Last night was the first time I have been to Emilio's. We don't live close, but my mom said she has been there many times and loves it, so I met her and my stepdad there. I got there late, about 25 minutes after them. They had already ordered a small plate and finished it before I got there. When I arrived, the staff was super nice, apologized when forgetting to ask if I wanted a drink which wasn't a big deal at all, and then brought out a single portion of the small plate they had already ordered since I didn't get to try it. (complimentary, of course). It was super nice of them! All in all, I don't personally LOVE the food there because I prefer healthier food, but they have so many different options that it should work for anyone. Their sangria was great-both white and red- and the service was outstanding and the staff was really really nice. You should definitely try this place- great for sharing meals with friends and family and also for trying a lot of different types of foods in one meal. read more

We have driven out to Emilo's just for the garlic potato salad. Delicious ! And wonderful service too.

We had a Happy Hour dinner at Emilio's tonight.r. Several small plates and a nice pasta entrée later, we quite pleased with our decision. The dinner was super reasonable at Happy Hour. Do ask for a couple of the menus, there are about three that we saw tonight. Really liked the pork, the shoestring fries. Want to try the paella next. read more

Great place for Date Night! My girlfriend and I got the Paella, it was her first time and she simply loved it. Since it was a Sunday and we ordered the Paella we also received a complimentary bottle of wine. We ordered Dates con Tocino, while we waited for the paella, which was spot on. The staff was friendly and attentive and I felt they went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable. The chef even stopped at our table to ask how everything was. Definitely going back soon with family and friends. read more

The food here is great! Service was also excellent. We tried the bacon wrapped dates, garlic potatoes and a beef dish with onion and sauce. Everything was excellent. My water was refilled properly and the waiter was helpful with the menu. Delicious!! read more

I found this place entirely by accident walking the streets at night. The food was delicious an the service was excellent. All the dishes are small portions and great for two people to share. The waitress knew the menu well and made suggestions of what to try. As tempting as it may be don't order too many items at once. Two at a time is good and as I said the service is very attentive so just about the time you're finished they ask what else you'd like to have. When I return to Chicago I will eat here again. read more

Julene the server at Emilio's was as wonderful as the food and as complimentary as the Sangrias.

Authentic Tapas, ample parking. A lot of the items are similar to Meson Sabika in Naperville.

Fantastic friendly restaurant with a cool vibe. The octopus, calamari, bacon-wrapped dates, and goat cheese spread are all delicious faves of ours. Try to come every time I'm in town! Very friendly, knowledgeable service. Always look forward to my visits. read more

The raspberry sangria was really good. But that's about it. The dates wrapped in bacon were good but I've had better. We got a beef steak tapas, and the quality of the beef didn't seem very good and it was undercooked. In fact, my husband, who loves beef and refuses to let it go to waste, didn't even want to finish it and left a whole slab of meet on the plate! The tiger shrimp were fine, but on one of the pieces of shrimp they accidentally left two of the legs on, which grossed me out. The chicken brochette was fine but nothing special. All in all, the meal was average, the sangria was really good, but none of it was worth the price tag. read more

Good raspberry sangria!...but it will get you tipsy before you know it! Small portions but amazing food. Service was great, waitress had good recommendations. Nice atmosphere, feels like you could actually be in Spain. Our favorite dish was the PINCHO DE SOLOMILLO A LA PIMIENTA( grilled beef with grilled onions and horseradish sauce) it melts in your mouth! And then there is dessert, amazing! A banana with caramel, nuts and ice cream. A bit pricey but very worth it, dinner for two costs us $60 not including tip, good overall experience! :) read more

i really liked everything we tried...it was all pretty light even though we ordered so much food. location is kind of weird but the place was bustling. we had a lot of good food, not terribly overpriced. we had berenjenas braseadas (grilled eggplant with goat cheese, served with tomato basil vinaigrette and mixed greens), pollo al grano (chicken breast with leeks, butter potato, and mustard cream sauce), vieiras salteadas salsa azafran (sautéed sea scallops with tomato saffron sauce and pine nuts), caracoles Emilio (sautéed escargot served on croutons with tomato sauce and topped w/ garlic mayonnaise), datiles con tocino (dates wrapped in applewood smoked bacon served with red pepper sauce). will definitely go back next time we're in the mood for tapas. read more

i used to frequent this place 10 years ago and my favorite tapas was SCALLOPS IN SAFFRON SAUCE.the sauce was so good that i wold soak up all the sauce with bread leaving the plate clean and dry so i had a big taste for it today so i went all the way from chicago to hillside and boy was i disappointed. the sauce was flat.i then ordered the lamb chops - another flat dish. the only good things were the opera pink moscato (they charge 9.50 for a flute.u can get the whole bottle for 7$ from binny's) and the spanish style FLAN. I looked around and there was not a single soul in the restaurant. 10 yrs ago they were overflowing into the patio Emilio's is a great chef but he keeps hopping from one place to another. I would not be surprised if he is gone and that is why the food is so insipid read more

