La Tasca

I really like this place. We went on a day when they had free sangria so it was an added bonus. The two for one tapas specials are great! You need to find a coupon for this but it's worth it. The staff are very friendly, the place is beautiful and best of all the food is great.

zoineos (DI User), 02/04/12

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What an amazing place!!!! We, 14 of us! went on the 12th November, and had the most brilliant, wonderful evening ever! Food amazing, drinks flowing, waiter amazing! Would defo recommend to anyone wanted a good night out. Food was prompt, and very, very tasty.
Can't praise it enough. Thanks and well done

Jo82 (DI User), 15/11/11

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The food at La Tasca is reasonable but the service is bad. On a quiet evening staff seemed to be stressed. Getting drinks or menus took forever. When our food did arrive it was left at one end of the table which with ten people ordering a number of dishes made it impossible to figure out who had ordered what. We had the same problems last year which lead to us walking out. Clearly things haven't improved since then.

Despy (Unverified), 26/06/10

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I rather like La Tasca. Granted, it may not serve the most authentic Spanish food you're ever likely to taste - but, on the whole, what it serves up is consistently good in my book.

I've been about half a dozen times now, and each time have come away more than happy with the food I've had. On my most recent visit, a friend and I shared garlic bread to start, followed by tapas: a chicken in white wine sauce, a Mallorcan beef stew, berenjenas gratinadas (aubergines au gratin), battered king prawns, a meat paella (tapas-size), chicken and cheese croquettes with garlic mayonnaise and tortilla espanola (Spanish-style potato omelette). This selection of seven tapas dishes was more than enough to fill us both up. The food arrived promptly (though the restaurant was not busy) and was all excellent. Of the dishes I tried, the croquettes were flavoursome, the prawns were fresh and the batter just right, the paella was tasty (if not quite reminiscent of paella I've had in spain), and the Spanish omelette was thick, well-presented and had a wonderful slight sweetness to it.

Never one to pass up on desert, I had the Spanish-style apple pie, which was just delicious. It's a really nice twist on a classic, with almond cream in the pastry and crumbled meringue on the top.

The restaurant itself is lovely, and the waiting staff are really helpful and friendly. Salsa and flamenco music is audible, but you don't feel like you have to shout over it, which gives the place a really nice, relaxed feel.

Prices are, perhaps, a little high for what you actually get - though the tapas is good, the dishes can come in at around £4-£5 each depending on what you order, and you really need three or four to make a meal, so it's not the cheapest meal. However, if you're willing to sacrifice your email address to La Tasca's website (and willing to receive around one promotional email a week), you will regularly be sent 50% off vouchers, which you print off and take along with you. This is truly a great deal, and indeed in all the times I've been to La Tasca, I've never paid more than half price for the food. Said offer meant, for instance, that we paid £20 between us for a starter, 7 tapas, a dessert and two drinks, which is incredibly good value (but had we not had the voucher, the meal would have been £38, which is considerably worse value for money!). Worth noting too is their lunchtime 'Tapas for a tenner' deal.

All in all, La Tasca offers a good, enjoyable meal in a relaxed setting. Service is good, and food is tasty. It's not the most authentic taste of Spain, perhaps, but then how likely are you to get a fully authentic Spanish experience in Oxford?

Overall: Food - good; value for money - not great, but excellent if you can take advantage of their offers; service - very good; atmosphere - good.

WTD (Unverified), 09/05/10

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I will be very brief to explain my experience in la Tasca: big disappointment. We waited over 45 minutes (the restaurant had other 5 or 6 tables) for the food to be served. The food wasn't good at all. The food does not reflect the great food we have in Spain and, on top of that, it is quite pricey. We will not go back there again.

stella (Unverified), 21/08/09

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We went a few weeks ago on a Saturday. Having taken the trouble to book in advance, we were made to wait around for 20 minutes . . . before we got bored and left.

Foolishly, we decided to go back on a Sunday, reasoning that it would be less busy. It was, but you wouldn't have guessed from the service. The order was wrong - in one case they simply substituted our requested dish and hoped we wouldn't notice - and it took far too long to arrive, even though the restaurant was only about a quarter full. Pretty stodgy and poor quality stuff when it arrived as well, not at all what I expect from tapas.

