistency. It was OK but wouldn't rave about it. As my father ate his soup, I was still waiting for my order of "jarrete" a lamb shank ($17). When it arrived, everything was also very hot, very tender fall off the bone with some home made gravy seasoning, accompanied with a small medley of veggies, consisting of broccoli, carrots, squash and to the other side of the dish a small side of potatoes, which at first, I thought it was sweet potatoes because of its orange/pinkish color... Of course the lamb had a gamey flavor but the seasoning helped to disguise it... I think, maybe I should have tried their Paella ($38 for 2), I think, it's what they specialize in... I thought the place to be over rated, it is a nice authentic atmosphere but like I always say in my other reviews, "I go for the food" not the ambiance. I rated it a 3 star for their service, their bread in the basket, the piping hot dishes and just OK tastes... we didn't have dessert and we both ordered lemonade which was OK too... I might go back to try their paella but debating it because if there's ONE thing, I am picky about is seafood, and when it has a fishy smell to it, I KNOW it's NOT fresh. Fresh seafood, DOES NOT SMELL fishy and when one of the servers, came by to pick up our plates, they already had in their hands, an empty dish, of black shells of mussels from another table, so couldn't help noticing the smelly fishy odor. I find El Bodegon, to be a bit pricey for OK food and GLAD I had the Groupon Coupon. But to come back to pay $38 for a paella, if it's not FRESH seafood, it will not be worth it! But won't know, unless I try it right? decisions, decisions... =(
(3)Shannon C.
The sign out front does not lie- having traveled to Catalonia region of Spain last summer, I can say this is authenticate Spanish food from the Catalonia and Basque region!! Only caveat- not good for a date night (if getting to know someone) because it is noisy and hard to hear a conversation (unless you prefer not to hear your date then a good place) and the service can be slow (but when in Spain do what the Spaniards do; Si?) Food Review- Calamari- A MUST; truly the best calamari in all of Orlando (so far) Churrasco- AWESOME; the meat was so juicy and cook perfectly with smoked garbanzo beans that were also amazing. Olives- disappointed; the husband and I are on a mission to find the Andalucia olives we so enjoyed in Barcelona...that mission continues. Croquetas de Jamon- RECOMMEND; Delicious and a traditional dish in northern Spain. This is another dish I recommend. Artichoke hearts- these were good; not too soggy and not too hard. Glass of Sangria and Glass of Tempranillo and..... Total Bill: $60 (not including tip). Finally, a new restaurant to add to the date night rotation......
(4)Rob W.
This is a really fun place to dine. The staff were very nice and provided great service. Some highlights were the pimentos stuffed with crab salad, fried cod fish, and the home made desserts. The sangria here is excellent, not overly sweetened as it is at many places.
(4)Foodie M.
If I could give 6 stars, I would. Went here while on vacation in Orlando. We had a voucher for the meal and they treated us great. The staff is SPECTACULAR. From the hostess to the server, to the wonderful musician/singer. The place is small and intimate and is reminiscent of a place in Spain. And oh Lord, the food.... absolutely wonderful. We had 2 tapas dishes. The chorizo is so delish! The bread basket is tasty as well. Then we ordered the meat paella. HUGE dish. We had enough for two people at two servings, plus dinner the next night with leftovers. The paella takes a while to cook because they do it fresh, but so well worth the wait. I highly recommend this place to anyone, local or traveling in the area!
(5)Traveler F.
Old Spain in Winter Park. A perfect representation of the old country. Nestled in an old building, with charming Spanish architecture and very ornate interiors sits an elegant old Bodegon, which literally translates to a tavern for food, drinks, and fun. Live flamenco musicians pluck away at old tunes. The interior is very cozy with white table clothes and polished silverware. Although, very elegant there is still a laid back relaxed almost homey feel. Very comforting. The booths are lavish in leather. There are tasteful Spanish artifacts in various positions around the dining room. Tapas portions are generous. There are full bold explosion of flavors in every bite. Caldo Gallego Galician traditional soup with potatoes, beans and greens was okay. CROQUETAS DE JAMON Chef special Spanish ham croquettes with alioli sauce was more binder than ham. PULPO A LA GALLEGA Fresh octopus with olive oil and smoked paprika was outstanding. The octopus was soft, tender, and delicious. MEJILLONES A LA MARINERA Fresh mussels in marinera sauce was delightfully full flavored. Paella Marinera Spanish saffron rice with seafood and conch failed to deliver as their website claim "the best paella in Orlando." It was well flavored with plentiful seafood, but nothing special. There were many selections of Spanish wines by the bottle. However, choices for wine by the glass was slim pickings. Actually, there was none. House wine red or white? Thats it. Disappointing. With various tapas one would imagine a nice selection of wine by the glass to graze and share. Nada. Only one. House. El Bodegon has all the characters of a classic elegant old restaurant, but fell short on several key elements.