The food is exquisite! Atmosphere is pleasant, although you will sit on hard chairs and it can be very noisy. The house sangria is a total rip off, $6+ for ice, fruit and watered down wine - honestly I couldn't taste any wine at all, more like soda. read more

Having been to Spain a while back, I hungered for good Spanish food and this place certainly fit the bill. Even the decor and ambience felt like being in Spain. Very nice place. read more

I helped host a bridal shower here and I would highly recommend it! The food was very good and abundant, and we were able to have a private-enough space in the side room. The staff was great to work with in the planning stages and service from the wait staff was excellent. We will be back! read more

My wife and I have been going to Emilio's for almost 20 years. We always get our favorites and try a couple of new things. Well, we had run out of new dishes to try until tonight. Last dined in the spring or late winter. Wow! Many new choices and that is all that we tried. We were blown away. The calamari steak with spinach, mushrooms and pimento butter sauce was exquisite. Pork tenderloin with caramelized onions and grilled zucchini cooked to perfection. The list goes on. I know that Emilio's is a go-to place for many people, but if you haven't been there in a while, check out many new dishes. Excellent meal. read more

Place is so delicious. It's a bit costly so I only go for special occasions but everything is so good and leaves me wanting more. The options are wide and service is excellent. read more

so good, love the sangria and the food! very friendly staff and the live band is always great.

Love this place. We come in at least twice a year from California and always have to stop here. Started out with two cold tapas: the garlic potato salad and goat cheese rolled in pecans with a drizzle of honey; tried the lamb chops and pork tenderloin too along with bacon wrapped shrimp. One of our party enjoyed the cream of mushroom soup and we also had dates wrapped in bacon. The table had a mixture of desserts but my favorite is the caramel flan. Attentive service and even Emilio himself came to the tables in the dining room. read more

I didn't know what tapas was. Thought it to be a mexican food ...but what a great find....wonderful food wonderful place to dine

Well it's just all around great. My family ordered 8 tapas and 3 which where chief specials and by far some of the best dishes I have had in while. That's all read more

The food is great and consistent. I am so glad to have discovered this wonderful restaurant. The wait staff is attentive. I can't rave enough about it. Not only are the tapas and paella superb, the desserts and sangria are not to be missed. read more

I was in town visiting for four days and this happened to be a spontaneous stop on a Friday night since we didn't have a reservation anywhere else. Being the only two, my partner and I, we didn't have to wait long for a table so we sat at the bar for only five minutes. The restaurant and bar was full of positive energy and everyone was having a great time. (I don't think it's a good place for children under 10 years old though. Being an uncle for so many nieces & nephews, I can tell.) The drinks were great and quite strong. We started ordering the Tapas, at least five to start with and they were all great! I'm not going to write a long review on each dish since I'm not a food critic so go to their website and check out the dinner menu. Since I eat very little table salt, my taste buds tend to pick up many flavors from all the ingredients in these dishes. Flavorful and delicious! Besides the food, all the waiters and waitresses we've encountered were very friendly, except for one person, the host. He's a thin man with glasses, not your most friendly person at all. While we were waiting for our food, I sat there at our little table watching how people come and go greeting and saying goodbye to the host but his reaction was so stone cold, no expression. Nevertheless, I'm sure people don't come to this restaurant to seek his approval. Although he could fake a smile once in a while, while he's still alive. Overall, it's a great restaurant and I'll definitely come back when I'm in Chicago again. read more

In between McDonalds and Wendy's, we were looking for a place to eat and wait out traffic coming from O'Hare and headed to South Bend. Such a delight. The food was fabulous, the wine, superb, the service, delightful and the atmosphere stupendous. Trying to figure out the next reason to be in this area to enjoy it again! Wonderful way to spend Cinqo de Mayo. Highly recommend. read more

My brother and I came from out of town, and we read online reviews describing how amazing this restaurant is, and we were blown away by the food and especially the service! Every couple of seconds, we would just look at each other and nod our heads in disbelieve at how rich and delicious the food was. read more

My husband and I went to Emilio's for dinner a few weeks ago. It was delicious! We ordered the sweet potato soup, a deer meat entree, calamari, stuffed mushrooms, and a few others and they were all great. Emilio, the owner, came out to talk to us and see how the food was. The atmosphere feels very homey and our server was so nice! We will definitely be going back here. read more

