Boqueria
Boqueria is an east coast Spanish tapas chain. The food here is quintessential Spanish shareables, including large paellas. We originally ate here with some friends in the Upper East, but we have also tried this restaurant in Flatiron. Reservations are fairly easy to secure, and it does get busy during core hours. If you have a decent sized party, this is probably a decent restaurant to bring folks that might be into family style sharing.
Ambiance & Service
The brunch feast seems like a good thing. For $40, you get to pick 4 tapas, 2 main entrees (paella counts as 2), a dessert, and unlimited mimosas/sangrias.
The service here is pretty attentive.
Food
The spanish omelette (tortilla española) tasted similar to a breakfast quiche. Nothing too memorable about it.
The bread with tomato with ham (pan con tomate con jamón) was ok.
The albóndigas was nothing special for me. Basically lamb meatballs with marinara.
Lastly not pictured was the mushroom croquettes (croquetas de setas). As a mushroom hater, I did take one, and I thought it was so so.
The highlight is suppose to be the brunch paella. Unfortunately, I think this was not that good. I just don’t think this works out well. I’d much prefer the seafood variation as oppose to the meat variation. The rice was overcooked i.e. slightly on the mushier side. The pork belly pieces were nice, and I wish there was more of them.
The dessert was just churros with chocolate. The churros were a decadent crisp, but do you really want to wait till the end to eat this?
Second visit on April 28, 2024
The Jamon Serrano ($14) was Serrano ham, aged 18 months. This jamon was a little on the dry side, but it had a nice taste.
The Pulpo a la Plancha ($21) came with seared octopus, Manzanilla olivada, and olive oil crushed potatoes. The octopus was decent, albeit just subtly rubbery.
The Fideuà Negra ($19) came with toasted noodle paella, squid ink, shrimp, fava beans, peas, and garlic aioli. This had noodles with squid ink in it, so it had a sea-like aftertaste. The shrimp was a decent size and succulent.
The Gambas al Ajillo ($19) came with shrimp, garlic, brandy, lobster reduction, and Guindilla pepper in olive oil. This had a little spicy kick to it, and it had a ton of garlic flavors. The shrimp was good.
Final Verdict
If you’re into bottomless 2 hour alcoholic beverages, perhaps this might be a place to goto for brunch. The food in general was just ok. I was rather indifferent about it. Perhaps their dinner menu might be better?
Yelp Jabs
To add insult to injury, they sat another couple at the table right next to ours even with so many free tables around!
I noticed that some restaurants do what this Yelper says, and others will try to ensure there is at least 1 table space between parties. The former is an easy way to get people to finish their food and leave. The latter will make it comfortable for everyone. Perhaps the restaurant was intending to make the diners as uncomfortable as possible, so that they will turn tables faster.
There aren’t too many tapas spots, so I would recommend Boqueria for shareable bites.
This Elitist is simply wrong. If not exclusive to Spanish cuisine, there are many restaurants in Manhattan that have a family-style or shareable type atmosphere. Otherwise, most of the Spanish restaurants in the city have tapas.
Revisions
- Apr 28, 2024 - Added Jamon Serrano, Pulpo, Fideua Negra, and Gambas al Ajillo.
- Jan 12, 2024 - Initial revision.