Café Iberico

I have been to Café Iberico many many times over the past 20 years. The space has changed a lot over time, but I feel like the food has not. Although their signature dishes are good, I just wish that they would introduce some new and elevated dishes. The food scene in Chicago has really exploded over the past years, so what I used to think was so great and unique at Café Iberico now seems more like middle of the road. I still think the place is a good bargain, fun, and good for groups and out of town visitors, but if you’re a foodie looking for delicious exciting dishes, you might want to try elsewhere.

Food: Delicious. Well worth the visit. My boyfriend and I stopped in on a Monday night and got five tapas dishes to share. It wasn’t too much, but it also wasn’t too little.
Waiters: The waiters were friendly, but they also were incredibly busy and sometimes forgot about us. My measure of good service is how long it takes to get more water once my glass is empty, and it took quite a while for them to refill. As I mentioned, they were nice when they came by, but it took a minute for them to get there.
Atmosphere: The restaurant is very nicely decorated, and the furniture is all well kept. They had TVs around the room playing the soccer game, which was nice. My only complaint is that it was so loud in the restaurant that I was barely able to talk to my boyfriend without shouting.
Overall: Great place, and I would go again!

I went here after work with the wife and some colleagues. While we enjoyed it, the food was not awesome. The mushrooms were delicious. The potatoes were standard — the Same thing you get at any tapas restaurant. We also had small clams, which were steamed or boiled, a large empanada, and shrimp. As happens with tapas, the food is expensive based on portion size.
We ordered at least two pitchers of red sangria with the food and I recommend that you try it. My only comment on the sangria was that the fruit wasn’t all that good. Sometimes the fruit is good enough to sample, but not so much here.
The service was good. The atmosphere is nice although it does get loud.

Authentic Spanish tapas, made with love!
When my husband and I first found this place on our Honeymoon in 2010, I didn’t know what to expect. Having only tried paella once or twice previously, my knowledge of Spanish food was limited (to say the least). My husband, however, lived in Spain for several years as a child. But he was worried that he wouldn’t remember the names of the dishes he had loved decades before.
We opened the menus and my husband’s face lit up with excitement. There were pictures next to each dish! He quickly pointed out three tapas we had to try. I found two more that sounded good. (If you’re following along at home, that’s FIVE tapas for two people. God help us.)
We proceeded to eat for the next two hours. We ate until it hurt. Every dish was delicious and authentic.
We’ve returned many times over the years, introducing many of our friends to this gem of a restaurant. It’s great for a party of two or ten. So… what are you doing still reading? Go eat already!

At first glance this place is nothing noteworthy. The inside is questionable
in terms of cleanliness and the menu options are pretty basic. One thing that did wow me was their margarita! It was delicious. I was a tad shocked to discover it cost a ridiculous $ 12 but it was worth it! Unfortunately, that is not something I can say for the rest of the meal. We had the goat cheese with tomato, the chorizo plate, the croquetas and the palleta iberico. All of these were just average, but the chorizo plate was straight up kinda gross. Some of the sausages tasted burnt and others were weirdly chewy. I do not recommend this place for a date or anything special, but if you’re looking for basic tapas, it’s fine.

Best restaurant for the value, flavor, and convenience. I made reservations here for a party of 6 on a Thursday evening and they were incredibly accommodating with pushing back the time and later calling to say we were running later. The place is pretty large so you shouldn’t have an issue with reservations. If I lived in Chicago, I would totally love to have my birthday dinner here!
Onto the food:
Salpicon De Mariscos mixed seafood salad with shrimp, octopus and squid: all of the seafood was so nicely seasoned and tender, pretty impressed
Patatas Ali-​Oli
Red potatoes with garlic mayonnaise sauce: Omg heart attack of mayo overload but I LUV mayo and the combo with garlic so nicely slathered I woulda never thought to mix on my own, loved it!
Patatas Bravas
Spicy potatoes with special tomato sauce-​not really spicy but didn’t want it to be; it was alright, we had too many potatoes.
Pincho de Pollo
Chicken brochette with caramelized onions and rice-​yum yum yum, nicely cooked and I gobbled up those onions
Pincho de Solomillo
Skewered beef tenderloin with fries and caramelized onions-didn’t really care for the beef which tasted more like sausages and I was expecting more steak
Datiles con Jamon
Dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in Spanish ham; served with rice and raisins-​too much date or sweet taste and not enough ham for the savory part
Raxo Adobado
Marinated pork loin served with home made fries-​I liked dipping the French fries from this dish into all the other sauces from other dishes
Mejillones a la Marinera
Steamed mussels with marinara sauce-​would order again!
Paella Iberica
A Café Iberico original, served with seafood, chicken and pork-​not the best paella in the entire world since it could use a lil more marination of seafood flavor the rice but it satisfies my paella craving, price is unbeatable and so is portion size (fed 6!) – it’s pretty good!
Sangria $ 17.95 for a pitcher to fill 6-​large water drinking glasses, not just tiny lil wine glasses.
I want to go back already!

