Rioja in Glasgow City

We are a couple from Bilbao who, on the occasion of the Athletic de Bilbao soccer match against Rangers, had dinner at this place. A highly recommended place. Eduardo (a good cazurro) has helped us with everything, especially advising us what to eat and everything was very delicious, some XXL size croquettes and crunchy black pudding, advisable and if we return to Glasgow we will repeat.

Very disappointing, we were looking forward to trying it and went last week. We ordered a cava, a beer and the chicken doughnuts to start us off to see what the food was like before potentially staying for more. I went downstairs when I arrived and thought the place seemed a bit strange with pool tables and TVs. It seems like it’s trying to be too many things at once. When the doughnut arrived it was freezing and raw in the middle. The cava and beer was flat, may be the dishwasher they are using. We flagged the raw chicken to the waiter, he took it off the bill, we paid our drinks and left, not great at all and won’t be back.

Quite possibly the worst meal I've ever had in Glasgow. My girlfriend and I visited last night and ordered pork kebab skewers, patatas bravas, padron peppers, and black pudding parcels. The pork kebabs were burnt to a crisp. I understand that skewers are supposed to be slightly charred, however they should not have a layer of black charcoal that needs to be scraped off with a knife. The meat itself was dry and flavourless and came with a "mojo" sauce that was paprika mixed with oil that needed to be chewed. Completely inedible. The bravas were not at all crispy and were uncooked in the middle. If a Spanish restaurant can't do these right then it's a worrying sign. The padron peppers were nice enough but they're not exactly the trickiest dish and at £7.50 for a pretty meagre portion they were the bare minimum. When we thought it couldn't get any worse, the black pudding parcels proved us wrong. They came as long, thin spring rolls which were genuinely impressive in their culinary catastrophe. The pastry was somehow both dry and soggy at the same time, the black pudding was utterly devoid of flavour, and the apple sauce they came with was like mushed up baby food. On top of this, we ordered house wine and were charged for more expensive glasses. It took multiple attempts to get just one item taken off the bill, and the staff seemed quite indifferent as to our experience. When leaving it was apparent that most tables had left significant amounts of food uneaten so our experience was not unique. Overall, it was a very disappointing experience as the location is good and the interior has been well renovated.

There are some teething issues but I came away thinking, I want to return in a month when they are properly up and running, because the menu is amazing and I struggled picking only 3 dishes. The food was good, chorizo tacos could have been warmer but the chicken donuts were unbelievable. I wasn't a massive fan of the house rioja, but the Rioja reserva which was only 70p more was fabulous. They need more waiting staff and another barman as they are stretched to extreme but despite stress they were under they were polite and friendly at all times. I think this is going to be a great little spot.

Una experiencia horrible. Reservado para cenar temprano antes de las 5 pm. Llegué con ganas de cenar como había comido en Finniston restaraunt antes y disfrutado. Nos bajaron las escaleras y nos sentamos en la mesa del bar en el bar de billar. Pedimos sentarnos en la zona de restaraunt como lo que era lo que había reservado y me dijeron que estaba ocupado, pero vería si podía hacer algo. Después de esperar durante 10 minutos viendo chico cabreado bailando mesa redonda de billar y molestando a las otras personas que estaban en para tomar una copa (como era zona de bar NO restaraunt) decidió irse. No regresaré. Si no tienes mesa disponible en restaraunt no dejes que la gente reserve...

Nice bar area, three floors, big windows, plenty of space for sitting and a room in the basement with foosball and pool tables. The tapas dishes are good, some of them much better than others. The chorizo tacos are great! They are not the best at accommodating dietary requirements; this needs some improvement from their team. I would go back to try some of the seafood dishes

El servicio era muy bueno y la comida era generalmente buena, pero un poco inconsistente. La paella estaba deliciosa, pero las bravas de patata eran duras y sosas, las brochetas de cerdo carecían de sabores y estaban muy secas!

Delicious! Happy l experience at their new location, shout out to our server Diana on Sunday night :) very friendly service and good chat! Portions were much bigger than I expected so I will ask for how many plates they would recommend next time. the music was a bit too loud but apart from that a wonderful dinner experience

Visited on Saturday after seeing multiple “influencers” on TikTok going to the launch. Food was good. Service was poor, clear teething issues since opening. Ordered drinks and then food, food arrived before any of our drinks. No frozen cocktails available. Had to ask for the bill 3 times. Music was so loud, could barely hear each other. We were sat up stairs and that also could have affected the service. Wouldn’t rush back.

