La Nacional Tapas Bar

Finally, the holy grail, Spanish food that tastes like is does in Spain. After tramping all over Manhattan to Spanish, Basque and Catalan restaurants, I ended up where I should have started — at La Nacional. This is an old school social club with regulars straight out of central casting.
The restaurant consists of two rooms — one for dining and one for drinking. Both have nearly indestructible wooden furniture, but I can imagine that generations of frustrated soccer fans have tested its limits. The communal table in the bar area looks like the perfect place to drink pitchers of sangria, which packs a punch as I can attest firsthand.
Go for happy hour when tapas, wines and sangria are all half off. It’s tempting to fill up on huevos rotos (soft yolked fried eggs over french fries), and croquetas, but save room for paella. It’s exactly as it should be, with a crispy bottom crust called soccarat. A variety of proteins are nestled in the softer rice at the top.
La Nacional is the antithesis of a trendy tapas bar. It’s a hangout for Spaniards, who might just whip out a guitar and start playing. Another patron might just sing along. Under the influence of that wicked sangria, you might just begin to dance.

The happy hour special is really amazing and we have visited a couple of times as a result. Half of tapas and glasses of sangria! Their sangria is excellent, straightforward sangria just like you’d get in Madrid. Favorite tapas: pimientos de padron, patatas bravas (just as they should be– not overly fried or greasy with just enough sauce), the house bread, fried artichokes.
Unfortunately, on this last visit, the octopus was off– as in «had to send it back, funky smell to go with the bad taste» off. The waitress was nice about it and allowed us a substitution. We chose to have a flan for dessert. It was just ok– the flan was not as smooth and creamy it should be. I very much disagree with some reviewers that this is the best or most authentic Spanish restaurant in NYC, but the prices are actually reasonable here and it is a great place for a good deal, good sangria, and decent food.

I loved every tapas I had here which was sardines (insanely good), octopus with the potatoes, shishito peppers and the seafood platter. But what made my dinner even more special was the bonbon latte and the cheesecake. Was happy as a 5 year old kid when I left the restaurant.

I came here recently with a group of friends and we had a great time. We were a big group and had no problem getting a reservation on a week night but I imagine you would have to book further in advance for a weekend. The sign outside is small so I almost walked past it.
I had the mushrooms which were nicely seasoned. I had the vegetarian paella which was good but I would have preferred more saffron in the rice, I didn’t taste any.
One dish had French fries, egg and cheese, it was okay. The potato dish we had was pretty good.
I do not eat sausage but my friends said the sausage dish was excellent, they ordered four of them! They also enjoyed the board with meats and cheese.

La Nacional has the best Spanish food outside of Spain. I’ve recommended it to many people over the years and they have all loved it. Favorite dishes are the cheese stuffed dates with bacon, garlic shrimp, croquettes, tortilla, lamb chops and they have the best paella in NY… try the black rice with alioli, it is spectacular. Desserts are also good… almond cake and flan in particular.
Make sure you get a table on the front room (they take reservations), which is really quaint… the other, larger room has no ambiance and there is often soccer playing on the large tvs.

Authentic and delicious, it’s like being in Spain. Best paella in NY

Bön dia! This place has great food from Spain. The tapas and paella are not as pricey as other Spanish joints. Great environment during La Liga matches :)

Great place for a group of friends :).
I went with some friends from out of town and we ordered a ton of Sangria (YUMMMY), tapas, entrées, and desserts :). It was a pleasant experience.
Waiter was super nice and friendly :).
Try it out!

You must try the Paella Negra! And work your way through the menu. I’ve been a customer for years and they have never been off the mark yet! I remember when the back area had TV’s that solely showed the famous «corridas» and men in berets sitting around watching them…

We’ve got to say we were quite disappointed by the place.
It was recommended to us by a Spanish friend and we were so excited to have some tapas in NY.
First the place itself does not make you feel well: it’s in a basement which is dark, very noisy and that gives you a stifling feeling.
Regarding the tapas, it was expensive considering the quantity and especially the quality.
We had some jamon (normal and aged), cheese, chorizo and datiles.
We were so excited to get some Spanish jamon but it turned out to be just some average one. The kind we used to buy for cheap in our supermarket in Europe, and definitely not the good jamon like we can find in Spain. :(
The chorizo was ok, but once again average.
The datiles (dates wrapped with bacon and filled with cheese) was extremely sweet. We literally had to bite only half of it, drink water and then finish the other half, and drink more water…
I think overall the place can be nice here for people getting some drinks at the bar and who have the tapas just on the side. However, we would not recommend this place for those coming for a meal.

This place deserves 5 stars. Favorites are the Spanish beer on draft, the paella nacional (add chorizo), the campero (manchego and serrano and another cut), and the pulpo (octopus). You can walk in on Friday night when every other place is busy and have a great meal. All $ 210 with tip/​tax for four people and tons of food, drinks.

For traditional Spanish the best in NYC. The seafood black rice is extremely extraordinary! The tapas A+++ love the little peppers and patatas bravas.
Not crazy with the octopus. The Rioja wines super nice.
The garlic soup the best in the world!!! Always on the menu.
The atmosphere homey, the staff… pros!!!

