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Embrujo Flamenco
Category: Restaurants Tapas Bars Tapas Bars [Edit]
97 Danforth AveToronto, ON M4K 1N2
Neighbourhood: Riverdale
(416) 778-0007
- Hours:
Mon-Thu, Sun 5 pm - 11 pm
Fri-Sat 5 pm - 12 am
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Romantic
- Has TV:
- No
18 reviews for Embrujo Flamenco
18 reviews in English
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Review from Anna D.
Vancouver, BC
5/14/2012 1 Check-in Here
Just flew in from Vancouver and came for my first time on a Wednesday night. Only a few patrons were seated, which threw me off, and though the waiter was a bit snooty, they served amazing Spanish food, as voted best Spanish and Tapas in 2011 by one of the free local papers. Love the sangria, the Gambas with Anise cream sauce, chorizo in brandy and duck confit with pears.
I'm going to try to befriend the chef in hopes that she'll teach me a thing or two after the kitchen closes at 10pm or come back for a show to watch flamenco dancers -
Review from Michy M.
York, ON
1/29/2012
The service was excellent - prompt and courteous.
FOOD
There is a minimum $30 per person on a night that there is a show. With the prices of the tapas this is easy to meet. They recommend 2-3 tapas per person, but I would recommend 3 tapas each. We made the mistake of ordering 5 tapas all at once which made it kind of awkward since the tables are small, so you can't really have them all on the table at the same time.
We order the sauteed mushrooms, calamari, empanadillas de pollo, the special w/ halibut, and the tortilla. I was still hungry at the end of it, but we ended up getting desert so that wasn't a horrible thing. We split a caramel flan (which was tiny for $7.50) which was very good. We've been to Seville and Grenada and the food comes very close to tasting authentic, however the portions are smaller than in Spain.
We had a half pitcher of Sangria with the meal and it was delicious and inexpensive (esp. compared to the wine).
SHOW
I went there on a Saturday night for the 7:00 pm show. I was told to get there at 6:30 pm but the show didn't start until closer to 7:30 pm. The show was a lot shorter than I expected. It was maybe 4 or 5 songs and lasted I think about 20 minutes. It was not what I had expected from a restaurant that promotes the show as being part of the dining experience.
- The food tasted great and the service was good, so I would have given this place 4 starts if it wasn't for the shortness of the show and the small portions. -
Review from Emilia M.
North York, ON
1/14/2012
Great experience. Close to the subway. Convenient if you do not want to drive. Worth checking the venue - at least to see what it is like. Entertaining Flamenco dancer and Spanish guitarists. Note it is kind of pricey. Food was good. We ordered Arroz negro and Paella Embrujo and some tapas Quite filling! I also ordered Spanish Coffee and Flan for dessert. Average taste.
We were here on FabFind coupon with total of 5 people and the price was still hefty but we had an excellent waiter and very helpful. We tipped on the price before coupon. -
Review from Neha S.
Toronto, ON
7/21/2011
I went to Embrujo Flamenco last night to enjoy their Summerlicious offerings and was pleasantly surprised by the experience! Now, I did a fair bit of research on the restaurant before I went and I was expecting to hate the service or have some issue with the food (if you read other reviews, they are extreme in either direction!)
We arrived at about 7:30 (party of 2) and the restaurant was very packed and the atmosphere was amazing from the get go! Since it was a Wednesday night, they had their flamenco show going on, which was great to watch during dinner. In terms of food, I don't think I have ever tasted anything quite like the watermelon soup! I particularly enjoyed the chicken empanadas and the embrujo fritatas, the chicken empanadas were just the perfect size and the crust was warm and flaky, just the way I like it. My friend got the tortilla and the lamb meatballs. The lamb meatballs were really a delight and there was just the slightest hint of mint (which really made the dish for me).
The service wasn't as horrible as people make it out to be at all. The waitress was kind and smiled the entire time. She may not have been constantly asking us if we needed anything, but I can't say that I enjoy that kind of behavior when I'm eating dinner anyway.
We didn't drink any wine, but from perusing the list they have a GREAT selection that I can hopefully indulge in next time we go out to Embrujo. Overall, it was a great first summerlicious experience and I can't wait to go back and try the regular menu :) -
Review from Sam C.
