Spanish Pavillion

The food is great.. You want a piece of fish Joe Vidal sez the fish guy comes late so for lunch go more like 1 pm. They toast the bread and Michael the owner stops my table for a little chit chat. He makes a buck ! There u have it. (check this place out-​) worth the trip. Hey. Pop in — I will buy u a drink)

I stopped by on a business trip through the area. I was dining alone and ordered 2 hot tapas and a ½ appetizer for my dinner. I had more than enough food to fill my hungry tummy. The Shrimp Sofrito was so delicious I would’ve picked up the plate and licked it clean if no one was looking! I order calamari frequently and asked for a half order since it is a «to share» appetizer. It was delicious with the sweet peppers and I couldn’t eat it all, there was so much in the half order. The lat tapa was the bacon wrapped date. I love dates and was very excited to try this specialty. The bacon was a little overdone, it was black but they were still smoky and delicious. The red sangria was just a little disappointing. Not bad but not fruity enough for my taste. The good service, the delicious food merits 5 stars. Don’t be alarmed by the look outside, this is a true gem.

Not to date myself but I’ve been coming here since they first opened with my parents so it’s always held a special place in my memories and I was happy when they won their eminent domain case and didn’t have to close/​move.
But for a while they seemed to lose their way and visit after visit was disappointing.
Perhaps it was Gordon Ramsey’s visit for Kitchen Nightmares back in 2011 that got them back on track because they are once again knocking out some serious eats.
Good (large) portions, well-​seasoned, decent prices. From the sangria (tasting better than I remember from a few years back) to the garlic shrimp (supposedly Chef Ramsey wanted them to ax that from the menu… he must’ve been high) to their damn delicious Pavilion Burger to what is still my favorite item — their Café Pavilion (hot coffee chock-​a-​block with various liqueurs that’s definitely not for the lightweights out there) — everything was a hit.
Coming up to 40 years in business and it’s wild that I’m bringing my kids there like I used to go with my folks…

I really wanted to like this place, and made a special effort to stop here on the way back home from a road trip. Food was OK but nothing to go out of your way for. I probably would have just forgotten about it, but I ended up raising an issue about an incorrect charge on my bill and was treated very rudely. The implication was that I was looking to scam them over a few dollars and I’d have to call back later in the week if I wanted to pursue it any further. At the end of the day I don’t care about the money, but I wouldn’t come back.
Bathroom was also dirty which made me wonder what the kitchen looked like.

Allow me to preface this with two notes. First, I don’t fancy European seafood on my taste palate. I prefer American seafood. Also, just a heads up that this restaurant has been the subject of two episodes of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. So take those two points with a grain of salt, two grains of salt which may have made my meal better.
I ordered Arroz con Pollo y Chorizo thinking that’d be the safest thing for me to order on the menu given my dislike for European food. The salad and bread that held us over till our entrees arrived were delightfully good, but that’s where it ended for me. The chicken was fatty and gristly. The sausage had chunks of fat in them that noticeably took up at least ¹⁄₃ of the diameter of the meat… And it tasted like bleu cheese. The rice was so so, nothing special.
I decided to eat only bread for the remainder of my meal, but $ 16 is too much to pay for bread. I would have been better off going to Popeyes across the street…

Met up with a group of good friends. Here us what we all thought:
–Tasty food, great atmosphere.
–Good food place to stay with friends. Delicious.
It’s good.
Very pleasant atmosphere, good waiter And I enjoyed my food.
The shrimp in garlic sauce and bread and salad and olives and sangria and atmosphere and music was delicious and wonderful. The bathrooms were also in good shape.
Great place to hang with a bunch of friends
And it won’t cost an arm and a leg.

Call me a liar, will ya? My review was belated but I was there that evening and I saw what I saw. The fact is that you grossly mismanaged your grandparent’s legacy (SP was one of, if not the best back in the day) and had been regularly serving meals from a filthy, unsanitary kitchen as documented on Kitchen Nightmares Season 4 Episode 1 currently viewable on youtube. The End
Message from the owner:
8÷13÷2014 The episode was on over 3 years ago, where yes there was a TV in the Dining room. But never since then. I am sorry but I find it hard to believe this review