Booked this in November and find out the night before our booking that it was closed indefinitely. No communication from restaurant regarding the booking

This restaurant has closed down. We were not informed of this by them or Open Table. As we had been given vouchers for a Xmas present, we tried to contact them for a refund which was very reluctantly given. Do not visit any of the restaurants in this chain

Food stunning try the 200 year old recipe omg beautiful and great service

Arrived as a Christmas party of 13, drink and food orders took promptly but downhill from there. Everyone ordered 3 dishes each, there was about 30 mins between people getting their each of their plates, some where still waiting for their 3rd dish after 1hr 40mins since arriving. Food was tasty enough but lukewarm. Waitress was under a lot of pressure and appeared very harassed, they were short staffed she said. It was all round terrible service with no apology or gesture of goodwill. As a group we spent over £550. Emailed the next day stating our terrible experience and explaining what happened, no response. Sums up their customer service. Nobody in our party of 13 said they would recommend or return.

The food was very good and the service excellent, we perhaps just went on a quiet night and didn't get the full ambience

Went for lunch with family. 12 tapas all finished, we were fighting over the scraps, delightful, well constructed dishes from shin of beef, octopus, seabass, too a pleasantly surprising canalonni. Don't be put off by any negative reviews, this is a foodies delight. Will return soon.

What can I say the best authentic tapas in Glasgow so far. Knocks spots off every other I’ve eaten. I recommend the beef chin and ham croquettes with the Spanish omelette. Intimate place with great vibe and warm welcoming staff.

Great food and wine, with a very good value for money lunch menu. Really loved the croquettes and Spanish omelette, although it was all delicious. We'll be back for sure!

As a Spanish person, warning that this review is biased. Food tastes good. Does not taste particularly Spanish. Extremely overpriced, as you get tiny tapas portions for a full-meal price.

Was not a great experience. Six course tapas. We got 3 to share told was our first four ?? . Feeling we got since last time was money saving menu. Disappointing, waitress was excellent! Overall experience was not good a much poorer food experience than last time which was fantastic. Honestly I fear for the future. Sorry 😞

I would love to be writing a positive review here, but I can`t, just an honest one. My wife and I arrived at Rioja 10 minutes before the time our table was booked for (5:15pm). We were told that our table was not ready. We asked if we could wait, and have a drink at the bar and were told "No" as they were very busy - In 40 years of dining out , that was a first for me - So not a great start to our dining experience. We walked up and down the street outside for 15 minutes and came back to Rioja 5 minutes after our booked reservation time (wary that we did not want to be 10 minutes late, and possibly loose our booking). This time we were told to take a seat at the end of the bar where we did have a drink, and perused the menu - for 30 minutes until we were taken to a table (our view of the end of the bar strewn with glasses and plates waiting to be washed - kind of killed any ambiance there was). Our order of 6 tapas dishes was taken reasonably quickly, and the waiter did tell us that our small plates would come to the table randomly, whenever they were ready. This is not uncommon at any tapas place I have eaten - What was really different was that one plate came (two/three bites and it was done), then there was about 15-20 minutes wait until the next plate appeared - this continued throughout our meal (two of our plates were cold dishes and required no cooking). Five plates into our meal I had to ask for the bill as I could no longer endure the torture. I must say that the food we ate was OK, but that was the only decent thing about our visit. My opinion, for what it is worth, "RIOJA - STOP BEING SO GREEDY!", either cut down on the number of tables you book in, or employ more staff that are capable of providing your customers with the service they deserve. This may be a very rare opportunity for a night out for some people and you have no right to spoil it.

This is a lovely place to eat, staff are warm and friendly, atmosphere relaxed and informal. food was excellent - highly recommend

The whole experience was fabulous. Lovely place. Great food. Superb wine all served by efficient & friendly wait staff

Excellent food and service in a great location. Will be back.

Restaurant was busy which I will put down to the poor service and been given the wrong orders, my previous experience of a Tapas restaurant is that all dishes should be served together as opposed to individually, which resulted in my guest and I trying to work out who ordered what. One waiter was running about with a plate of patatas bravas looking for the customer who had ordered them, when he asked if I would like to take them off his hands I presumed it was a freebie, but I ended up getting charged for them, I’ve been in other Tapas restaurants in Glasgow and this one really needs to do a lot of work to catch-up with them.

Amazing food and drinks, service was great too, thank you!

Very nice food and friendly staff though quite expensive for what is was

First time trying here and was disappointed. Staff were lovely and friendly and the restaurant itself is beautifully decorated. The food let it down, we ordered bombas and they arrived cold as well as the chorizo in cider. On the menu, the dishes seem extremely appealing however we weren’t impressed by the flavours of the dishes and how they were executed. Such a shame as we had heard good things.