2/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
Seems to be the consensus on Yelp that this is a 3 star restaurant. It's definitely worth checking out if you've never been and make sure you have a seating during a flamenco show (definitely adds to the experience).
On this visit we tried the traditional Paella with the bomba rice, the Ceviche, and Gambas en Anis. The only dish that really stood out to me was the Ceviche which i thought was just refreshing and tasty. The rest were just okay, not the best Spanish food/tapas i've ever had but it's decent. We also tryied their red sangria which I though was a little bland and didn't have the traditional fruits in it that I'm use to.
I do get the feeling that the owners of the restaurant are very entrepreneuiral in their prices. I happen to be there the weekend before Valentine's day and they marketed that weekend as if it were really Valentine's day. They had minimum charges per person, you had to secure your reservation with a credit card and no shows would get charged, and removed a lot of the lower price point items from the menu (I know cause I looked at their menu online beforehand). It does feel like you get nickel and dimed which is a bit of a turnoff for a restaurant. I would understand the practices if this were a 3 Michelin star restuarant in NYC but it's not. -
Review from Catherine L.
Toronto, ON
3/28/2011
Considering I was part of the quintuple date with Karen S, I don't have too much to add to her review.
The dishes that I enjoyed the most was the shrimp. The butter sauce was delicious - but when isn't it?
For the price we paid, I can't really say that the menu was very memorable or really stood out. While the food wasn't bad, I can't way it was very good either.
The service and atmosphere was good, but the dancing was very fast and didn't engage the audience.
Try it once if you're craving spanish tapas, but I wouldn't go again. -
Review from Belinda I.
North York, ON
12/31/2011 1 Check-in Here
It's a fun experience, but overall the food quality was kind of disappointing. If you haven't try Spanish tapas before, do go and give it a try. But I don't think I'll go again anytime soon.
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Review from Jay W.
Markham, ON
12/11/2010
As you can see from the other reviewers, this place can be a little pricey, BUT... it's got a really nice cosy vibe to it and the food quality is pretty good. EF was probably one of the first real tapas joints in TO before the small plates craze hit a few years back, so kudos to EF for introducing TO to real tapas.
Portion sizes really are hit and miss, but if you just chat up your server, he/she will guide you through the menu for items that are more filling than others. Don't worry about the price too much and just order what appeals to you. If you choose your tapas by price only, then your dinner experience won't be as good.
They have an in house sangria that's pretty tasty and cheap too! On Fridays and weekends they have the flamenco dancers and live music. Great place for an entertaining yet romantic date. -
Review from Karen S.
3/15/2011
We were a group of 10 on a quintuple date and the guys pretty much made the call to order all the tapas on 2 pages of the menu - plus a paella or two. Given that the portion size of tapas is in reverse proportion to the quantity of food that these men can ingest (the ladies helped out too, of course), ordering two pages plus of the menu isn't as overwhelming as one might think.
We had an awesome time enjoying each others' company and our server was very attentive. However, the final bill really was not a good reflection on the overall gastronomic and atmospheric experience.
This place is too expensive for the quality of the experience. Having tried most of the protein infused tapas, I can say that most items are either too plain, uninspired, overcooked or, overpowering with not enough, or inappropriate accompaniments. I really enjoyed the cod and the liver pate. The various shrimp dishes were uninspired. In one, the butter sauce was tasty, but the shrimp seemed overcooked. The chorizo was um... chorizo and the chicken was literally lumps of chicken. We had the classic paella and though the rice was tasty, the mussels, chicken and chorizo were not of the best quality. We also had various beers that were tasty and the white wine sangria that I would highly recommend.
The flamenco dancing 'gimmick' lasted for what seemed like the blink of an eye. We were there for quite a while and too busy enjoying chatting with each other to notice too much though.
Overall, this is probably a place that you might want to try once. Parking is either on the street or in a green P. I hear there is free parking after 6pm on Broadview. -
Review from Dale M.
Toronto, ON
4/3/2010
If you walk in the door, don't expect to walk back out with a full belly unless you're dropping a least $40-$50 per person before drinks. Do expect to get a delicious variety of very well-done Spanish classics like tortilla, chorizo or chicken in sherry.
