Navarro’s Restaurant

Really happy with tasty meal, flexible menu options and friendly waitress!
Good vegetarian choices too!

We had:
CALAMARES FRITOS
BACALAO A LA ROTEÑA
ARROZ CREMOSO CON GAMBAS
CHORIZO PICANTE AL CONAC
PULPO SALTEADO CON PURÉ DE PAPAS ALIÑAS
PATATAS BRAVAS
Navarros is a nice litle family restaurant just off Charlotte Street. The front is a shop selling all sorts of nice Spanish food. The interior isn’t super modern or trendy-​more down to earth rustic.
We came on a Saturday night and the place was reasonably busy. Service was friendly and helpful. On the wine front I wanted red despite ordering mainly fish so wanted a light wine. I was recommended a wine from Jumilla which was only a couple of quid over what I was going to order-​it was really good.
The lowdown on the food as follows:
The calamari was very nice-​crisp and tender, not chewy.
The cod (Bacalao) was also great-​large fillets of cod in a tasty, piquant sauce.
The rice was creamy and very rich but tasty.
The chorizo supposedly cooked in cognac was. meh! It was essentially a dish of sliced chorizo-​not horrible by any stretch but you could not taste the brandy and it was too plain. Some of the pieces were a little burnt.
The octopus (pulpo.) was again not my favourite. I wanted large chunks of octopus cooked in a rich sauce. This was slices of octopus on top of creamed spring onion purée. The octopus was lost in the overall taste, which was too similar to the creamed rice. Far from horrid but a slight disappointment.
Overall, Navarros is a perfectly pleasant restaurant serving good tapas. Some dishes don’t hit the high spot but that may be typical of such places.
Oh. and the patatas bravas were vey good. Loved them!

Let me preface this with the fact that I was born and raised in Spain and all my family is from the Basque country (Hondarribia\Bilbao\San Sebastian) so I have a point of reference here. I was excited when I found this on my recent search of restaurants in London and I was pretty excited when I saw the menu. Too bad I was in for an unpleasant surprise.
Walking in you see its a small place and some of the servers are definitely from Spain so that’s good. Looking at the menu I am thinking ok this is going to be good. Was it? No way. It was basically borderline bad. So for starters it took forever to get service, like 15 minutes just to get to order water. Second, if you want bread which is served automatically everywhere in Spain you gotta order and pay for it. Every other restaurant in London so far just brought us bread and many were not pricey either. So whatever lets order and see what happens. So we order 4 dishes and I expect them to arrive together. They don’t and they are mostly spread pretty far apart.
Dish 1 — Fried chorizo in Cognac. So in Spain when I order chorizo it shows up as long strips that are fried and then drained. This showed up sliced thin in a red pool of grease. No bread, no nothing with it. Just a spoon, and a whole lot of grease. Its not appetizing and it didnt taste very good this way. It was heavy and kinda gross. If i had other food to balance it with perhaps it would be better but why slice it and serve it in an inch of grease. Epic Fail.
Dish 2. Iberico croquetas with god knows what. It was just weird. For those who know how it should be, its a bechamel that is thickened and flavored usually with cheese, ham or cod in my experience (and how my mom makes them). They should be fluffy and crisp with the inside creamy. These were some funny texture and color, being grayish and the taste was just off. I dont know who came up with this recipe but they should throw it out. Fail #2.
Dish 3. Potato croquetas with Chorizo, Sounds good right? Well not terrible, the texture what more what I expected but it was pretty bland and had very little chorizo. What I did find was chopped into squares much to large and they probably need to revisit the balance and construction of this recipe. As a cook, yes I can fix this dish. Salt, pepper, maybe some garlic and use a soft chorizo to blend it up. This had potential and may have been the best thing we had which wasn’t saying much.
Dish 4. Bacalao, or Salt Cod in a tomato sauce with peppers and onions if I recall. The cod was served skin on which I would have preferred removed. it was barely warm and bland, and I am thinking that this was reheated. Something about the dish wasn’t striking me as legit here. The dish in all was luke-​warm and the fish thin and skimpy. Fail #3.
So in summary, we had a disjointed meal served at long intervals with mediocre food and inconsistent service. The girls are very nice, the place is cute but this place needs a service and food smack-​down to get it back on track. I dont consider this a good Spanish restaurant and it certainly wasn’t cheap by Spanish standards either. The reviews here are either people who got food on a good day or dont really care what they eat. I dunno. All I can say is our meal was expensive and quite bad. Agur.