Don't think we'll give them a third chance.

Daniel (Unverified), 28/02/08

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We visited La Tasca at 10pm (just before they closed). The staff were welcoming and the service was exceptionally quick.

We ordered the meat selection for £19.95 with some olives as a starter. The tapas selection was varied and the quality of the food was satisfactory to good depending on the dish, but nothing was exceptional.

Both of us enjoyed ourselves and the meal was good value for money (£16 a head including drinks). We didn't finish everything and I estimate that two of these selections would probably feed 5 people. I would rate La Tasca as a good staple place for future nights out.

Adam (DI User), 24/02/08

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We went to La Tasca for our office Christmas dinner last night. We were very disappointed with value for money. It cost £19.95 per head which did not include sweet or coffee. The tapas selection barely filled a tea plate, which in hindsight might have been a blessing as all the dishes tasted the same with an overwhelming taste of garlic. As for the Christmas atmosphere, no comment.

14/12/07

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Simply, cheaply made food, overpriced. Service was great, with a smile, but drinks and food were overpriced. The food was of poor quality and in very small portions. It came to around £20 per head, for approximately 3 to 4 small dishes each. I left feeling hungry and ripped off. Would not go back. Other tapas bars offer better food, same price better atmosphere.

Jms (Unverified), 21/11/07

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I went to La Tasca with my family and I must say I was very disappointed. Nothing has changed since I last went there in fact the experience has not improved. As we entered the restaurant two or three waitress completely ignored our presence, but we finally got greeted after making eye contact to a waiter who then showed us to our table. When we came to order our drinks I was very surprised most of the drinks we wanted was sold out or not available. However the drink I wanted was available, but it was disappointed when it came. I ordered 2 Coronas, which instead of coming with a wedge of lime stuck to the open bottle, there was a slice of lemon hanging out of the bottle.
The quality of the food was very disappointing: none of it seems to be fresh and homemade. Everything was deep fried and came with mayonnaise and a wedge of lemon making everything taste the same and there was no excitement to the food. Disappointed this was the quality of the food, we skipped desserts and asked for the bill.
Although we left a tip for our lifeless waiter, it was because we wanted to get out of there as soon as we can. I will definitely not be returning to this place.

DC (Unverified), 28/08/07

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I usually stick to the don't go to a chain if you want nice food rule but I slipped up and went here - never again. The service was fine but the food was dreadful. If you want tapas, go elsewhere! Patatas Bravas were huge and not spicy enough, paella was tasteless, salad was limp, bread was stingy. Then I stupidly had pudding as I was excited about Turron which I love. Clearly the staff at La Tasca do not. The piece I got was about an inch long and seemed to be solely choc and hazelnut - not so much as a hint of almond or any of that yummy, gritty nougaty texture. I think they hacked a chocolate bar up and served it with ice cream. I asked the waitress but she couldn't explain. The ice cream was ok but hey I could have gone elsewhere for that too! Stay away....

hattyw (Unverified), 15/06/07

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Fantastic! We go there on average once a week and we consistently get fantastic service, a great meal and for a very good price.

The food is great, very speedy and the atmosphere is wonderful. We only live around the corner but we feel like we are on holiday every time we go there.

All of the staff are warm, friendly and professional.

I would recommend this restaurant to anyone wanting a fun, romantic or great night out.

Erin and Andy (Unverified), 11/06/07

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I had been looking forward to La Tasca again as my first visit was really excellent - the food was fresh and tasty (the waitress knew there were Spanish people in the group), but last night we were thrown in a corner, the staff were oblivious and rude (we had to go to the waitress station every time we needed something), the food was dry, burned and seemed like it had been re-heated from yesterday's leftovers. We were horribly disappointed that it cost £40 for two people with only two glasses of wine (that we actually had to argue for). Definitely not going back.

chickabee (Unverified), 05/04/07

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This was my second visit to La Tasca and most probably my last! We had booked a table of 5, which they seemed to have no knowledge of and we were unceremoniously advised to “sit just there”. Unfortunately “just there” happened to be right next to the door. The freezing blasts of air which punctuated the evening didn't make anything more enjoyable I must say.

