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3 days ago
I hate writing a bad review when the staff are actually friendly people – makes me feel terrible – so I’ll start with the two positives:
The staff were friendly and attentive AND the location is lovely.
Unfortunately that is where it all stops for me. I am a lover of fresh, flavourful food that pushes boundaries and surprises me… not everywhere has to ‘blow me away’ completely but with the likes of the latest Auckland restaurants that have come out of nowhere and found spots in the Top 50 lists, places like Limon just fail epically when it comes to quality…
We bought the ‘all you can eat tapas’ voucher recently advertised, and although the price wasn’t that steep the food was well below average.
Absolutely every plate that came out tasted like it was made days before then simply warmed up and literally all looked like less-than-supermarket-quality… The meatballs were dry and flavourless with a tasteless yellow sauce on them – looked like they were bought at a supermarket??? no seasoning or herbs or ANYTHING in them, the bread with hummus had a dry crust on it suggesting it had been sitting for ages, the Spanish tomato bread was soggy (obviously not made fresh as the tomato had been sitting on it for ages to make it that soggy), the prunes wrapped in Serrano ham were just a prune with an almond left whole inside (I mean someone I know makes AMAZING bacon wrapped prunes at home that have tenbillion times more flavour than these?!?!), the stuffed peppers were supposed to be stuffed with feta but it was tasteless and on pulling some of the feta out it was yellow and old, compared to the feta that came with the olives, the chicken drumsticks were dry and covered in what appeared to be shop bought sweet thai chilli sauce.
The only good parts with the domaldes (although still required much more seasoning), the olives and the squid rings.
I would seriously never go back here. I’m sorely disappointed especially given the staff were friendly. Sorry Limon 
perhaps you need to take some inspiration from somewhere like La Zeppa where the tapas are beautiful, fresh and PACKED with flavour. You have such a great location you could do so much!!!
6 days ago
We were so looking forwarded to going to Bordums as we used to go to the New Market one all the time. But what a BIG disappointment. The place was cold and had no Turkish feel to it. The food was awful and the pita bread was not fresh. The services was slow, I would not recommend that you go. O stars
8 days ago
So I have only just got around to writing a review for this place…. Went here with some friends last week.. Was totally excited to eat some Spanish food.. got there and were greeted and seated quite quickly and given menu’s and water.. Which was awesome and I was impressed especially since I worked in the hospitality industry not long ago… But then what seemed like every two minutes the waitress would come and ask if we were ready to order even though we had already told her that we would let her know when we were ready to order as we were still waiting for a friend… but we ordered drinks and fries.. But while taking our orders she tried to make small talk with us which would have been fine if everything she said didn’t sound like an insult. Which to be honest really took me by surprise. Anywho… We all had a look at the menu and thought ” ooooo these things sound amazing… interesting even” .. Even though the waitress could see we were still deciding she still kept asking if we wanted to order. She bought over the fries and asked we were ready to order.. AGAIN…. By now i was getting a bit peeved off… Anyway the girls ordered their things. I ordered the Croquetas Spanish crumbed, fried chicken & bacon morsels with aioli ($10.50) and Chilli Prawns – Gambas al Pil Pil garlic & chilli prawns in a cazuelita ($18.50).. both of which ad reasonable prices considering the location of the restaurant. But three little Croquetas for that much? Really? Especially ones that are dry and bland?? Spanish food is meant to be full of flavor…. The prawns.. Tasted pretty good! BUT 4 prawns and a prawn head for $18.50 and really tiny pieces of turkish bread?… My friend ordered the Tortilla de Patatas which was bland and no presented nicely… we were offered the dessert menu’s but we kindly declined and we were given the “evils” look by that waitress… Was uncalled for.. To be fair the food was alright… but service was not so good.. we were then over charged for our bill and we only realised after we had already left.. $260 for tapas.. Not going there again… Maybe someone else will have a better experience then us.
15 days ago
It was a very rainy night, and I popped into the cosy C.A.C., For some dessert and a cup of tea with my friend. The staff were excellent. A very welcoming waitress and other staff were all fantastic. Upstairs the ambience was excellent. I had the RICOTTA FRITTERS w. rhubarb & raspberry preserve for 11 dollars. The flavours were lovely.
17 days ago
What a great way to experience a little bit of Spain in our own backyard, took my boss there for lunch, we had the most amazing dates with roasted coconut complimented by a recommended traditional Spanish beef stew in a lovely sauce which was tender & great in taste. Thank you, most impressed with your food & service!
