Reviews of Rioja Tapas Restaurant

I ate out at Rioja with my husband for our second time on 26/7/20. We ate in the outside area at around 7pm and it was lovely; the staff were great, all our food was on time to say how busy it seemed to get inside and we thoroughly enjoyed it. My favourite tapas dish was the ‘Chicken in White Wine Sauce’, it was yo die for. The only issue we had is whatever family had booked the smaller one of the two pods for the night as they were very disruptive and you could tell they just wanted to cause trouble. I heard at the end of their night when they left, they tried stealing a speaker which just sums up the nature of some characters that smaller restaurants have to deal with (probably regularly). I expect them to leave a bad review here because they are so immature and don’t realise how that affects a restaurant that only tried to help them enjoy their night which they took entirely for granted. To wrap it up, the experience was amazing, staff was great, drinks were moderately fast and at the end the meal, the bill didn’t actually end up as expensive as I expected. Oh and the food we ordered was really nice, I recommend around 2-3 dishes per person (Unless your a bigger guy like my husband who had 4 plus my leftovers 😆) Thank you Rioja for a great meal with my husband, we will definitely be back again!

Last weekend we ordered several takeaway tapas on the day we were all due to fly to Spain. We ordered both meat and veg dishes plus desserts. We collected the food from the rear of the gardens and the staff we delighted that we had put such an order in. They were very friendly and helpfull and everything was wrapped and packed ready for us. The food was amazing and all at restaraunt quality and in the sunshine of our own garden it really felt like a small bit of spain. Thankyou to all the staff for their effort and heres to them opening fully as we will be back there as soon as possible and we all hope that they continue the success they deserve.

Great friendly place and the food was excellent. Pam who is part owner but soon to leave (a real shame as she was so welcoming) and Poppy both looked after the 4 of us in our pod 😀 Would definitely go again. The pod is £100 to hire but gets knocked off your food and drinks bill at the end. We ate and drank quite a lot and was very full at the end of it and the total bill came to £125 so we only paid £25 as the deposit was knocked off the bill. Worked out around £31 per head for everything. I award it 5 stars 👌

Second time we visited now within one week, immediately I noticed a substantial change, the previous greeting although friendly didn't come with hugs, kisses and lots of friendly conversation for the whole family! The other thing I've noticed is the flavour in the food has improved, my long time criticism was always the over usage of pepper, but I must say this has definitely changed. The Ladies who are running the place are absolutely lovely and their family heritage is running through part of the menu, the salmon dish is by far the best tasting salmon I've ever had!! Thanks again.

Delicious tapas in a wonderful setting in the outdoor pod! All of the dishes were really tasty, and the portions were really generous. We had a mixture of steak, paella, deep fried black pudding, crab cakes, prawns, and more, all for a reasonable price as far as tapas goes. They served great beer, and some interesting cocktails that kept us busy for a few hours! We would definitely return if we're in the Dovestone area again.

Great food and a lovely outdoor seating area. We went and ate on Yanks day where they had a special menu. 6 portions between two people was more than enough (we were very full at the end). Though we didn't get it ourselves our table neighbours got the bread selection and it was fantastic, a definite purchase next time we come. Only thing bringing it to 4 star instead of 5 was the beer selection, only Estrella on tap, which if you like your beers is a disappointment, the wine selection however is extensive. Overall lovely.

Great food and an excellent setting. We were in a glass pod outside next to the river! It was the hottest day of the year, so a little unsure about the temperature within the pod, but it was perfect thanks to the shade provided by a large tree. As it was Father's Day, it was busy and service was a little slow but not enough for concern and the staff were all very pleasant 😊

4 of us went there this afternoon and we were well impressed. you can eat indoors, outdoors or book one of the "pods" if you want a more private setting. The food is second to none, you can smell the quality even before you taste it. When we came to order, not only did the waiter know the menu inside out, he offered some alternatives to what we had chosen, or not even thought about and we basically ended up with a personalised menu that we were all happy with.. Also, we found the staff to be very polite,attentive, knowledgeable,professional and generally quite amiable and friendly. Overall, I would definitely recommend it