What a cozy little restaurant with so much attention to detail on interior decor. There's plenty of seating indoor and outdoor. Waiters/waitresses are super friendly and helpful. All of the food was excellent and extremely delicious, cooked to perfection. My recommended dishes: Bacon wrapped dates: Your typical sweet baked dates wrapped in bacon but with a unique creamy tomato sauce that takes it to the next level! Free tuna salad on bread: Dont actually know what this is but it was on the house and I enjoyed this very much. It was light, flavorful, and so refreshing. Gambas A La Pancha: Extremely soft and juicy shrimp with much roasted garlic in lemon garlic Platanos con Helado: Ugh so good! Sauteed banana thats fragrant and soft, drizzled in caramel served with a side of vanilla ice cream. In love with this dessert, would come back for it. Overall had a wonderful experience and 10/10 would come again and recommend! read more

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Excellent service excellent food this is a must do kind restaurant it was amazing and everything was absolutely delicious. nothing was really bad. There was just a few things that were out of this world. read more

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Well craving for Spanish paella and took my neighborhood friend to try it for the first time. He his Mexican and likes it. Overall it was okay the pallet was delicious. I went with a lot of traditional stuff the only disappointment my four stars is because certain tapas that they serve in Spain was not on the menu. Our waitress Adriana was great and entertaining. They were playing music up in front with the guitars but it wasn't flamenco. Some of the tapas were probably new twist to traditional ones but I really wanted traditional tapas. Food was delicious as much as I wanted more traditional Spanish food from Spain that I remember. A bit overpriced but I guess I was celebrating with my friend trying and then I might start a new career as a tractor making more the following week after. That's four out of five stars read more

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Went there for Easter. 20% tax, 20 % mandatory gratuity, charge for use of a credit card. $250 for two. Done!

Fantastic service, quaint, adorable restaurant, interior centrally, located outside of Chicago. Excellent food. read more

Emilio's Tapas - Beet salad - Spanish Near Me - Hillside, Illinois

I really enjoyed the decor, the service and the food. This was my second time being there. I had stuffed mushrooms, prosciutto wrapped dates and a sandwich for lunch with my son. read more

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This is for past visits. Many years ago (over 10) I went here a few times as work was near there. The food was excellent. I plan to visit again. Hopefully they are doing well post COVID. read more

It's been a long time since we were here and things are still fantastic. We sat in the bar/hightop area and the kids loved it. They had a chorizo beef mixture that they brought out as an amuse bouche and we liked it so much that the got it as the empanada special. Great service and they even have a kid menu - with really tasty options! Kids meals come with dessert so I had the banana with caramel and pistachio over ice cream and some port. A very busy night even at 5:30 on a Saturday! read more

We've been coming here for over 20 years. When we came here in July 2025, it was the first time I've been disappointed. We go to a lot of expensive restaurants but this one has always been more affordable while the food was really really good. The food was still good, but I think it's priced too high now. Also, the sangria price was outrageous. So we didn't even get that this time which was very disappointing. read more

Went here for Valentine's Day, I usually come to Thai restaurant at least 3 to 4 times a year and the restaurant use to be consistent, the taste were always the same. EXCEPT today. The food was quite bland, service was okay, we had a 530 reservation and stayed until 745pm but as soon as we closed the tab were immediately ushered out. Granted it was Valentine's Day but there was about 8 other tables open. As we left the restaurant we spoke to the daughter of the now RETIRED owners, they have sold the restaurant to a non Spanish company. Now it makes sense on why the restaurant's taste were off par. The new company doesn't have an authentic Spanish chef, where as the ownership prior was from Spain and the owner actually was the chef. I gave it a 3 star due to the friendly waiter and that the daughter of the previous owner was there. We spent $600.00 and I'll try it one more time in the future to see if it remains the same. Check it out for yourselves. Let me know if you notice the difference in tastes too. I would gladly pay for authenticity, but not for non authenticity. Shame on you for not stating that your Under new ownership! read more

Emilio's Tapas - Table and friends.... With Sangria - Spanish Near Me - Hillside, Illinois

Hello , Tried to contact you through the email you sent it keeps bouncing back? Is there another option to contact you? read more

Beware if there's only three of you, there will be a 20% tip added to your bill when you first get it! And on your way out, no one will ask you how the service was. They expect you to interrupt your evening by speaking to a manager when the service is not worth an automatic 20% tip! why make the customer do this??? Just let them put their tip at the end of their evening based on their personal assessment! We leave a minimum 15% no matter the circumstance. read more

So old school and yet so good. Happy Hour in the bar was perfection. Sangria flights, small bites, yummy dessert and great service read more

