Ramblas Tapas Bar

I went here with my fiancé on a whim because she always wanted to go out for tapas. We were blown away with the complexity of the flavors each dish had. We order the cheese appetizer and each cheese had something to accentuate the flavor. We also order the roasted fig salad that was fresh and crisp. The bistro fillet was to die for. The port reduction glaze topped off the steak. Plus the beers were organic and locally brewed. I love this place and wish I lived in SF so I could eat here nightly…
Sad to hear you closed :(

We were walking around after finding out our previous destination was not open til dinner, and we happened upon Ramblas. They have $ 3 mimosas (oj or mango, yum) and kick-​ass spanish style breakfast/​brunch options. I had the Spanish Fried Eggs, which were basically poached (i think) and then rolled in almond bits and quick fried, served over chorizo with tomato sauce and spinach. Delish! Would order it again in a hot second.
Friends had the steak bocadillo and raved about its goodness. We even got churros and chocolate on the house! Yay for Ramblas… I will for sure be back to visit! ;)

I have always wanted to try out Ramblas compared to the alternative Cha Cha Cha which always has a long wait. Location was a bit off the main street so parking was much easier for us. Also if there’s a little wait, there’s a small gift shop few doors down to kill some time.
We started with patatas bravas. We looked around us and noticed that every table had this cubes on a stick so curiously we asked our waitress for it. OMG, it was delicious. it’s potato with a creamy sauce on it with little crunchy crumbs on it. We couldnt stop eating them. Then we moved on to their meatballs. They were too very yummy. The sauce had an amazing flavor to it. It’s juicy meatballs! :)
The asparagus was nicely grilled, but nothing extravagant thou. Not their fault, you just cant do too much to asparagus. Then lastly, we had their seafood paella. We are always a fan of paella and although it was cooked very nicely… it didnt really jump out for us. The portion was a bit small but adequate. All in all, we would definite revisit Ramblas again soon for our tapas urges.

They’re closing soon!
Lots of construction outside the place. Difficult to find parking.
But the place is great. Sangria was pretty good.
Because they’re closing soon, their menu is limited.
We had the boquerones as appetizer. The sardine with potato was a good combination.
Seafood stew doesnt have a lot of seafood in it, but great dipping with the complementary warm bread!
Iron flank steak was cooked perfectly. 5 slices.
Food was tasteful.

I was a Winter Music Conference zombie. Fresh off a plane from Miami after a Ferry Corsten finale, the calorie replenishment began. I could barely put together coherent sentences let alone have a tangible though, but somehow the soyrizo I remember seeing on the Ramblas menu made it’s way to the top of my limited brain power. Bags were dropped, wallet grabbed, destination set.
Ramblas proved to be the perfect post WMC spot. My water was constantly replenished (as I was constantly depleting it), my soyrizo completely hit the spot and the friendly people had no problem swapping the hash browns for some fruit. I was left to dine in peace as I reminisced on what was an amazing week.
Music still buzzing in my ears and food finally in my stomach, it felt nice to be home.

I love tapas with a twist! Don’t get me wrong, I love me some chorizo, but sometimes you want to stray from the Madrid standards. The menu centers around some anchor main ingredients that change their preparation with the changing Farmer’s Market produce and chef’s creativity. Great for a light evening snack when you don’t want to get weighed down by a burrito.
Fideo: Yay for innovation! I’m used to fideo appearing as a paella imposter and being extremely rich from all the paella ingredients. This was surprisingly light and farm fresh! Fresh thinly sliced strips of almost raw carrot and parsnips screamed «Hello Spring!» The sauce was light and creamy. Total yum!
Pork Belly: This looked like a giant slab of bacon! I’m not complaining. It was refreshing to see pork belly delivered so plainly. The outer edges were crisp like bacon and inside was melt apart moist like pork and tender belly should be. There was some sort of apple sauce looking fruit mash on the side that tasted way better than apple sauce. Helped contrast the yummy fat overload of the pork belly.
Niman Ranch Bavette Steak: No clue why this cut hasn’t reach the masses, it is so tasty! Seared outside and juicy red inside. Like a flank steak but better. Sad that it was only a tapas size, I could go Precious on a large plate of this!
Churros: The churros were stubbier than what those hombres on the corners sell out of old lady push carts in the Mission. Dough, sugar and cinnamon ratios seemed in order. Wasn’t a fan of the chocolate dip though. Tasted like Hershey™ syrup as opposed to a nice melted chocolate.

