El Cafe | Shipston on Stour in Stratford-on-Avon

Absolute gem of a find! Food was amazing and staff lovely. I'm vegetarian and often there's not much choice with tapas but there was plenty and all delicious. We're not local but will definitely be back when in the area 🙂 (Plenty of parking around too)

Thank you so much “El Cafe”! On Saturday we had a special birthday celebration at El Cafe for 25 people. Oh My Goodness - what to say…! It was well organised, including the variety of tapas offered and the way the buffet was presented in stages. The food was varied and really tasty! All our guests enjoyed the food particularly the patatas bravas, meatballs and prawns and the atmosphere was jolly and welcoming! The staff were cheerful, helpful and organised and made the event very special! Particular thanks to David, Alysha and the team! We are sure to go again soon and if YOU haven’t been before we recommend highly!

Very much recommended. Brilliant Tapas, friendly staff.

Fantastic service from the moment you walk in. Will come back again soon!

Absolutely spot on, real holiday ambience and the food is authentic reasonably priced and great. Would definitely recommend.

Really nice, cool little place, where we were, was a little cold while eating, but service and food was great

Honestly a great dining experience. Lovely food, good service, great price. Highly recommend and a great spot in Shipston and worth a drive out!

An incredible evening of food and drinks. Service is top-notch and the prices are incredibly reasonable. We will return when in the area

Really quaint old part-covered Victorian courtyard of a wine merchants, hidden behind huge wooden doors. Great atmosphere with good food and drinks.

Lovely central location Great food and Fab service including a waitress running after me with my forgotten handbag 🙏

Chrissy is amazing and Alisha makes amazing cocktails

Absolutely beautiful meal here, wonderful food, staff, decor and atmosphere. Highly recommend and look forward to coming back!

Delicious meal. And plenty of it. Attentive service.

Fantastic place, great atmosphere, especially in summer when it's hot you could close your eyes and imagine you were in Spain. We have never been disappointed when going there, nor anybody we've taken there.

Great authentic Spanish Tapas & bar, great for family lunches & suppers & very affordable prices. Great beer too! One of my favourite eating spots.

Fun place to go for something a bit different

We had a delicious meal here...shared 5 tapas between the two of us and that was plenty. Definitely needed to have booked as they were turning people away. Food for a large group on a different table looked amazing!

Amazing food, drinks and hospitality. One of the best nights I’ve had in ages. If you’re looking for somewhere to eat in Shipston you really can’t go wrong.

Absolutely amazing. The food was delicious, so well priced. And the staff were really friendly and accommodating too. I would highly recommend the chefs choice sharing tapas. Can’t wait to go back!

Really really nice place, have been here 3 times in the last few months and on every occasion the food has been amazing, staff have been lovely.

Charming service and the food was OUTSTANDING

Food was incredible and the complimentary olives and nuts at the start whilst you are waiting is greatly appreciated also! Really good value for money, great waitress and fast service - would recommend for anyone in the area.

Lovely evening, great food and service. Thank you

Great value and service. Food was fantastic.

Superb food and generous portions. Outstandingly friendly and helpful staff. Strongly recommended.

Excellent food, thoroughly recommend.

Absolutely amazing grub! We had serrano ham and figs, cod in Parma ham, lemon chicken skewers, ribs, and pil pil prawns, delicious, staff were lovely too! Returned with my friends visiting from USA. Oh wow, the waitresses were lovely, we let the chef chose for us and they did not disappoint! So delicious! Every bite!!!

Beautifully presented food that's tasty as well what's not to love

Lovely meat and cheese platter .Good friendly service .Good atmosphere

Absolutely lovely food, definitely will be back

Great tapas restaurant and super friendly staff. Great selection of food and drink. Highly recommend for any get to together.

Tasty tapas and friendly service

Delicious food and a great vibe

Best tapas this side of Spain. Delicious high quality and reasonable prices. Atmosphere is perfect and relaxed. The staff are perfect.