(3)Michael M.
So its February 13 and everyone is celebrating St Valentines day a day early because it falls on a Monday this year. I've got a great surprise planned for Niki. She is a big fan of Jane Austin and the Orlando Shakespeare Theater is performing Pride and Prejudice, her absolute favorite. Having the entertainment in the bag I need a place for us to dine. In my search one spot stood out immediately. Tapas just sounded perfect, Niki and I really enjoy small plates and a pitcher of sangria. Having been disappointed as of late with some places in the area which serve tapas I made sure I did my research. Well I was confident this time with my choice so I called and made reservations. When we arrived parking was quite simple which is ideal. Just pull in the drive and it's right in the back. When walking to the door I noticed a green Stella parked in front and almost immediately I knew I had chosen wisely. The decor was to be expected and designed in the traditional Spanish restaurant style but a little more sophisticated and no fake grapes hanging from the ceiling. We were promptly seated which was nice because as expected they were busy but did not overbook, bravo. After scanning the menu we settled on two cold tapas plates and four hot ones with a pitcher of sangria of course. It didn't take long for the dishes to completely cover our table, and so it begins. The dishes were exactly as we hoped and everything was simply perfect. Of the six dished the stand out favorites were the thin sliced ham and honeydew melon, ham croquettes, and and the Spanish omelet. The sangria too was perfect here. A perfect balance of good wine and fruit with one not really dominating the other. By the way a pitcher brings about four large glasses so be thirsty my friends. We finished the meal by sharing a piece of the Tarta San Marcos cake. It was delicious, thin layers of yellow cake and fresh cream topped with a layer of baked orange. To die for, guaranteed. So this one has my seal of approval. Even my uncle Pedro couldn't deny the quality and service found at El Bodegon. Believe me, that's saying alot.
(5)Luke M.
Leave it up to Yelp to help us find yet another fabulous restaurant in the Orlando area. My wife and I found ourselves in Winter Park on a Tuesday evening and were unfamiliar with the area. We fired up our Yelp app and started looking. El Bodegon was very highly rated and less than five miles from our current spot - so off we went. This place is cool from the moment you pull onto the property they share with an Italian restaurant. You drive under this awning and for some reason that difference alone makes it neat. Walking inside the place is instantly cozy and looks family owned. There is a very authentic feel to the vibe and the Spanish music in the background completes the theme. We were greeted promptly by an older man who appeared to be the only server on which was no problem as there were only a few other couples in. We were offered our choice of tables and took one that allowed us to see most of the restaurant. Menus and water were served quickly and our server was extremely patient and polite. I couldn't pronounce 99% of the items on the menu and thankfully they have English subtitles. We both ordered a beer - they offered two choices: Estrella Damm (Spain) and Bud Light (US). The spanish beer was 3.50 a glass, the bud light was 3 bucks. The menu has three of four pages of food from Tapas dishes to sharable plates for entire tables (family style). I couldn't even make it off the first page and found four or five things that looked asbolutely delicious. In the end my wife went with their cheese, olive and deli meat plate along with an order of beef empanadas. I chose the garlic and herb shrimp and an order of their pork tenderloin chunks. Each of our dishes were from the Tapas page, and as most other Tapas places go we figured there would be maybe a few bites on each. We were wrong! The portions here are unreal. The ones labeled Tapas are at least the size of normal dishes at other restaurants. Everything tasted wonderful. We have no complaints in any manner regarding the flavor and preparation of the food. We ended up dipping the bread that was served early in the shrimp and garlic juices and honestly if we had been by ourselves we would have taken a straw to it. The stuff is that good. For everthing mentioned, our bill was 54 bucks. This is a great value for the quality of food and service we received. Attention from the server was always prompt and courteous. We didn't have room for dessert so can't add any feedback there. If you are looking for a great dining experience in what feels like an authentic restaurant straight out of Spain - we can't recommend this place anymore.
(4)Mia P.
Nice, cozy place with good sangria. Had calamai and shrimp tapas, both very good! The staff was very attentive even on a busy night.
(4)Julie E.
Charming place. Food is very good and portions billed as small plates are very generous. Excellent Spanish wines. Outstanding service. Try it!
(4)Ryan B.
