Very average (La Tasca (Lakeside))

Member Name: n1cknick

Product:	La Tasca (Lakeside)
Date:	19/06/09 (9 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of choice

Disadvantages: Slow service and poor quality food

La Tasca Lakeside is situated on the relatively new Boardwalk development of restaurants.

It is a Spanish themed restaurant with an authentic Spanish menu with lots of different tapas and paella and of course Sangria.

The lighting is quite low and an atmosphere of warmth is created with the vibrant Spanish decor. The tables are all wooden and have candles on each to add to the ambience.

When we went we had been shopping for the afternoon so we had worked up quite an appetite.

The waitress explained that we should have 3 or 4 tapas each if we were hungry or recommended that we try one of the set menus which have a selection of their most popular dishes for you to try.

We decided to start with some bread, oil and vinegar while we choosing and i have to say i wasn't overly impressed - the bread was simply dried up french bread that had been cut to order but the bread had obviously been sat out all day. The vinegar they give you isn't very good quality and i can't say the olive oil is either - and true Spaniard would probably be quite embarassed.

To drink i had a sangria which was tasty with lots of fruit and my girlfriend has a freshly squeezed orange juice which she said was delicious and very refreshing. We had to wait about fifteen minutes for our drinks which was a bit annoying as the restaurant was dead except for us and another couple.

For our main we decided to choose a selection of tapas and for me there was quite a lot of choice even though i'm a fussy eater. We tried chorizo with red wine and garlic, serrano ham, potatoes bravas, tomato with goats cheese, meatballs in tomato sauce, chicken breast on skewers, and Spanish style omelette. The chorizo was the nicest part and definitely my favourite.

Serrano ham is serrano ham - not much more to say about that, the potatoes bravas were good and i'd recommend them, the meatballs were flavourless, the skewers - well it was A skewer and for over £4 we weren't impressed and the Spanish omelette was dry and tasteless.

As each dish is around £5 each they're not really worth it as the portions are very small. We were really hungry but by the time our food arrived after about forty minutes and half of it was cold we couldn't be bothered to complain we just wanted to eat and go but the whole thing was very average and i wouldn't say there was much Spanish about it - other than the slow service.

It certainly isn't anything like tapas you can get in Spain.

Summary: OK for a quick snack but don't expect anything special