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It's a large restaurant with closed patio. And lots of tables to entertain the guests. We had grapefruit cocktail and the sangria. Clean and service was nice. We had paella, dates and bacon and shrimp in some butter sauce and potatoes bravas. Everything was great, we were looking forward to dessert but we were too full. In reply to the owner's question- we were hoping for more flavorful paella. We had great paella in Spain and potato bravas but the restaurant didn't quite make it the way we expected. The rice was baked but not crunchy on the side. The potatoes seemed more saucy than we would like it unlike our trip. That is the reason I give this restaurant a 3 stars. read more

Emilio's Tapas - Veg paella - Spanish Near Me - Hillside, Illinois

We came here with family friends I hadn't seen in 20 years and not only were the serves friendly and welcoming, but the ambiance was inviting, and the food was delicious. I can see why our friends have been coming here for decades. I'm from Spain and was very happy with the quality of the tapas! read more

The food is amazing. What a nice selection and everything is FRESH ! The service is top tier. Always a good time. read more

Came on a Friday night for dinner with friends. They were busy but we had a reservation and were sat down within 5 minutes. We tried a pitcher of the peach sangria. It was light and sweet. The service was good and paced well. The tables are close together but provides a fun but loud experience. My favorite was the grilled octopus with potatoes and a salad. It was done well and very flavorful. The curry potato salad was very good, too. We tried a few other tapas that were pretty good. The only one I didn't care for was the beef skewer. The chocolate dessert was similar to a flourless chocolate cake. It was rich in a good way. read more

Always hits. My trusted and comfort spot. It's a classic pick for my family when they come from out of state. And when the live music is there...chefs kiss read more

Love Emilio's. My husband and I celebrated our birthdays together this weekend and it's been about 3 years since we've been there. I'm glad it has stayed consienten. Every dish that we had was fantastic! We can't say that anything was less than delicious. The service was wonderful and the ambiance was perfect. We had a great time and hope to go back before another 3 years passes! read more

I don't know what happened here but its not the same Emilio's that we've loved for many years. Food doesnt taste nearly as good & the service is terrible now. New owners??? read more

I've been back to Emilio's twice since my 5 star review and both visits were great. This Sunday night, however, the service was so bad it was almost comical. Long wait between being seated and seeing the waiter, who took drink orders but scurried off before we could order our 1st round of Tapas. After ordering our tapas, another grueling wait during which he twice tried to bring us incorrect plates. Instead of more tapas, we moved on to dessert and coffee, another very long wait. After we received our coffee it was almost half an hour before we saw our waiter again to ask for the check, and then another long wait until we actually received the check. Once again the waiter disappeared. I saw him at the bar and walked the check and credit card over to him before he disappeared again. Just a grueling eating experience. read more

This was a great place for dinner especially if you have a group. We were a group of 6 so we ordered a ton of tapas to try out. Cost per person wasn't bad since we divided everything by 6. Service was very good. They took care of us and food came out fast. There were way too many tapas to go through so I'll just summarize it. Each tapa dish hit the mark, didn't remember any that failed. I would definitely come back for dinner. Parking was sufficient, you can easily find a spot. read more

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What can I say?- this restaurant is an institution that we have been coming to for decade's. The tapas are really great- personally love the garlic potato salad, stuffed dates, cannoli filled with tuna, banana with caramel, soft shell crab- pretty much everything. The lunch specials are amazing! Great sangria and wine selection. Emilio is welcoming as are his staff. Wish they were closer! read more

So I was in Chicago and was craving something different. Different flavours, different atmosphere and I stumbled across Emilio's. I'm glad I did. This place F'in rocks!!! I went in with the expectation of getting some Paella for dinner but when I arrived the atmosphere and quality/friendliness of the waitstaff made me want more. I tried some tapa's PLATO DE JAMÓN SERRANO was excellent so that led me to the PULPO A LA PLANCHA which was excellent as well. Full of flavour and the contrasting textures with light dressing on top was a perfect follow up to the white sangria that I tried. They really knocked it out of the park with the first couple plates. At this point I was mid way through the test drive and it was time to see what this place can really do so I punched it and went for the PAELLA A LA VALENCIANA with a red sangria. I felt that both were more traditional so I thought it would be a good gauge vs my previous experiences with other Spanish restaurants. It did not disappoint! The paella was so flavourful and the shrimp, chicken, clams over the yellow rice were wonderful. The red sangria was a nice addition as it was fruity but not overpowering. It was all perfect for the hot few days that I was in Chicago. Let's take a pause here to show some love to the bar. They offer a fully stocked and really nice looking bar area. I was ok to sit there and take in all the pictures and surroundings but it started to cool down in the evening and sitting outside just sounded awesome. Shoutout to the lightning fast bartender too! They have this super interesting wine list too full of regional selections and traditional varietals. Having worked in the wine industry for 16 years I really wanted to take the wine list for a spin but at the same time I knew I was racking up the miles on my bill as-is so I let that one go. Next time... Lets recap... Awesome starters with a light sangria, Check! Main event with a red sangria, knocked it out of the park! Any normal person would be like, "Ok, let's call it a day" but I didn't travel 2000 miles just for OK. For the last leg of my spanish dining trip I ordered a marinated cherry over homemade vanilla ice cream topped with mascarpone and nuts thing. Sorry I forgot the name. That took it over the top. Again, I debated about ordering a spanish sherry or something but held out. I should've though lol. The dessert was so delicious. It was sweet but not overbearing which is perfect for me. The textures of the ice cream and the whipped topping was a really nice touch. In closing, you can tell that the owner/chef and staff really care about this restaurant. It was an absolute blast of an experience and something that I really enjoyed against the stereotypical Chicago dining experience. The next time I come back to the 'CHI I will absolutely stop by and you should too! read more