Our table of 4 was so disappointed. While waiting for our dinner table, we ordered drinks at the bar and before we could cash out the seater was clearly irritated to wait for us to do so. She ran waaaay ahead of us all and we could barely find her. The place was so loud we couldn’t do anything but read lips at the table. Blaring music. If the food was better we might have been ok with the noise but nope. Gazpacho was equal to cold Campbell’s. None of us liked our food. They served it to us willy-​nilly — one person had 3 items while others had zero. It took forever to get drinks from the waiter. We went out the next night together and the entire topic of conversation was how bad Café Imberico was. I gave 2 stars based on our waiter was nice although not very attentive. All around a bad experience.

Café Iberico is a Spanish Tapas style restaurant located in River North/​Streeterville, Chicago. It is a Chicago staple and I’ve been a few times now.
My latest visit was pretty mediocre unfortunately. It wasn’t too crowded, and I came in with a small group of girls for dinner, we were seated immediately and our server was very attentive, like never left the table attentive.
We ordered a few appetizers to start, we as a group really like to chat, catch up, enjoy our food and our drinks, but we felt SO RUSHED. Our server and the other bus boys would not stop coming over to our table to ask if we were finished, and clearing plates that we were not finished with yet. It was so awkward.
We ordered a few more plates to share, but when the server a bus boys started stand AROUND our table and clearing plates, using the crummer, and refilling, already full waters, we were over it. we got the check and left for the next place.
They were not crowded at all and we asked if they needed our table, but they said no, It was so uncomfortable that we had to leave. We would have stayed for much longer and ordered a lot more food and drinks if we would have felt a bit more relaxed.
I will not be returning.

Unique Interior design that is fun and captivating. The food is amazing!
First Timers:
— Order: Cazuela de Carne Asada

I love that they serve by portions here, so you can get multiple items and share with whoever you come with. I settled on shrimp, rice and a few different types of potatoes (hot and cold). The dishes were very good. I wanted a frozen margarita, which they don’t normally serve but they made an exception for me. I enjoyed it! My friend had the sangria and said it was delicious. I recommend stopping by and I will be back!

Sangria drink is perfect! Sweet and refreshing.
I shared a vegetarian paella with my husband but, it is huge so you can definitely share it with 4 people. We ended up nothing eating it at all just because we were already filled up. You gotta be hungry to start off. Anyway, this is a nice place for family and friends gathering.

Meh, I was underwhelmed by Café Iberico.
The service was decent; our server was attentive and we didn’t wait long for anything. But the food wasn’t impressive. It wasn’t bad… it was just ok. The prices weren’t justifiable. I had just one slice of «free» table bread — it was flavorless. The rest of the dishes were forgettable.
The interior was ok. Not the most comfortable or appealing. The atmosphere was off. It felt like a clubby River North bar instead of a restaurant. My group was seated downstairs near a few other tables of large parties. There was a lot of loud chanting and yelling. It was weird.
On principle, I never recommend a competitor in my reviews, but I’m gonna brake my own rule and suggest dining at Café Baba Reba, in Lincoln Park, if you want delicious Spanish tapas in a classy atmosphere.

If you want tapas, go elsewhere.
We came to Chicago from Philly for an extended weekend. Café Iberico looked like a great spot with so many good reviews and its close proximity to our hotel on the Magnificent Mile.
We already wanted to leave after we were seated. We were provided with laminated menus with pictures of each dish — this was a warning sign to us that we should have left. However, we had a flight to catch with no other dining options nearby.
We ordered the dates, mushrooms, patatas bravas, and beef skewers. Somehow, everything came out of the kitchen within 10 minutes. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had just microwaved our food — it certainly tasted that way. The potatoes were mushy and did not seem authentic, compared to our Spanish tapas experiences in Philadelphia. The dates were very small and the ham was dry and shriveled up.
I wish we had gone elsewhere — it was a waste of a potentially good culinary experience in Chicago.

