Oloroso

Located in Center City, Oloroso competes with top flight Philadelphia restaurants and unfortunately fails. We had reserved a week before but the hostess pointed to a table at the entrance with a cold wet wind blowing in. When we stated that this was an unacceptable location she seemed to shrug as if they couldn't care less. They suggested that we wait at the bar which we did for 25 minutes; fortunately the barman was actually accommodating and introduced us to the manager Felipe who brought us to one of the few four tops in the mezzanine. Although our table was in front of the restrooms, at least there was no cold wind blowing. We ordered the tapas including calamares frito that were standard issue deep fried breaded squid served in most fried food joints. The grilled sourdough was housemade but soaked in oil and salty. Indeed, almost everything they served lacked subtlety and finesse and was simply overwhelmed with salt, oil, and when indicated, cheese and tomato. The two grilled prawns ($18) were good but maybe two oz of shrimp, a steep price. The wood grilled NY strip was high quality and had some nice smokey flavor notes but again over salted. The squid ink fideo were tiny strands of overcooked pasta that had so much salt as to be inedible. The ink was strong enough to turn your mouth black. I hope the whoever orders the jamón ibérico at $25 an ounce (slice?) gets their money's worth. Even the churros, which were offered as mitigation, were of lower quality than in many amusement parks. Another minus is the uninspired selection of NA beverages with no 0.0 beer, cocktails, or other options. Having Sprite, Coke, and the like as the sole soft drinks shows a lack of caring for their customers who don't consume alcohol. Service was quite erratic and harried with unhappy looking waitstaff running around but not seemingly able to effectively help their customers. The final insult were a 3% credit card charge that was added before they knew how we were paying and a completely inexplicable and usurious 18% "beverage tax" that the manager was at a loss to explain and finally removed. This at the least was made up and at the worst dishonest. Perhaps I missed it but I did not see any warning about these extraordinary charges on the menu. If you have read my other reviews you know that I do my best to give the benefit of the doubt to any place that cares about its customers and prepares food with love. I could not detect either in this case. Given the high overall quality of Philadelphia fine dining, this is well below minimal standards. There are hundreds of superior options.

Service was poor. Tasting menu (Tapas & Raciones) was tasty but not worth it. Wouldn't do the tasting menu again.As a summary we were served in 4 rounds. (1) 3 Tapas, (2) 3 Tapas, (3) 2 Raciones, (4) churro dessert. Food comes out in rounds and it takes like 10-15 minutes to eat or so, and typically courses are streamed well. However not here -- between round 2 and 3 we are finished and there was a 20 minute wait of nothingness. We were wondering if that was the end of the tasting menu or if they gave our food to another table. And then Round 3 arrived. This Raciones round was the star and most filling. Unfortunately again after round 3 there's another 15 minute wait for nothing before round 4 arrived. They were pretty empty and no staff mention anything about a delay or that the next item might take more time. Can't say that's ever happened to me and I've had a good amount of tasting menu experiences. Would not recommend most of the Tapas over Raciones

FOODOur table had a variety of dishes-- a mixto charcuterie with chorizo, cheese, etc.; bread and olive oil/mushrooms/olives; charred eggplant tagine; chicken skewers (highlight for sure); shrimp; salmon; lamb; seafood paella; and churros with chocolate dipping sauce. All were absolutely delicious and filling, and it was a wonderful experience to be able to try a variety of dishes without it being overbearing.DRINKSOur table had a pitcher of sangria. It was sweet, refreshing, and definitely packed a punch.SERVICEThe staff are kind and friendly. They were very attentive, checking for our table's allergies and dietary restrictions before serving.Several bathrooms are available in the back and are very clean and relatively spacious. They are individual, gender neutral rooms.AMBIANCEThe lighting inside the restaurant is dimmed just right for a cozy dinner with friends or loved ones. It's clean and modernly decorated with ample seatings at the bar and at tables of 2-8. The outside of the restaurant looks unassuming, but there is a lot of space once inside.PARKINGPaid street parking is available at a limited capacity. Parking garages are also located nearby.

I enjoyed my dinner here at this tapas spot in center city. Cute indoor and outdoor seating. Food was good and our waiter provided many recommendations. I feel like the menu could be a little more expansive but overall good experience.

I was really hoping to like this place but everything was a bit over priced for tapas. The eggplant as everyone else had mentioned was the best dish we got. Everything else was good but nothing really wowed us. Overall, staff was very friendly and attentive. It was cozy and food was good.

Made a reservation for 6 here. We were seated right away and the service was very friendly and attentive. The vibe is very cozy and romantic. We ended up dining there for over a few hours. The food was also better than expected.- seafood paella (5/5): this was one of the best paellas I've had (and unique). The only downside was that we had to wait over an hour for it to arrive.- gnocchi (4.5/5): delicious, wish it had even more mushroom!- spinach flatbread (4/5): very fresh- charred eggplant (4/5): eggplant can be a hit or miss but I enjoyed this version. - shishito peppers (3.5/5): good, nothing special - cheesecake (5/5): I wiped my spoon on the plate. The textures were all right and it was very good.- churros (3.5/5): good but not my favorite dessertOverall a nice place to go on a date or with friends. It is a little bit upscale, but still relatively casual.

A very underrated tapas place in philly. People tend to lean towards barcelona wine bar or amada (understandable), but oloroso has some great options, too, while being relatively cost friendly. Patatas bravas are a must have if you're getting tapas and you can't go wrong with theirs. Besides the obvious, their charred octopus, gambas al ajillo, and NY strip are our favs. If you're debating between the veggie tapas though, I'd avoid the charred eggplant as it's the least flavorful thing on their menu.

The best Spanish food in Philly and honestly among the best in the city period. I dare you to order the hamachi, eggplant, steak, and Basque cheesecake and tell me otherwise. GO!

This might be a first, but I took no food pictures of the restaurant week items we had at dinner. However-- I still feel compelled to tell you about the experience here. I booked this restaurant for a two person dinner and got an 830 reservation. I was able to be seated right away. We were able to be seated in the back near where the open kitchen is and you could look over every once in a while and see the chefs preparing all of the meals. They do have an actual chefs table where you can literally sit and watch your food be prepared but we wanted a little bit of distance from that. It also was nice to be seated in the back dining area because it was a little bit quieter there and we could facilitate conversation. The front entrance area is where the bar is and there are also tables and seating available there it's just a little bit louder because of the bar.Everything on this menu that we tried was delicious. We had the steak. We had the meat and cheese. We had the beets. We had the ham and cheese croquettes. We had the Bronzino and we had the shrimp. EVERYTHING WAS COOKED PERFECTLY. The drinks we had to accompany the meal were wonderful and the waitstaff was so incredibly kind. While this was my first dining experience here, Oloroso has definitely made a great first impression, thank you restaurant week, and I will be back (and take pictures next time too)!!!

so good and interesting (plus great service) that my wife and I didn't even care that our car was towed while we were insidedefinitely do the chefs choice tasting menu to have a much more fun and unexpected experience with off-menu adventurous dishes