Good. Lovely interior. Pricey to very pricey for the actual food they provide. Ex: 3 very small pieces of octopus were $18. Free valet is nice. read more

Our meal here on 12/26/2017 was amazing! We were able to easily get a reservation on the fly when we realized that the restaurant we were originally going to was closed. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were surprised at how empty it was. I believe there were only two other tables occupied in the whole restaurant. We ordered a variety of small plates, since that's what tapas is for. Each and every dish we tried was exceptional. I am so amazed that I have never been here before! If you check-in on Yelp you can get a free dessert of choice! We had patatas bravas, baked goat cheese, skirt steak and blue cheese, skirt steak empanada, curry chicken salad, bacon wrapped dates, Serrano ham and Manchego cheese, ham and chicken croquettes, and a paella with vegetables (to which we added chicken) and our free dessert of churros. We were stuffed and brought most of our paella home along with a couple of other leftovers. I highly recommend coming here. I think it's especially great if you have a group so you can try an ever wider variety of dishes! read more

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Wow. This place is terrific. The small plates were great and I also ordered the large rice plate (forgot what they call it). Drinks were really good. They offer Spanish beers (as in made in Spain) and wine flights. Service was good. There is parking on the street. I recommend making a reservation. read more

I love tapas style restaurants. It gives you the opportunity to try more food and that works more me since I loooove to eat!! I came here with a group of 6 and that allowed me to try even more dishes that I wanted to try. Staff: The waiter was great and gave us some of his favorite dishes on the menu. Food: Lobster and avocado toast- omg!!! I love this dish. I should have ordered two of them because I definitely wanted more. It tasted even better paired with the apples from the duck toast that my husband ordered (that was good too). Flank steak- I enjoyed this dish. The steak was tender, juicy and flavorful. You could tell that it was seasoned. I tasted the medallions as well and I would go with the flank every time. Salmon- I liked this dish. Although it wasn't packed with flavor it was good overall. Eggplant- holy moly was this some good stuff!! I mean off the chain good. I mean can I order one more good. It was just that good. You have got to try it. Scallops- this was an ok dish. I would have like a better sear on the scallops. I would recommend this restaurant. They have so many items on the menu that you will surely want to return. read more

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Was happy to see that Happy Hour tapas are back. Enjoyed my Mango Margarita and the good conversation I had with friends in this lovely and chill/relaxed environment! They never disappoint! read more

Tapas Valencia - Spanish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Our favorite Chicago restaurant. Anytime we are in the area, we come here. The food is always amazing! The service and atmosphere are also outstanding. We have been here several times and it is consistently amazing. read more

Food is okay. I ordered the dates wrapped in bacon. The bacon was way too salty overpowering the sweetness of the dates. The chicken casserole with shiitake mushroom wasn't what I expected, but I would not order it again. The grilled octopus was very good! , but for the price, not so much. This is a local place which I have to give them credit for lasting through the pandemic. I will give them another try. read more

Friendly staff. Accommodating hostess. She UA helped us out today. We would come be back.

I went here for a business lunch and our waitress Shina was the best waitress I have ever had. She knew the menu backwards, was able to give us guidance about family style ordering and was very cheerful. I wish my employees were like her. The food was excellent, we had tapas so I tried a bit of everything vegetarian on their menu. I highly recommend it. read more

Great good with hospitable servers! Very clean and neat inside out. The lamp chop is a hit! Grilled squid is awesome as well. Highly recommended! read more

Tapas Valencia - The lamp chop, bacon wrapped dates, seafood paella, and grilled squid... everything is perfect here! - Spanish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Food is so good! Staff is incredibly friendly and knowledgeable. Would definitely come back.