With a subtle Spanish feel, a homely essence and a quaint décor throughout the restaurant, Navarro’s can provide a pleasant Spanish dining experience from the centre of London. There is a good number of seating both on the ground and basement levels and the even the toilets have been given a good touch of attention (including a cute pig dispenser in the ladies). The table is set with a small bouquet of beautifully arranged flowers, china personalised to the restaurant and green napkins to give another hint of originality.
Unfortunately there are not many options for refreshing cold beverages e.g. no fruit cocktails our fresh juices but there is an extensive wine list. The food menu on the other hand is full of great choices from a ‘special tapas menu’ to a whole page full of vegetarian options, a page full of seafood tapas and a page full of meat dishes. The food is well presented and humble; not over-​the-​top in flavour or prices yet is made up of decent ingredients. The scallop and chorizo skewers (part of their special tapas range) was of a decent size but the chorizo was a little tough and the scallop a little bland. The Espinacas Con Garbanzos with spinach, chickpeas and croutons is deliciously flavoured, a unique mixture of textures and sumptuously soft. The Pulpo Salteado Con Pure De Papas Alinas has well cooked octopus mixed with spring onion potato purée; a decent filler to the meal. The Brocheta De Cordero Con Patatas A Lo Pobre was probably the best tapas amongst my evening’s choice of 4; serving up a well seasoned and cooked long lamb skewer dangling proudly over some fragrant rosemary potatoes with garlic and onions. As for desserts, the Crema Catalana is basically a glorified Crème Brulee and the Churros Con Chocolate were a delight with the churros served hot, delicately crispy and generously sprinkled with sugar plus accompanied with a separate heated chocolate dip.
In conclusion, Navarro’s achieves in creating a hospitable environment, a subtle Spanish flair and an intriguing and vast food selection. This humble establishment on Charlotte Street is brimming with potential and already delivers many a treat; thus I hope to return for more in due time.

This tapas joint was quite nice! I visited with my mother in law and a friend. We were sent to sit downstairs in the basement which was cozy, romantic and nicely decorated. We ordered the squid, olives, bread basket, albondigas and charcuterie plate, all excellent! We each had glasses of wine, ordered the small but were a generous pour. The meatballs were so tender and some of the best we’ve ever had. Definitely recommended!

Small and charming with a robust tapas menu, Navarro’s was a terrific place to grab a bite to eat.
I enjoyed the shirmp and eel in sizzling oil and the padron peppers. Both were very good but the shrimp and eel was extra tasty. The shrimp are small but the eel is what you’re there to try and it’s very good. If you see if on the menu – do give it a try!
Service was friendly and despite it being very crowded the attendants did their level best to take my order and deliver dishes quickly. They maaaay want to consider adding another server in the future if crowds are like that every night.
Keep up the great work Navarro’s!

First visit… I was looking for a good spot for Spanish food. I am always a bit skeptical about tapas bar. They usually screw you for a lot of money and bad Spanish jamon iberico. But that one was highly recommended on Unilocal.And a good friend of mine from Paris was in London for the night. So let s go!
When you step a foot in that rather small and cosy restaurant you immediately know you are somewhere in Spain. Traditional and a bit old fashioned atmosphere, all the decoration stuffs I used to see when I spent holidays some time in remote places in Spain. This is very welcoming though!
Then a look at menu. It s really hard to make a choice as everything looks so yummy. We finally decided to take a few dishes and share them. We had the croquetas, the calamares Fritos, pork and mashed potatoes and the lentajes con chorizo. Everything was delicious… Well cooked. The lentejas were maybe a bit salty. But I felt like I wanted to have one or two more. But it was not reasonable so I decided to have a dessert i took the churros con chocolate… It reminded my childhood when I had churros during my holidays in Portugal. So fucking great! They came with a small jug of melted chocolate! Wow!
This was overall a really good experience and I would recommend anyone to make a stop there. Waiteresses have been very nice and helpful. The value for money is also very good.
So if you guys wanna have a bit of Spain without taking too much money from your bank account, go to Charlotte street and stop by navarro’s.
We tried the Rioja 2012 red wine they sell by the glass. It was decent but nothing breath taking I am afraid. I think it is worth going again and try another one