Good food, friendly service, we sat on patio - was pretty noisy-right of busy Roosevelt rd. Food was good but not great - I'd give it 3 1/2 - 4 stars maybe, the same for service. I didnt get to see much of the inside of restaurant, but for decor/atmosphere on the patio i'd give 2-3 stars. Considering location and prices ($130 without tip for 3 people for few tapas and 3 glasses of wine) i wouldn't make another trip to eat there, but would stop by for lunch or quick dinner if in the area. read more

Stopped here on a whim after driving by one day. I consider myself somewhat knowledge about Spanish cooking and this place missed the mark. When the patatas braves came out with an Italian style tomato sauce and parmesean cheese, I knew right then authentic Spanish tapas weren't in the cards. However, the service and ambience was nice and despite the lack of authenticity the food was decent. read more

We had high expectations for Emilio's Tapas, because it has been around for over 30 years. We were expecting unique, creative and flavorful tapas. This was our first time at Emilio's. We ordered five different tapas and one chicken dish in particular was ordered twice, because it was the BEST tapas out of all the others. The dates wrapped in bacon is not a unique concept in that most tapas restaurants serve these, so they are not special in that sense. Yes, they were fab-u-licious but so are the dates we ate at other tapas restaurants (both in IL as well as in Spain). We ordered the pollo a la parrilla twice. We found this to be a stand-out dish compared to the other tapas. The pollo a la parrilla is served with wild rice and a patata. This dish is one large chicken breast, so be prepared to cut it in half and share. The pollo al curri was very bland and tasteless. It actually sounded better on the menu than it tasted. We were expecting an explosion of flavors, but instead it fell short for us. Service was attentive and not overbearing. Water glasses were filled on a regular basis. If you enjoy dining Al Fresco and don't mind choking on exhaust fumes, coupled with cars driving by on Roosevelt Road with music blaring loudly, skip the outdoor dining patio all together. It is adjacent to their parking lot. Were the tapas unique and creative? Willl we make a special trip back to Emilio's? Did Emilio's exceed our expectations? No, no and no. We will definitely continue eating tapas at Tapas Barcelona in Evanston, but will skip Emilio's all together. read more

tapas was great and service was really good. definitely would go back again!

food was good. curry chicken was great. spicy potatoes was good. steak was ok. banana dessert was good. atmosphere and service was great. would like to go back for their dancing. read more

First time I went here I would have gave a 4-star review. The second time I went here I would rate it 2-stars, thus averaging out to a 3-star rating. It's not that it wasn't consistent, but I ordered new menu items my second time that weren't to my liking. First order was mushroom caps w/ mozzarella, spinach, onion, tomato sauce. The texture of the mushroom wasn't good, and it was cooked in the tomato sauce which gave the tomato sauce a sour taste. It was three average sized mushrooms for about $8. I then ordered the grilled shrimp w/ garlic lemon butter sauce, which was delicious, but only 5 shrimp came w/ it. The sauce was great, not too much garlic and it was light, not thick and heavy. The shrimp were a little tough however. My mother always orders the tuna tapas spread with peas, carrots, and tomatoes. That is by far the best item I've had there. She also ordered a rigatoni which wasn't seasoned well, and not a lot of sauce. I ordered the blueberry bread pudding. It's not a pudding at all, but it's a warm dish like a small cake w/ ice cream which was about average. Good place to come if you're looking for a light dinner, because the bill can go up quickly. $60 between two people including dessert! read more

On a whim (and because of reading positive reviews) my wife and I ate here on a cold, clear, wintry Friday evening. Arriving at 4:30, we were alarmed that there was only one car in their large parking lot. Was that to be a bad omen? Absolutely not!!! It was just our early visit. By the time we left at 5:30, 1/2 the lot was already full. From start to finish, our meals were the best tapas meals we've had anywhere! Our server was smiling, inviting and attentive all evening. Finding out we were 1st-timers, he comped us a small appetizer ... tempting our palates from the get-go. We had and loved all 3 of their Sangrias and recommend them, even though they were served in smallish, water-type glasses. (NOT a deal breaker because of their refreshing taste.) Altogether we had 1 additional appetizer, a winter-special, 3-tapas meal, and a 3rd dinner plate. We spent most of our time repeating to each other how WONDERFUL everything tasted and how lucky we were to find this restaurant. At meal's end, we had a perfect-texture, perfect-taste flan with two tasty Cappuccinos, and we lamented to our waiter that we wish we had found this gem of a restaurant years ago. We intend to tell ALL our friends of our new find! Knowing I was to review Emilio's when I got home, I tried --- but failed --- to think of any aspect that might lower a 5-star rating. Even the casual but tasteful Spanish decor is a welcome addition to the total dining experience. The restaurant has a large outdoor, awning-covered patio that we can't wait to use during warm weather. As we left, we agreed that this will be the ONLY restaurant of this type we will be visiting for the foreseeable future. read more