Lovely place, staff great but restaurant very quiet, maybe only busy at nights

Amazing service amazing food! Best meal in Glasgow

Nice little place with great food and friendly staff

Waited 35 mins for drink to arrive. Food did arrive promptly after this however. Food was ok, beef was nice but most dishes just ok. Front of house was just chaotic. A couple of the guys were nice but a few servers with an attitude problem. For the price, not worth it and so many better options. Shame, really.

Nice food with excellent service. Will definitely be back.

Great restaurant, food was delicious but service slightly slow

35 mins for first drink to arrive. Average food. Chaotic service.

Really great food. Loved every dish we got. Only slight negative was not being told that 2 of the 4 fishes dishes were unavailable ( would have been better to be told BEFORE choosing from menu) Great service otherwise despite V. busy Saturday evening,

This is the second time that I have been to Rioja in the past few months. First time I was with my Son and at least 4 items on the menu weren't available (But the service was really good). I was here on a Saturday evening and again many items not on the menu (I find this very poor and bad planning on the kitchens part) No Spanish jamon Iberico come on there's no excuse for not having this plus no BBQ octopus to mention an other. My main complaint was the poor quality of the food, the traditional Spanish omelette was bland and over cooked, the GAMBAS AL AJILLO a poor excuse for a dish and prawns under cooked (Someone should be checking the food when it is leaving the kitchen, on a positive note the CROQUETAS DE JAMON were delicious and they do have one of the best red wines available by the glass Ramon Bilbao Mirto. Regarding the service it was very poor, ordered 1 PATATAS BRAVAS got 2 portions and service really slow. Overall a disappointing evening and not what you'd expect from a restaurant on the Finnieston mile (The competition and standards are high). I wont be back but would urge the owners to have a good look at the finer details for I think with a little TLC you could have a great restaurant. G

Sat for 30 minutes. No drinks order let alone any food. So poor.

First visit but not the last I think. The food was a bit different to the usual tapas and it was very good. The staff were excellent too. It’s a small restaurant but doesn’t feel small and the atmosphere was very good. All in all a very good visit.

Food wasn’t great, not even remotely like Spanish tapas

Food was very good but portions were tiny - certainly not sharing platters. Sea Bass tempura was nicest out of all tapas we ordered. The pardon peppers disappointed because very hot - more like eating hot chillies. Staff were excellent - efficient and friendly

Veggie options were mostly tasteless. Certainly little like any Spanish dining experience I’ve experienced. Overall the experience was underwhelming

This is a friendly little Tapas style restaurant offering dishes which are really a fusion of Spanish and Scottish cuisine. The menu is balanced and the range of dishes about right. There are also some well priced wines available by the glass or bottle. Ideal for dinner before an evening at the SECC Hydro!

What a lovely meal!!! Very tasty. The staff were very attentive and helpful. We even managed to get a starter that wasn't on the menu. Thanks so much for a lovely start to a brilliant night out. We shall be back for sure

Fab meal, lots of choice, very tasty

Friendly helpful staff, good location, lovely restaurant

Portion sizes are very small but the little food we got tasted lovely. House red was lovely and very reasonably priced for a restaurant. Coffee was undrinkable. Would I go back, probably not as feel not great value for money. Service was excellent

Nathan looked after us very well and the food was absolutely delicious. It was a very busy Saturday night and the food arrived promptly, nothing seemed like too much hassle. Fantastic venue which deserves so much more recognition!

Excelent food, nice service, and atmosphere. Highly recommened . But need to be booked in advance.

Attended recently with friends. Very disappointed. Overpriced and food was below average. Service slow and won’t be making a return

I'm confused as to why this place is not better rated - the food was delicious, none of these greasy tapas-wannabes that you often come across. Every dish was full of flavour, the patatas bravas were worth fighting over, and even my seafood-averse husband tucked into the Galician octopus. Would definitely go back and save space for the churros.

Brilliant food, it was delicious!!!! great service .Waiters very knowledgeable and friendly.would 100%recommend and visit again

Food was amazing as always and love the menu. Will always be back as the whole experience was a joy. Cannot fault the staff as were very helpful but very busy.

Fantastic meal and great service. The food was fresh with great flavours.

Fantastic lunch and amazing food for special occasion

Overpriced and dishes were hit and miss, some nice, some tiny, some under seasoned, one so salty we could barely eat it. Busy Friday night, atmosphere was good, didn’t have 3 of the beers my husband asked for. I would only go back for a deal, don’t mind paying for a good meal but it wasn’t.

