Tapas Picasso Spanish Restaurante

My friends and I were so excited to get our tapas on, unfortunately this wasn’t the place to do it. Pros– happy hour specials that run $ 5 a plate are pretty reasonable given the quantity, Cons– everything else. Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating, but a good time in a restaurant is defined by the ambiance, the food, and ultimately the service.
The food was meh and the service was seriously lacking. Our cocky, arrogant waiter had the audacity to lecture my friends and I on our dietary restrictions that prohibit alcohol. He went as far as to say ‘oh well, the alcohol is cooked off. It’s fine.’ That judgment call is up to us, not you! He was pretty pissed when we had to return a single (seriously $ 5) plate to the kitchen when we discovered alcohol in it. I suppose we could’ve made the disclaimer before we ordered any items, but we didn’t suspect a vegetable sauté to have any alcohol. The other dishes had explicitly said ‘blah with mushroom wine sauce.’ The two we had ordered (and one returned) did not specify a wine sauce.
I think the worst part was the 5 minute lecture we got on how we should tell any waiter before ordering any food our restrictions– which honestly we would be happy to honor if he wasn’t so rude about it!!! And the second absolutely sleazy part about the waiter was his remark to our request to the check– ‘my favorite part! I’m bringing it.’ Ew who says that.
Food: The shrimp croquetas are amazing. The potatoes were okay. The mushrooms (in wine sauce) were meh. And the desserts were complete fails– as in burnt brownie and overly rosemary flavored crème brûlée.
There are plenty of tapas places in the city– until this place addresses better customer service or ups it’s food game– you aren’t missing out on much.

This place is adorable! It’s a little piece of Spain in the heart of San Diego. It brought back memories of feasting on Tapas in Barcelona. The unique décor and narrow lay-​out are reminiscent of a European style restaurant.
We tried a selection of Tapas and their Sangria — if you are early enough, try to get there for their Happy Hour to take advantage of some of the great selection available on the Happy Hour menu! Every dish we tried was fabulous — from the traditional croquettes and patatas bravas to the seafood and steak tapas.
Definitely a great place for a lovely meal with new and old friends!

WOW this place is incredible. I just got into tapas not too long ago. I came here 3 times and those times blew my taste buds. The first time i found this place, i actually Unilocal’d «tapas» and this was the first place that came up. This place is very affordable because tapas. The ambience is very calm and cute. There is paintings all over the walls, which anyone can purchase. However the restaurant is small, it fits because it has good seating and not crowded. There is a great happy hour deal of a majority of tapas for less than $ 6.
As i was looking through the menu, the one item that caught my attention was «snails.» I knew i had to order snails! Also they had a special menu which i ordered the pasta beads with shrimp.
The service was exceptional. The first two times we had the same waiter, I dont remember his name, but he seems to know what he is doing; very punctual and listened very well.
Overall, great tapas place to eat at!

Went here for happy hour and am in love! Delicious tapas, beautiful presentation, and personal customer service. Highly recommend the garlic shrimp, salmon tartare, and bacon wrapped dates. A new favorite for sure!

The moment you walk in you are greeted with bright colored paintings and an amazing energy.
The food was delicious and each ingredient has its own special touch to each entrée. Get the Salmon tartare if it’s on special. The owns David was joyous enough to entertain us while we enjoyed our meal. They serve infused water as well! Rosemary, orange and cucumber I think, I can’t remember but it was delicious.

Well first off, I have to say that this food is really good! But the service was horrible. The waiter was so rude! He forgot a dish of ours and when asked about it the guy was completely disrespectful. Not sure if I would go to this restaurant again, because to me service is everything.

This was our Xmas miracle! On a Christmas eve to find this place open!
The service was great from start to finish
I over ordered but well worth it!!! Every dish was very flavorful. From the salmon tartar, garlic shrimp, seafood platter, beet salad! Finger licking good!
Topped off by the Picasso volcano!
Strongly recommend given them a try!

Went for dinner on Monday night, we were greeted and seated as we entered. The guy who helped us was very friendly and went over the menu with us. We ordered a sangria pitcher and tapas to start off. The sangria was very good, specially for the price. We ordered the medium size pitcher, it was about 6 – 7 glasses for only $ 15.00. The food was very good, we ordered Spanish sausage and mushrooms in garlic sauce as tapas. And paella for two as entrée, the portion was pretty big. Overall, food and drinks were definitely good and worth the money, plus staff was friendly. We will definitely be going back for some more sangrias and tapas.

