El Torero in Newcastle upon Tyne

Food was incredible and service was brilliant even though they were really busy. Will definitely be back for more

Great food. Warm welcome. Welcoming atmosphere

Great selection of tapas. The menu is well thought out. Not overly priced. No problem in getting a table on a Thursday night not long before Xmas. Staff couldn't have been lovelier. We've never been here before and we are looking forward to going back soon.

Spot on well worth the train journey food spot on & the young ladies serving were spot on.

We opted for the set menu (£22.50 per person) for two. Food was 'good' but none of the dishes were 'great'. Atmosphere could do with being warmer/cosier, maybe improved lighting.

Excellent Tapas resteraunt on the Quayside in Newcastle. Welcomed by a very nice waiter . Good menu with lots of choice .Service was excellent and food excellent. Definitely will return

Great food but no atmosphere as actually empty 7:30 Tuesday evening but also a bit mean, charging £3.75 for extra bread when only a small amount was provided with the set course. Also service was poor as they disappeared for 15 mins at a time. Won't be going there again unfortunately

Without doubt the worst food I've ever eaten in a tapas bar. The service was brilliant, but the food. Beef stew that looked and tasted like last week's roast tipped in a pot, creamy chicken that was like rubber. But the worst, and I wish I had taken a photo, was the bruchetta. Home half baked baguettes cut in half with a pink mush of tomatoes of such poor quality, you couldn't even smell what they were if you gave them a sniff, covered with raw crushed garlic on top. Had obviously been sitting a while as it was just very soggy mushy bread. The complete opposite to anything genuine or tasty. The chick peas and bowl of mushrooms were like my kids school cooking in year 7. The meat platter at the start was ok but was like the end aisle at Tesco dumped on a plate.

Great service, brilliant food. Will be back

Amazing food and service. Best tapas we've had for a long time. Not busy and a bit chilly inside but didn't ruin the experience of great food and wine

Had the most wonderful paella mixto and sangria today in a sunlit El Torero, brought back many happy memories for us, love this place! 😍

Lovely waitresses, amazing food and an even better better wine :)

Beautiful tapas, first time we’d visited after a recommendation, service great and food delicious. Lovely birthday night away

I solemnly declare: this restaurant is the ceiling of Spanish cuisine in Newcastle!

We ate here well over 10 years ago but remembered it fondly and decided to revisit with a friend. Were so pleased to see that it was 'special offer Tuesday' - any 3 tapas for £16.50 (a few exceptions, but not many) I am not really a tapas eater - not a fan of tiny dishes that you are trying to share.. but this restaurant is the exception. I had thinly sliced aubergines that were in a light batter with cane honey as one of my dishes. Such a generous portion - about 10 slices! Was so excited I forgot to photo it...sorry! We had a couple of prawn dishes, beef stew, pork and mushrooms in blue cheese sauce (amazing), chicken and mushrooms in a brandy/cream sauce, Chorizo sausage slices, serrano ham and a basket of bread with alioli. we cleared the lot - even getting some extra bread to mop up the sauces! Lovely bottle of chilled white to wash it all down and very good value. If you like tapas (and even if you aren't keen, like me!) this restaurant is a must visit whilst in Newcastle.

I couldn’t fault El Torero if I tried. Me and my partner came for restaurant week and the deal was amazing value for money. My partner needs to have dairy free food, and the menu had “DF” for dairy free food which I’ve never seen before!! The servers were all so lovely, and Spanish-speaking which made it feel so much more authentic. I’ll deffo be back even when restaurant week is over. :)

Superb food, we had nine filling tapas dishes for £22.50 each, very filling and very tasty. The furnishings are a little sparse but the food makes up for it,

Wow, wow, wow! There’s not much more to say really… Food was absolutely lovely. Potatas were lovely and flavoursome, with a nice hint of salt. Brochetas de Pollo was beautifully cooked, with a lovely marinade; was just a shame there was only one skewer! Nice bread too. Service was really good too. Food came out relatively fast, but (and as expected, and as I didn’t mind) did not come out all at once. Overall, an amazing place to come for food at a reasonable price (drinks slightly more costly!), with great service and a nice, relaxing atmosphere. I truly cannot wait to return!

Highly recommend. Food was really fresh. Beautifully prepared. Had an offer on too, 3 tapas for £16.50. Staff were friendly and efficient. love this place.