GOOD food! The service was prompt, the waiter was attentive and I'm still thinking about the grilled artichoke with spinach two weeks later. Unfortunately they don't split checks, but as long as they're got that garlic potato salad they can do whatever they want. I'll regularly go back when i'm in Chicago. read more

Live down the street from this place and am happy to have it in the area! This is a very underrated Tapas restaurant - definitely comparable to cafe ba ba reeba and other big name tapas places! They are extremely vegetarian friendly too! Brought my girl friends and we split a pitcher of the red sangria, which was filled with fresh fruit and tasted very traditional. They have white and other flavors (mango, peach) for those who like things on the sweeter side too! We split a bunch of tapas between us - the Patatas Bravas and Queso de Cabra really stood out! Pro tip - the paella is worth getting but takes time since it's made for you - order it first and then munch on your tapas as you wait! Also lots of great happy hour deals on drinks! read more

I was here with my friends for the first time tapas is good to share with friends and I did but didn't enjoy Juan waiter I had to repeat few times just for refill of sprite not even alcohol also took him a while to give credit card back to my friend she had to remind him about it twice so yeah good food bad service ! read more

Food was excellent, every dish had good flavor. We loved the seafood paella which tasted very bright. The shrimp empanada was delicious and so was the shrimp is garlic. read more

I will definitely return here next time I'm in Chicago. The bar tender who served me was very friendly and helpful. There are a lot of great looking items on the menu. I got the tenderloin empanada, skirt steak with blue cheese and beat salad. Of course the menu had different names for them. The pastry on the empanada was nice and flaky. The sauce and filler were good too. I thought it would be hard to beat, but I took a bite of the skirt steak and it was amazing. The melange of the peppers, onions, blue cheese, steak and crispy potatoes was incredible. The beat salad was very tasty too. I had the almond pound cake which was pretty good, but not spectacular. If you're looking for good food, a very nice environment and friendly service, this place definitely fits the bill. read more

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I celebrated my birthday at Tapas Valencia and they didn't disappointed. Food, service, space, decor, everything full filled my expectations. You have to try their dátiles and their queso de cabra. Amazing!!!!!! I can't wait to go back! :-) read more

Tapas Valencia - Spanish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

My friend and I decided to dine here on Monday during restaurant week. I've dined here several times and have always enjoyed the food, drinks and service. My friend who flew in from out of state have never been here but fell in love with the experience. Tapas Valencia restaurant week menu is kinda unique in that you automatically receive ONE of everything on the restaurant week menu. You can also order from the regular menu if you want. As a result we were able to sample a little bit of everything and I was able to try out some dishes I know and enjoy and some new dishes. Even though they were all tapas dishes they were all enough to share. The passion fruit martini.. was the BEST I've ever had. I also ordered a queso con pecans salad and it was soooo delicious. Our service was outstanding. read more

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Loyal customer that has dined at this restaurant for years. My first experience was with a group-on when the restaurant was begging for Customers. I've noticed that as business grew so did the lack of service with a great amount of arrogance. This hot day 80 blocks away from home and starving, I was told the restaurant couldn't accommodate walk-ins and or you can sit at the buzzing busy bar...in the mist of COVID-19 spiking. I said I would wait for hours for a table, I was told nope. I begged to get a meal since I drove so far and I just wouldn't return since their so popular to accommodate regulars, I was told nope. So make reservations in advance because it's no longer a neighborhood friendly casual we're happy to have your business restaurant. I will never patronize the restaurant again, not even with a reservation. read more

Ordered the paella Marisco - note it takes 45 minutes. Good Spanish tapas . Neighborhood restaurant vibe. read more

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I've dined at Tapas Valencia with my husband, with family, and with friends. Each and every time, this restaurant is spot on and a favorite of all! Staff are very attentive and friendly, service is quick, and food and drinks are delicious! Follow staff recommendations, be adventurous with your selections, and enjoy! read more

If you think you know tapas, you probably don't know as much as the folks at Valencia. Always consistent, always friendly, always reasonably priced. We rank this restaurant as the best in the South Loop and top 10 in Chicago. We will be back again and again because we are totally addicted! Most of the neighborhood is dealing with this tapas addiction as well. Please send help... or join us and eat here! Get hooked weon! read more