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We went for lunch at Emilio"s and it was the best tapas experience in the Chicago land area! So glad we found this place! We are originally from Europe and have traveled to Spain a couple of times. Since we moved to Chicago area 10 years ago we have tried different tapas places in the areas and some were good, some were a disappointment. Emilio's came recommended by a colleague from my husband so we drove the 30+ minutes on Saturday. So glad we did!! Lovely ambiance and friendly quick service. Menu was difficult to choose from and the dishes we picked were all amazing!! From the complementary starter to everything we ordered. The pan de tomatoes ; canalon de atun, croquettes de pollo, pincho de solomollo and pulpo a la plancha; all were delicious!!! Can't wait to come back and try more. read more

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My family has been coming to Emilio's since they opened- we always felt welcome but lately they've started a policy of pushing guests to less desirable tables even though there are plenty empty tables because we come early to avoid crowds. And when I ask for a better table I get an exasperated look and the person has to go ask someone if we can have a better table. Some times we get a better table but not always. We still like the food and Emilio is a great guy but we don't feel as welcome as we used to. read more

Nice atmosphere. The music pleasant. The waitresses nice. The recommendations solids. The food tasty. Emilio Margarita... strong and consistent. I had 2 after a very long week. Just what I needed. Orange like flavor but pretty balanced with tajin around the rim. Mushroom soup for an appetizer it was good but I'm sure not for everyone (definitely not can) great job! Hot grilled octopus cooked perfect with balsamic. The potatoes were on the bottom and the plating tower like so you will forget to break down the tower. Meal- salmon and veggies in butter. Salmon cooked perfect but a little bland, veggies a squash mix amazing in that butter sauce. Dessert- coconut cake with a pineapple carmel sauce yummy but for me the chocolate layer atop was a little too thick for me this evening. I could only eat some of it. Overall delicious! I could definitely go back. Pricing some things a little higher than necessary but hey it is what it is... Parking- its a lot with open spaces. The lights went out briefly but it wasn't the restaurant's fault. They had generators and working emergency exit signs so at least they were prepared! (Thumbs up). read more

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Omg everything here was amazing! Our party of 5 ordered a variety of tapas and 2 paellas and everything was incredible. Everyone loved all the drinks and dishes, there wasn't a single complaint from any of us. Also, our waitress Anna was so fun and attentive, making it an even better experience. Although this restaurant is on the pricy side, it's definitely worth it! This is one of the top restaurants I tried this year and I can't wait to be back! read more

Emilio's Tapas - Paella a La Mariscos - Spanish Near Me - Hillside, Illinois

The food was delicious, the service was great and the ambiance transported me to a corner eatery in Mexico City..lots of color, lots of food choices and reasonable prices. The garlic potato salad was too good that I ate too much and regretted it. The salmon on toast points with avocado was smoked and had a unique and pleasing flavor. The cherry dessert was absolutely delicious. I wouldn't change a thing. read more

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Visited a second time with friends. I am upping my rating to a 5. All the food we ordered was delicious. I especially liked the bacon wrapped dates, the garlic potatoes, and the chicken with the cumin sauce. We had flan too... So delicious and creamy. A few other things... We made reservations and I mentioned my friend had a wheelchair. The table they seated us at was close to the entryway and accommodated the wheelchair. I also mentioned we had a bday. They tied balloons to one of the chairs and brought out a free dessert with a candle! The woman who took the reservation was so nice. Thank you for making our night so enjoyable. Service was fast and friendly. Would definitely recommend if you like Tapas... Especially for a special occasion. read more

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My first experience with tapas and I was blown away! Everything was tasty, fresh and served with a smile. 10/10!