17 days ago
My wife and I decided to break out of our comfort zone and try a different restaurant. I would like to clarify that we like casual ethnic dining that is cheap and cheerful but that is true to it’s origins; we are not food snobs at all but we like good honest flavours prepared with fresh ingredients. El Faro had some good reviews on this website so we thought it was a safe bet. The menu looked appetising but that is where it ended. We ordered stuffed calamari as an entree. It took considerable muscular effort to cut and had some unidentifiable strange tasting stuffing. This was followed by the only main course on offer of a beef stew made with meat that was dry and chewy with a horrible brown gravy that tasted like it came from a packet and we could only manage to eat a small amount each. The ‘patatas’ were simply oily, very salty french fries. When the waitress asked if we liked our meal we expressed our disappointment and she said she would talk to the chef. However we heard nothing more even when I reluctantly went to settle the bill. Avoid.
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Useful (1)
18 days ago
I have always enjoyed Tasca. I went last week with a voucher and they had increased the number of tables so it was quite squashed in. We were given a table right next to the kitchen door and it was a really unpleasant place as I couldn’t hear my partner and I felt we were sitting right in the middle of the walkway with people standing around us all the time. This really put a damper on the experience. If they give me this table again, I’ll just leave. Anyway, that aside, we had the lamb shoulder which I’ve had before and it was delicious and succulent. We both had the creme caramel and we found it bland and much like the custard you get in a custard pie at the supermarket. Their other desserts I’ve had before were good so we were disappointed we’d picked the caramel. We got a glass of the Tasca wine and it was very good. The staff were very pleasant as in previous visits. What a shame others have come up against perhaps a rouge waiter/waitress. We had a very charming young girl looking after us. There was guitar playing and it was a nice ambience. There has sometimes been other performers (flamenco dancers I think) and they were good for the first 10 mins then got a bit loud for conversation. I would give this a 5 star but they lost one due to the lousy table and disappointing dessert. I will go there again
24 days ago
My partner and I decided to splurge and go somewhere nice for tea. My mum said these guys were good so we decided to give them a go. Waste of money.. My partner had Whole Baby Snapper that had way too much salt, it was inediable. I had the Linguini al Mariscos, it was boring and tasteless. Ended up going home and cooking my partner a second dinner. Will not be going back EVER.
28 days ago
We were seated. And were asked to order- as we were picking up the menus. Give us a minute please, we asked. 10 minutes later we went in search of a wait person- at this time, the place had one other table of customers, btw. We ordered drinks. 10 mins later had to go hunting again to get our food ordered! Then had to go and ask for cutlery, after it came. Can’t remember the food after all that! This is why I go to the Newmarket one now- this was just the culmination of several not too good experiences.
28 days ago
Been here twice- used to go to the Durham lane one, until we got sick of the abysmal service. This one has great service. Its a bit pricy, for what you get, and the food isn’t really all that. Its not an authentic Spanish experience, lets be clear about that- its a general med melting pot. I have no particular gripes-its probably the best place I know in Newmarket. Why would I not rate it higher? Well, it just doesn’t make you walk out feeling wow. On the other hand, I remember it and would go there again for the cafe con leche and ‘cheap’ Argentinian wine.
34 days ago
My partner and i don’t live in Auckland and had travelled up there for 1 night for my birthday. We booked and paid for a meal with this restaurant through grab 1 deals. We turned up on the day stated on the voucher to be told that we couldn’t use our voucher because the boss had said so!!. After asking to talk to the boss we were told that he was not in the restaurant and they could not get ahold of him on the phone. We were then told that we could come back tomorrow and the voucher could be used i had to explain again that we would not be in Auckland the following day, but were given no other options as the boss was still unavailable. We were extremely disappointed with the lack of help that we received and the excuse “my boss told me we couldn’t use these today”. When you pay for a meal you expect that is what you are going to get but this restaurant failed miserably. Hence why we have given it 1 star and will not be going there ever again.!!!!!
34 days ago
Read the mixed reviews for this restaurant. The location is excellent, directly at the wharf with a lovely view and a feel of being in Southern Europe. Being in such a tourist spot the prices are as one would expect higher. This is were the problem lies; because of the prices guests expect high-end food and service. Looking at the menu it is obvious this is not a fine dining restaurant and so we went there expecting a meal similar to that in a suburbian Spanish restaurant. With this in mind we were not disappointed. The waiters tried really hard to do their best and were friendly, the food was plenty and tasted like good homestyle cooking. We used a Living Social voucher for a 2-course meal and a bottle of wine and this was good value for money. We had no problem booking a table, called on Saturday afternoon and got a table for the evening sitting.
North Island