If you are searching for unique types of tapa's then this is a perfect spot. However, this place did not meet fully my tapa expectations. Decorations: The mosaic tile work is all over the restaurants. The decorations and colors are vibrant. Food --- it did not meet my expectations. Overall a 3 star place. read more

Came here with a group of friends for a dinner before going out. We initially tried to get into Café Ba-Ba-Reeba but were unable to. I was a little apprehensive that this place would be as good, but it proved to be a good, if not better alternative. It is located in the South Loop, parking on State is convenient if there are no restrictions for the nearby WinTrust Arena. The inside is a little more simple and less interesting than Ba-Ba-Reeba, though there are some nice colors and the atmosphere on a Saturday night was spacious and charming, due to an authentic guitar player and dancer who serenaded the whole place. Nice touch! We had 6 total people and they were very accommodating on the phone, we got there a little early and were able to be seated immediately. We started with a pitcher of the regular red sangria, which gave 5 people about 1.75 full glasses, and was a good deal compared to individual glasses though the other varieties were a little more pricey. We kept it pretty simple. I ordered paella for the table and everyone else ordered 1-2 tapas. We went with 3 orders of the Campesina paella, and I think we could have gotten away with 2 for our group of 6. It was very tasty, flavorful, and had fresh veggies and tender chicken and sausage. I personally had the beef pinxcho with horseradish sauce, the stuffed piemientos with cheese, and the duck toastada. I also tried the assorted cheeses, octopus and tilapia, everything was seriously great! The service was also good as well. With a group that large and a tapas style restaurant, service can be tricky. Our server Chris did an excellent job. He was sure to check up on us, didn't forget anyone's food or orders, and even served us our wine and paella. Overall a great experience here. Everything went well and this is an excellent South Loop spot for Spanish tapas. Will be back! read more

Great food and service is hard to find but not here! Out side patio is just missing a bit of Ambiance with some music

My boyfriend and I came here for our anniversary, and we couldn't be happier with our choice! The food was amazing, the service was entertaining and thorough and we were welcomed with a beverage to help celebrate our anniversary! Too sweet! We did the flight of sangria, four flavors and it was a bigger serving than we were expecting! The prickly pear was both our favorite. We did one cold tapa and 3 hot tapas, and all were delicious! If we hadn't had such a large lunch we probably would have done another hot tapa, but we didn't arrive starving so this amount of food to split was perfect! read more

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Came here for their Mother's Day brunch and while the food was amazing, the service was absolutely terrible. Our waiter was in personable and made no attempt whatsoever to ensure a positive experience. As it was a buffet on this particular day, the only reasonability for the staff was to ensure our drink orders were fulfilled. Several times throughout our meal, our entire table had empty water, no coffee, and was left actively searching for for someone to ask for help. Very disappointed to see this establishment does not value good service. This was my first time at the business and I likely would not return or recommend this business. read more

Service and ambience is amazing. Overall good tapas. I'm a fan of their Sangria flight too. They have a decent selection of beers, including Spanish beers. Paella was okay though. I'll give it another try next time. read more

I ordered the Paella to go. I was really excited about the dish. I haven't had it in years. First few bites was delicious but the more I ate, the more salty it began to taste. I thought maybe it was the seafood so I just ate the rice n that was salty as well. Too bad. I was so looking forward to loving it. read more

Definitely one of my top 5 in Chicago. We loved everything we ordered and really enjoyed our time in the outdoor sitting area. The staff was super welcoming and responsive. read more

Tapas Valencia - Appetizers - Spanish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Our waiter was very friendly and helpful!!! the food was amazing and would definitely recommend this place to others

The food was tasty!!! Their cold and hot tapas made me feel like in heaven! The service was wonderful! Our server noticed that I was celebrating birthday and decided to give us a free birthday cake with nice decoration. I will definitely come back soon. :) read more