Family owned and operated. Father-​Son duo on the floor and both were pleasant, kind and attentive. There was quite the wait but hey, if the food is good, the wait is worth it.
We had 3 adults and 3 kids. Fortunately for me, my nieces and nephews have a pretty awesome pallet at such a young age to appreciate «different» foods.
We ordered the New Fried Potatoes with Aioli sauce, Escargot (we ordered a 3^rd one because the kids love it so much,) Paella, Shrimp in a garlic habanero sauce and scallops with what seems to be orza.
Only two people drank alcohol and they got a LARGE sangria. Probably a little toooo much but they seemed to have enjoyed it.
Paella could’ve used more saffron to my liking but otherwise, the meal was good. The 5 year old spend a good hour drawing on the table (paper in place of clothe.) We will be back!

I’ve been going to this place for 10 years now. It is consistently great.
The food is unique, flavorful, and fresh. This is definitely a great place to go with friends or groups. It’s fun to share all the various dishes, and I’ve found almost everyone I introduce to tapas really enjoys it if they’re new to the cuisine.
I highly recommend the Paella and the Sangria. I can’t say though I’ve ever had anything I didn’t like here.
The restaurant is cozy and comfortable, but I would still dress up just a bit.

So good! My husband and I, along with another couple came here on a whim, we just googled tapas places nearby by, but we were pleasantly surprised. We were greeted and sat by the owner. He was very personable and friendly. He even gave us some background on how he started the restaurant and the décor (he creates the wall art & painted the walls himself).
The restaurant itself is pretty intimate, maybe 10 – 12 tables. But the atmosphere is relaxing.
We ordered the large pitcher of sangria, which was delicious and I’m not even a big wine drinker. The large pitcher was enough for the 4 of us to have ~2.5 glasses each. Pretty good for $ 25.
Then we just order a bunch of plates to share. We got gazpacho, new fried potatoes, garlic shrimp, salmon tartar (a special, not on the regular menu), bacon wrapped dates, snails, and the lamb strips. All of us really liked everything. The salmon tartare was a little spicy for one of the people in our group but she says she has a low tolerance for spicy food.
For dessert we got the cheesecake. It was good. Nothing fancy, but a solid basic cheesecake.
Price wise I think a little on the high side. But I’ve found that to be a trend with tapas, especially because you need to order multiple plates.
Overall, we enjoyed our experience and would visit again.

Came here with my mama and my sister for a nice little girls day.
We had made reservations, but it didn’t seem necessary. The restaurant was pretty empty. We were seated right away by a very charismatic waiter.
We ordered a pitcher of sangria, which was huge! We struggled to drink the entire thing. It was super delicious though! Didn’t taste too strong, but it packed a punch. We were all drunk by the end of the night =) That’s the best type of drink; it tastes delicious and gets the job done.
For food, we ordered the mushrooms in garlic sauce, the bacon wrapped dates, the salmon tartare, and an order of the paella. The mushrooms were really good, as was the paella. The salmon tartare and bacon wrapped dates were just okay.
The reason for the 4 start review is the amazing sangria. I would love to come back just for that!

Wanting to try something new, we had driven by this place many times. One year, I had a friend that worked here and though I visited her, I never ate. But feeling adventurous, we went in. Nice cozy atmosphere. Friendly server, and the only one working on the floor. We were early so it was a little more on the 70+ side… LOL!
Great wine list! We started with the empanadilla with chicken which was really good, although it was rather small for the price. I had the saffron rice paella which came out in one of those great metal pans. This reminded me of Spain and the flavors were delicious! The partner had the New York Steak strips in garlic sauce with a side of rice and potatoes. Great garlic flavor! Overall a very satisfying and pleasant meal. It did start to get crowded since they have a happy hour from 5 – 7 pm.

This place was unordinary. I’ve dined in Spain before so I understand how their service is ran, which I didn’t mind. I was excited about the paella since I was expecting it to taste authentic. It was very disappointing. The rice was hard, the whole thing was bland, and I chicken was dry. The only good part about this dish was the seafood. I needed more lemons to enhance the flavor but they only gave us one. My best friend could whip up a tastier batch and she’s not even spainish.

