El Norte

Positives:

Good location. Nicely greeted. Barman was top drawer (great to watch). Table was nice once seated. Food was upscale Tapas, good. Senior service was very good.

Room for improvement:

Room could use a bit better layout, to improve intimacy. Music was too loud, and dancy (was a Saturday night, however could barely hear each other) in the restaurant, or the lounge, and was a bit dance club, versus high end Spanish tapis Mayfair restaurant.

Final Review:

Priced at 3 of 5 for value. Charging full Mayfair prices, however not yet fully calibrated for full/best value. If they adjust the two items above, would be a useful improvement, that could change the value equation.

This was my second time at the restaurant. Again this time, the service was impeccable, lovely waiting staff and food was brought to the table promptly. The atmosphere was also very good and lively for a Sat evening.

Last time I was there the tomato salad was to die for so we ordered three salads, as they are quite small (we ordered lots of dishes to share among five). When you are charging £39 for three small salads you have to make sure that the tomatoes are outstanding. Sadly this was not the case last Saturday. The tomatoes were totally normal, probably came from the same supplier as the previous time I was there, but they were not ripened enough and were lacking all the flavour. I get that the restaurant is in a very expensive location and, of course, you must be ready and happy to pay the price with your meal. But you must expect quality accordingly.

The second thing I would say is that if this restaurant is trying to play in the league of Annabel's, Scotts and so on, asking the guests to pay for bread is simply a no-no. Bread should be served at the beginning of the meal and completely free of charge. I am from the Basque Country, in El Norte (northern Spain) and as Spanish I can say that a meal in Spain can't happen without bread. And not serving bread for free as part of the meal in this kind of restaurant is simply cheap, sorry. It probably means £2/table that the restaurant can easily afford.

I've written this review with the purpose of highlighting these two things that I think the restaurant should have a look at. The restaurant is great and I really hope they do well because the food, service, location, atmosphere... all is really good. But they look after these things because attention to detail is key and it is what makes the difference in places like these. Its competitors know this too well...

Service and food was amazing!! Highly recommend the white chocolate and pistachio coulant from the desserts menu!

Great new Spanish restaurant, loved all the dished we had, can’t wait to go back and try the rest.

Great dinner as always!
I have been coming here for a while and it is very consistent!

Spanish gem in the heart of Mayfair with succulent food and extensive wine list, service was fast and efficient, will definitely be returning!

Must try this place. Crazy good food service and ambience. Love the entire team there !

Great food we had the pardon peppers, ham croquettes, aubergine and rib eye. The food was rather overpriced for the quality however it is a Mayfair restaurant so what you expect! Service was great - they were friendly and warm.

This restaurant was very beautiful, the food was amazing with generous portions, the drinks were very nice and the staff were spectacular :) will definitely come back again in the future.

Fantastic overall experience!

Must try the Gin January cocktail. It is insane ! Hands down best cocktail I have ever tried.
The team are so lovely and nice. Take care of you start to finish

Incredible food all taste super good!! Taste and smell like in Spain!! 100% recommended! Cocktails superb. Service 10/10.

Proper quality Spanish food. We felt like we were on holidays again! Thank you El Norte, we will be back soon. Your Pluma ibérica was one of the best meats I ever had!

Very mediocre food. Not worth the visit! The decor is awful and dated.

Amazing Dinner, food are super tasty and authentic. High quality on service and food. Overall a great experience

I think the food was very disappointing, I had been told good things..it is an expensive restaurant, I was expecting better.

I already have been a several times at El Norte, and it always delivers. This time I went for a friends night out, and it was a lot of fun. We had great food, cool music, and addictive cocktails. Highly recommend it

Outstanding food, service and atmosphere!!

Really big portion of amazing and tasty food. Lovely desserts and over all brilliant

All absolutely spot on especially food quality

Always a pleasure to visit elNorte , we now make it a habit! And I guess when the staff starting to remember you by your first name, it’s a sign that we go to often :)
We will be back soon for one of the best filet foie gra and a cold noam beer. Thank you Jaume!

We had a wonderful evening! The food was amazing- fine dinning at its best. Great service. We asked for the music to be turned down a bit and this was done willingly. It is a bit expensive but definitely worth it!

Amazing restaurant. Food out of this world. My favorite Pluma and Jamón croqueta. Service as well very good! 100% recommended.

You can tell this place knows what they are doing, Spanish food at its best! 100% recommended

Spectacular restaurant. I especially loved the truffle tortilla, goat cheese croquettes (whoever invented this is a genius), tomato salad, Jamon iberico and the octopus. And the best for last !!! Chestnut mousse. It’s probably my favourite desert now 😍

Food was not particularly interesting, served everything at the same time even though there was no space on our table

Outstanding food, waiter really helpful and gave a couple of recommendations…. Bit of a funny one- made a note that it was an anniversary on the booking form. Only for a happy birthday dessert to come out!

Very good food 👌

Great Spanish food served sharing style, perfect if you love, as I do, to try as many dishes as possible. We will be coming back very soon.

Fantastic meal. Really top restaurant. Worth a visit!

The best Spanish restaurant in London!
I cannot recommend it enough: from the elegant atmosphere, to the amazing cocktails which are not only good but also nicely presented, to the delicious and authentic food and finally to the service which is impeccable.

I have been to El Norte few times already and it keeps improving! Large choice of freshly prepared dishes is offered on the menu, we tried their special Ginuary cocktail which was outstanding! Service was fast and efficient as usual, will definitely be returning! Muchas gracias a todos!

True Spanish flavours, high quality ingredients and professional service. What else can you ask for? 100% recommended

Amazing experience! All the food that we had was amazing. Calamari, jamon croqueta, asparagus and the pluma!! Cocktails 12/10 we try the Cupido and La siesta. AMAZING!!

My favourite restaurant in Mayfair. The food amazes me every time and I just had the gin January cocktail for the first time which is the best thing I’ve ever had. A special Spanish gin with a melon twist. Sooooo delicious. The staff also make you have the best time and are so warm

Was outstanding really good food and wonderful service definitely will go again

Delicious food! Amazing sangria. Service was fantastic. Enjoyed my experience here.

Service and food quality were very good, but the restaurant is noisy and we were asked to leave quite promptly after we finished, as they needed the table. Overall, it is quite pricey for what it is. In particular, there is a huge mark-up on wine, with the price you pay for a glass being more than the price for an entire bottle of the same wine when purchased in a shop. Also, the dessert menu is underwhelming, with limited choice.

Wonderful service, a great wine list, and if you want great meat and poultry there’s nothing better. The Baby Chicken was to die for!

Good food - top end tapas. Compares well with good Galician restaurants. Croquettes,peppers and calamari excellent. Pricey but then it is Dover Street so what do you expect?