Ate here last night and the food, service and ambiance were all excellent. We all shared tapas and a pizza - pizza was fantastic. Prices were also very good, especially in the current climate. And the bosses singing - well, what can I say - you definitely need to sign up for the next series of BGT my friend! Highly recommend.

I can't thank Dave, Alysha and the team enough. Perfect setting for a family gathering for my 40th. Excellent food, service and location. Everyone has catered for and had a wonderful time.

Delicious. We come here once or twice a year with friends. Impeccable service, great quality food, very good selection of foods and drinks and its very reasonably priced. There is plenty of parking very close. Toilet is also clean and tidy, looks well maintained and regularly cleaned. I would highly recommend to anyone in the area who love Tapas to go and try!!

We had a family reunion meal here in July. There were six of us. None of us had dined here before. All of us were impressed by the seating, the atmosphere, the service and the quality of the tapas served.

High quality food, great veggie choices, good selection of drinks. Attentive none intrusive staff. Highly recommended. Top place to eat.

Great tapas and friendly service. Very reasonably priced too.

Such a lovely friendly place. I popped in to have some wine on my own while I waited for my husband to finish his haircut and join me. I felt so comfortable, the staff are very welcoming. The wine is the best I’ve had in a long time. Will definitely be popping in more often, next time for some food too, as it smelt amazing! The place is dog friendly too, always a bonus. Thank you for a great time ☺️

Great service, food quite average

Great food, staff and atmosphere. Being indecisive we didn't call to book a table until 7:30pm for the same night and the staff did their best to squeeze me and my partner in at the last minute. The restaurant was heaving but we didn't have to wait more than 15 mins for our order to be taken even though we couldn't have been any more inconvenient for them. Great end to a day. Would definitely come back. Unfortunately we live 2½hours away. Well priced and the best tapas we've had! Thanks everyone x

Amazing food, outstanding service and a lovely setting. Would happily recommend to anyone and everyone.

Good value authentic tapas. Friendly polite service with a good selection of drinks, so all good. Will be back soon.

Great selection of wines with knowledgeable staff.

Absolutely excellent service, tapas dishes v generous, love the paella, never been disappointed here

I think anything less than pheonomal would be an understatement. I thoroughly enjoyed my tapas meal, we went for the deal and couldn't believe how much choice we had. All the staff were lovely and a really great venue! Will be back again and again as I want to bring multiple people!!

Visited here recently, it was a late booking and we had to eat quite early but that was fine. Service was a little bit flakey, maybe lots of new staff but polite and friendly, just a felt a little bit dissorganised. Had to ask to have the overhead heater put on as it was quite cold in the courtyard area. Food was very good, great tasting dishes and a massive Paella at the end which we couldn't finish. I thought for £17 ea plus drinks it was very good value. Will definitely come back, might even travel from home to eat here again once the weather warms up.

Outstanding customer service. Excellent quality food.

As a regular here with many fabulous evenings spent dining, it was a real shame to experience the worst customer service and food I think I ever have anywhere on last nights visit. We arrived at 7.00pm to be told our table was needed back at 8.15pm. Without warning when booking. 75 minutes to enjoy a 2 course meal with dessert and coffee with friends? Unheard of. There was absolutely no compromise and when the time came, they had just dropped dessert menus to us and then came back 2 minutes later to tell us that the other table had arrived and we didn't have time for pudding. We needed to leave. It was akin to actually being thrown out of a venue. Rushed, impolite,no nothing other than" I will look into the system as it should have told you when booking". If it had, we wouldn't have booked. We left with other tables who arrived before us still sat there. The food was equally terrible. We shared the group tapas expecting what we had had in previous visits which was a good selection of hot and cold tapas and bread and salads. We got small portions and only 5 dishes between 4 of us in terms of variety. Mushrooms, peppers, chicken and chips, prawns and cheese croquette style things. Salad when we asked, not before, and no bread. It was absolutely shocking. Terribly small portions and 2 bowls of each of the above. We didn't need 24 large mushrooms between us. Maybe a different dish? When we asked for salad it was one small dish until we asked for another. The bill was £91 for this! With one drink each as that's all we had time for. Obviously we were not going to leave a tip after being kicked out, but they did not bring the £4 change back. We couldn't be bothered to argue but made it very clear that it was a horrendous experience with equally disappointing food. They weren't bothered. We wandered over to The Bower House for dessert and coffee and wished we had started our evening there. Much more welcoming and delicious homemade desserts.