Upon being seated I waited to be offered a drink. I waited and I waited and just for luck, I waited some more. Finally accepting that no offer would be forthcoming I went up to the bar. The wine I had was over-priced and too cold (red) the barman also seemed far more interested in sticking his head in the dishwasher than serving anyone. I went back to my shivering friends and we waited to be given more menus (we had only been given one, presumably they expected us to huddle together to choose our food. Mind you, we would have stayed warmer I suppose). We waited and waited and guess what...

In the end frustration won out and my friend collared a passing waitress. Tapas is usually torturous for me (being completely indecisive and salivating over almost every dish offered) but even I had time to choose at leisure at La Tasca. We were ready to order and started staring expectantly at our waitress. We waited and waited (it's not even funny anymore, is it?). Anyway! To cut a long and tedious story short our dishes finally turned up. We had three dishes each and they ranged from being excellent (aubergine, lamb, anchovies) to average (calamari, king prawns - no finger bowl for shell-on prawns!) to awful (paella, patatas bravas). Whoever posted their delight at this last dish is obviously a fan of Aunt Bessie’s roast potatoes as I can assure you, this is what we were served last night.

The paella was the worst I have ever eaten: too salty, too fishy and so stodgy it was more like bad risotto than rice. A better description of what we had would be "chewy squid and red pepper risotto" as these were the main discernable ingredients. I have to give them some credit as the anchovies were excellent and "not the salty type" as their menu claimed. All in all, the food wasn't up to scratch, the service was dire and our unfortunate seating meant it was an uncomfortable experience all round. Last time I ate there it was in the summer and if you don't mind being crammed right next to your fellow diners with no elbow room at all then it may be worth waiting for the warmer weather before braving La Tasca!

Dr Mukti (DI User), 21/12/06

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Same service at the Leeds La Tasca

First visit (party of 10)
Forced to eat from the tapas set menu so had to pay for all those pointless tapas pieces.
The wine arrived shortly before all the food had disappeared. So parched at this point, didn't want to refuse it.

Nothing offered for this lack of service.

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Second visit (party of 8)
15 minutes to get the drinks ordered, another 35 for them all to arrive, with one missing.
Starters came after 50 minutes, after nagging for a good while and the mains some 90 minutes in. Dreadful.

Managed to get the service charge taken off the bill but no apology or further dicount/freebies.

Racing Club de Lens (Unverified), 16/12/06

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I went with a group of friends and expected to pay £20 per person for three courses, when we ended up paying £24.50 each for two courses and food that was far from excellent, I was not impressed. For that kind of money I don't expect to be served with tinned mushrooms. I also don't expect to have to pay a service charge on top of the bill, when the food just isn't great.

What surprises me is that when I talked to some other friends about it, they were horrified. They have visited La Tasca in Manchester many times and have nothing but praise for it. It sounds as though the Oxford branch have taken really great tapas dishes and used the cheapest ingredients for them. Suffice to say I won't go there again.

MB (Unverified), 26/10/06

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I have visited La Tasca on many occasions, both in Oxford and in London because of its informal, relaxed and fun atmosphere. The food and drinks have always been very enjoyable, albeit the service somewhat inconsistent. However, it always reminds me of Spain particularly because of the personality of the staff.

In my opinion, when the tapas seems to be taking longer than usual, I find this an excuse to drink another glass of Rioja rather than check my watch in anticipation of food arrival. Certainly when it does arrive I have always found it great.

I myself will keep going back.

Juan (Unverified), 27/09/06

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I organised a group of about 12 people to eat at La Tasca last month. We arrived promptly at 7.30pm, having pre-ordered by telephone that we would all have the £14.95 set menu, which we then also confirmed on arrival. We were seated and bread and olives arrived within 20 minutes, and drinks which we had ordered. From then the service went downhill to an unbelievable extent.

Other tables were seated, served, paid their bills and left before we got our starters around 9pm (remember these were from a set menu). Several of the group had had to leave by this stage to get trains home. We complained about the wait throughout, and were told continually "another 5 minutes". Our main courses arrived at 10.40pm. The food was fine, but by then everyone was either starving, full of wine/beer, or anxious to get away.There were about half of our original group left, as the rest, expecting to be leaving a 7.30 table around 9 had had to go. We complained, and got a free bottle of wine (during the wait) and 30% off the bill, but this was not really sufficient to make up for the farce that the whole evening had become.