A good place for good times. I was here with my cousins for dinner, while I was in town on business. Tapas and sangria is always a great plan in my book. But there was so much that I remember about this meal, that I’ve gotta rate it high.
Let me start with the important part — the alcohol. We got a pitcher of sangria and a pitcher of this delicious lemonade/​vodka/​basil drink. Both were amazing — that lemonade in particular packed a good punch.
Oh — and there was this great sign in the bathroom (has NOTHING to do with the restaurant overall, just cracked me up.) Ladies, I know we’re all accustomed to the signs in the restroom telling us not to flush our lady products down the toilet. But this sign warned not only against flushing those, but also warned not to flush small electronics, tchatkes, newspaper clippings and bags of illicit substances. Brilliant.
Okay, back to the important things, the food was great as well. I didn’t order –Ieft that to my cousin, so I’ll admit I don’t recall exactly what we ordered. But we had a Spanish fritatta, calamari, a salad with anchovies, spinach, shrimp, flatbread, potatoes… but my absolute favorite was the pork belly. I will admit that I’m partial to anything coming from the belly area of a pig, bacon in particular. But it was so delicious… I can almost still taste it.
I’ll be back for sure — for vodka basil lemonade and pork belly.

This was a really solid tapas joint, and I kind of wish I could go again, a tad more sober, to really judge this place.
I went with three new dining partners: My cousin Marissa M. her roommate, and some dude who I still don’t really know who he was.
We started with the potato bravas, which is basically cubed potatoes and leeks tossed in a really thick garlic and harissa (Moroccan hot chili sauce) aioli. It was really special. The combination of the chili and garlic and the heartiness of the potato really came together in one of the best appetizers I’ve had in a while.
We then moved on to the roasted golden beets, which you might know, I absolutely adore. There were plated with crumbled blue cheese, pecans and pickled fennel. The thing I love about golden beets that really gets me is the very unique sweetness that is tough to come by in any other vegetable. Countered by the bitter/​sour fennel and aided by the smokiness of the blue cheese, this dish was very good. However, I really didn’t get the pecans coming through.
The pork belly and flat iron steak came out next. The steak was okay. Very nicely cooked to a bloody rare, the port reduction that it came in really didn’t do anything for me. With the amount of flavor that should have been there, I was fairly disappointed. However, my disappointment with steak was immediately right by my love affair with the pork.
Pork belly is probably my favorite part of the pig, as most bacon and many chinese dishes are derived from the belly. However, the southern inspired pork belly dishes, like this one, I think are some of my favorite meat dishes in existence. Braised, and assisted by some smokey apple flavors, this pork belly utterly melted in the mouth. My favorite of the night.
We ended with the Ramblas paella, which was somewhat of a letdown after the arc of the meal peaked at the pork belly. Not to say this dish wasn’t good, it just wasn’t THAT good. I definitely did not get the taste of chorizo, and it really just felt like rice, clams and octopus. For the signature dish of a restaurant, this was a weak one.
Got out of there for $ 36 bucks for splitting all that and 3 pitchers of sangria. Fuck yeah.

As me and my friend approached Ramblas, I noticed that Ramblas is an extension of Thirsty Bear on Howard Street. I thought to myself, okay this should be good. We ordered the Patatas Bravas, Caldeirada Fish Stew, Chicken a la Plancha and the their Wheat Beer.
The Patatas were good, reminded me of Thirsty Bear’s patatas however Ramblas had the potatoes drenched in this aioli sauce which was pretty tasty, Next we had the Fish Stew which tasted amazing, the tomato sauce was superb and went great with the bread. Lastly we had the Chicken a la Plancha which was a total disappointment. I wish I went with the Pork. The chicken did not have much flavor, it reminded me of a dry bbq chicken teriyaki with out the teriyaki sauce. It tasted like something I would get from a food court at a mall.
Overall, the service and some of the food was great a but the chicken gets a thumbs down.

Ay caramba guey! The flower floating in the Hibiscus Margarita is inedible! Despite the server’s warning, I tried to bite mine anyway. Yuck! She suggested I suck the alcohol out of the petals instead. How did she know that’s my specialty?
The menu is separated into distinct categories: Earth, Land, Sea and Paellas. We decided to order from each section (hold the paella) to cover all of the bases. The Empanadillas and Bistro Filet were my favorites, even though all I could taste was the spinach filling and none of the Manchego and goat cheeses in the former. The Caldeirada Fish Stew was just okay and not at all like the wild fiesta description in the menu, and the Spanish Tortilla was just plain bland. Can you say: aburrido?
I’ve saved the most important part for the end. Are you ready for my rant? WHERE IS THE FREE BREAD? Hello?! A dollar for bread and dip that most restaurants offer as a complimentary appetite whetter? Por que? Even stingy ass Chinese restaurants will throw in some free peanuts with dinner. Okay, so the bread at Ramblas is Acme and the vinegary-​oily dip is tasty, but the duo would be better gratis. Seriously, Ramblas, the economy may be shitty but charging for bread should be a crime. While free good bread isn’t the biggest incentive for my restaurant visits, not offering free bread is definitely a deal-​breaker. Escuchame!
Anyway, 3 stars for the food plus 0.5 for the good service. Four stars will be given when they stop charging for the bread and dip.