Enjoyed the tapas...big portions! Staff really friendly

We stopped over in Newcastle on our way abroad for a holiday. Having read a few reviews we settled on El Torero. It was a Wednesday evening so no great issues getting a table. On entering the restaurant it definitely had an authentic Spanish feel. However, that's where the similarities with Spain ends. Having lived in Spain i would say I'm pretty qualified to comment on Spanish food. We were a family of 5 so we did order what we thought would be plenty, opting for the set El Clasico Tapas times 5. As the plates arrived we could quickly see that the portions were meager to say the least. Gambas Pil Pil for example gave us exactly 1 Prawn each. All the other dishes were equally frugal and bland. I asked the waitress if she was bringing anymore food out and she simply laughed. I also asked if the chef was Spanish and 'not tonight' was the reply. Overall very poor and very overpriced. Definitely wont be returning.

Best Spanish food I’ve had in the 9 years I’ve been living in UK. I love the decor and vibe. The staff are super friendly and very professional.

Delicious food at a very reasonable price!

one of the best meals i've had in a long time, portion sizes are large for tapas too :)

Just had the most lovely lunch here. Although my friend didn't make it, I was made to feel at ease by myself and taken care off. The recommendations for the tapas were welcomed. High quality food, great prices and lovely selection of wine. Highly recommend. The hospitality was amazing

Lovely waitress and great tapas; ordered 5 dishes between 2 people which was a little too much for dinner, for us oldies! Only reason for 4* not 5 was that we wenton Sunday evening & it was a bit quiet.

Really enjoyable visit with friends. Service was excellent and we all really enjoyed the food. Wide selection of dishes. Seen mixed recent reviews on here but we had an excellent meal

First thing first, the tapas were really good and tasty. There are no faults with the tapas, highly recommended! But I was very disappointed with the paella, because the paella wasn't cooked with the pan but cooked separately then put it inside the pan once it's cooked. There were no crusty parts around the pan, the entire pan was smooth all over, not the traditional Spanish way. In summary, remember to order the tapas but don't order the paella 🥘 - otherwise you will be disappointed!

Wonderful place, it was recommended to us, I recommend it to you. We had a lovely evening.

We popped into El Torero in passing, as visitors in town with a show to go to and not much time to spend over a meal. The place was maybe half full on a Monday evening at 6.45, and we were greeted by a very pleasant waitress. When we explained to her that we had 40 minutes maximum and needed the food pretty quickly, she said she couldn't guarantee anything, but would do her best. She got us seated, and produced menus and wine list immediately, bringing the glasses of wine we'd ordered right away, and waiting while we went through the menu. We ordered potatos with chorizo and red pepper, prawns, chicken in rice, chick peas, and pork in mushroom and cream sauce. It arrived very quickly - OK, I know you're thinking 'microwave', but all I can say is that we couldn't fault anything, and the pork was particularly good. Since the portions were generous and we were in a hurry, we couldn't finish it all, so a box was provided for a carry-out. It cost us £43 including the drinks, which is a fair bit less than we'd pay for the equivalent back home in Manchester. I notice comments here about faded decor, but TBH we have been in places just like this in Spain, and the atmosphere felt really authentic. We were very happy with our on-the-spot choice, and the waitress got a decent tip!

Thank you, Adriana for the warmest of welcomes. Great food — hopefully we can return.

Excellent service! I loved the food and the atmosphere created inside the restaurant!! food-music-decoration

Brilliant will definitely be going back

Went for a meal with my daughter. Very nice rustic feel about the place. Very pleasant staff, we felt it was good value and portions were large...doggy bag needed!

Dated old classroom with zer atmosphere

We visited for lunch on the bank holiday weekend . The place was empty and lacked any kind of atmosphere . The place is in need of a refurb as it looks dated . The waitress was pleasant but the food was very average . We wouldnt rush back based on this

Nice unpretentious restaurant, reasonably priced and no stags or hens would think of entering :)

Potato omelette was hard and rubbery. Maybe it had been microwaved, anyway just nasty.

Absolutely amazing food and service especially the cream pork 😋

Delicious food and good variety

Set up a steep Hill this tapas restaurant probably has no parking. We ate early at 5.30 as going to a gig but there were quite a few others already there. Good choice of tapas which are substantial brought quickly- we were out by 6.40. Tasty esp the mushrooms in wine and garlic but beef stew was quite dry. Approx £38 for 6 tapas, large red wine and lager so good value. Best thing- lovely waitress!