Fantastic place! Food excellent, staff excellent. Went with family including two youngsters. Brilliant night was had by all. Highly recommend this restaurant.

Excellent service and great food.

Good food, well priced, lovely staff. We booked a table for 8 having the group two course tapas at £17pp. Everyone in the group was more than satisfied with the dishes that came out, we was even able to phone ahead and request a few specific dishes. Thanks so much for a memorable birthday. We will be back!

A fantastic selection and range of wines. Very friendly, helpful people with excellent knowledge and experience.

Nice coffee and atmosphere. Quick service too

Found the food was very bland. Did not like the sea food paella at all!

Very nice spot for a relaxing lunch! Good wine, great food and great service, and at a very reasonable price.

I used to live in Spain so when I stopped here for a cup of tea while traveling, I couldn’t resist to order my favorites, croquetas de Jamon. They were delicious! Staff was great, very accommodating. I really can’t understand the negative reviews here, it seems to be as Spanish as it gets!

Went for paella, but was so watery and had no flavour at all. Everything just seemed to taste the same. Very disappointed as I was recommended to come. Can safely say, I will not be returning

Delicious food and great service 👌👌👌

As a Spaniard, I can safely say this place does not serve Spanish food… terrible frozen food and the paella served was diabolical. Not in the slightest bit like paella at all! Do not come here if you want an authentic experience. Just bland frozen food. On a positive the customer service from the staff was spot on and can’t complain.

Excellent food and service as always

Delicious dishes and great cocktails, decent portions, fair prices and genuinely friendly staff. Would definitely go back here again if we're ever back in the area! Can highly recommend!

Stunning location, stunning food and stunning service !

I have driven through Shipston a number of times and noticed this restaurant so thought I would give it a try as there aren't any other Spanish restaurants in the area. After finally deciding to give it a try and order I can honestly say I was bitterly disappointed. The quality of the food was poor to say the least. The meatballs were tasteless and the sauce they were cooked in tasted a like a sweet tomato ketchup rather than a Spanish tomato sauce. The paella rice in the fish paella was tasteless and there were so many peas and green beans in it there was hardly room for anything else, it was almost like a vegan dish! The chili & garlic sauce the prawns were cooked in was awful and the prawns were not great quality. In fact, the only thing I could actually eat was the calamari, and that wasn't anything special at all. I was actually really looking forward to trying this restaurant but can honestly say I was bitterly disappointed with the food. I will certainly not be returning to El Cafe!!

We thought the food was good but the service not so good. Of the four white wines on the menu, two were not available. You are attached to wine merchants!!!!! Plus the starter was delivered but we had no utensils or plates. Attention to detail was not there.

Lovely meal. Great staff. Would recommend. Prices very fair in my opinion. If I lived here it would be my local. choice. Alas we are just visiting. ⚘🍾🥂

Great food, speed of service could be improved, but was generally friendly and polite.

A must visit! Gorgeous food and amazing service

Truly excellent service and food was great. I loved the chicken wings.

Loved this Wine bar, the tapas was delicious and very generous portions x Our waitress Tygen was delightful and very friendly, attentive and efficient xxx definitely be back xxx

Fantastic food and service as always, can't recommend highly enough!

Friendly staff (especially Leo) and well executed classic tapas, nice atmosphere. Give the stuffed peppers a go!