Si! Si! Si!
There are a plethora of ‘tapas’ restaurants in London these days, and many serve pretty much the same old menu. At Navarro’s you’ll find a more authentic experience in many ways. And the cost is quite fair for the high quality served.
First, the staff are Spanish. The décor is very rustica-​type — with wooden chairs & tables, and lots of blue ceramics dotting the walls & shelves. I went here with a few friends and so enjoyed many dishes, but a few stood out:
–Pulpo: (octopus) Easy to get wrong. Not so here. It was delicious; soft without being chewy, tasting fairly fresh and flavourful.
–Lamb: (according to my friend): Succulent, flavoured with rosemary — my foodie friends were blown away by it.
–Calamares: Yes a typical dish, but done very well. Very light batter, crispy on the outside, also soft but not too chewy on the inside.
–Poblano peppers: I haven’t found these often in London tapas restaurants, although they are usually on the menu in Spain. These peppers have the distinct feature of being randomly hot; that is, within a given batch, you might get 20% which are chili hot, the others taste more like a slightly spicier green pepper. Fried and yummy, my friends hadn’t had these before and really liked them.
Big lovely servings, obliging staff, and a comfortable atmosphere. Me gusta!

First of all, the staff is Spanish. You KNOW it’s going to be authentic when that’s the case. Cosy Spanish interior with flamenco music playing in the background made you feel like you were eating at your abuela’s. Got a bottle of house red, bread, and 4 tapas and that was deliciously sufficient for the two of us. Not a bad value either! Definitely hit the spot.

I’ve eaten at this place twice. What I like about this place is the breadth and depth of offerings they have. Veggie, seafood, meat, etc. They are all pretty damn solid too, so hard to go wrong.
Their dessert’s leave much to be desired though.
Also, not sure if it’s just me – but I find their chairs to be very uncomfortable.

Great Spanish place with excellent value. I came with two friends and of course, we ordered some tapas, a bottle of wine and a couple of starters. Pretty standard combination but executed really well. The restaurant is nicely designed and the food is rich and comes in decent portions.
They also have a seasonal menu with some specials which are also worth checking.

When I arrived here to meet my friend and his wife, the first thing they said was «oh, this wasn’t the place we thought we were taking you!» It turned out to be a happy accident, as this was a very cute and cozy tapas place with delicious food and nice atmosphere.
I tend to think of all tapas restaurants as having the same menu: patatas bravas, chorizo, Serrano ham and Manchego cheese, croquettes… stop me if you’ve heard this before. This must mean that most people have a binary perception of tapas, they either love it or hate it, and among us tapas lovers any specific restaurant comes down to whether the food is actually cooked properly, plus the service and ambiance. In this case, the service was quite friendly and the atmosphere very nice, being a rather small place with a homey feel. The food was indeed well-​prepared and delicious, so the entire experience was very pleasant. If you’re on the love side of my love/​hate tapas dialectic, you should seek this place out, you won’t be disappointed.

Delicious! I like the comfortable rustic charm.

I have to admit to being very disappointed about this place, especially seeing the fantastic reviews it gets on Unilocal.It was tapas restaurant no 3 in a weekend of tapas so maybe that was part of the problem but I felt the food was a let down and so was the service.
We ordered patatas bravas, Chorizo, Gambos, croquetas and Berenjenas Gratinadas, which are aubergines stuffed with vegetables and topped with a cheese gratin. This last item was particularly disappointing having loved it when I had it before but really disliking this version.
We got our food quickly enough but our waitress spoke no English and couldn’t understand when we asked her for anything outside of the menu. We eventually gave up and left quickly, not even bothering with a coffee at the end.
I won’t be rushing back!