Probably the best restaurant in the area. Location is near Manheim Road and Roosevelt Road, Hillside. Amazing service from Roberto, even the bussers are super efficient. And before I forget let's go back to the beginning. The host Daniella made us feel at home when we walked in. She also made recommendations based on our tastes in food. You can't find this kind of service anymore it's rare, keep up the good work. Great recommendation!! Can't wait to come back!! read more

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Emilio's has a good reputation and solid reviews. Chef Emilio opened Café Ba-Ba-Reeba in 1985 which is also one of my top fave places to go for tapas. Learning that fun fact I knew this was going to be good so I recently placed a reservation for my mom's birthday. To be covid safe we did patio seating. We lucked out because the weather was comfortable. Even if it rained, their retractable roof would've kept us dry. The patio is really cute and they did a nice job with the decor and florals. Our food was good. The complementary ham and onion appetizer was unexpected and a nice bonus. Looking back, I enjoyed the individual tapas plates more than the paella. The paella was okay but I've had better. Our favorite tapas were the Queso de Cabra and the Caracoles Emilio. They have an extensive tapas selection and as much as we wanted to order off the entire menu, we will have to make another trip! On the next visit, we would love to try out their popular garlic potatoes, dates and octopus. That evening there was live entertainment. Mr. & Mrs. Santiago were the emcees for the night and they kept the crowd upbeat. There were 7 other birthdays and a retirement party yet Mr. and Mrs. Santiago managed to mention everyone which was nice. Mom was given a keepsake birthday card and a free dessert on the house. Towards the end of our meal Chef Emilio came out on the patio and made rounds to greet his guests. Our server was good and managed to check in on us often despite the multiple tables he had. It was a full house that night. I've heard from past reviews that this place is popular and parking is hard to come by. We didn't want to take any chances so we arrived right at opening to secure a parking spot. Emilio's is out of our way but if I am in the area, I would love to make a return visit. read more

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Charming and quaint with welcoming service. Especially lovely when you can sit outside. Just can't beat the garlic potato salad, the bacon wrapped dates, the octopus salad & the wonderful wine selection. read more

Emilio's Tapas has been on my bookmark list for a couple of years already. I was happy to find an availability through Resy for a Saturday night reservation. Parking was a little challenging because the parking lot was not big enough. The place was packed on both indoor and outdoor dining areas. We were seated immediately as soon as we checked in with the host. These were the dishes that I have tried: TOSTADAS DE BOQUERONES A LA GRANADINA (Spanish White Anchovy)-Fantastic! I loved the acidity and just the right saltiness of the anchovies. The avocado puree and toasted bread worked so perfectly and made this dish so delicious with every bite. PULPO A LA PLANCHA (Octopus)- Perfectly cooked CANGREJO CONCHA BLANDA (Grilled Soft Shell Crab) - Outstanding. I wish there was a little bit more of the soft shell crab. PAELLA A LA MARISCOS- Excellent. The whole dish was seasoned and prepared so well. The WHITE SANGRIA, which had a variety of fresh fruits was very refreshing to have with the dishes. Overall, I loved everything that I have tried at Emilio's. The service was very efficient and pleasant. The place was vibrant, clean, and all guests seemed to be having a great time with delicious meals. I will definitely be back to try other dishes, have more sangria, and get the Spanish White Anchovy dish again. Til next time! read more

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Terrible service and unprofessional manager, Saturday afternoon. I will go to Meson Sabika in Naperville from now on.

My husband and I stopped by at Emilio's to have quick dinner without reservations. We were presently surprised by the quality of food that we chose from the "specials of the day". Although it is 'tapas', size of the dish is not very small - I recommend ordering 1-2 dishes at a time as your dinner progresses read more

Emilio's Tapas - Avocado stuffed with Spanish potato salad - Spanish Near Me - Hillside, Illinois

We were driving back from Indiana and was recommended by a find that this a super cool Place and you need to be dressed for the occasion although coming back from a beach i was basically in shorts lol but nonetheless it was an amazing experience , great professional service super fast read more

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We frequently visit Emilio's and this past weekend they hosted us for a large family dinner. As always the food was excellent and the service was amazing. Emilio and Anne Marie both checked in personally which made the evening even more special. The weather was great allowing us to enjoy the wonderful patio that they have. read more

Emilio's Tapas - Spanish Near Me - Hillside, Illinois

Always great! Dátiles con tocino....yum. Great service. Sometimes flamenco guitar, usually Friday. Nice patio, lots of potted flowering plants. Paella very tasty, not overly salted. I've been to almost every tapas restaurant and this is the best. read more