Solid tapas bar with good food and a cozy ambiance! We wanted to have a bottle of tequila with our meal and the restaurant accommodated. Automatic +1 star in my book.
We were fungry and ordered a bunch of tapas to start (garlic shrimp, grilled sardines, sauteed mushrooms, grilled squid, ham and cheese croquettes and of course the chorizo!) The chorizo was exactly the way my grandpa used to make it when I lived with him in his ranch on the outskirts of Sevilla! The insides were tender and juicy with soft and delicate casing that simply dissolved in your mouth. Boy does this bring back fond childhood memories!
Apologies for going off on a tangent. lets get to the mains! Paella was not pretty good (but not the best I’ve had). Arroz Negro is the go-​to.
As for the service. Hi Ignacio! You were great! Thanks for your help!
All in all a great meal with the fungry club!

My meal was quite good for my first order.
Will keep you updated after return for the Flamenco show on Saturdays only ((

Me and my wife came here for the first time to meet friends. The restaurant space is nice and there is plenty of room there to get a private-​like corner. If you are a person who likes dark, stony wine cellar, this is the place for you. As this place name themselves a «Tapas bar», we focused on the tapas dishes, though the Pealla sounds also tempting. We ordered S-​e-​v-​e-​n different tapas dishes (I think it is half of the collection). I don’t have a different way to say that: it was so bad!
How come that in New York city, something like this survive? It is beyond my perception. Anyway, the only tapas that was surprisingly good is cubes of fried potatoes with white sauce on top.
The service was good, but the waiters work hard on us to finish our dinner around 10pm because they wanted to close.
At the bottom line: the prices don’t worth it and we ended up the night having nausea.

Admittedly, I did not eat here but I feel justified in telling you why I walked out. We arrived at the location at 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon. It is a small-​ish location with low lighting. Almost cave like.
I walked in with my dining companion and upon opening the door, we were hit with the most foul odor. Think of a backed up sewer in a South American country. No way is a restaurant ever supposed to smell like that. I thought it may just be the rug or something but the further I walked the more the smell stuck.
Maybe they were having issues? Either way I’ll have to wait a long while to forget that smell before going back to try the food.

I would give this place 3.5 stars if I could.
Came here for a dinner event with my company team. I totally wouldn’t have noticed this place if I weren’t with others. There is a small sign that leads to stairs down to the restaurant. We had about 35 people in a party room in the back. The place is kind of small for large parties, and wished the room was cooler.
For drinks I got the red sangria, which was pretty good. It’s not water down and flavorless like some places I’ve been. We got rounds of food. We tried a lot of the menu, all decently good. Although I wished the paella had less rice and more of the other stuff (we had 4 different types to try xD). Overall, better than most places I’ve been for tapas.

OVERALL
Decent prices, decent food, poor service.
ATMOSPHERE
Big, spacious, kinda noisy but you can still talk/​hear okay. The décor reminded me of the neighborhood restaurants when I lived in Spain.
There was a guitarist that came around to tables but he seemed way more interested in earning money (to the point where a table left earlier than it seemed like they were planning to since he wouldn’t stop talking to them about Elvis and doing Elvis impressions) than playing music for the patrons.
AUTHENTICITY
Authentic atmosphere, food is legit too (though not amazing… keep reading).
SERVICE
Lacking (at best). We asked the waitress if there were onions in the tortilla she said no. The tortilla came and there was onion in it. We asked her about it and she said ya there’s onion in it, you just can’t see it. Not sure why she would have told us there’s no onion if there was, then admitted to it once we pointed it out. Then when we asked for more brava sauce, she brought a cold paste that tasted like what’s on pan con tomate not the spicy, creamy delicious brava sauce. After getting the «brava» sauce she didn’t check in on us for more drinks or the check for over an hour.
DELICIOUSNESS
Meh. The tortilla wasn’t on the pan long enough to get a tiny brown on it, the most delicious way (totally in my opinion) and wasn’t well-​seasoned. The bacon-​wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese were good. The potatoes of the patatas bravas were perfectly cooked (crusty, crunchy outside and fluffy on the inside) and the sauce was a perfect spicy, creamy brava saucy. However, I would have liked more sauce as there wasn’t enough for all the potatoes (and I don’t even like my potatoes drenched in sauce). When I asked for more, I got the kind of very fresh tomato sauce that’s put on pan con tomate.

I am now on a mission to patron any restaurant that’s associated with the Socarrat family.
I went on a Wednesday night. The place was chill and not packed. If you like sweet drinks, I recommend their sangria. Sweet with fresh fruit (not like some places that have fruit that’s been sitting around for about a month).
Papas Bravas — crispy on the outside and starchy on the inside with just the right amount of sauce on top.
Pan con tomate — not too salty and full of fresh tomato flavor.
No idea what sauce was in the pulpo dish but yes– get it.
For the main, we split the arroz negro. Again, we were able to order the paella the way we wanted. No shrimp (allergies) and no extra salt (because squid ink is already salty). Perfecto! I love the crunchiness of the rice. So… good…
For dessert we got the almond cake. A nice break from chocolate =-)

We weren’t able to get into their main sister restaurant Soccarat I believe up two blocks.
The place was in a wierd Basement. The dining area at least looked better. We had the meat and cheese tapa. The paella was huge but it was good. Meatballs okay. Overall, it was okay-​good.

sabroso!