Boqueria - Review

Intro
Boqueria - Not Recommended
53 W 19th St
New York, NY 10011-4202
Phone: (212) 255-4160

I'm having the post Spain blues as every single tapas/pintxos place I check out in NYC just don't satisfy. Same thing happened after my trip to Italy too. I realize that I can never compare tapas in NYC to the stuff in Spain, but at least the food needs to taste good. Unfortunately, the three dishes I picked did not. Overall, I give the restaurant a 65/100.

Our Menu
1) Patatas Bravas crispy potatoes, "salsa brava", roasted garlic alioli
2) Pan Con Tomate grilled bread rubbed with tomato, garlic and olive oil**
3) Pintxos Morunos seared lamb marinated in lemon and cumin, salsa verde

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) Fried potatoes that were a tad mealy inside, but decent potato flavor. On top of that, not that much brava sauce or aliloi. Pretty average at best.
2) This dish was incredibly delicious and very simple. Grilled crunchy flavorful bread rubbed with juicy fresh tomato, garlic, and olive oil. Very satisfying - almost a pizza type of effect with tomato flesh instead of a sauce. Really delicious...
3) Really gamey lamb that was pretty tough and dry as well. Not a good combo...nuff said.

Overall Restaurant Experience (65/100)

• Food 6.8/10 – I picked 3 simple dishes and 2 were pretty average to sub par.
  
• Service 7.3/10 – Waitress was friendly, but the place is packed so the service was a tad slow. Once you get your order in, the food comes out quick though.
  
• Atmosphere 6.5/10 – Not my type of place, but people seemed to dig it. Lots of beige all throughout the room and it felt more like a lounge than a tapas bar. When you first walk in, you're met with the crowd and the tapas bar to your left. Place was packed with loads of couples and oddly enough a couple of groups of 1 dude and 2 girls. We got there at 8pm on a Monday and the wait was 30 minutes. We sat with 10 though since the bar area is first come first serve - including the tiny tables across from the tapas bar.
  
• Price 6.5/10 – Average price for NYC I guess - but I wasn't so happy to pay it. $5 for bread and tomato flesh. $7 for fried mealy potatoes. Seems standard for NYC tapas now...
  

Closing Comments
The reason we only picked 3 dishes is I decided for any small bites place (tapas, pintxos, stuzzichini) I am going to act like we did in Spain. Sample 3 small bites - if it's great, order more; if it's not, take a pass and check out someplace else. Hopefully, we'll find another tapas place that is pretty solid, since I've been checking out a bunch lately and can't find a place I'm dying to go back to...