I never really aim to write negative reviews. The main point of this website is to describe various different locations so that people looking for a nice place to eat, a romantic little eatery or a practical work lunch place, know where they should or should not go. The goal is to kind of get the vibe of the restaurant without having been there. Of course as a human being and a restaurant eater, I cannot not be critical in a way. And I would not write about uninteresting restaurants or boring places. But last weekend, I found the cutest little Spanish place in Prenzlauer Berg on the Gleimstraße (the same street as Fellas, on which I am still in the process of writing a review).
Eating Tapas in Berlin
Tapas I like and enjoy. We wrote a couple of reviews on nice tapas places, all different and all good in their own right. Tres Tapas a bit more mainstream-classy and pricey, Sol y Sombra the perfect atmospheric romantic restaurant and Maria Mulata as a hip and stylish budget restaurant. Basically, just stay away from the Spanish eateries around Hackescher Markt, and you will be able to enjoy a nice tapas meal. So I also expected a nice tapas evening at Tapitas, which is a small and even tiny little restaurant shop on one of Prenzlauer Berg’s most lively street. It always look full when you walk by, but they also have a little secret room in the back. The walls were filled with crates of wine bottles, the music ethnically inviting and the little tables and chairs remind you of sitting outisde on a Spanish patio. Ten points for authenticity and atmosphere. Their menu is simple. You either choose a couple of the standard tapas, or you order a platter, which combines a couple of tapas of your choice. A small menu, I have to say – no calamares in sight and no experimenting with tapas. Still, does not have to be a bad thing.
We chose a tapas platter for two people and went with (my personal favourite) the dates in bacon, Spanish tortilla and green beans with bacon in a creamy sauce. Our platter supplemented these tapas with salad, various meats (chorizo, ham, etc), olives, manchego cheese, bread and aioli. But Tapitas is also a wine dealer, as they sell some very special and nice wines – it is not just a restaurant. As a result, they could offer some very nice glasses of bio-wines – granted, for a pricey sum of 5 euros. The wine, however, was worth it. I prefer to go for the deep and dark red wines with wooden flavours and they had just the thing.
Tapitas Tapas
The tapas, however, disappointed me. Especially because the place was very nice and cute and it would have been such a nice restaurant to return to for melancholy Sunday evenings. But alas, the bacon on the dates was basically just fat and had a really nasty flavour and smell to it. The same applied to the other cold meats on the platter. I have never had any similar experience at any Spanish restaurant, ever. And when we remarked on the dominant presence of the fat, our host told us she had no clue, would never eat anything like that, and that they got it from the whole sale. Someone who did not do a course in correct restaurant hospitality. Whereas the owner of Maria Mulata explained to us their exact way of preparing food – and proudly declared they made everything themselves, I cannot help not detracting points for this. Neither tortilla nor green beans could make up for the bad meat flavours – neither were scrumptiously outstanding.
Basically, in the end, I did not enjoy the food. The location however is fabulous and if you ever just want a bread nibble with aioli and a couple of great glasses of wine: go here. And I secretly hope they may improve their cuisine, because it could be so much more!
Where to Go?
[googleMap name="Tapitas" description="10437 Berlin" width="400" height="400" mousewheel="false" typecontrol="false" directions_to="false"]Gleimstrasse 23 [/googleMap]
Tapitas
Gleimstrasse 23
10437 Berlin