Lovely meal but we wished it had all arrived at the same time!

Food was fantastic. Love the cocktails and everything we ate was delicious. We were celebrating my daughter’s graduation which I had let the restaurant know about so was a little disappointed that nothing was done to mark that but otherwise fabulous

Upstairs was too hot and stuffy and service a little bit slow but staff were very nice. Pot. Bravas very disappointing as they were just chips 🙄 Other food was yummy. Wouldn't stop me going back 🥂

Beautiful food, will definitely be back. Service was very good and quick.

Food really good but service slow and patchy although staff very friendly.

Loved it here. Food and service outstanding. Only criticism is that the music was a bit loud.

Food was excellent. Beautifully presented and some very clever combinations, especially the leek hearts with black pudding! Every dish very tasty. My only slight draw back was the service, which was a shame because they were very nice but painfully slow. Food came out at a good pace but took ages to be served once seated, never asked us if we wanted drinks, when eventually served went straight after our food order. also had to catching their eye when we wanted more water and drinks. However a very small point on the scheme if things. Will definitely be back!

Was really disappointed. The food sounds amazing and when you order 6 things you don't expect to be left so unfulfilled but nothing was that tasty. And I understand its small plates but they weren't small in price. Nearly £10 for 3 small pieces of Leek and some raw mushrooms on top. The tiny little prawns were £12. None of it was delicious, the best was probably the croquettes but of course you only get 2 of those. The chorizo and cider thing was just pretty odd, I'm not sure what it's meant to be but it was petty sickly. Sadly was meant to be a treat and we all left disappointed and feeling out of pocket. The staff were professional enough and it's pretty inside but there was also zero atmosphere. Can't say I recommend

With an excellent choice of tapas, Rioja is a lovely wee restaurant with great service and a good atmosphere.

Portions very small. Expensive and food poor. Disappointing.

Very pleasant night, great food superb company. Tables maybe a bit close together. Apart from that a great night was had.

We have been to Rioja twice and each time appreciated our friendly welcome. It is a relaxed and warm place to be. We loved the cocktails and all the tapas we ordered. We will be going back.

Tasteless, tiny portions at a high cost. Chicken was greasy and so bland. Would not go back

Another lovely meal at Rioja. Especially love the anchovies, padron peppers and amazing olives! We had lovely friendly service and were well looked after. Thank you Team Rioja!

Nice Tapas bar, hard to give a resume, as I tasted only of the Tapas. Two were excellent, the others were good. Happy to test more

Always unreal from the food to service to the drinks

Having visited Rioja before in the evening, where it was a wonderful experience of gastronomic delight, I was not disappointed to be back at lunchtime with the same high standards and delicious food. Would highly recommend!

The food and service were good was a bit cold sitting at table near the door

We dined on a Saturday afternoon and it was very quiet, but it looks lovely inside. There was no sangria, which we were surprised about considering it's a tapas restaurant. The food was really delicious - especially the pork belly croquettes, the chorizo with potato and the boneless chicken thighs. However, these are London prices and this is Glasgow. Small portions. I would go again for a treat.

Nice atmosphere, staff are friendly enough but nothing special. They seem to be more attentive to those who are spending more money on alcohol etc. Even for tapas the portions are tiny and food looks better than it tastes.

Really good value for the quality, maybe the best Spanish restaurant in town

Amazing. Booked again. Do not hesitate to eat here.

Great restaurant, waiter was lovely, food delicious. Quiet though since it was Wednesday lunchtime!

Food and staff were excellent, will definitely be back

The food was great, the staff (both the barman & waiter) were very friendly. We had a great lunch here yesterday. The venison meatballs were yumm! I also really enjoyed the patatas bravas, they were delish. I would 100% come back. Highly recommended. We got 5 plates, and starter of bread, we also ordered 1 dessert (they made an error & ordered the wrong dessert so gave us two which was nice of them). I also enjoyed the sangria spritz drink :-) Very nice vibes, really enjoyed it, thanks alot!

Cuisine bien préparée, avec raffinement, tout était parfait. Nous avons apprécié le calme du lieu

We had a great dinner with a lovely bottle of wine here. The menu has a good range of tapas dishes and everything we tried was really tasty. Staff were very friendly too.

While an elevated Tapas place seems worthwhile, the menu had good flavours but let down by very small, overly camouflaged portions. The entire meal was delayed and spread out over an hour and a half, service-wise. We'd actually been sitting over 40m before we were served drinks. Staff are lovely but clearly not organised. Also don't offer a drinks option which is then reported back as out of stock, don't bring other people's food to our table, don't offer us dessert and sell most of it out by 745pm. Let down by lack of any command, erratic kitchen and severe delays which didn't appear to concern any of the staff. At no stage were we even asked if we'd enjoyed anything. Shambolic, neglected experience.