KR (Unverified), 24/08/06

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My spanish is a bit rusty but I think that 'La Tasca' means 'The Rip-Off' in English.

I have basically nothing good to say about this restaurant. Like previous posters, I was also 'forced' into tipping the 'not so compulsory' 10% tip.

I worked nearly 10 years in catering, and I understand that it is very easy to have an off-day, too many people to cater for, staff calling in sick at the last minute, etc... If it happens, you just do the best you can to try and please people, apologise for the delay, smile a lot, refuse people, etc...But it is completely unaaceptable and and practically unethical to demand service fees when such a poor overall service is offered.

Never seen anything like it! Will never go back.

Xav (Unverified), 27/07/06

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It was the second time I went to La Tasca with some friends and by far one of the worst experiences I have ever had. The service was horrendous; the waiter was extremely rude and had no manners to serve a table. The food itself was OK but without employing the right staff I can't see customers going back there. I was hoping that the service had improved since last time I went but it only got worse.
AVOID!!!

milla (Unverified), 26/07/06

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Booked a table for 6 at La Tasca and on arrival they did not even have my name on the list. We were shoved upstairs into a corner and had an old Spanish waiter looking after us and about 20 other tables.

The waiter was rude and quite literally threw the wine and food at us. The food itself was not bad, but upon giving us the final bill the waiter decided to add a 10% gratuity onto the bill - which should always be optional. The service we received was not worth 10% and upon declining to pay for the gratuity the waiter started questioning why.

The service was poor because the management are trying to cram as many people in as possible and are not prepared to employ the correct number of staff to cater for busy nights. We will all definitely not be going back there again.

Avoid on a Friday or Saturday!!

Wazza (Unverified), 24/07/06

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Without doubt the worst meal I have ever experienced! Our party of 6 were offered not a single drink at dinner (we had to go to the bar as the service was so poor), our food came out an hour and a half after ordering and to top it off only 2 main meals came out with a further wait of 20 minutes for the rest - we eventually got our food at 10:50 even though the restaurant was, by this time, empty!
On complaining, the manager became aggressive, told us there was no fault for the meal and threatened to call the police as we believed we were entitled to some kind of discount at least!
Awful manager, poor staff and to be frank a terrible restaurant. AVOID!

LCtc (Unverified), 17/07/06

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I have been to La Tasca twice, once with my husband and once with a group of 10 people. On both occasions the service was poor to dreadful! Getting the attention of the waitress was near impossible and the restaurant was not even very busy on either occasion. We waited so long for our drinks that we ended up asking what had happened to them! When we went as a group we asked if we could have 2 different party menus between us so that we could have more of a variety of dishes and were advised that this was not possible. One wonders what they would have done if all 10 of us had decided to order 3 different dishes each off the main menu?!

The food was varied - most of the dishes were good, however, a couple were very greasy with salads swimming in oil. The chicken dishes and garlic mushrooms were excellent. The sangria and wines that we had were all good and everything is reasonably priced.

I think I will go once more and see if the service has improved!

Vickers (DI User), 22/06/06

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I went to La Tasca with a group of 25 people. We had preordered a party menu for £15 a head.

The food was enough to fill us all up, and the waiters brought the food so there was always just enough food on the table. The food included mushrooms sautéed in garlic and olive oil, some Spanish meats and cheeses, chicken wings and salads to start with; we then moved on to the hot tapas which included meatballs served with vegetable and tomato sauce, Patatas Bravas (which were particularly delicious!!), croquettes of chicken with garlic mayonnaise, chicken breast in white wine and garlic (the chicken being extremely tender!!!), chorizo frito al vino, and some of the other usual suspects.

Everyone at the table was very impressed with the food, especially those who had never tried Spanish food before. It was a very positive experience overall, and I do recommend going there with a fairly large group so you can try and have a taste of as many of their delicious dishes as possible!

Amy (Unverified), 11/05/06

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