Alegria Tapas Vasastan - Stockholm

The food was okay for an authentic taste of Spain! However, the batata brava was a disappointment as it did not taste like the real thing. Although the food was decent, it did not quite hit the mark as true Spanish tapas. If you are seeking a genuine Spanish tapas experience, you may be slightly disappointed as it tastes more like Moroccan food.

Sunday evening dinner, as usual, as we’ve done for 10+ years. We had been here under its former name (Caliente) many years ago. Alegria is bigger, redecorated, refurnished, and brighter than its predecessor. While the restaurant wasn’t full, the first offer of a table was at the end of a long family/group setting and with a child seat abutting. With a non full restaurant, what was the point? That table was rejected we opted for a 2 seater not far away. The service was slow, maybe deliberately so, but it felt just a little too relaxed and laid back. Orders given, beer delivered (92 kr for 400ml, even a mainstream IPA is pricey). The food took maybe 10 minutes to be brought after ordering an acceptable time gap. The steak tartare was tasty. The pimientos was a small serving and over salted. The dates, filled with almond flakes, and wrapped in bacon had seen better days. Burned, no other way to put it. I won’t hazard a guess as to why but the taste was of burned food, not just overcooked bacon. When the fault was pointed out to a staff member the response was “I’ll take the cost off the bill”, not “Oh I’ll replace them straight away or would you prefer something else?” We finished. I’m told that the law here now requires food prices in restaurants to have an inbuilt gratuity, separate tipping being for exceptional service, rather than routine. So when the card machine comes along showing the basic bill and then a 10% tip, a 15% and a 20% amount, each with a convenient button to seamlessly add on to the charge, I find it a little overwhelming. There is, if you rummage a bit, another button if you want to tip more or less than the presets. I’m not a fan of this type of “suggested” tipping. Overall food not one of the great gastronomic experiences in Stockholm, or even Vasastan. service disappointing. Customer focus needs work, electronic deduction is simple, it’s a manual process and isn’t a substitute. value for money needs work. repeat visit improbable

Trying to find an affordable restaurant experience in Stockholm, Algeria tapas bar came up on Google several times. Looking at the prices, I expected high quality or larger tapas portions. We got neither. Food was meh... Sangria was double meh (redwine, triple sec and Fanta).

I was there yesterday. It was very crowded between the tables and we sat very very close to the tabels on both our sides. The food is okay but it will be expensive to eat a full dinner. The overall experience is not that nice at all. For that kind of money you can eat at a much better place.

Caliente Tapas is a rather tapas restaurant/chain. There are a few of them in the city and they are very similar in character. The food is average at best and quite greasy. The only real plus it has in Stockholms highly competive restarurant scene is that quite cheap. So if you are hungry and want a cheap meal fast Caliente will suffince.