Extensive Spanish Wine list
Full bar
Serving dinner
Popular dishes
Paella for Groups
spanish chorizo, shrimp, clams, chicken, calamari, saffron, short grain rice, capers, peas, carrots, onion
17 reviews
Bacon Wrapped Dates
bacon, dates, manchego cheese, pecans
10 reviews
Skirt Steak in Chimichurri Sauce*
grilled thin sliced skirt steak, thin fried red potato rounds
6 reviews
The service was excellent. The staff as very attentive. I will be going back. This is my new spot
Great time! Much better to go with 4 people but 2 will work. Yes you will pay some money but the food is well worth it and will put a smile on your face. I recommend 4 people so that you can get to taste much more of the menu. Everyone should experience this place. People and ambiance are wonderful and being in downtown Durham means there is plenty to do before and after.
Didn’t ask anything although I mentioned a special occasion...
everything was too grilled when we were expecting something more testy
Initially, the hostess declined our service, stating the restaurant was “booked the rest of the night”. After about 20 minutes of trying to locate an alternative for food, I was able to view the open availability of the restaurant on open table... therefore the restaurant was, in fact, NOT completely booked. There were about three other parties dining and the waitress made a point to ask for my friend and I to pay our bill even though we were still eating/drinking. She also stated that we had to be making our way to leave the restaurant since they were closing soon. Mind you the other parties were still sitting comfortably and still dining. Very disappointing encounter seeing as how my initial experience at this restaurant was outstanding.
Absolutely love this restaurant! They have the best wings in NC and the paella is just amazing. Can't pass up the churros either.
The food was delicious and affordable. Nice ambiance. Good service.
Food was excellent. Great wings. Great service from Kelsey.
The food arrived at our table luke-warm and the servers were very pushy for us to leave because they were closing soon. I'm sure I'm like most guest at a restaurant, when you're spending $70 plus dollars on your meal, you want to relax and enjoy it not be pushed out the door.
Traveling through Durham and found this wonderful restaurant. Each of the tapas dishes we had were delicious. Wish we had a restaurant like this where we live!
If you love soggy calamari and dry mussels served to you by a waitress who probably just got off of her day shift at the local Golden Corral then Taberna is the place for you! The bartender, who I am also told is the manager, has brought the quality that you’d expect from an Applebee’s in the outskirts of Cleveland to Downtown Durham! Taberna is a must visit!
Always consistent every time I come here. Good service too.
Absolutely outstanding experience. I dined alone, and they had space at the bar, still spaced out for safety. The staff were very friendly, attentive and enjoyable to talk to. The bacon wrapped dates were divine, a perfect balance of sweet and savory. The calamari was nice and crispy, tasted very fresh without that rubbery texture. I had to fight the urge to go back the next day.
A great place for date night and would recommend trying some of the Spanish wines. Also, don’t forget to try the bacon wrapped dates.
The service was extraordinary and so kind!!! Everything we had was delicious
We were very pleased with the food and service. And impressed with attention to health guidelines. The only minor disappointment was that Taberna was included in the Streetery list, which we assumed meant our outdoor table would be on Main St like a lot of the others, so we were a little disappointed to be on the backside by the parking lot ... other than that it was great.
The service was great and the food even better. Wholeheartedly recommend the restaurant.
The food and the service are usually on point. It was ABSOLUTELY awful this time. Cold, gummy calamari, skirt steak was cold and over cooked the list goes on. However, the Sangria was amazing.
Great food, lots of meat, fish and vegetable options as tapas or larger dish. Very well set out to socially distance, very few diners eating in. We had four tapas dishes between myself and my daughter and it was adequate. Brussel sprout dish and Croquettas de Jamon were our faves!
This is a gem. The food was wonderful and the wine selection was quite good. We'd go back again.
Nice place for tapas, thought the menu was a bit limited but since these are not normal times I understand the need to simplify. The sangria was too sweet for my taste, would ask to cut back on the sweetness next time. The beet salad was terrific!
Decent food, good service. Appreciated having outdoor seating
The food, ambience, & service was EXCELLENT, per usual! My fave tapas restaurants in town.
Excellent food and atmosphere!
Knowledgeable wait staff.
I highly recommend!
I have eaten tapas in many cities and countries and these were some of the worst I have ever had. We had to send back the tortilla espanola because it had no taste. The other dishes were Medicare at best.
Always excellent food and wine!!
The food was just not good enough for the pricing at this place. It was edible, but for $10-15 per tapas plate...you'd expect some good flavors and food that was fresh/made to order. I knew something wasn't right after I ordered short ribs with smoky risotto and it arrived within 4-5 minutes to the table. The beef was tough and the risotto was mush. It seems like most menu items were cooked long before, and then microwaved upon order. The octopus was one item that seemed like it was actually cooked to order. The chorizo in the paella was of very stiff "beef jerky" like consistency, and I wonder if that's what they were going for? The decor is really nice and the service was great and very friendly.
Go! This place is delicious and fun, but sadly empty in weeknights. Since DPAC is closed, they don’t have steady crowds. #EatLocal
Glad to be back. good service, drinks and food on point, great as always, Thanks!
My new favorite restaurant. Love the atmosphere and the food is amazing!
They were so accommodating. We had a great time! Yummy food. Great service. Great date night. (Their vegetarian paella is VEGAN!!! YAY!!)
The food was excellent. The Covid-19 restrictions were fine but not overdone. Service was VERY attentive. We can’t wait to go back!
Sangria was surprisingly good/flavorful, not too sweet, did not just taste like fruit juice. Food was okay - tuna tartare was really great, steak with chimichurri was awful. A little weird that the gazpacho was the last item of the meal to be brought out - after steak and octopus etc. I love tapas style dining, but still expect lighter items to come out towards the beginning of the meal followed by heavier items.
We have visited Taberna‘s on multiple occasions. The food is always good however the service is always lacking. Perhaps it’s just us, but the servers are unenthusiastic and appear distracted. Even my children notice the difference in how we are treated. As a result of this, we only make reservations here when Mateo is unavailable. For my reviews of the food, see my previous reviews of Taberna’s Tapas.
We have a really nice meal every time we go.
Dinner was wonderful. Before Covid it had been one of our favorites. We dined inside and felt Very comfortable with the table spacing and new protocols. Kelsey our waitress did a wonderful job and the food was delicious. We tried a new cauliflower dish with manchego cheese that was the best!
Very rude server/bartender. We left without eating. Horrible!
One of the worst service experiences in a restaurant I have ever had......arrived 7pm with reservation. By 7:30pm had to flag waiter for order. Noted male waiter slamming down glasses and huffing/puffing. 7:50pm female waitress comes over and states "he's having a bad day, and lost your order"! Food arrives fairly quickly, but none of the wine/drinks I ordered at 7:30pm! Such a shame!
Mike provided great service for our group! The food was delicious! We will be back!
Everything was great and felt very comfortable given the COVID situation.
Excellent food and better than expected variety. The bacon wrapped dates are incredible.
FAQs
You can order delivery directly from Taberna Tapas using the Order Online button.
Taberna Tapas is rated 4.4 stars by 1133 OpenTable diners.
Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable. Due to local restrictions, this restaurant may not be accepting reservations at the moment.