Vino Wine & Tapas Room

If you are looking for an authentic Spanish restaurant, a visit to Vino Wine & Tapas Room in Encino is long overdue. While I have been here a while back, it was calling me during Dine LA week. The restaurant has a lovely ambiance. The Dine LA menu menu consists of a choice of wine or sangria, two small tapas, one big tapa and dessert for $65. You have to start with Sangria. For the small tapas I chose the croquettes de pollo (Crispy mashed potato balls with chicken breast and Parmesan cheese). It delivered as expected, nothing extraordinary. The second small tapa for me was the gambas al pil pil (five jumbo prawns sauteed in garlic, dnied chilis and paprika). The latter had a supplement charge of $6 and was supposed to come out in a sizzling skillet (skillet yes, sizzling no). But it was a delicious dish, even though the prawns were not jumbo, as described in the menu. I dislike when restaurants use these tactics to falsely label their menu items. However, the dish was prepared well, the sauce of which was calling the complimentary sourdough bread. For the large tapas, I selected the costillas asadas (Juicy beef short ribs braised overnight with spices and herbs, served with green beans, baby carrots, and mashed potatoes). it was well presented, the meat tender, but bland (needed more seasoning) and could be eaten with a fork. I had flan for dessert. The general menu has more items, and in my opinion, better choices. Maybe next time. Service was friendly, timely and well executed.

Another place that clearly orders all of their food and ingredients from Sysco, which is going to be the death of food in this city. I'm not sure when restaurants will learn that they need to boycott these people as suppliers, but it better be soon. Where to start?You walk in and there's no indication that you need to seat yourself. No sign, no posting, nothing. There's what looks like QR menus on the table so hubs and I just assumed we had to sit down and order- yet when you scan the QR code, it just takes you to their website. Finally after being confused for a few minutes, a server came to us. Can't imagine what that's like for the employees- but I'm guessing it's not ideal. After that three more groups came in and since my husband and I were sitting next to the door, we took the liberty of telling them that they needed to find their own seats because they were confused as well.Now onto the "food", which had zero resemblance of anything close to tapas let alone Spanish food. Bland food- SO bland! Eggplant chips were stale and tasted like old oil, hummus was absolutely disgusting and tastes like something you can get at Ralph's for $2, salmon slider was nothing but salmon skin and had absolutely no salmon meat inside of it- it also kept LEAKING MAYO through the top of the SUPER dry bun, hamburgesa was entirely devoid of flavor, fries were rock hard and mostly cold, my husband's empanada was apparently good, but mine was cooked to the point of being literal ASH in places and was so dry it could have absorbed my entire glass of wine. Everything was CLEARLY premade or frozen at one point and reheated. The live music was great, the ambience was great, the server was nice and even explained to us that two of the dishes we asked for without cheese are already premade- which honestly should've set our expectations then. The WINE was decent and if we had just came here for drinks- would have sufficed. The pricing per glass was on par and the selection was ample for a local spot.Unfortunately hubs and I will not be returning based on the wine alone, a $100 price tag on food that could be served at a bowling alley? No thanks.

Negatives: I got the braised beef which was so dry, the staff understood and asked if I wanted a different dish, I asked for the mushroom soup.. it lacked flavor but I decided to just eat it.Positives: The seafood paella was GOOD! Staff was nice. There are multiple rooms which is great if you want to sit away from any live music performances. Restaurant was clean and I enjoyed the decor. I would definitely try this place again for the other dishes.

The service was great! Friendly and accommodating staff.We absolutely enjoyed the musical entertainment! Very talented and would love to see him perform again! He even started playing the Happy Birthday song while we were doing a Birthday cake for someone in our party.The interior design of the restaurant was well done. I liked that they had multiple dining rooms.I love the idea of small and big tapas plates. Some of the food was a little on the salty side for my taste buds... but I want to also add that some of our party enjoyed the saltier taste. The presentation was nice.I'd come back to see the musical entertainment and try different menu items.

Had a great time with my girlfriend for dinner and drinks. They have live music which is nice but it gets quite loud and I left with a sore throat having to yell over the noise to talk with my friend. Moving on: we ordered the wine flights, I got white, she got red, general census is 1/3 of you won't like, but overall a great deal if you want to try new wines. We got a ton of apps, my favorite was the shrimp. Had a nice time here but not sure if I would come back. The service is slow.

I love the ambiance of this place. The service was very attentive, and the food was delicious, especially the garlic shrimp, which was my favorite. I'll definitely be coming back!

Loved the ambiance and love music. The food was good, a little of the salty side, especially the paella. Loved the free bday dessert. And loved that it is 3.8% less if you pay via cash. The restaurant outlines these costs at the bottom of the menu. Makes things simpler, I believe. The staff were friendly and great. Would come back again.

Too many tapas and not enough time! The menu here is broad, no matter what your preferences or dietary restrictions are, Vino Wine & Tapas has got it. Everything we tried was delicious. The hummus with sauteed mushrooms really stood out to me. It's served with pita bread and seasoned cucumbers. So simple but so tasty. I also really enjoyed the eggplant chips with a drizzle of honey. They were perfectly charred without tasting burnt. My friend and I split a bottle of a red blend, shared some tapas, and had a lovely girls' night. The guitar player was a bit loud, but not at all offensive, and only added to the cozy vibe. I suggest making a reservation because it was pretty busy on a Thursday evening. I only saw the front room but a lot of people were walking into the back patio. I'll be sure to check that out next.

We have started sitting at the bar more inside and really love it, there is always a low key and moody vibe and we love when there is live music. The happy hour is still our favorite, with some small bites and quick service.

Food tastes amazing. The terrible service however ruined the night. Never checked on us. Had To go to the bar to get a drink. The waitress was for sure annoyed to be atWork tonight. Bussers were awesome.