Txikito

I thoroughly enjoyed our meal here -- every dish was stellar. The service was wonderful. Food came out promptly. If there was one thing I wasn't wowed by, I guess it'd be the decor, but gosh, who cares when everything else was so good. I think this was one of the best meals I've eaten in NYC this year.We had the quisquillas and the croquettes to start. I loved the former. I'm not a huge fan of croquettes -- blue cheese was the flavor of the day. Husband enjoyed these though. We also ordered the boquerones -- I loved anchovies, husband not so much, so this was my plate to clean. (The tomato and basil salad that came with this was very nice. A nice light course before the heavier mains.) We also ate the squid -- really marvelous taste and texture. Unexpectedly so. The crispy suckling pig -- god, this was perfection. And the arroz meloso, which had me about as close to licking a bowl as I've ever come in a restaurant. Absolutely stellar. Again, the flavors and the textures were stunning. Dessert -- how did we possibly have room?!? I ordered the basque cheesecake, which I reluctantly shared, and the husband had licorice ice cream with espresso. The ice cream tasted like real licorice, and paired nicely with the coffee. You'd think he'd have been satisfied with that alone, but no -- he had to eat some of my cheesecake, which was flawless. It came with a salted whipped cream. The pork, incidentally, also came with a very salted frisée salad. These were both examples of salt done well.Man, I really fell in love with this place and will surely return to try some of the other things on the menu.

This place was just... all right. Nothing particularly special stood out to me, and I left feeling a bit underwhelmed. The fried shrimp was probably the highlight--crispy, flavorful, and cooked just right--but aside from that, the other dishes didn't blow me away.To be honest, the location we were sat in totally killed the vibe. We were placed right outside the kitchen, so we had staff walking by us constantly, which made it difficult to enjoy the meal in peace. Not exactly the cozy, intimate dining experience I was hoping for.

Extremely disappointing dining experience. Absolute shit hospitality. I like this restaurant, have come here multiple times over the years whenever I am visiting NYC from the west coast. We arrive at 9:15, as reserved, and the bearded stocky guy who greets and seats us begins with "you have to order in 15 minutes. I sent you a text." I say, "really, you sent a text?" I check my phone - he did indeed send a text as it turns out: at 8:57, 18 minutes before our reservation. Ok, annoying but whatever, so we order and he says "fine, you just need to order, no need to rush." Then, around 10pm, while there are at least other 3 parties still in the restaurant and still eating and drinking, I ask for a glass of wine and he says "don't you know the bar is closed?" I ask, "how would I know that?" He accuses me of being aggressive and rude and then belligerently pours me a glass of wine, like he's doing me a fuc**ng favor. We are holding nobody up, ordered quickly, and having quiet dinner for two. Oh, and their website says "bar open to 11 pm everyday", a full hour from now. What a douchebag and what an absolutely unpleasant dining experience. A hostile, charmless prick - I regret I chose to have one of my dinners here and I'm surprised that whoever employs this guy wants him as the face of hospitality with his surly, unpleasant nastiness. Gee, I'm sorry for making a dinner reservation at 9:15 and spending $150 bucks at your place and asking for glass of wine - how rude of me! Amazing that this is the service being offered no matter what, but maybe even more so after just being included again in Pete Wells' Times' list of 100 best restaurants. Seriously hope this guy is fired - he's in the wrong field and hurting this otherwise and historically great establishment.

This was such a great random find. Please note though that there aren't too many vegetarian options. However, the options that exist very amazing! Each item was well thought out in terms of the different flavors to combine and the seasoning. The sauces enhanced each of the dishes. I was able to get 5 veggie items and between the 5 I left pretty full. Ambiance: The vibe of this restaurant is perfect. It's a great combination of elegant and casual.Service: Everyone was very friendly. We sat at the bar and service was fast. They also took their time to give us recommendations.

The food and ambiance were remarkable. We had a great dinner and champagne on a recent Saturday night. Cannot wait to go again!

My favorite thing about this place was the music, wine and the service. Our server was very warm and cheerful guiding us through picking our courses. Food was okay, authentic Spaniard dishes.

Food 8/10Overall great flavors and tapas are lovely, but it is pricey for what you get. We ordered the fried shrimp, bone marrow, jamon and fried artichoke, and beef cheeks. Highly recommend the beef cheeks, they were super tender and flavorful. The jamon and fried artichoke were very unique and a fun dish to try. The bone marrow was alright, I think not enough bone marrow and too much red peppers + bread. The shrimp were crunchy, but not a necessary order.Atmosphere 8/10Very cute, located in Chelsea. Plenty of seating inside.Service 5/10Honestly very slow service, I was a bit disappointed. It took a while for them to notice us and take our order, and also to get our bill.

This was a sweet, swanky little restaurant in Chelsea! We had really great service and our waiter was nice and helpful (we had many questions). It did feel as though he was pushing us to order more, versus helping us decide between what we told him we were interested in. I felt that the prices were very high for the portions of the dishes, but I can only assume that's because they use higher quality ingredients. Honestly these dishes are not for the faint of stomach, definitely a lot of interesting flavors, herbs, and dishes. Do some menu searching before you decide to come!

Overall, good food 4.5, good service 5/5. Food is tapas style so portion is small which mean be ready to spend $$$ if you have a big appetite. We ordered 6 dishes and that's more than enough portion for 2 people. For some dishes, the server gave breads before or after we finished our meal for us to soak up the sauces.Below is my ranking. Highly recommended #1-2.1) morros- beef cheek that came recommended by our server. It's so alluring that my phone fell and kissed the food (that's why my picture of the meal looks messy). It's juicy inside (cause beef cheek melt in your mouth), crispy outside with bold flavors. 2) Foie micuit- it's very good too. The foie is pretty standard like other fine dining restaurants but the sauce/jelly stood out for me. My favorite is the violet gelee which is a burst of refreshing citrus (good for palate cleanser as well), followed by the pickled rose.3) special dish suckling pig. This is the most expensive of all ($38) and has the largest meal portion. Some parts are tender but some are kinda overcooked/dry (had to soak the meat with the green sauce to save it). The crispy skin is good but for the price, I'll probably skipped for other dishes.4) txipirones- It's like a pasta but instead of noodle, it consisted of thinly sliced squid with creamy buttery sauce. Best to ask for bread to soak up the sauce.5) pulpo- octopus carpaccio that looks pretty but seemed to be very simple. You can taste the simplicity of the octopus flavor but it can get overwhelming with the olive oil.6) kroketas- it's a solid appetizer but doesn't stand out as much.

While the staff seemed a bit overwhelemed at times, the food was excellent but for me the best part was the lack of noise. The spacing of the tables, the volume of the music and the elevated conduct of the clientele was a stand out. Sadly, noise levels now figure heavily into my rating of a restaurant. Now shouting needed to have a conversation here. Txikito should hold a master class on noise abatement for other eateries.Food stand outs: the squid ink custard, roast sucking pig and arroz meldoso were sensational.