We found this little gem where nearly everything on the menu was GF and DF. https://eltorero.co.uk/ Lovely building, fab staff, food was out of this world, needless to say, Wife stuffed her face. She didn't itch, have tummy pain or bloating, didn't get rendered to occupying the bathroom, no itchy eyes / redness or watering, no feeling sick- just a pure lush evening that I could eat pretty much most on the menu and not worry. The staff even went out of their way to remind me of any foods that my husband ordered which she couldn't eat. Which service. Outstanding value too. Top tip: order before 1700hrs and get 3 tapas dishes for £16.50 ,I think it is. Or, register via email and receive a 20% off code to use which can't be used with any other offer. Please check the website for exclusions, it is something like can't be used on Fri or Sat night and bank holidays.

Brilliant restaurant in a tucked away part of Newcastle. The food was nice and the man working there was very helpful.

Bread. Salad. 3x prawns. 3 croquets. Small rice, potato. Small lamb dish and small pork dish 3x dates wrappped in bacon and small olive, cheese and ham dish for £61.50. Every dish had lettuce to look bigger. Did not convince me of the value... ;-(

The food was average, the whole place looked like it needed a spruce up and visiting the gents toilets wasn’t a pleasant experience. The drinks were nice and prices quite reasonable. What let the entire experience down was the service or lack of service, we visited on a Saturday afternoon and it wasn’t too busy but still took an eternity to get drinks and dirty plates removed. We won’t be returning!!!

We chose the set menu for two which had a variety of tasty dishes and we felt was very good value. A few things we might not have ordered turned out to be among our favourites. Service attentive and with a smile, despite being busy at times.

Truly wonderful food, a great variety of meat, vegetarian and vegan. The dishes were large and cost much less than we expected. The atmosphere was great, and the staff were friendly and worked quickly. I highly recommend it!

Good selection of tapas as expected. Came here for valentine's and really enjoyed the food and wine

The food here is amazing. Working my way down the Tapas menu! Great location. Great atmosphere. Never disappointed. (The posters are of bullfights, a bit - well - not a good idea and probably will put people off)

Excellent tapas restaurant. First visit in several years and immediately asking why has it taken so long to return? The menu is vast, clearly labelled for dietary requirements and good portions. Every dish we had was delicious. Service is friendly, the venue has retained lots of features of the Victorian building which is lovely and all these elements make a great relaxed dining experience.

Family of 3 shared a mixture of tapas, all tasty, service great…particularly liked the tentacle squid in batter and the albondigas.

I have been to this lovely restaurant quite a few times now and always enjoy my visits. .There is a great choice on the menu with a variety of food to satisfy all tastes in food; whether meat eater or vegetarian. I really enjoy tapas and would rate this restaurant highly. Friendly and attentive staff. A good range of wines, if you like a wee tipple. I will certainly return on my next visit to Newcastle.

Really great experience. Food was good and well priced, service was stellar and the restaurant itself is charming. We’ll definitely be back.

Nice food, good portion sizes, good variety of tapas.

If you are Asian, this is highly recommended. Most of the meals were salty or tasteless. The only thing I enjoyed was alcohol. However, the service was good.

Had a great meal here on Saturday, as part of the Restaurant week. The food came quickly and was lovely, the service was great and the atmosphere overall was also lovely

Lovely food and ambience. Visited on a Saturday night and got seated no problem. All 3 of us got 3 dishes for £15 each to share, the quality of the food was lovely, very flavourful and filling. Would definitely return.

We visited for lunch in the week before Christmas and took advantage of the three tapas for £14.95 offer. All the food was good. There is a very good wine selection and the service was excellent. It has a large and well decorated interior, which was nice and warm.

Great meal for sharing. Amazing food and the portions are just right. We ended up with lots of plates and finished almost everything. The meatballs were fantastic, the croquettes excellent, and the beers were great, too. Highly recommended.

I’ve been coming to El Torero for over ten years now, and have always had outstanding food and service here. I’d recommend it to anyone visiting Newcastle.

Last minute choice managed to fit us in at short notice lovely atmosphere great staff very food choice of food and great quality 6 of us all enjoyed a great range of food recommend

Food was great. Really authentic and super tasty. We felt sorry for the two young members of staff who were run ragged trying to take orders, serve, run the bar, etc. The big problem with the place is that it's an old building with high ceilings and there was no heating on. They try to take the chill off with some portable electric heaters, but shivering while you eat your food is not great, and obviously the food goes cold more quickly. I'd definitely give it another go, but not during the winter.

