Barioja

Very average and overpriced tapas and service with an obvious forced smile. Bizarrely, the music was a commercial radio station playing in the background, which made the atmosphere more akin to a greasy spoon cafe than stylish tapas bar it aspires to be.

But the real showstopper was the £2.20 service charge on a £25.00 bill. I couldn't honestly say whether this is highlighted on the menu as the last thing I would expect in a bar, tapas or any other variety, is a service charge.

Tipping is my choice!

A friend and I had lunch here today. The service was excellent - very welcoming and friendly, but also efficient. The food was lovely and was washed down very nicely with a shared jug of sangria. My only regret is we did not have room for pudding...

I would like to correct those comments about the food being to small and the food not coming at once. That is what tapas is my friend. Maybe you should look it u in the dictionary before you try to comment with a negative note. I went with my wife stacey and i thought it was amazing! First of all the waiters were so welcoming and had a lot of humour which was great! The wine list had so much spanish wine it was unreal i loved it. But the best bit was the food. The croquetas were unreal! so was the paella mixta i loved it! I would deffinelty recommended this to anyone! One of the best evenings of my life. Thanks guys! x

i booked a table at this restaurant, and didn't look at the reviews until after i had booked it. i was dubious, but figured that they should have improved their game given all the bad reviews they had been given. unfortunatley this was not the case.
the restaurant itself is lovely, warm and cosy and the staff were helpful. great wine menu and the food was tasty, however the portions were too small and we didn't receive any of our dishes at the same time. it was as if they were waiting for us to finish our first dish before the brought out the next. i thought this was unacceptable. £55 for a bottle of house red, and 5 dishes - definitely not value for money.

a party of 10 went to this restaurant last night for a joint birthday dinner, we were told that we were best to pick the party menu as it would be easier and quicker for all, we were not allowed to ask for particular things as this would be too much trouble for the chef, at £18.95 a head for a party menu x 10, i would have expected a fair bit of food, we were all still hungry at the end then they added a £34 service charge, service???? we were not allowed to ask for wha we wanted and nobody could speak fluent english! the bill came to £380 this was the most i had ever spent on a meal, it was oily there was no meat, chirizo sausage but very little, maybe enough for 2 people, very greesy calamari and they mayo tasted off, this is the worst evening and dinner i have ever had, i would never recomment this restaurant to anybody, biggest rip off ever!!!!! Yuk!!!

I've been here a couple of times for the set lunch. Both times exactly the same combo of pretty dull tapas, 3 for £8 or thereabouts....and a mega expensive glass of wine bringing the bill to more than i would hope to pay for a totally uninspiring lunch.

would not reccommend as is.

Bar Rioja? More like Bar Rip Off.

We were a party of 12. We were told that to order dishes individually would take ages and were pressed into ordering the set menu. The set menu is around £19 per person and consists of a selection of tapas. It seemed expensive but it promised a selection of around 8-10 tapa dishes. We mentioned to the waiters that it might be too much food but they said not too worry, that that wouldn't be the case.

That was the understament of the year.

They brought us five or six tapa dishes in big plates to share among the 12 of us. It might have been enough for four people. For us it worked at around one meatball per person. The food itself was poor. It was extremely oily and there was mayonnaise EVERYWHERE. The final bill, including drinks, was around £23 per person.

To summarize, I recommend everyone to avoid this place.

This place starts of well offering a fantastic house red perfectly matched to the marinaded olives that we ate while pondering the menu. The food didn't disappoint either with well-honed staples of patatas bravas and bruschetta complimented by a tasty selection of alternative dishes. The paella wasn't the best I've had, but the delicious desserts more than made up for it. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either. I'd thoroughly recommend this unpretentious and bustling restaurant for an informal evening with friends.