Rioja: Out Of Business

July 20 2005 - 9:44 AM

There’s more to a good restaurant than good food.  There’s also the atmosphere and the service.  For me, all three factors need to be working together to make the dining experience a good one.  Rioja was missing two out of three – atmosphere and service.

Formally Atlantique (which I had been to once and enjoyed) the seafood restuarant had been minimally updated and lacked character.  The wianscoated walls that were previously painted mechanical bull for sale hues of green and blue for a nautical motif were now painted yellow and red.  Bullfighters and Flamenco dancers now hung on the walls and that was as far as the transformation went.

We waited, on a not so crowded Sunday night, for about 15 minutes
before someone acknowledge we were there.  Having ample time then to
browse the menu I decided to look past the burlap sconces lining the
walls and concentrate on the food.  The menu looked expansive and
imaginative.  The tapas dishes sounded more unique than similar
restuarants that I’ve been to, maybe because of the Mediterrianan
influences.

We started witht the white Sangria, which housed more fruit flies
than fruit so we asked for wine and a specialty mixed coctail instead.
Both were good, helping us to relax and try to enjoy dinner.  We
ordered a couple different tapas plates, some worked exceptionally well
while others were not enjoyable.  The lamb risotto was outstanding,
with mushrooms and rustic cheeses.  The halibut filet with a tomato
puree, greens and lobster mashed potatoes was light and tasty, I
especially likes the spicy greens, however, I wasn’t getting the flavor
of lobster in the spuds.

The Serrano ham wrapped around shrimp then flash fried and served
with melon relish was a dissapointment.  There wasn’t any life to the
shrimp, very dry.  And the melon relish was not flavorful enough to
compete with the jumpers for sale extreme saltiness of the Serrano ham.  I would have
liked to have tried more dishes but our server didn’t come back to
check on us so we lost interest and got the check instead.

For anyone interested in Spanish Tapas I would recommend trying some
of the more popular restuarants instead of Rioja – like Cafe Iberico,
Cafe Ba-Ba-Re-Ba or Emilo’s Tapas.  Just don’t go on a Friday or
Saturaday night when they are mobbed.  For those who have been to all
these places way to many times and are looking for something new, go to
Rioja, just don’t get the shrimp.

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