Great food and friendly staff, one of the best tapas restaurants in the north east

Good quality food of good sized portions and at a good price.....a little rustic but part of its charm. Drink prices are good too

This was honestly a really strange experience for a tapas restaurant. We entered and after sitting for 15 minutes without menus or drinks we joked that it was a very authentic led back Spanish restaurant after all. Yet once we ordered all 10 tapas, with the exception of 1, arrived at the same time which I've never experienced before. Some where delicious, others a bit stale and some tasted bought in. The croquettes where so heavy and dense that I couldn't even finish one, the rice tasted delicious, fresh and packed full of flavour, the bread was on the turn. The food came that quickly that we never even got the glass of red wine we wanted. Strange all round with a mixture of food and service.

Great food, just like eating in Spain. Friendly, helpful staff. It was a quiet night but still felt good as the music and staff were lovely and authentic.

First time here and woukd return. A very extensive menu and the place was very busy so glad we booked. Food quality was very good and most of it definitely seemed homemade which is always a bonus. Had 4 dishes each as we were quite hungry but 3 would be enough. Service after the meal was a slight let down as had to wait a good 25 minutes for plates to be cleared

Service non existent we got seated and then no one came back to give us menus we had to go look for someone. It was like a loud school food hall and food wasn't great. We found a hair in our food too. Wouldn't recommend.

Amazing food! Great with sangria and friends! One of my favourite restaurants.

Very good food and wine and excellent service at a reasonable price. We were looking for an interesting restaurant and this caught our eye as my wife had never eaten at a Spanish restaurant - she was impressed!

Fabulous restaurant we dine here often absolutely lovely as always.....thanks again we will be back

Always incredible food and service here

Heerlijk spaans restaurant, met redelijke prijzen. Eigenlijk alleen maar bezocht door lokalen. Wat mij de indicatie geeft dat er een goede prijs kwaliteit verhouding is. Affijn wij hebben er heerlijk gegeten en gedronken. Aanrader als je toch in Newcastle bent.

Terrible restaurant, customer service is horrendous, from entering to leaving the staff weren't interested

I have been a customer of this business for many years and have always enjoyed the food. Tonight was no different, but the service on this occasion was non existent. The member of staff who served us has the appearance of a child who had just dropped his ice cream. After the food came to the table we were ignored completely, not once did he check on us even though the restaurant was virtually empty. After finishing our tapas we thought that we'd have coffee and a dessert, but we gave up waiting for service, I went to the bar and paid the bill, needless to say I didn't leave a tip.

The restaurant was very quiet, being Monday, but the food was excellent. The tapas deal for 3 dishes was very good value. Service pleasant and efficient. We had 9 tapas between the three of us and they were all very good. The house white was good too. Really enjoyed it.

First visit here for a friend’s birthday. There was a large number of us but the food came quickly and was delicious. Lovely staff as well.

excellent food, fast service, very cozy place, very close to the river area, next to the castle. Quality food and a wide variety of dishes. extensive wine list and extensive wine list

Some dishes great, some not good. A huge place & not many seated when we went but service was quite slow, waited about 15 minutes for our drink! Food came soon after ordering though. Prawns, chicken in Sherry cream sauce & aubergine with honey were lovely, rice dish, calamari & potatoes bravas were overcooked & dry.

Decepcionado por la calidad de la comida. Quisimos ir en contra de los malos reviews, pero acabaron siendo un poco verdad. Las croquetas de jamón, no sabían a nada. Falta de sazón, sal, pimienta, nada. Todas las croquetas recalentadas, y muy aguadas. Para nada crujientes. Parece que las recalentado en aceite templado. La paella, razón por la que fuimos. Decepcionante, no todos camarones fueron limpiados apropiadamente, y afectó al sabor del arroz. Las ostras lo mejor de ese platillo, pero bastante mal platillo. Las patatas bravas, lo mejor. En cuestión del servicio, bastante promedio.