I remember when this place was all the hype. Still not bad– plenty of choices in parking, nice area on Lasalle. Nice rustic dining room. Food was pretty good we had the cheese and meat platter, scallops, shrimp, and finally the paella. The shrimp and scallops were good. nothing mind blowing. The meats were plenty but only 2 paper thin slices of cheese. Bread was good. Paella was good– lots of ham, chicken and seafood in it. Rice was nice and fluffy– fresh peas. For dessert we ordered the crêpe which left much to be desired. Not much flavor just a thin crêpe with ice cream and strawberry sauce. Mocha was warm till I had it replaced with a hot one. Not a terrible experience – just nice tapas in the city. A-​OK.

Went here on a Sunday evening at around 5:30 with a friend and my husband. We had a really nice meal for a pretty reasonable price, including a bottle of wine. The food came out pretty quickly. I’m taking a star away because the waiter was a little bit absent and when we wanted to ask for more bread/​water, we couldn’t.
Everything we had was pretty delicious (most notably the octopus on garlic potatoes). If you want paella, be sure to order it immediately because it takes a while, but the paella was totally worth the wait and a HUGE portion for a reasonable price. I was pleased with the experience overall.

I’m never disappointed with an eating experience at Iberico! Lots to taste and enjoy and it can cater to all different kinds of food tastes — vegetarian, fish lovers and meat lovers alike! I’ve brought and introduced many people to the restaurant and though it’s affordable for large groups; sadly the prices have increased so much that when you go with a smaller group — it ends up being very expensive.

I used to come here all the time for networking/​big group events and I totally forgot about this place. My most recent visit was for a birthday party and there were about 20 of us. Service was very fast and efficient and we ALL enjoyed our food. This is a tapas restaurant so meals are meant to be shared. I had a hard time sharing my spicy potato dish cause it was just too good (so I didn’t share) lol. I however did dip my fork into other people’s plates and my favorite would have to be the grilled octopus.
Sangria was flowing and I was drinking all of it. They had different flavors to choose from. The food here is delicious and definitely a great place to go with a group.

Let me say that I’m finally reviewing this place after eating there twice. The first time it was early and during the week. Not crowded at all and after everyone in Chicago was ranting and raving about how good and cool this place was we finally gave it a shot.
I was not impressed at all with the food. The service was great the first time because it was empty. Literally us and another table, it was around 1 – 2 like late lunch early dinner hour. Octopus dish was swimming in grease was to salty in my opinion. The patata’s bravas were good but nowhere near Café Baba Reebas in taste. I found the dishes sloppy with very little or poor attention to detail.
It looked like prison slop. Like it was scooped up from a large pan slopped on our dishes. No quality control either… My plate was like all fries and very little octopus. I looked at our neighbors because it’s a popular dish and there’s had allot more octopus.
This place has a ton of «Cool» factor popularity. Everyone in Chicago ran’ts about how awesome this place was and frankly was not impressed. People like to «hang out» here more than eat.
The second time I went was a weekend and it was packed. We were seated literally on somebody’s lap. Tables are uncomfortably close to each other and it makes it awkward.
I tried the patata’s bravas again and I got a good dish. This time we tried Paella and I was not impressed with the quality and quantity of actual sea food.
I got the same greasy salty taste I got from the octopus dish. The Sangria was great no complains from me there. Don’t fall for the hype on this place. Do yourself a favor and go to Café Babareeba.

This is a great place that is hampered by poor service. At this point, if they haven’t figured out great service, they probably never will.
First, the amazing — Sangria, especially the red. Just get it. The food — no complaints, the vast majority I really enjoy. Of special note– the patata bravas. The first time i came here, I did not get them as I figured it would be a waste to get potatoes. Don’t be me. Get them. The octopus with fries — even if you don’t like octopus, you will like these. Trust me. The octopus is grilled, and chopped up into easily bite size pieces, mixed with fries. Worth the try.
For service, they need to smooth it out. A few times our forks and plates were taken away, with food still on the way! When the food gets out, we have no way to portion it or even eat it. Asking for the items takes an incredibly long time — 5 or more minutes for plates and forks, while the food gets colder.
Skip dessert, there is nothing special there, but definitely bring the family here to impress them (not young kids, though.) Guard your plates and forks.