DING DING DING!!! First 5 star review! I can’t believe I’ve been in San Diego this long and have not yet tried this place!
First off, the venue is very small with only about 5 tables and some bar seating. So if you want to make sure to get a seat, call in and make a reservation first. The restaurant is family owned, mom cooks, dad and son take care of service. They are very friendly and the whole atmosphere just feels warm and intimate.
We went with the owner’s recommendation and ordered the salmon tartar, escargot, grilled octopus salad, bacon wrapped dates and garlic shrimp. Every single item was delicious. And I normally don’t care about presentation, but their dishes were beautiful. You will really appreciate the thought and care that goes into each dish.
The escargot was probably my favorite. I’ve eaten a lot of snails in my day, and this escargot was definitely in the top 2. Snails in themselves are not all that tasty and just need to be cooked right. The magic is in the sauce, and THIS sauce was magic! The combination of garlic, butter, snail and bread was absolutely perfect. Order this dish!
My next favorite would probably be the bacon wrapped dates. The bacon was thick and crunchy and really created a nice contrast to the sweet, mushy date. Again, I’ve had plenty of bacon wrapped dates and this was definitely one of the best. Definitely the best i’ve ever had in San Diego.
Octopus salad and salmon tartar were also great! i’ve had grilled octopus before and i’m usually disappointed because the octopus is often kind of dull in flavor. However, this octopus was cooked perfectly (not rubbery, mushy, or tough) and had loads of flavor. So delicious! The salmon tartar was also very good. Kind of reminiscent of ceviche without the tangy lime juice and more of a sashimi/​mango salsa kind of taste.
The garlic shrimp was probably my least favorite but was still good. If I hadn’t enjoyed the other 4 dishes so much, I would have enjoyed this dish even more. Can’t be mad at it!
My new favorite restaurant in SD!

Came here on a saturday night for the happy hour $ 5 tapas special. The restaurant wasn’t too crowded only 2 large groups that seemed to be celebrating birthdays. After 7pm (after happy hour ended) the restaurant was literally EMPTY! I guess most people just go there for happy hour… We got that potatoes bravas and the chicken dish off the happy hour menu. Both were really good. That day they also had a beet salad that was off the menu. We decided to get that and literally it was just a pile of beets! We thought there would be a salad with just some beets but nope…
I really wanted paella so we got the small tapas paella. They have $ 10 paella special on week days that I def want to try. We also got the octopus in garlic sauce which again didn’t disappoint. I left here full but I can see how the bill can add up. The food was good but not something I would recommend to out of towners who are on limited time.

Wow! I was blown away by the food, but boy was the service on point!!! What a great little spot! My bf and I shared a pitcher of the tastiest red sangria and 3 tapas. The fried artichokes (so yum) an unbelievably fresh beet salad with mini heirloom tomatoes and the croquets stuffed with ricotta cheese and crazy fresh red dipping sauce. Everything was done exactly just right. The flavors were super on point, we couldn’t stop commenting on the freshness of everything, and the presentations were beautiful.
This will quickly become a regular pit stop for me. It’s a small an intimate space, and really casual. We came in after a massage on a Friday night and it was the perfect ending to a relaxing evening.

Showed up here for Happy Hour on a Tuesday or Wednesday. The place was completely empty, which was a little disappointing atmospherewise (especially when places around the corner were pretty packed with people).
Tried the sangria, but it wasn’t too my liking.
I had their $ 5 HHour «cantilopos”(small spanish sausage in Red Wine), which was really good, and I would definitely recommend.
Not seeing anything else on the HHour menu that I wanted, I also ordered their Octopus ($ 12.95). The octopus was a very good portion size and came with bread; although I wasn’t too impressed with the first bite, it got much better with each subsequent bite… maybe the spices just needed that little bit extra time to come to life.
It’s a place I could definitely try again, but if so I’d come for a full dinner rather than HHour, hoping for more patrons to create some ambiance.

I think this establishment is fantastic! I love tapas and their tapas are delicious! I came here in 2013 and was blown away by their paella and their mushroom with garlic cream sauce as well as their ambiance. I recently came back here (dunno why I waited so long) for their happy hour and I just love how intimate the ambiance is. You definitely can tell that the staff does really appreciate your presence.
We ordered three items from their happy hour menu as well as their house white wine. Everything was as delicious as I remembered! I need to become a regular here! Or at least for their yummy happy hour specials. Hehe…
Our server (Manager? Owner?) was super nice and polite! The boyfriend and I had killed our plates, not a crumb in sight, and our server said to us «you guys will be together until you’re in your 90s because you know how to eat» haha. Hell yes we do! :)
I recommend their paella, mushroom in garlic sauce, albacore mousse pâté, and chicken breast in mushroom wine. Also! Their complimentary bread is delicious– they’re soaked in some garlic sauce. Genius!

Food here was decent. The happy hour items were so limited and clearly not the best sellers I think. Each was $ 5. Their regular priced tapas are much better but just a little too pricy for what you get.
Items ordered:
Pitcher of Red Sangria
Fried potatoes with Chipotle
Chicken and Mushrooms
Snails (Escargot)
Spanish Sausage
Only unique/​yummy item I think were the Snails from the above items ordered. Not sure if I would be returning customer though. Little too pricy for non-​happy hour items based on the portions.