Embrujo, and I suppose the tapas concept in general does well with groups. Our cast of about 30 was well-taken care of and I feel like our servers earned their auto-gratuity (something that usually grates me because it removes the incentive to actually do a good job). I wouldn't recommend trying this yourself, but our guest of honour was close to an hour late and we got no grief for it from the staff, at least that I know of. The only point of contention was with the wine service - they carried 3 house reds the night we visited, and one of the guests noticed at the end of the night that our server had been pouring the ~$10/glass house red instead of the ~$7/glass option. Better communication on the server's part could easily have avoided leaving a bad taste in at least one guest's mouth (so to speak).
Since we tried a rather large sample of the menu, it's worth running through the list with a few points on each. Foodgasms erupted occasionally around our table as some of these dishes were tried for the first time:
Olives
To snack on before dinner, dishes of green olives in oil were brought to the table. Perhaps the most delicious plain olives I've ever eaten - beautifully soft, fall-off-the-pit olives.
Tortilla $6 (a cross between quiche and frittata)
Spanish tortilla shares only its name with the Mexican variety. This is a baked mix of eggs, onions and potatoes and was surprisingly flavourful even before I topped it with a bit of the aioli-type spread that came alongside it (which added more than a hint of creamy goodness). One of our party grew up in Spain, and swore by both the tortilla and the olives as being the next best thing to home.
Champanones al Ajillo $7 (Mushrooms in garlic olive oil)
More then one guest was raving about the mushrooms, saying they were the best they'd ever had. I wouldn't go that far personally, but they were fantastic for sure: tender, juicy and dripping with garlic oil.
Patatas Bravas $7 (Homefries, sort of)
I found these a bit salty, as did many in our group. Basically, we're talking about home fries topped with a tomato-based sauce. Nothing to write home about.
Pechuga de Pollo al Jerez $9 (Chicken in Sherry)
I was fortunate to have been seated with several vegetarians, meaning it was open season for me on the meat dishes. This worked beautifully with the chicken and chorizo (up next), and I think I may have eaten a plate of each myself! The chicken was cut into perfect bites if you're looking for something more than a delicate nibble, but the flavourful coating was rich enough to overcome the low surface-area-to-volume ratio that arises with larger chunks of meat and can lead to poor flavour density.
Chorizo Seco $14 (Diced Chorizo)
Surprisingly skinny sausages, thinly sliced and served in oil (again with the oil!). The menu says it's served with cheese, but I didn't detect any. No matter - still delicious. A little spicier than I would have expected for Spanish food, but wouldn't scare away anyone but the wimpiest of diners.
Croquetas de Bacalao $8 (Codfish Croquettes)
Beyond the potatoes, this was the only other miss of the night. I suppose there's something to be said for nodding at tradition, but the fact is that cod is bland, and the sauce it was served with didn't do much to help. I wouldn't bother with this one again.
Generally, we were very happy with the meal and the experience, though value-for-money was a concern, notwithstanding the quality of the food we enjoyed. The flamenco show wasn't overly exciting, but the live music that accompanied it made a nice backdrop.Listed in: My Epic Reviews
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Review from Tong J.
6/8/2010
We love tapas restaurants, having sampled ones in NYC, Chicago and Washington. We had high hopes for this one after looking at the website. The ambiance was great, service was attentive and friendly.
However the food was just average. For example the garlic shrimp were bland, the potatoes were soggy and again lacking in flavour. For the price we were disappointed. -
Review from Bijan V.
8/13/2008
For an rather expensive Tapas Bar (for me anyways) this place didn't live up to my expectations. They do live Flamenco performances here (Wednesday through Sunday nights) which was a treat and the performances were pretty decent but I personally didn't like the tapas compared to other Tapas places I've been to (especially in other cities like San Francisco).
The service was good and the ambience of the place is okay (not a bad place for a date) but again very expensive for not so great food. They didn't really have anything creative or unexpected that you regularly find at tapas bar's, it seemed like just regular old food (why am I paying nearly $30 for it then!?). They recommend you have 6-8 tapas, I think we settled on 6 and it was a good amount. -
Review from Tiffany G.