Food is alright. Some things are better than others. I recommend the lamb stew, ham croquetas, and the ibero ham. Meatballs are okay, tortilla is very very dry. Competition is stiff for Spanish tapas places in Newcastle. Staff is friendly

Best place in Newcastle for Spanish tapas. Authentic Spanish restaurant. Tried a couple of others for Tapas, but they never touch El Torero

Drop by for an early dinner. £14.75 for 3 tapas before 5pm is definitely worth it! Good quality food and decent portion as well. Good atmosphere and friendly staff! Very happy customer :)

Lovely food and staff there was a 3 for £15 offer at the time. Would recommend

Great restaurant Food lovely A little piece of Spain in the toon

Great food, great atmosphere, great prices. We'll definitely be back soon!

Had walked around Newcastle on Tyne for an hour looking for a place for supper and happened upon this place. We had no reservation but they found a spot for us. Everyone was very friendly and efficient. The food was delicious, the Sangria thirst-quenching. Fabulous experience for us visiting from Montreal. One of the highlights of our visit. Ola!

Quite possibly the worst tapas I've ever had. I could have got better from Iceland. The staff are good but this is no better than fast food. Tables were dirty and shoes stuck to the floor. Low cost and reflected in the quality.

Quite possibly the worst tapas I've ever had. I could have got better from Iceland. The staff are good but this is no better than fast food. Tables were dirty and shoes stuck to the floor. Low cost and reflected in the quality.

Visited this place with work colleagues and enjoyed the food. The lady who took the order was absolutely brilliant with the recommendations and even remember what each person had ordered very clearly. The ambience is too dark, all of us had to turn on mobile phone flashlights to read the menu which was very awkward. Taking off 1 start from the review for this.

Authentic Spanish tapas restaurant. Good sized portions, well prepared and very tasty. Very reasonably priced and a nice atmosphere. 🤩

Good tapas on the 3 tapas for a fixed price deal. However, the wooden chairs may be typical of Spain they are not comfortable and are a problem that would stop me from returning.

I'm from Valencia, Spain and I must say I enjoyed every tapa in El Torero. I highly recommend the berenjenas a la miel, patatas al infierno, tortilla española, pan con alioli. The paella wasn't the original one (valenciana) but it was very nice :) Lovely food and good service. The girl from Madrid (waitress) did a good job 👍 I'll go again once I'm back in the UK.

Delicious Spanish food. I especially enjoyed the berenjena frita con miel. Very friendly service. Highly recommend

Gluten free options on the menu aren't there. My whole family were excited to see so many GF options. We ordered 7 dishes and a bottle of wine. A 7 dishes were labelled gf on the menu. The waitress didn't ask if we had any allergies, so when she finished writing our order down, I checked they were GF. She pointed to one potato dish and said no it wasn't GF. So we agreed to order the other 6 dishes. The first dish came and was tasty. Slowly after 3 more dishes came, all the meat/chicken dishes. We waited for the other two which were rice based, nothing came. Noone came over for us to ask where our other dishes were. A young tall lad was throwing other people's plates onto tables without even a smile and our waitress had disappeared. We ate the meat dishes, drunk the wine and decided to call it a night. The waitress appeared so we asked for the bill, which came quickly. Checked we hadn't been charged for the other missing dishes, fortunately not. Didn't bother leaving a tip as service was invisible. What we did eat was nice, but we weren't very full and stopped at a pub for crisps a bit later on. The meal and wine was £60. I felt disappointed that the place that looked so buzzing and potentially had a great menu for GF folk, could be so lacklustre and for want of a better word, decitful. Why put gf choices on a menu then not be able to produce them. Very worrying. Fortunately none of our party was ill, so the gf food we did have had no gluten. I won't be going back

I visited with my friend last night (Friday April 28th). She had never had a Spanish meal experience before. I booked El Torrero as I have had good experiences at this restaurant in the past, what on earth has happened??? I was embarrassed by the...

Visited on a cold January day .. lovely and warm when stepped in from the street. A young lady welcomed us, letting us choose our table and gave menus. We went for six tapas between the two of us, together with drinks of a glass...

Terrible experience! I left before my starter arrived!! I did wait 20 minutes before I left! Only myself and a table of 4 in the building! Front of house staff are very rude and uncooperative!!

Visited El Torero on 13/01/23 with family. There were 4 of us & we shared 10 tapas dishes (In hindsight 8 would have done). Was quite difficult deciding what dishes we wanted (since there is so much choice at El Torero). Each dish was around...

I’ve been wanting to try Spanish food for ages, so me and my partner decided to visit during restaurant week. I had thought we’d be getting fresh, rich and flavourful food, but I felt like most of it probably came from iceland. Even the bread...