Tinto Tapas Bar

Best tapas in Glasgow! Been going here for years and the standard has never dropped even as they have expanded to a places in EK, Uddingston and the West end. Always make time to go here when I can, which was as recent as Saturday there, as always a fantastic feast was had, I really do think it’s just a cut above the rest

One of those wonderful serendipitous finds.
The place we were going to eat stopped serving early so we went for a wee drive, spotted this place and took a chance.
Got a cosy booth near the back, ordered a couple of Tapas each and got our knitting out — yes you read that right. With Spanish kitchen staff and Spanish radio I almost forgot it was November in Glasgow.
The food — Spanish omelette, ham shank & chicken fillet salad — came promptly and was delicious. The portions were just right and the price per tapas ranged from £4-£8. The staff were very chilled and didn’t rush us or keep coming up every two minutes to see if we were satisfied with our meal which is one of my bug bears.
I can imagine it’s very busy at the weekends and you’d need to boom but on a wet Thursday night it was busy but not too busy.
Will def be back to try more of their Tapas.

I have been going here for over 6 years now and the food is simply amazing. The baked goats cheese is out of this world.
I took my son who is 4 and the staff went out of their way to make him chicken nuggets and even went to the shop next door to get smarties to go with his Ice cream.

Having done an after work dash to IKEA my sister and I arrived back to the south side ready for some dinner… she had never eaten in Tinto before so I agreed we should try it (I’ve been once before and enjoyed it). We hadn’t booked and to be honest were lucky to get a table — crazy you may think on a miserable Tuesday night but every Tuesday all Tapas is £2.50!!! Food was excellent were had…
Gambas pil pil, Patas Bravas (think that is all the Spanish I can remember!) baked goats cheese, aubergine fritter with Spanish honey, fried cheese with mojo dip & mushrooms with garlic and cream all washed down with a jug of sangria! The mushrooms were a little disappointing but to be honest maybe that was because everything else was so super tasty they just didn’t stand out… we did demolish the dish though!
We had Churros for dessert which were also amazing.
The service was friendly and we even got a Spanish lesson from the waiter.
Can’t recommend this place enough! The atmosphere was superb, tasty food and awesome service!
A couple of hours holiday to Sunny Spain on a wet & windy Scottish Tuesday evening.

I’ve been going to Tinto Tapas fairly regularly since it opened (I live nearby) and have always really enjoyed it — the atmosphere, friendly staff, food.
However, the last twice I have been were not good experiences.
On my most recent visit (17^th October 2014), I went with a friend as a pre-​birthday treat. I had recommended it to my friend based on previous positive experiences.
We ordered tinto wings which is one of their specials — I have always really enjoyed this — chicken wings with a really tasty, sticky sauce. It arrived with almost no sauce, dried up and no flavour. I complained about it and was offered an alternative free of charge. I ordered another chicken dish from the specials menu and it was equally dry and bland.
We ordered the steak strips from the specials menu — it was about £8 for 4 small bits of beef — it was chewy and not nice at all.
I enjoyed the goats cheese and caramelised onion dish which was nice as always and the pear and blue cheese salad which was also nice.
When the waitress was clearing our plates and tapas dishes away, she spilt a whole tapa dish of fish oil, which remained in one of our tapa dishes, all down my jacket which was over back of a spare seat next to me. Luckily it was a jacket that could be washed otherwise it would have been ruined — not only that but I had to carry about a fishy smelling jacket for the rest of the night!
The manager came over and I explained my bad experience from start to finish and he offered to give me the bottle of wine for free which didn’t seem adequate compensation. After some negotiation, he discounted two other items from the bill.
I don’t know if it has changed management but I didn’t recognise any of the staff there that night from previous visits. I won’t be back! Shame.

If you asked me a couple of months ago, I would have happily given this place 4 stars. The first time I went I was amazed by how delicious the food was, and was completely taken with the cosy atmosphere. With that said, I’ve been to Tinto 4 times in total, and twice I’ve had a negative experience.
I went last night with two friends and I actually could not believe how awful the service was. Now, I’m usually not one to complain but when I’m hungry and my food doesn’t arrive a certain rage comes alive inside of me.
Let me start at the beginning; we all ordered water and it was as if we spit in the guy’s soup. He looked annoyed. Now, we were planning on ordering an alcoholic beverage, which I why I said «I’ll just have a water for now» but he dramatically took our wineglasses from the table, only to have to bring them back when we ordered sangria with our meal.
We then made our order with a lovely girl, although it seemed clear it was her first day so you had to say everything twice, and point at the menu before she knew what we wanted. With that said, at least she was sweet.
The food then took a while to come out, but that’s acceptable as they were busy. Everything came except my salad, the tomato sauce for the patatas braves and honey for my aubergine. I thought maybe they were coming back but they didn’t. I had to get their attention in a busy restaurant which wasn’t easy and it turns out that they forgot about my salad. The server apologised and said it was her fault for forgetting to write it down. Cool, no issues there. Then they say that they don’t have any tomato sauce for my friend’s patatas bravas and bring him garlic mayo instead. WHY DIDN’T THEY MENTION THE LACK OF SAUCE BEFORE??? ITS NOT PATATAS BRAVAS WITHOUT THE SAUCE ITS POTATO WEDGES!!!
We then eat our meal and finish everything. We’re offered dessert but my friend asks for more patatas and chicken. This was to the RUDE lady who works there who never, ever smiles and makes us feel like we’re doing something wrong by just asking for food in a restaurant. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that what you do? Order and eat food in a restaurant?
Anyway she comes back about 5 mins later and says that it will take a while for the food, he’s better off just ‘not bothering’ unless he wants to wait. Then she says there’s a table booked there for 8:30 so he’ll need to finish by then!
My friend says he’s happy to wait and that was clearly the wrong answer (she wasn’t happy). They cleared our table of the rest of the dishes ALONG WITH THE SANGRIA WE HADN’T FINISHED!
We then proceeded to waited 30 minutes, no food came and then we were rudely brought the bill WITH THE FOOD ON IT THAT NEVER CAME. I asked for a new bill and the guy brought it back, with the correct items and all of a sudden he was super nice.
Horrendous service and rude staff. I honestly don’t think I could bring myself to ever go back.