Came here on a Saturday night and was pleasantly surprised by no wait – the dining area is large, with a bar upstairs.
Grilled octopus: I was pretty confused by how the octopus was mixed in a mound of french fries. The fries were a bit soggy, and the octopus pieces were few and far between.
Goat cheese spread: Found this tapa extremely mediocre; while the goat cheese flavors meshed well with the tomato sauce, the marinara itself tasted as if it came from a jar.
Grilled shrimp: the one somewhat redeeming tapa of the night. Had a nice amount of spice to it.
Overall, the tapas here are larger in size than at a typical tapas place, making it easier to split among larger groups; however, given the quality, I found the food extremely overpriced and underwhelming – in addition to the lackluster tapas mentioned above, the complimentary bread was extremely dry and likely slightly stale. Definitely will not be returning to this place.

Nothing mind-​blowing, but definitely a solid Chicago choice, albeit the location is a bit off-​the-​beaten track. The food is good, there are lots of options, and I’ve had no problem getting a table here without a reservation. The only real issue I’ve had is slow service, and the ambiance isn’t anything too special. If you come here, definitely get the goat cheese dish!

This is more of a 3.5 star review rounded up to a 4.
I came here late on a Monday night and it was empty. The main dining area was large, so I assume they’re used to accommodating a much larger crowd. We were seated immediately and the staff was very attentive.
The food was definitely good, but not spectacular. We had the Gambas Al Ajiilo, Croquetas De Pollo, Calamares a La Plancha, Pulpo a La Plancha, Chorizo y Morcilla, and one chicken dish, but I’m not sure which one it was. I was not bold enough to try the blood sausage, but I enjoyed everything else especially the Croquetas de Pollo. They come with an «Ali-​oli» sauce, which was the highlight of my meal. The chicken came with rice that my friend described as «regular rice that they made orange». I didn’t have a chance to try it lol.
In addition to all that food, we also ordered three drinks, and the total came out to $ 96 or $ 24 each… I can’t remember the last time I dined so well for under $ 25!

After being told the wait time at Au Cheval was a ridiculous 6 hrs, we furiously searched Open Table to see if anything else has last minute availability. Luckily we were able to just walk right in to Café Iberico.
Ambiance: The main dining area was a huge room packed with tables. Honestly it didn’t have that modern or trendy type atmosphere that a lot of places in the area have. No frills décor, which didn’t really bother me. I did think that the tables were pretty smushed together to maximize the seating. It was pretty hard to navigate around all the other tables when going to the bathroom.
Service: The service felt just a little bit rushed. We ordered a ton of stuff and were in and out within an hour. It seemed like they just bombarded us plate after plate to the point where there was no space on the table. We had to quickly finish everything on the table to make room for the next dishes. No time for talking haha. I guess I would prefer this though over having to wait long periods if they staggered all the plates. Somewhere in between would’ve been nice.
Food: In true tapas style, we just ordered a ton of different dishes and then got a little taste of each.
Patatas Bravas — This seemed like a more traditional take on patatas bravas than I’ve seen at other tapas places. It was a huge mound of fried potatoes drenched in a tomato based sauce. The flavor was just ok for me. I did like the slight hint of spice. Also, I was hoping it was less saucy so the potatoes would still be crisp. Quantity wise I was satisfied. Unlike Mercat a la Planxa, we got a full plate of potatoes instead of 5 tater tots on a plate.
Pincho de Solomillo — Basically a skewer of beef and fries and onions. The marinade was pretty flavorful and the meat was juicy. Pretty much like Spanish style steak frites.
Queso de Cabra — Pieces of toast spread with some sort of pesto sauce. Then you top it off with a mix of marinara and goat cheese. Loved the crunchy toast mixed with the creamy goat cheese.
Croquetas de pollo — The description said it had chicken and ham in there, but the inside was pretty much had the texture of mashed potatoes and it was hard tell what was in it. Either way, I liked the taste. Crispy outside, smooth filling, and that creamy, cheesy dipping sauce was money. Reminded me of the cheap, street food croquettes I had in Amsterdam.
Calamares a la Plancha — Grilled calamari that had a nice smokey, charred flavor off the grill. Texture was a little rubbery and hard to take down.
Empanada — This wasn’t what I pictured. Instead of the usual bite sized empanada, it was like huge like a pot pie. Flakey crust filled with beef, veggies, and unfortunately nasty ass raisins haha.
Gambas al Ajillo — Probably one of my favorite dishes of the night. A skillet with shrimp tossed in olive oil, garlic, and some crushed red pepper. Garlic lovers will rejoice about this one.
Raxo adobado — Almost like a pork version of the pincho de solomillo. Pork loin and fries topped with onion/​cilantro. The marinade was again tasty but the meat wasn’t as tender and juicy as the beef. A little hard to cut through.
Chorizo y Morcilla — Mixed plate of chorizo and blood sausage. The chorizo had a nice crisp skin, but I’m not too big a fan of blood sausage. Wish the portion was a little bigger though.
Overall, dinner was just ok for me. The food was pretty good, with none of the flavors being too memorable. The meal was pretty much all business trying to finish all the food rather than taking our time and enjoying the company. I will say though, for as much food as we ordered, the prices were very reasonable.