Came here last night for an event. I had already ate earlier so I didn’t order any food. but I observed the endless plates of delicious tapas being brought out from the kitchen. The Paella smelled amazing. I did nibble on some potatos drizzled in spicy aioli and it was excellent!
I thought their sangrias were good and all of the staff there were friendly. I’d definitely go back there to enjoy a full meal.

I’ve been here twice for Sunday brunch — and have been tremendously pleased with both the service and the cuisine.
What impressed me my first time grubbing here was the prompt service from Brian the barkeep. He knew I was on a 20 minute time constraint. He also knew I was on a strictly no-​meat «fast-​for-​forty-​days» schtick — and immediately made some stellar suggestions as to what he could ask the kitchen to whip up for me. Immediately. I was able to make it to my date later that day on time sans empty stomach. WHEW!
That, my friends, is O-​mazing service. The experience was awesome enough to get me to book Easter Brunch for eight giggly girls this past Sunday. (Two were out-​of-​towners — so having a grubby experience was a MUST.)
Seriously folks? All eight of us were duly impressed with the strategic and gracious managing of Brenda — paired with the attentiveness of our server Kristen — we were completely charmed by the staff here. The food tasted amazing — but service is so key these days — especially with the current economic status the U, S of A is in.
Gotta gab about the grub, though. The chocolate churros were something we all looked forward to for the meal’s end. The brunch menu — EVERYTHING is super tasty. I loved my deep-​fried eggs. Yep, deep-​fried poached eggs. Simply O-​mazing over a bed of chorizo-​oozing-​saucy goodness. YUM! The other girls chose other options — and some opted for tapas. ALL SO DELICIOSO!!!
I’ll definitely be shuttling my buddies to and from here often in the days/​weeks to come! Will have to try doing a tapas event here on a weeknight!

Ramblas is a little more intimate with a romantic vibe than some of the other closely surrounding tapas bars. I also found their dishes to be a little more refined in presentation than other tapas, but a little lacking in quantity. Shoot, the bites actually more like nibbles are small. I guess that’s a small price to pay for being certified green and having the best organic food.
Let’s see, shared the Spanish blue cheese filled date, had a little sniff of a piece of steak with a fry string, had a bite of a their famous albondigas meatball, some sips of sangria and it came out to like $ 100.
It’s a good place for catching up with good friends and getting into some good conversation. We stayed at our table continuing our stories for a good couple of hours without being bothered.

I’ve been a client of Ramblas for many years now. The last time I came in, I was really shocked to see the over-​haul they had done to the menu, the drink specials, etc. While I commend Ramblas for greening up their act, I do not appreciate the change in drink specials. Ramblas used to have the most amazing happy hour on earth to us Sangria lovers. First of all, their happy hour was seven days a week! Yes, all seven days from 5pm to 7pm. A reasonable happy hour, because who are we kidding? Do you know anyone who gets off work at 4pm? I don’t! Their happy hour consisted of ½ priced pitchers of Sangria and Margaritas and whatever other new special mixed cocktail they were trying to showcase. Excellent.
Their menu was fabulous, with warm, soft, yummy bread and oil with chili flecks to dip it in and excellent patatas bravas, and buttery empanadillas with oozing, creamy goat cheese, salty manchego and spinach and pine nuts inside. We generally sit at the bar, but the last time we were there, even the service at the bar was just off, the Sangria wasn’t very good, we didn’t love the menu changes, nor the change of the happy hour specials (I think it’s now a ½ price cocktail with the purchase of an item off the tapas menu), which are now only available Monday through Friday, I believe. Meh. SUCH A LET DOWN. Ramblas for me used to be five stars. It was BY FAR my favorite happy hour place and place to get Spanish tapas in San Francisco, with excellent Sangria, excellent specials, excellent tapas and service. Now, I can’t rate it at more than a three.

I’m sorry Ramblas. I have demoted you from an excellent 5 cute Unilocal stars to just 2 Unilocal stars. Here are 5 reasons…
I came back here with two friends in from so-​cal and wanted to show them some best Tapas in town so I took them here to Ramblas where I had an awesome dining experience last time.
1. We were seated and after having looked at the menu for 10 or so minutes, our waitress didn’t come by not once. We had to ask for her…
2. The empanadillas & calamari were fried to a dark brown which means that their oil was old after having been used OVER and OVER and OVER again. Disgusting…
3. The sangria was just BLAH this time. It was really good last time. Just tasted like punch, what happened Ramblas?
4. The bread that comes with their awesome dipping oil was cold for the first round, then mildly warm the second time we asked for it. Last time I came here, their bread was pipping hot. I could see steam…
5. We ordered their «Ramblas Paella» and when it came, it looked and smelled REALLY good BUT it was SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SALTY. I couldn’t even eat one bite without having to wash it down with my mediocre sangria. Sigh! The Ramblas paella was their seafood one consisting of shrimp, clams, mussels, etc. It was so salty that I was 80% compelled that they had used the salt water that the shrimps, mussels and clams resided in prior to being cooked at Ramblas.
You can’t even use the excuse «they were busy so food & service go down» because half the place was empty. Sigh!
Ramblas, you disappointed this time. I must go to Andalu now…