Normally love Tinto, Great wee, cosy restaurant. We (my wife and I) have been lots as a couple or with friends. Love the food and atmosphere and being allowed the time to chill.
went tonight, 20 years married. we decided to have a nice quiet night, still got the kids at home and it is a Tuesday night. Anyway great food, place was really busy and the waiter was great but only two waiting staff plus guy who spent night at bar and the lady. She was having a really bad night because frosty would have been good. Put a damper on a special day. Will think again about going back. Great to fill the place but you have to staff up with people who want to be there. Real pity.

Definitely one of my favourite restaurants in the southside and my favourite tapas restaurant in Glasgow. Food is always good though service can be a little slow when it’s busy. Fortunately though the friendliness of the staff more than makes up for it! They change the menu seasonally and always have a good range of specials so even if you managed to work your way through the menu it would be hard to get bored of the food here.

I love tapas and would probably live on tapas style dishes for the rest of my life if it was feasible for me to cook like that at home. Alas, I’m not going to do all the washing up that would be involved, so am happy to eat out for tapas as often as possible. When the awesome Raquel R suggested a Sunday catch up over tapas, I was in. We hadn’t made a booking and got a seat at the booths at the back which was a great spot for a chat without getting disturbed.
I ordered:
Pollo Croquetas (homemade chicken croquettes)
Berenjena (aubergine fritters and Spanish honey)
Carne de Ternera (flash fried beef strips with garlic and chilli and red onion)
Aubergine/​eggplant is always a firm favourite of mine so I was pleased to give this a try. I’m pretty sure I’ve had it on a previous visit to Tinto actually, and it was really well prepared — a light, crispy batter with tasty eggplant tucked inside. It wasn’t soggy or oily and the honey added a nice refreshing sweetness to the fried batter.
The beef strips were lovely, and a good amount for the price. Nicely flavoured, perhaps a little more sauce could have been nice but no real complaints.
The croquettes were the only thing that I found a little disappointing in that they were a bit bland, and possibly not chicken (maybe fish?). A bit high in the stodge department so I didn’t love these like the other dishes.
Service was good — friendly, helpful and they didn’t seem bothered by our chatting long after we’d finished eating. There was a little awkward moment when we went to place our order and the waitress disappeared for a while but nothing that really affected the experience.
The bill came to an incredibly reasonable £22 for two people (3 tapas each) with drinks so there must be some kind of discounted lunch/​pre-​theatre option which I didn’t know about — bonus!

I love this place. The food has always been good and I like the cosy atmosphere. I tend to go during pre-​theatre times as otherwise I do think that it is bit expensive for what it is and that would be my only gripe.

+ Breakfasts great, service friendly, price reasonable.
— Two visits so far and both times they’ve only had bread, no bagels or croissants. Still, the toast is nice (& the french toast is nicer).

My most favourite Spanish tapas eating place in Glasgow. On a Tuesday night all tapas are £2.50, although the portions are slightly smaller than they are usually, It gives you a bigger selection to try without stuffing yourself, excellent idea, MORE DISHES for LESS MONEY!!!
Myself and my wife are regular visitors to here, and we’ll always go back.
Well run family business!!!
If you like Spanish food and ambience then this is pretty close!!!

Upon entering Tinto on a Tuesday night, we were greeted with a bustling and sunny atmosphere even in January, all warm lighting and Spanish pop music. Although a little crowded inside, the atmosphere itself makes up for that. I pleased to note that all the plates of Tapas were £2.50 on a Tuesday so we set about ordering copious amounts. The place did seem somewhat understaffed though, and there seemed to be endless confusion with our order, which culminated with the waiter just giving us the extra plates of tapas he’d brought our table by mistake and not adding them to the bill, which was a nice surprise.
The tapas we ordered was very good, although I will admit if it hadn’t been Tuesday I would have resented paying £4.50 for two croquets or a couple of slices of black pudding, but no matter! The Crema Catalana was great too.
I would definitely recommend eating here on a Tuesday or getting pre-​theatre.

