Restaurant Review: Las Ramblas

Las Ramblas
170 W. 4th Street
New York, NY
http://www.lasramblasnyc.com/
Directions: 1 train to Christopher Street or A/C/E/B/D/F to West 4th St.

This is the place to go to if you are looking for tapas!! Be prepared to sit in close proximity to your friends and neighbors. The tables are small and the stools are tall. Luckily there are hooks under the table to hold your bag, ladies! Otherwise there wouldn't be any room on the floor for your feet. Before we start dishing on the dishes, let's start with the drinks. If you're going to a Spanish restaurant, you have to order bebidas (the drinks) and nothing else comes to mind except for the sangrias! We ordered the red pear which was delicious and off-the-menu tropical fruit flavor which tasted like fruit punch with sparkling soda. It was the perfect compliment to the spicy, tasy and flavorful dishes!

Here are the dishes that we tasted and our thoughts:

Gambas San Martin ($8) - shrimp in garlic, white wine & lemon. Tasty but there were only 5 shrimps to split among three of us. I definitely wouldn't have mind gobbling up all 5!

Albondigas ($6) - roasted meatballs w/garlic, manchego cheese & oregano dressing. Yum! This is nothing like an Italian meatball. I've never had a roasted meatball so it was on the drier side without the sauce but it was very tasty. Bring on the meat!

Sardinas en Escabeche ($7) - grilled sardines over marinated peppers and onions. I didn't know what I was eating because I didn't order the food...but I liked it!

Brocheta De Res ($8) - grilled skewers of beef in a tempranillo wine reduction. This was one of the first tapas to arrive but unfortunately I arrived even later. So I don't know how many of these came on the plate. But luckily they saved one for me and I thought it was good. I don't know if it came with a dipping sauce but it might have helped.

We ate a few other plates that are not on their website's menu - chicken empenandas (2 fried empenanadas which were yummy), a duck dish (sliced duck with a sauce which was okay but I am not a duck fan). We also had a sausage with beans dish but I don't remember the name. It was very good as well but by the end of the meal, we were stuffed so we couldn't eat anymore. Luckily the waiters were very generous with the bread plate so we ate a lot of that to keep ourselves satisfied.

I would definitely come again for the sangrias and to try some of the calientes (hot plates) again. There are so many restaurants in the area (Caliente Cab and Sushi Samba are only a block away) that I would definitely stop by again for a light snack!