Despite being extremely busy and having a bit of a wait for food, staff were good humoured and provided good service. Food was usual high standard.

Food excellent, service very friendly but slow after initial order. Wine expensive

Great food and great service. A really nice place to meet.

Great food the best potato bravas I’ve had anywhere including Spain

Was so looking forward to this but left flat and disappointed food was good but but service was shocking we waited for again to get service and when we did the waiter asked us if we’re ready to order food we hadn’t been offered drinks yet so we got our drinks and waited ages again to be served we asked the waitress what was the best way to order food she told us 3 dishes each try and take from the top middle and then the bottom so the dishes are staggered but all the dishes landed at the same time on our table for two so dishes everywhere by the time I got to the last one it was cold so not very good then dishes all cleared we waited on desert being offered and as I write this in Sunday morning I’m still waiting to be offered we settled the bill and left disappointed I don’t usually leave without tipping but this time I did to the three people on Saturday the 8th who stood behind the bar chatting and very slowly drying glasses be more attentive to your diners ps no one said bye have a good evening or anything you really must try harder

The prawns, beef and pork croquettes are to die for!!

Very high quality food with friendly service. Early evening so restaurant was quiet Would definitely recommend.

Amazing food, delicious drinks and great service. Exceeded my expectations and I’ll certainly be back.

We ate here last night and the food was fantastic. The attention to detail is wonderful but without being pretentious, and the tempura sea bass is one of the best tapas dishes I've eaten. Given how good their king prawns are, that's high praise! Our waitress was friendly and knowledgeable but unobtrusive, and we had a lovely evening. We'll be back, ideally with friends!

Food was incredible. One of the best meals we’ve had out. Fabulous, thank you!

Brilliant experience. Food was excellent as was the service.

Overall the restaurant looked lovely inside with stunning decor. The food portion size really really let the place down. We ordered 5 or 6 dishes and for the price of them, the value for money was terrible. One of the dishes that we ordered was pork belly croquettes which was either £6.50 or £7.00 and it came on a wooden board with 2 tiny croquettes, for that price I would be expecting 3 or 4 minimum. The boneless chicken wings were very strange, it seemed to be bits of chicken in something similar to aioli/mayonnaise on top of a cracker with salad on top, wasn’t very nice at all and not what I would expect as ‘boneless chicken wings’. Can’t fault the service from the staff as they were very attentive, I can’t help but think that they might be slightly embarrassed to serve the dishes as they are that small. We did hear other diners mentioning the portion sizes.

We ordered from the theatre menu, the food that came, was lovely. Unfortunately there were no oysters and a promised prawn replacement dish was not served. The volume of food to price wasnt great vfm.

The food for the price was small portions and mediocre tasting, style over substance. Absolutely no need for the prawns to come out on top on massive skewers, I would advise making the hot and tasty nice first. The patatas bravas was actually slices of potato with absolutely no colour on them, with a mayo sauce and a tiny bit of tomato in it to dip them in … weird. The main issue was the actual restaurant standard, there are only 2 toilets and neither had been checked for cleanliness or stock. I had to go and ask the staff to refill the toilet roll which it unacceptable in an establishment that will charge you £100+ for dinner for 2 people. Nobody came to check if we were happy with our food or if we wanted to order anything additional, which was also unacceptable. The food portions are so tiny, the fact they suggest 2 per person is mind blowing. The service was 50/50, we were seated by someone I assume is a supervisor or manager as wasn’t in the same uniform, they made us feel like we were a bother for being on time as our table wasn’t ready. Waiters throughout the meal were nice but when when asked at the end how everything was and we said “just ok” the server looked at us confused for a good couple of seconds in silence, no idea how to deal with someone unsatisfied which I thought was odd as I already complained about the standard of the toilets. Would not go back and would not recommend.

The food was delicious however the staff were quite abrupt and unhelpful. We asked about a dish about an hour after ordering as we had a show at the Hydro. The server shook her head and said “different dishes take longer to cook than others”, an hour felt a bit excessive for a small plate. The manager waived the drinks from our bill has we had to order twice before anything was served.

Overpriced, small portions and bad facilities . There was no toilet roll in either of the 2 toilets which is grim.

I have an allergy and the lady who served us last night couldn't be any more helpful😊The environment was lovely as usual and the food was delicious. I would absolutely recommend. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