Tinto sets itself up in the style of a Spanish Taverna, though admittedly most Tapa bars I’ve been to in Spain, avoid the gaudy look this place has. Yet this, and Manu Chao playing over the speakers did make me love the place. As one of my fellow diners commented — the place made you feel like it was summer.
Myself and 3 others hit up the restaurant on a Tuesday — the £2.50 plate night. The wide range of tapas meant that none of us ordered the same dish! The food that we ordered was all very tasty, albeit was quite oily.
Of particular mention, for different reasons:
Seabass Special: (Not on the £2.50 menu, but £7.50!!)
Seabass in a white wine and garlic/​herb butter sauce. Bloody hell it was to die for, they got the skin so nice and crisp and it worked wonders with the garlic.
Pan Catalan:
Normally, it’s really just bread with a bit of tomato rubbed in — a fairly simple side dish that you can get anywhere in Barcelona. This was utterly flooded with oil.
The kitchen was down a couple of staff that night, so they made a lot of mistakes, though to our benefit — we ended up some extra tapas on the house.
The staff were friendly, the food was tasty. The only thing that I have to say is that the portion sizes, were fairly small (aside from the Seabass). If it weren’t a £2.50 plate night, I probably would have felt a little cheated money wise.
Overall, I found the food enjoyable and the restaurant to be fun. I would not hesitate to return on a Tuesday night.

Not so sure about this place.
One moment service is really good, next moment, I am still waiting for my plate (which I gave up on in the end).
Taste of the tapas dishes we had was ok.
I am not convinced it is a suitable place for vegetarians; seemed as if the vegi batter was done in the same «pot» as meat/​fish dishes.
Price wise medium for a tapas, good deal for 3 tapas dishes as certain times.

I might even give this place the dreaded two-​star «Meh,» but they have this great deal on Tuesdays – all tapas are £2.50 each. They have some good lunch and pre-​theatre specials as well.
But I wouldn’t make a special trip here – the tables are very cramped together and the service is harried and occasionally rude. Blatant eye-​rolling should you dare ask for a refill of your water glass – that kind of thing. There were three waitresses on: a grumpy older blonde woman, a grumpy younger Spanish woman, and a bubbly younger Scottish woman. Odds are, you’re going to get a grump. There are about ten tables so it’s really not the kind of place where a server is going to be rushed off their feet (I was a server for three years, I know of what I speak), yet the two grumpy ladies would literally run away from our table before we could finish asking for what we needed.
We were also sat for some reason in the most cramped table in the place, despite my husband’s big backpack, my big bump, and the availability of more accessible two-​tops further into the restaurant.
The food tastes distinctly *Italian.* Lots of basil and oregano instead of saffron and paprika. It all comes together through garlic, however. The food was OK, just not really sure where it’s culinary heart lay and so a bit bland.
So, meh really, but the specials are excellent. Definitely don’t ever pay full price for a meal here, though.

Really busy with good bustling atmosphere. Decent menu sbd the squid tapas was superb.
Meal for two was just over 51 pounds including wine. Shall return!

This place is SO much better than chains like La Tasca. Like every Tapas place I’ve ever been to there is a whole load of staring at the expansive menu, choosing, re-​choosing and then choosing again — pretty much everything I’ve had here has been excellent though and if you grab the 3 Tapas for £8.95 deal, very good value.
I’ve been six or seven times now and never been dissapointed — informal but efficient service (seems to have been mostly the same staff every time I’ve been which is rare and always a good sign) helps.

Given that my companion and I were lucky enough to get in here for dinner on the Sunday of a bank holiday weekend without booking the speed of service was fantastic considering 90% of the tables were occupied.
The food was of a high standard (the tortilla espanaola portion maybe being a mite smaller than expected however) with a number of dishes on the menu that you’ll likely not find in more run-​of-​the-​mil Spanish places.
The wine list was pretty decent and the white Rioja we chose went down easily. The apple flan and moreish caramel cream was a fitting dessert too.
Definitely worth making the trip south of the Clyde for.

I must confess to finding tapas extremely confusing. I am never quite sure how much to order, if I’m being greedy or cruel to myself, or if I’ve ordered a combination intent on killing my taste buds. Is tapas dinner or merely a snack? It’s confusing and this paranoia almost ruins what is intended as a fun, casual eating experience.
Tinto’s, however, does its best to provide a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. The candlelit tables offer an inviting respite from the rain and misery outside. Walking past, I’ve noticed that it is always busy which is surely a good sign!
The service is warm and helpful and there are a number of offers intended to simplify the slightly confusing menu during the week between 5 and 7pm each person can get 3 tapas for £7.50. Bargain. The portions are small (as expected with tapas) but so tasty and the wine is relatively cheap — perfect combination. Overall, a good (and dare I say it, fun) eating experience.