Rioja

I first stumbled across Rioja last year when heading to Finnieston with friends for some post work drinks. Whilst we were sharing a bottle of wine we couldn’t help but be in awe of the delights coming out of the kitchen. The smell was divine! We had already eaten elsewhere that night, but were really wishing we hadn’t so we could stuff our faces with some yummy spanish delights. I swore to go back for food — and have done so twice.
Food wise Rioja offers an array of both classic and modern Spanish Tapas dishes. My partner and I got 6 dishes and shared them between ourselves, this was the right amount for our appetites and was the amount suggested by the waitress. We ordered calamari, mussels in a white wine sauce, Spanish style bangers and mash, meatballs, patas bravas and king prawns. All were delicious — my favourite being the king prawns which came in a chilli and garlic sauce, and the calamari was the best I’ve ever had (and I’ve eaten a lot)! Cooked beautifully and accompanied by a tantalising garlic dip. I would usually have tartar sauce with calamari, but the garlic dip worked well. The Spanish bangers and mash was, erm, different. You know those buzzfeeds about odd things that food has been served on instead of plates? Yeah. I can’t say I’ve ever been served bangers and mash in a wine glass before this visit, or since. The massive sprig of thyme that accompanied it was slightly odd too but the food was delish. Super duper creamy mash with little tangy sausages and the odd bit of crispy bacon.
The cocktails are lovely here too! We shared a jug of the ‘Posh Sangria’ and it was lush. Filled up with tasty fresh fruit, that classic sangria taste but yet with a twist (made with cava) — ooh it was the perfect drink to compliment the tapas. It really really was. The cocktail, wine and spirit menu here is great. There is something to float everybody’s boat. My other half even talked me into a ‘cookies and cream’ cocktail. The thought of a cocktail made with cream and milk used to send shivers down my spine — but no more! Give it a try if you pass by and let me know what you think.
I highly recommend this place. Scrummy tapas, on point bevvys and some nice mood lighting. And of course it’s in the super trendy Finnieston.

So, we had this accidental Friday a wee while back. Meant to go for a couple of pints, just to say that we’d been out, but then there was food, and more drinks, and a cocktail, and then it was nearly midnight and we were in Inn Deep for one before home. It was good.
The food in question was served by Rioja, which I’ve been meaning to try for a while but just haven’t managed. It was busy, but we got a seat by the bar. Bit cramped? Actually no, ’twas fine. Bit of red wine and a selection of modern tapas.
I’ve looked down the 3 star reviews and have to say that I was surprised — this is def a four and above, for my money — I do note that they’re older reviews though, so maybe there’s been some changes.
Dear lord, it was good. We had chicken, ham & bechamel croquettes, chicken wing lollypops, bangers & mash with pork belly (came in a wine glass), we had black pudding parcels. And every bit was tasty tasty good. Only slight criticism was that the chicken was a teeeeeeny bit overcooked, but that’s nitpicking…

Rioja looks great from the outside. Black front, cool neon red light. The upstairs inside looks good too.
I booked in advance and came in mid week.
I was jammed in on a tiny table between a table of 8 and a table of 4. I’d booked well in advance and said I wanted some space.
Then the food wasn’t great.
I ordered some calamari which were ok.
The croquettes were crisp, light and fried quick in good clean oil.
Mussels were dried out and hidden beneath a mountain of breadcrumbs.
The fideua had full salt crystals all over it.
I couldn’t eat the mussels or fideua which I was having as main.
At the point when the table of 8…
(that was so close I was leaning on the back of their chairs and listening unavoidably to ‘Deborah’s affair with a bloke at work, I don’t know why she’s marrying Stewart’)
…starting breaking glasses, it was time to go.
I talked about the mussels and salty fideua and they took the dishes away.
At this point I took a trip to the bathroom. I have to say it’s a bit bleak down there. It’s on the Finnieston strip so I’d expected it to be smart and clean. The upstairs is great. Downstairs and the toilet area isn’t great.
…however what was great was the way they dealt with the bill and the problems.
He’d taken the food away, they had looked/​tasted it in the kitchen and he came back, apologised and wiped most of the bill off. It wasn’t the fact that the bill was reduced that was a good outcome, it was the way they dealt swiftly and calmly about it.
That’s the way to deal with something that’s not right. Empowered staff.
If you’re eating and it’s not right, don’t be passive aggressive or an arse about it. Just smile and explain in detail what’s wrong and ask them to get the kitchen to taste it. Most of the time you’ll get a good outcome and the kitchen will get a good outcome because they get the opportunity not to fuck it up for the next customer.
Apart from that, not a great overall experience.

Loved rioja! After spending a week in Spain with my boyfriend I have to admit I had gotten pretty sick of tapas. But rioja was recommended to me by a friend so we thought we would try it out. The menu was an exciting range of classic tapas dishes and then their own modern tapas dishes. We went for 7 dishes (we were hungry!) The waiter was very friendly and recommended two dishes the pork cheek with parsnip mash, and the pork belly and mash (seems I like mash?!) both were so yummy the cheek was soft and light then pork belly was cooked to perfection also. I seem to see a lot of people complaining about dishes being salty but since when is cured meats and slow cooked Spanish style cooking not salty? It was this salty when I was in Anyway… We had a great experience here staff were friendly and good service was quick and everything tasted great! Lots of the dishes were cooked in wine and you got a lot of those flavours coming through which I loved! Will be back for a lunch menu soon and to try some of the wines they have on offer, the list is impressive. I think people need to try restaurants and not just go
By Unilocal reviews because it may of put me off of I have read the ones here. Glad I didn’t.