This place was fantastic. I worry about adding to the many highly positive posts about this place… Maybe it becomes so popular I can’t even get a reservation someday?
The flavors of the four dishes I tried were all subtle. I would have added more garlic and a bit more chili on some, but I’m being really picky. It was all a rare, lovely treat.
Not only will I return, but I want to bring everyone I care about to this place.
The service was quite good, and the prices were very reasonable for this area.
Note that gratuity is included in the bill, but frankly if you double tip it’s no loss since the service was really above par.
Oh, and the décor was great. Lots of colorful, Spanish tile. The place was nicely decorated — better than many restaurants.

The place surely fails to disappoint. I have been here a couple of times with friends or with my wife, and I can say it was appropriate for both situations. When you enter, all you can see is the eye-​catching decoration that are supposed to be authentic. However, that does not really matter to me — I want tapas!
Food is delicious and the classic Spanish tapas are a real treat. They are made for sharing and I suggest you do so as the portions are quite generous.

This is a nice place and is bigger than it looks as you head downstairs into a very large restaurant. Despite the fact they lost our reservation (boo) we were able to get a table. I love the old-​school Spanish tiles on the wall. As my Spanish friend said it feels like you are in Madrid. The tapas were good. I didn’t think they were exceptional but they definitely honored traditional Spanish tapas. It is a nice place to go with a group for a relaxing and enjoyable lunch or dinner.

Slunk into Navarro’s one evening when looking for something different in the Goodge st area. There’s quite a bit of overpricing in that locale, so did a bit of Unilocalage on the hop — Navarro’s was one of the best Unilocaled establishments, and, as it turned out, deservedly so.
First off, we had a little trouble getting a table, on a Wednesday evening, but they squeezed us in. It appears a smallish place, but they have a large downstairs area. The place is done out in a authentically, with Spanish tiles and crockery.
They serve tapas as well as some main meals and the usual appetizers of bread, olives, cheese and cured meats that you would expect.
We ordered 5 tapas between two, which turned out to be a feast. The portions are ample indeed, and just incredibly good. Really delicious authentic dishes, served in an informal atmosphere. Gets a little noisy down there, so book with care if you plan on a private tête-​à-​tête.
The honeyed lamb and scallops were a treat, the lentil stew is heart fayre.
Can’t wait to go back to this place.

Its nice but fails to meet the mark.
The tuna was tinned and slapped onto a bed of lettuce… better description would be nice.
The manchengo cheese was good, but there was also confusion as to the cheese plate substitution. as some of us don’t like blue cheese.
the lentils were tasty but nothing to write home about…
overal, it was ok but nothing too special. nothing blew my mind or made me want to return any time soon.

LOVE THIS PLACE! I’ve been now a few times — for team lunches as well as dinner dates with friends and I’ve found that whether in a group of 7 or 2 — you get a great meal, awesome service, and spot-​on wine pairing.
Ambiance: Walking in, you feel like you are transported out of London and into a classy tapa house in Spain. Clearly, a lot of thought was put into the interior, from the tables all the way town to the tiled walls. During a recent dinner here I was only hoping the food didn’t come out so fast. It was hard to resist dipping into everything all at once when the evening could have gone on for hours.
Wine — Let the servers know which food you are most looking forward to and you’ll be suggested a pairing that is both affordable and delicious. On my last dinner outting, we had the Barbera — which was great with the meatballs, calamari and richer dishes.
Tapas — There is nothing else to say then they were all SO good. Fish, meat, potatoes — each provides a decent portion for 2 – 3 to share, and as always with tapas you don’t have to be in the mood for just one thing. During my last dinner for two we ordered about 7 all together, which was probably too much but over a bottle of wine we were able to enjoy them over the course of the evening slowly.
If in the Goodge Street/​Charlotte Street area, don’t miss out.

Original mais cher
Les tapas sont trop cher, plus de 3 livres le tapas et il en faut au moins 3 ou 4 pour avoir «manger», dommage car le restaurant est assez sympathique tout comme les serveurs mais bon le prix limite la visite dans ce restaurant.