For the most part, I have fond memories of Spain. Tapas, wine, beer. Siestas! After sangrias [Only tourists in Spain drink this!] at a bar down the road, my lovely companion and I decided to grab a quick bite. Unintentionally keeping with the Spanish theme, we thought tapas. Why not? So we wandered into Ramblas.
We ordered the empanadillas, the grilled lamb, the crispy calamari, and the bean salad. While we waited, we filled ourselves with bread. Warm and delicious with the olive oil! When the rest of the food came out, I was slightly disappointed. Not by size, but by flavor. As expected, everything was in small tapa-​sized portions. In flavor, nothing really stood out as impressive. The empanadillas and the lamb were rather salty, and the sauces were just whatever.
Maybe it was an off-​day.
Next time, I would like to try the patatas bravas [
. While in Spain, I remember ordering that wherever they would serve them. Obviously, I am a fan of potatoes! The patatas bravas and the bread + olive oil MIGHT bring Ramblas Tapas Bar up to three stars.
…IF there is a next time. I can’t afford another trip to Spain, so PLEASE, anyone, point me in the direction of awesome tapas!

If I’ve learned anything from Unilocal,it’s that San Franciscanites (or is it San Franciscans?) are some opinionated biatches. And they’re damn sure of their beliefs too. Like «those stuffed medjool dates were too soggy for my tastes» or «the grilled chicken Spanish chorizo was too dry for my liking.» But, luckily everyone in San Francisco has their own opinion, and uses Unilocal,so eventually the wisdom of the crowds works itself out.
And that brings me to Ramblas Tapas Bar. Where opinions are about as polarized as whether or not a tomato is a fruit or vegetable; where the elites have their own opinions based on «science» and «evidence», while the common-​folk go on their «gut-​feelings» and «knowledge passed down from generation-​to-​generation.» In this review, I guess I’m going with the Elites here… perhaps a Unilocal Elite? Get it?!?
This place is perfect for the self-​proclaimed Yuppie in you. Eat your Monterey Squid and your Herb Crusted Chicken knowing they were killed humanely and prepared using organic ingredients. Have no qualms about the dim lighting, since they’re using low-​energy bulbs. And definitely eat to your heart’s content, because your meal (but perhaps not your wallet) is certified Green by the City of San Francisco.
I personally had a good time here. My recommendation is to try 4 – 5 dishes if you’re in a party of 2. The portions are reasonable as are the prices. Two dishes were especially good:
1) Price Edward Island mussels Spanish sherry-​cream and grilled garlic toast
2) Brandada Croquettas Spanish salt cod and potato in crispy tempura, tomato aioli
But that’s just the seafood lover in me. They were unfortunately out of Thirsty Bear beer when I came on a Sunday evening, but their martini sure packed a punch! Good thing there’s hardly any parking in the Mission, since I had ample time to sober up as I walked about a zillion miles back to my car.

We wanted a small bite for an early dinner and was in the area so decided to try Ramblas for their tapas.
Food is average and the only item that stood out for me was — *Grilled marinated lamb sirloin with crispy fennel and fennel aioli… quality of the meat was great because it was not gamey (sp?).
The *Empanadillas of Manchego, goat cheese, spinach and pine nut; *Sauteed shrimp with garlic, sherry and olive oil, along with the *Torta was easily forgettable.

Not a bad place for tapas/​tapitas in the Mission. I came here to celebrate cinco de mayo en 2007, and was not disappointed by the food or the pomegranate margs. Ramblas margs are definitely of higher quality than Chevy’s.
The asparagus I recall was quite good, as was the Spanish tortilla. The chocolate cake (boca negra) however, was not that great.
I had no idea that Ramblas is related to Thirsty Bear — but it doesnt surprise me bceause TB is another great tapas spot!

Tiny, itty bitty portions. I understand it’s a tapas place, so that means small plates, but some of the plates were still surprisingly little. The sangria was good, and some of the tapas were pretty tasty.
However, what killed it for me was our waitress. At first, she kept warning us that we weren’t ordering enough food, which was fine, but we had other plans for after Ramblas, so we didn’t want to overdo it. When we asked for some more bread (I personally thought the gratin would go well with the bread), the waitress muttered, «Sure, just fill up on bread.» Minus a star for that.