The food at El Bodegon is spectacular. Authentic, large tapas on the reasonable side price wise. That said, if you are on the fence about El Bodegon, come for Sunday brunch. From noon to 3 they offer all you can eat tapas and all you can drink sangria for only $30. Both you plate and glass are always full. El Bodegon can almost go toe to toe with Civeche downtown, with the slight edge going to Civeche in the food category. Where El Bodegon shines is in the service and value. 5 stars.
(5)Alex F.
This place is awesome. My Fiance and I have been twice now with our most recent trip being last night for Valentine's day. The ambiance is low lit with candles on the table for a nice romantic feel and there was a bongo and violin player that played sporadically through the night (not too loud either which was nice so you could talk without having to yell). The food was delicious and the portions were awesome. We started the night with a basket of garlic bread and their 'Tapas de la casa' which has Spanish cured ham, chorizo, manchego cheese, olives and a small salad with a nice what seemed to be balsamic reduction. For dinner we each ordered a glass of red sangria (Last time we went I believe we got a carafe of the white sangria) and it was spot on. Not too sweet with just enough of a boozy kick to really enjoy it. As our entree we got the 'Paella Mixta" which is a mix of their paella with just meat and paella with seafood. The rice was cooked perfectly so the consistency was nice and not mushy. The meats/seafood were clams, muscles, shrimp, octopus, squid, scallops, chicken, pork, and chorizo. I think what capped everything off is the fact that one of the owners came to our table to see how things were going and had a nice 4 -5 min conversation with us explaining how the food is prepared and that her, her mom, and brother have been running the place and that our satisfaction was their goal. A must try.
(4)Dave T.
Cool little place with character. The food could improve, but was still good. Even more, the selection was impressive. Not sure if I could do an exact face off with Ceviche, but will try both again to figure out which I like better. Ceviche has a less intimate atmosphere as is it four times the size. So depending on what you're looking for give El Bodegon a try. They have Tapas as well as entrees. Not a big fan of the Sangria, but was spoiled by a Spanish party the night before (the party's Sangria had brandy and other stuff in it). Music was good. Service pleasant. Definitely mom & pop. Dafe
(4)Dan O.
My new favorite restaurant in the Orlando area. The restaurant is small and quaint, but it's cozy and aligns with the overall concept. If you've ever been to Spain, than you will know most restaurants are in very small quaint locations. We were a party of 6. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria and 7 tapas. Everything tasted fresh, the flavors were simple but well executed and delicious. We ordered one paella and could barely finish it, we were all already so full from the tapas. They have a vanilla cake with a whipped cream frosting and a hint of orange liqueur you MUST order, it was so delicious I would go back just for that dessert. This is a great restaurant to bring family, friends or a date. Central Florida really lacks culture in the culinary world, but this is one of the few exceptions. We will be regulars from now on!
(5)Vivian M.
We purchased a half off depot deal for this restaurant. We wanted to try something new and a different tapas restaurant in the area. Definitely make reservations. The place was very crowded and the wait would've been 45 minutes had we not had reservations. The food was good but nothing really stood out. The sangria was also good. I really liked their Crema Catalana for desert. It was reasonably priced. If we were in the area it would be a restaurant we would consider but we wouldn't driver 30-40 minutes to dine there.
(3)Kurt R.
Tapas! Great! Olive medley, chorizo and potatoes, mussels marinara, ham croquettes. Everything was great.
(4)Maira H.
Just went here last night and had a most FABULOUS time. We had the chorizo (not my fave, a little greasy), the octopus (definitely my fave, tender and delish!), manchego and quince (wonderful in it's simplicity), the croquettes (sublime) and the tres leches cake (orgasmic, seriously!). I loved the food and the atmosphere was absolutely splendid. Live music, dancing in the aisles with the waiters (I think that was just us though...) got to meet the chef and attentive service. If you go, sit in the back where the booths are, it's much more cozy than the front that is a big room with a huge tv in it (not my style at all). I can't wait to go back with my husband and try more of the dishes!
(4)Karin T.
We dined here on a Saturday night and they had a pleasant older gentleman singing and strumming his guitar. Nice, but we were glad to sit in another room where it was quieter. The restaurant is casual and quaint and a good place for a relaxing dinner. We ordered 7 tapas to share between 3 people. The portions were perfect and the food was all very good. Favorites were the sweet red peppers stuffed with crab meat, expertly breaded fried calamari, beef empanadas, and the Spanish cured ham, chorizo, manchego cheese with olive platter. The furniture needs updating, but the food is great!
(4)