Toronto, ON
10/25/2008
DELICIOUS. Only downside though, is the price. But, this is a great place for a birthday or romantic outing. There are many tapas to choose from like the goat cheese and honey one (yum) or the steak with three sauces...also yum. The best time is when there is Flamenco dancing perfomances...just adds a whole new element to the dining experience.
Average for 2 comes out to $120-$140 (with bottle of wine, tax and tip) but well worth it!Listed in: Top Eateries
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Review from Min Min T.
Scarborough, ON
11/7/2010
Came here for a Saturday night dinner after a few friends recommended it. We arrived around 5:30 pm with reservations; at that time, there were half a dozen other small tables. Most of the clientele here were affluent and white. Well ... surprise, surprise.
The menu is arranged according to the kind of meat you want - seafood, beef, etc. Luckily for us two, there was a whole page of vegetarian tapas, with 10 different choices. Our waiter, who was outstanding (up to the point where he started forgetting about us as the room began to fill up), suggested 6-8 tapas for two people. We ordered six and found ourselves pretty stuffed. Note that we also had complimentary bread and half a litre of red wine:
1) Green olives - Not a fan of green olives, so perhaps I'm not the best judge. Alright.
2) Pimentos stuffed with cheese - Not particularly impressive, rather bland. I kept thinking, maybe we should have gone to Frida. Damn, now THOSE were good.
3) Fresh peas with almond and tomato paste - Neither my partner or I smelled or tasted the alleged almond, but this was a nice light dish that we devoured quickly. I'd order this again.
4) Beets - For some reason it tastes like ... popcorn. Don't ask me, you have to try it yourself! My partner said that this was reminiscent of a Ukrainian dish. Not a fan of beets but it was still good.
5) Mushrooms - Definitely my favourite and I refrained from pouring the remaining garlic butter sauce into my mouth. I noticed another woman nearby who was dipping her fork in the sauce and sucking on it!
6) Eggplant - Were slightly soggy, but it tasted nice, dusted with salt and accompanied by spiced mayonnaise, which I also ate most of.
I would have liked to try the mushroom paella, which is the only other vegetarian main on the menu, but it cost $39 for two people and would have taken an additional 40 minutes. Maybe it's because I'm Chinese, but as much as I love good rice, there is no way I'm paying that much for it!
The meal was satisfying overall and while most of the vegetarian tapas were $7-10, it wasn't worth the price tag. Our bill, including tips, would have been $95. Luckily, we came with a Groupon, so we managed to save $25. Still pretty steep, if you ask me.
Will have to come back for the flamenco shows, and maybe just dessert.
3.5/5 stars -
Review from ness y.
Toronto, ON
12/16/2008
Good date restaurant. Especially if you don't want to talk, or if it's a first date.
The entertainment will give you an out of convo or give you something to talk about afterwards.
Food's not bad, but nothing special either.
I did like that the tapas were actually tapas sized, and not too accommodating to north american palates for pig-sized pig-portions. but it still felt too kitchsy for my liking. Been around Spain, and I much prefer the quieter, subtler, less-HEY THIS IS SPANISH FOOD!-stuff. -
Review from Hazel P.
6/6/2011
I actually went to Emrujo a while ago & forgot to write a review. Anyways, my husband & I went there with another couple who are friends of ours. The restaurant is a tad small, but it looks modern & bright. At night they dim the lights & it was a cozy atmosphere. The food was good. And the flamenco dancer with guitarist was very good. We got seats right by the stage so it was nice. Though a couple of times I thought she was going to hit us, the stage was so small. LOL.
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Review from Jen S.
Toronto, ON
10/18/2010
The food sucks, the drinks are watered down, and our waitress really sucked. We had to flag her down to get service. This place is way over priced. If you go when there is entertainment you must spend $60 per person which shows how shitty this resturant is.
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Review from Ariel G.
3/18/2009
Had a great and very very romantic meal there. The service was great, and the food was excellent. The white anchovies are very highly recommended. After coming back from Spain recently this restaurant is certainly on par with the restaurants there. Excellent.
