Possibly daft question… how do you order tapas?

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

We’re going to a tapas place for Christmas work do tonight and neither me nor my husband have ever been. Tapas is the one with lots of tiny dishes, right? Just want to be prepared 😅

They usually have something on the menu saying 'we recommend 3 tapas per person'. If it's a Christmas do I would expect there will be a set menu so you will all be ordering the same number of things. I go 2 safe choices and 1 I'll take a chance on.

Is the menu online? It helps to have a look and see what items you'd like to share

If I’m out with a friend we'll agree on dishes to share, and maybe one to keep to ourselves. This works well is you have a mixture of vegetarians and meat-eaters.

Must have patatas bravas

Either 2 dishes pp and a couple to share or 3 pp. If it’s a big group there are usually mini sharing type tapas starters for the table. Ask the server they can recommend.

Tapas is a great way to order a couple of dishes you haven't tasted before rather than a full meal. Like a tasting menu with a Spanish emphasis.
We tend to go for three each, and maybe a couple to share.
I like fish, OH prefers meat, something for everyone.
Hope you have a lovely evening.

I have only done Tapas with a big group once and it was a set menu. They just brought out a series of large plates of a variety of different dishes. I was with a mix of students and staff and the staff had a great time because many of the students were very fussy. The cheer when “onion rings” arrived was huge, the disappointment when these turned out to be calamari was enormous!
If you are ordering DH and I would have two meat, one or two seafood and one or two vegetables to start between us. Definitely patatas braves and chorizo in red wine and probably padron peppers. The great thing is that you can keep ordering until you are full!

Tapas without a set menu and a big group is v expensive and difficult to organise. Each item eg meatballs comes with say 3 pieces so you need ten dishes for everyone to get one meatball and Sarah down the other end has three so two people don't get one.

Have to say I've never quite understood why a dish is both small and "to share".
Small plates, so a person can sample a bit of everything - fine.
Sharing plates, so many people can try a small bit of it - fine.

But a small saucer of three meatballs where you're carefully chopping a meatball in half to share - doesn't make much sense, unless there's nothing that's nice enough to want more than one bite of!

I admit I don't like sharing though! Order your own patatas bravas!

Ask staff how many they would recommend per person.

Urg. A "work do" tapas meal will be very different from a nornal tapas meal. There will probably be a set menu and someone will be eagle-eyed keeping track that brian ate 3 prawns when the ration was 2 each.

Your food won't arrive all at once each thing will come out of the kitchen when it's ready.

The best way to have tapas is if your main priority is to talk and laugh and drink wine with your friends, who you love dearly enough that no one really cares if someone is getting more than they proportionally paid for, and the food while delicious and plentiful isn't really the focus but just keeps arriving at the table and occasionally blowing your mind with its flavour to add to the flow of conversation. I can't see it working like that with a bunch of colleagues.

Oh no I didn’t even think about a set menu! DH is SO picky, I think he spotted one possibly two things on the main menu that he’d try 🤦🏼‍♀️

"I didn't eat scampi so I'm not paying for the scampi"
"How old are you, 7?"

Love that advert

They are small dishes so you just order a few and they come at once (nearly at once, not like main and starter) . It depends on your appetite, your DH’s appetite and what kind of tapas you are after. Usually they recommend 3 but sometimes I am ok with 2 if it’s meat ones, or you can do 4 if they are mostly veggies and one is a salad one. Some places do sort of small starters and bread so it will count as well. Also will you go for a desert or not.
And you can always order more…

If you are splitting it six ways you haven’t ordered enough! Order 6 things between two of you, then you get six half plates each. Which isn’t too ridiculous to share, and means you get to try more dishes than you would if you ordered for yourself. And if there’s something you try and don’t like, somebody else will probably eat the rest of it so less wastage.

I'd expect a large group Christmas party to be a set menu, otherwise it will be chaos.

Does the restaurant website give any clue?

But these are usually the most popular dishes like garlic prawns, patatas bravas, tomato bread and meatballs so a good selection and something for everyone.

There's always plenty of food, even though the dishes are small it's quite filling and people don't go hungry.

Enjoy!

That sounds like a him problem, and a childish one at that. Just enjoy your food and let him order patata bravas and get on with it.

Why is your husband going to your work do? Or do you work together?

Unusual to have not been sent a menu. I've got my work Christmas meal on Wednesday and have chosen my 3 courses in advance!

I don’t have a work do, I’m a SAHM. I’ve been invited to his 😊

That’s such a boring choice.

Well there's a chance the fussy DH might eat it then.

Yeah, but any food thread where tapas is mentioned has someone pipe up to say that you simple just get patatas bravas. As if it’s some incredibly Spanish dish. There are many many really delicious tapas dishes to try but always…. “Get patatas bravad.” Ugh 🙄

Nobody is saying just get patatas bravas are they? It is a reliably nice tapas dish, a good recommendation for something that most people will like.

Yes how absolute dare people suggest a simple food that my husband may eat. I was outraged I tell you, outraged.

@berksandbeyond

Many employers invite partners, less common that it was but still fairly normal.

As to tapas, being a work event it may be that the food is pre ordered for the table, but if you are ordering, look for things like chicken and chorizo, garlic mushrooms, meatballs, tortilla (Spanish omelette), calamari etc for the less adventurous palate (he might surprise you though in front of work colleagues). For 2 people usually we order 5 tapas and bread.