Tapas Valencia - Spanish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

The decor inside is so colorful and stunning! I felt transported to Spain. They have great sangria and their bacon wrapped dates and veggie pasta are a must try. They have great happy hour deals, try to swing by at that time! read more

I'm giving 3 stars because there were a couple things that bothered me. To start, I will say that Tapas Valencia is the same ownership as Meson Sabika in Naperville, which is my favorite tapas place, which is one of the other reasons why I'm keeping it to 3 stars. I believe the food is the same at both places, so I don't have any issues with the food. It was really good which is a big part of why you go to the restaurant, and how you give your review. There's more to it than just the food though. This may not seem like a big deal but several things about the service is why I'm taking 2 stars off. The server was nice, no problems with that. We all had water in front of us along with whatever drink we had ordered. I asked for a refill on the water and he said ok. Some time passes and I realize I'm not getting a refill on my water, so I drank my wife's water. Then we had 2 empty waters on the table. Still no refills from my first request. I saw someone walking around with water so I asked for a refill, and he just refilled 1 glass and walked away. We flagged him down again and asked to have everyone's water refilled. He filled everyone's water except mine and walked away again. When our server came back over I asked for a new water and finally got it. The last thing is I'm a huge Yelper, so when businesses don't keep their Yelp page up to date I have a problem with that. You want Yelp reviews right, so spend 5 minutes and update your Yelp page. When I checked in to Tapas Valencia Yelp said I could claim my offer which was a free dessert when you dine in at the restaurant. The coupon said February only on it. Well, it's October, so have you not looked at your Yelp page in 8 months? The worst part is that I couldn't use my offer for dessert, so I didn't order any. Thanks Tapas Valencia.... I probably won't return. read more

Great place for drinks! The berry mojito has to be one of the best cocktails I have had, so good. The wine flight is great to share and recommend to get two red and two white if you have seafood tapas, they will pair nicely. Our server recommended some really good tapas like Tostada con Centollo and Pollo a Limon. We were there almost until closing time and unlike other places we were not rushed. read more

Tapas Valencia - Wine flight and berry mojito - Spanish Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Dropped in during happy hour and wow did that make me really happy!! Wonderful tasty and a variety of tapas options during that time at the bar for a discounted price and a bartender who really knew how to make you feel comfortable. Everything I had was incredibly tasty and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this and will be back next time I'm in the area! You won't be disappointed! read more

I've only had better Tapas in California (Phlight in Whittier and Pueblo in Costa Mesa), but this place was incredibly satisfying as well! I definitely was impressed with the tapas but where we could have done better was in the Paella department. Tried the Stuffed Mushrooms which come three to an order and those were divine. Also tried the steak which also was perfectly cooked and not over seasoned. Finally, we ordered this ravioli thing that was in an amazing sauce that I kept mopping up with the bread. The Paella takes about 45 min so if interested best to order at the beginning of meal service. The Paella was flavorful but we would have liked the rice to be cooked a little more. Plenty of seafood and chicken in the Paella but the clams and mussels were a bit on the smaller side. Overall, enjoyed this place very much and would love to come back to tackle more delicious items on their very extensive menu! read more

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Classic and fusion tapas . Huge menu and every dish we ordered was perfect. Service is friendly and spot on. Covid measures are observed. Thank you for the delicious and complementary champagne and the added dessert flight. Thank you for making our anniversary dinner memorable! Best wishes in 2021!!! read more