We went in here on Hogmanay. We didn’t have anything to eat, we just went for a drink — cos that’s what you do on Hogmanay.
We had a pitcher of punch between two of us — it’s supposed to be for 4 people — oops — but again, it was Hogmanay, so it’s all good.
Being gin fans, we chose the Hendricks Tea Party, which is Hendricks Gin, Lillet Blanc, lime Juice, cranberry reduction, rose water and guava juice topped up with Cava. And that’s the last thing I remember.
Only joking. It was lovely, albeit a teeny bit sweet for my taste. Simon really enjoyed it — more than me as I kept topping up his glass when he wasn’t looking, tee hee! Turns out the Hendricks Tea Party is really strong — so he ended up a bit blootered. But — Hogmanay!
The décor in this place is pretty cool too, although perhaps a wee bit ‘trying too hard’. It certainly gave me some ideas though. And the staff were really nice too.

This Finnieston tapas bar is one of the few spots I hadn’t had the pleasure of visiting. We were actually looking to just grab a drink, but figured we could get a couple of bites while we were there. We grabbed a table and looked over the menu — as other reviews have mentioned, there’s a modern and classic menu with tasty sounding dishes on each one.
I ordered the selection of cured meats (£5.20) and the chicken, ham and bechamel croquettes (£2.90). Graeme had the chupa chupa chicken (£2.90) and chorizo cooked in cider (£4.50). I also tried a glass of the rosé which was very full-​bodied and rich. Our food arrived not long after and the cured meats were all tasty and enjoyable, although I don’t feel like they were really anything special — just your standard Spanish cured meats. I enjoyed the chupa chup chicken as these had a kind of sweetness to them and were a really generous portion for the price. The croquettes were disappointing — bland apart from the seasoning on the outside. There are two options for croquettes on the menu so perhaps these were the plain one as there was no hint of chicken or ham.
Apart from the food being somewhat average, I also wasn’t overly impressed with the service. They took a long time to come to take our food/​drink order and the place seemed quite unorganised in terms of who was looking after what area. I should note that it wasn’t overly busy either, perhaps ½ full so I’m not sure why they service was slow. The bill for four dishes, plus a drink each was about £20 which wasn’t bad value, but I wouldn’t rush back when there’s other great offerings so close by.

We were at a convention and walked to this place. The ambiance was inviting and upscale. The wait staff were friendly and accommodating. Service was good. Unfortunately, the food was average at best. I have spent a lot of time in Spain and Rioja did not measure up. For example, we had croquettes. They were under cooked. The cheese on one of them was still in block form — it had not even melted. The flavors were somewhat bland. While most of the tapas were unimaginative and not that flavorful, the chorizo was quite good and had just the right amount of spice. The wine selection was reasonable and decently priced. Overall, it was average. I would not seek it out if I went to Glasgow again.

Had a very decent lunch here. Their lunch offer of three tapas for £7.50 is almost enough for two people on its own! We were sitting outside and the service did leave a bit to be desired — several requests for a menu, the bill, then to correct an error on the bill… Still, very nice, excellent food — the over salted horrors described by others were nowhere to be seen here — fantastic, fresh food, very modern style tapas. Surprisingly good.

Rioja, the old Finnieston pop-​up, is now reincarnated as a tapas bar. It’s been redecorated quite stylishly, it’s dark though, very dark, and all the jokes have been removed from the walls… boo! I enjoyed guffawing at those! It was certainly quiet when we went in for a pre-​theatre dinner. In fact we were the only non-​staff people there, but to be fair it was only 5pm so it’s maybe not so surprising.
They serve two menus, the titles of which I would guess equate to Classic Tapas and Modern Tapas. The Modern Tapas menu is actually really unusual and the real draw for this place I would reckon. Our waitress was great, really chatty, eager to discuss everything from the tapas to the World Cup, and genuinely concerned about my partner’s self-​inflicted lack of appetite — she’d drank a prodigious number of cups of tea during the day, enough to make her really quite ill, but not ill enough to stop me from enjoying myself :)
I opted for two off the top (menu) and two off the bottom, in true Rachel Riley tradition: chorizo in Spanish cider, albondigas — meatballs in tomato sauce — as usual, and then the exotic menu, scallops in green lettuce soup with caramelised onions, and oxtail served with mashed and crispy sweet potato.
I started into my albonigas. POW! It was almost completely underwhelming, boring, hardly seasoned balls and a tomato sauce that seemed to lack everything other than tomato. It was bland. I started to worry for the rest of my meal. Then I tucked in to the other dishes, taking the odd spoonful out of each. They were really good! The chorizo was tasty and soft as, and a great sponge for the cider. The scallops were perfectly cooked, and strangely the green lettuce was not even a distraction. The oxtail was fantastic too, beefier than an Australian lifeguard, and the sweet potato worked superbly as a flavour counterpoint!
Point off for a lack of beer choice and for ruining my love affair with meatballs though!

Nice bar but a shame about the food. We ordered seven tapas plates and with a couple of exceptions they were really poor: smothered oil, showered in salt yet managed to remain bland. The black pudding tasted as if it were fried in old oil and the made to order tortilla was a deep fried lump of scrambled egg.
Interestingly the chef came out and discussed the plates with several tables and I think he knew he’d had a shocker.
It is a (shabby) chic bar with outdoor seating, a good wine list and the staff were pleasant. However inside it is very cramped with tables very close together and the music was crazily loud (and I like deafening music!).
I’d stick to drinks and go for Tapas at one of Glasgow’s great Tapas restaurants.