Cravings Tapas Bistro

Atmosphere was beautiful! Wine was perfect! The food was bland…. The shrimp empanadas weren’t good at all. They tasted frozen. I let my server know and she said she’d replace them. Never replaced them but told us the kitchen was closing and asked if we wanted to order dessert... The croquettes tasted like they were popped in the microwave. I would go back for a bottle of wine but I would eat at home first and only get the grilled octopus. That was the only flavorful dish we had

So glad this place was recommended to me while I'm staying in NJ for the summer. I was told you could find restaurants comparable to NYC if you know where to look and this was a winner. Came at the end of a big party that had reserved the whole place which they were cleaning up from, but the woman in charge graciously accommodated us coming in without reservations and with our 3 year old in tow. Everything we ordered was fantastic, including grilled octopus, mussels, and sooo many empanadas. One review here says it's not exactly like tapas in Spain, but that's fine by me! I found food around Spain to often be bland. The "Spanish" food I grew up with was all from Latin America and the Caribbean, so I was surprised to find it was so different. But the flavor here was bursting with every dish we had-- and all very different. It's exactly what I love about this style of meal no matter the country of origin: little bites of a variety of textures and flavors. The service was also really good. Our waiter was absolutely charming. He even took it in stride when he asked us if we were interested in dessert and my toddler scolded him because he hadn't finished dinner yet. Lovely people and lovely food! An all around perfect dinner experience.