Take THAT Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! Tapas Valencia has finally filled the niche so badly needed in Chicago: good (no, great!), well-portioned tapas served in a fun, funky atmosphere. Truthfully, as I've expressed many a time...tapas does not do it for me. Small food, large prices, lackluster quality. Tapas Valencia however, does it right...and does it well. As a new kid on the South Loop block (open a month), they are kickin' it into high gear... Parking: Valet for $5, or there is street parking to be found for those with a bit of patience. But hey, for $5...why not? Another bonus: complimentary coat check. Very cool, indeed...though I do not wish to be wearing a winter coat anymore, c'est la vie. Ambience: Think tapas funky style, bright colors mixed with the lofty interior of a converted South Loop warehouse. High ceilings, large cement pillars and sleek floors, roomy tables, a large sweeping bar in the front, and enough intimacy to share a meal and be able to chit chat. The place is brand spankin' new...and it shows. Service: Not a kink in site. Smooth, fabulous recommendations (not so easy with their HUGE menu, I'd think), quick and friendly. Drinks: a few glasses of Cristalino cava....only $7 per glass, started things out on the right foot. Cold, crisp...it's what every girl date should begin with ;) Now, the fun part...the FOOD! Complimentary stuffed green olives and toast points with soft butter (mmmm, thankful for these, or the champagne would've hit me like a ton of bricks). Cream of broccoli soup (lovely, and for only $3.50 a steal). Cold Tapas: Rock shrimp over crusty bread (cold tapas special, HUGE and tasty). Serrano ham and cheese over muffelatta (also HUGE, also hit the spot). Each of these plates came with 3 large portions...a great start. Hot Tapas: Beef empanada (heft portion, perfectly flaky, gooey beef and cheese on the inside, mmmmm), Crepe Rellano (pine nuts in there! whoa! ooooey gooey sinful crepe). Crab fritters (little balls of crab with heaping side of garlic aioli...mmmm). Dessert (was this my favorite? of course!): the creme brulee with bittersweet chocolate. My gal pal and I wolfed that sucker down in about 2 minutes, and were all the better for it. Wishing we had time for coffee, but dashing off to a show....we discussed the merits of hiding chocolate within creme brulee, and decided that might be the only way it should ever be prepared, ever. Fabulous from start to finish, it is literally the only tapas place in Chicago I would recommend to friends/family, etc. Everything I had was nothing short of excellent, which I rarely can say at Cafe Ba-Ba-what's-their-name. Perfect for a LARGE group or party, as their dining room is very large and roomy...or a little date night :) Just what the South Loop needed... read more

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To celebrate a friend's placing in the 98th percentile on the DAT, we hit up Tapas Valencia the other night. A mix of Cafe Babareeba and Cafe Iberico, I was really pleased to find that the best of both had been incorporated at this new South Loop spot. The highlights of the meal? First, a pitcher of red sangria to split between the two of us - at about two glasses per person, this was a perfectly proportioned and prepared solution to our imbibing situation. Second, we ordered two of the classics: Queso De Cabra and Patatas Bravas, both of which far exceeded expectations. Baked goat cheese is hard to mess up, but the potatoes had a subtly delicious kick to them and the perfect amount of manchego sprinkled on top. Um, I'd definitely hit that again. Third, we also had a duck confit with mushrooms and apples, lobster bisque and a zarzuela, or stew of clams, shrimp and scallops. The duck was so incredibly tender and succulent it pretty much fell off the bone as soon as I touched my knife to it. My mouth is watering just thinking of it. The soup was relatively mediocre for lobster bisque (they salt with a heavy hand), but lobster bisque is always delicious. And the zarzuela was amazing; the sauce was so orgasmic, I wanted to sop up the excess with a piece of bread. After all of that, you'd think we wouldn't have had room for dessert, but we ordered a Bizcocho Borracho (Spanish-style tiramisu) for kicks. Next time I'm trying the cheesecake... In all fairness, the portions are smaller than Cafe Iberico's, and they charge per person in paella, so if you're going for sheer quantity in tapas, head two miles north. But if you're looking for clean bathrooms, sultry lighting, funky decor, and fantastically authentic seasonings in your tapas, Tapas Valencia is one to add to your little black book of go-to restaurants. read more