We dined here last night, and was so pleased to see Dave and his staff back and open. The building brings a great atmosphere to the whole experience , and with spanish music , wonderful food and great staff , your visit here would not disappoint you. There is a great choice of dishes to choose from , hot & cold Tapas, best Pizza we have had outside of Italy, and to finish off lovely desserts finished by a expresso cocktail . We will be going back there soon.

Fantastic food and service, adhering to covid-19 regulations. Staff are friendly and welcoming, also child friendly too. Thank you and the team for a fantastic birthday dinner and the cake!

Tremendous place and superb service!

Amazing service and amazing food with added bonus of great value for money

Great spot for dinner hosted by friendly staff who are very welcoming. I visited the Cotswold with my fiancée and we were looking for a nice place for dinner and this did not disappoint. Loads of options for food and for vegetarians too, we went for the Tapas 5 plates of lovely food, potato brabas, canneloni, croquettes and mushrooms simply delightful, the chocolate brownie and churros for dessert were delightful, thoroughly recommend this restaurant.

Great food, Great staff and Great setting really enjoyed myself! Cheers

My boys love El Cafe take away pizza as it is as close as I can get to Daddy’s homemade pizza when he is working away! Thank you for leaving out the herbs! 🍕

Always superb food and excellent service at El Cafe, one of the best places to eat locally. This particular night was delayed by several months due to lockdown, but well worth the wait!

Lovely staff and setting would recommend

Food reasonable. Nice atmosphere

Absolutely amazing food. Best tapas ever!

Fantastic food, lovely atmosphere and great service what more do you want....

Recommended to us by a dear friend, we ate here for the first time last night as a group of five. Firstly, i was astounded by the olives. The best i've ever had. Then came our tapas which i can honestly say were superb. I cannot remember eating tapas as good as they were.... ever. In fact, that was some of the best food i've had the pleasure of eating in a very long time. We'll be back very soon with friends and family. You should visit too!

Very disappointed today Service slow Food not quite to same standard and would have preferred Spanish music. On previous visits experience was exceptional

Nice place. Interesting building. Friendly staff. Good food. Lots of choice. Well priced. Be warned, the sangria is very more-ish.

Great coffee. Visited having heard good things. Will try the food soon. Menu looks awesome

An excellent addition to Shipston on Stour, tasty Spanish tapas and friendly staff

great selection of tapas, pizzas, sharing platas and delicious churos + spanish chocolate. Cute waitress.

We had a fabulous evening, excellent food and wine.

Friendly and attentive service. Friend and myself had tapas that was first class, delicious dessert too. Definitely recommend.

Fantastic service, great food and fun atmosphere. Very laid back and fun staff.

Top notch, couldnt recommend this place more. Great food with a great selection. All the stuff are very friendly and will make you feel welcome right away. If your lucky enough to come on a sunny day they have the perfect garden, if not they still have a lovly covered area with large windows facing out the back. Idea for a date night or family celebration.

Great selection of coffee and some tea. Good food menu too (though we didn't order much this time, we plan to return). Lovely atmosphere and very friendly staff.

Great food. Great staff. Great to have as a local tapas bar!

Thank you el cafe for accommodating my family last minute and helping celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary with our small girls. The food was fantastic and service really quick. It was nice to have the choice to do tapas that we could also offer to our daughter who us gluten free. The portions were large and glad we didnt order the 10 which was our first thoughts. The waitress were so friendly and great with the children. Due to bad weather the staff also allowed us to walk through staff areas to the wash room. Saving us getting wet, very thoughtful. Great service, brilliant atmosphere, a taste of Spanish shipston at a fantastic price. Great value for money. Thank you again Dan

My husband took me here on my birthday, accompanied by our 4 year old grandson. Great atmosphere, sat outside in the courtyard. Service was first class. I had a stone baked pizza and it was really good. We got complimentary dessert. The staff were attentive. I will definitely be going back