Packed at 7pm, but it doesn’t bother my husband and I. The music was the correct level to cancel people’s conversations from one table to the other.
We got the Queso de Cabra (goat cheese in marinara sauce), Pulpo a la Plancha (octopus with potatoes) and Paella de pollo. The paella looked so good I forgot to take a picture of it; we wanted to get some right away. So much flavor in all the dishes is incredible and just the right amount of spices. We were too full to get dessert, but we will be back to try some out.

I have visited Iberico over a handful of times and the experience keeps getting progressively worse. Sigh! The service is pretty clueless and the food is just tasteless. If I order 8 tapas, I will allow two of them to be mediocre or even bad but if 7 out of 8 are bad then I am going to be disappointed. We had the goat cheese bake, octopus, Russian potatoes, chicken and rice skewers, some spicy potatoes with red sauce, tuna among others. Tuna was okay and the bake wasn’t bad but the bread that came with it was awful. The food tasted really old and microwaved.
The only reason this review has 2 stars is the sangria. But as far as food goes I will take my appetite to baba reebas if I crave tapas again.

Came here with a friend a few weeks ago. Huge selection of tapas… EVERYONE can find something. Portions are good for the money. Not too much food, but enough to enjoy each dish. Ordered four dishes for two people and was more than enough. Also have great sangrias! If you go on a Saturday evening, prepare to sit at the bar and wait or wait awhile for a table… however, it is worth the wait.

Deliciosa toda la comida, espectacular la sangría roja, el servicio es rápido.
Lo único malo es el olor de los baños.

Dios mio, estan los mejores!
Pulpo, scallops, all grilled in extra virgin olive oil.
God, I miss Barcelona. Gracias por Dios para Café Iberico!!!

Great Salpicin De Narisco seafood salad, Pulpo A la plancha, Calamares A LA Plancha, mejillonesvA la marineha and Pella Iberica!

superbe restau /​bar au centre de chicago. Ambiance etudiante et delicieuse tapas a deguster entre amis.

SOOOO GOOOOD! Definitely worth the wait! The prices are extremly reasonable, I came here twice now and both times I ate and drank and was stuffed for around $ 20. Patatas Bravas (favorite), Ensalada de Pollo, Ensalad de Espinaca con Queso de Cabra, Pincho de Solomillo (favorite!). There are so many other yummy things I can’t remember. Try it al! Only wish is that they would put an eggplant option on the menu!
The Paella looked good, and I studied in Barcelona where Paella is around every corner, so sometimes I need to feel that desire, I ordered the seafood one and it was a little too fishy — like bad funky fishy. Only bad experience.

We came here with a small group to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We were seated an hour after our reservation, which was super uncool. When we were seated, we got sangria which was definitely a highlight of the night!
The food overall was just okay. The bread was awful-​stale and lacking in any sort of flavor. I found the potatoes boring and the salad very uninspired (it looked like it was dumped straight from a supermarket bag). The goat cheese was also just so so boring. I did like the pork dish with fries that my friend ordered-​great flavor there.
I found the service to be generally unaccommodating. They would not split the check for us, generally were very stiff, and were clumsy as well. Dishes were placed at the very ends of the table, instead of in the middle, and were then forgotten.
Overall-​yes to the sangria, and the prices were reasonable, but the service and flavors were lacking. Disappointed.