We recently had dinner at Algrias before our monthly visit to The Exploritorium After Dark.

Alegrias describes itself as being inspired by Grandma’s kitchen and serving authentic Spanish tapas and paellas. They’ve been in operation in San Francisco for 13 years.

The decor was all about bullfighting. Classically Spanish I guess. I’m not so sure about the slipcovers on the chairs, though. They seemed tacky. As expected for a dinner service, the lighting was subdued, so the pictures are not great.

I don’t have significant experience with Spanish cuisine to comment on the authenticity of what we had, but it was good and we left with our hungry sated.

We decided to have some sangria with our meal. It took quite a while for someone to come for our drink order, despite the restaurant not being busy yet. In fact, by the time someone attended to us we had settled on our entire order.

Then we were told that it would take a bit of time as they had to make the sangria. Excuse me? Spanish restaurant. Thursday. Just as dinner service begins. Caught without sangria?! Not good.

So we ordered our meal: a selection of tapas. Not being intimately familiar with the serving sizes, wanting to sample a variety of dishes, and wanting to have plenty to write about, we (ok, I) were somewhat overzealous. Ok, so there’d be food left. That’s not unexpected. What is unexpected is the waiter chastising you for ordering “too much” food.

So the food began. First out was Escalivada (Grilled eggplant, peppers & onions drizzled with a Spanish sherry vinegar reduction) and Chorizos Españoles (Assorted cured Spanish style sausages).

Both of these dishes were extremely tasty. The eggplant, onion, and peppers were very nice, in a delicious reduction. The sausage plate contained thin slices of four different types of sausages; all very nice.

Next up were the Patatas Alioli (Crisp fried potatoes tossed with a traditional alioli sauce) and Gambas al Ajillo (Prawns sauteed with garlic, parsley and white Rioja wine).

Before they served these two dishes, an interesting thing happened. The waiter whisked away our plates. He returned promptly with clean ones. Why? It’s not like we were switching courses as we had ordered a variety of tapas. Odd. Next, when he placed the clean plates before us, he did it with such flair and flourish that we were somewhat nonplussed.

The two dishes themselves were fine. Crispy fried potato cubes in a nice alioli. Suzanne was right when I ordered them: they were much like fries/hashbrowns. The sauce was really nice though, which elevated them from mere fry-dom. The prawns were prawns, a touch overcooked I thought, and only mildly garlicky.

Next up (with no changing of the plates) was Empanadillas de Carne (Spanish style turnovers stuffed with beef, green onions, olives, raisins, and herbs). These were quite tasty. Hot and crisp.

We finished off with Mejillones Alegrias (Steamed mussels in a white Rioja wine, garlic, and parsley sauce). I’m not a great fan of mussels, finding them to taste too much of the ocean. I had a few, though, and Suzanne enjoyed them.

So in all, not a horrible meal, having definite high points (the Escalivada in particular). However, between the service oddities, and some lackluster dishes, and general low value for the cost, I can’t see us bothering to return any time soon. Not for tapas, anyway. I might be interested in trying their Paella, though. For vegetarians, it’s worth noting that their menu flags dishes that have no meat of fish.