La Tasca - Restaurant Review

La Tasca is a Spanish tapas restaurant with a half dozen locations in the Washington, D.C. area. A friend of the Mrs. was in town attending a medical conference. We met up with the friend after the first day of the conference and headed out to Jaleo originally. But the wait was close to a half hour for a table. So we headed over to La Tasca.

Spanish tapas is similar to Cantonese dim sum. You order a series of small plates and share. We ordered nine dishes in all. Most were good or very good. I liked the calamares a la Andaluza (lightly fried calamari), costillas de cerdo (pork spare ribs) and the paella de verduras (vegetable rice).

My biggest disappointment was not with the food itself, but the small portions. For example, the asparagus dish came with four shoots - which worked out to $1.24 per shoot. That's ridiculous. When La Tasca first opened, the portions where much larger and the prices were lower. Granted, expenses have gone up. But throwing in a few more shrimp or asparagus shoots into a dish won't break the restaurant revenue stream.

The DC location is situated a couple of blocks south of the Convention Center. It appears the DC location has become a tourist trap - charging high prices and offering small portions. I just hope the other locations offer better portions for the prices charged.