Fun, Trendy, Great Food

   shaynamaidel09 - 07/01/2007

Tapas are basically appetizer size portions of dishes. When you eat here, you order several of them and share. When you walk in, you know you are in a really swanky place - you can sit on couches (romantic and great for people watching), in the regular dining room, or on the roof (which gets crowded and loud, but is fun, too). It is located in the Warehouse district. You can park in a garage on 9th (which is the street that runs into Hennepin) for $3.50 after 4 PM - saves you some money on valet so that you can buy another appetizer.

There were two of us and we ordered two drinks and five appetizers. The bill came to $70.00 before tax.

If you are looking for great drinks, try the Old Cuban or Berry Cuban, which are twists on mojitos.

As for recommended tapas:
Grilled Idizabal is fabulous. Idizabal is a cheese (a little salty by itself), but the dried cherries that come with it really make this a great, simple dish.
We had never had grilled lamb, so we tried that one. It was very tender, great flavor, and highly recommended by our waitress.
Our waitress told us that if we were the adventurous type, we should try the red pepper flan. Though we hate flan, we tried it anyway. It is a lot more like red pepper hummus than flan. Not bad, but didnt stand out at all.
Roasted Young Chicken. The sauce had incredible flavor, but this one was very ordinary - you've had something similar a millions times.
We had also never had Scallops, so we tried that, too. One of us doesn't eat ham, so we got that on the side - but I thought the scallops still tasted too fishy. My other half said that they were wonderful - the onions really added great flavor.

Unfortuantely, their dessert menu leaves a lot to be desired, so we skipped it. But we did have a bottle of Cava (Spanish champagne), which was a great end to the night, as well.

Very much the place to go if you want something fun and very, very different from your typical restaurant experience.

Jlzb1's Review

   jlzb1 - 09/08/2003

Went on a busy Sunday evening service was excellent food was wonderful our large party all enjoyed and can hardly wait to go back!

HOFAMANIA's Review

   hofamania - 07/06/2003

Excellent..Excellent...You also should try La Belle Vie in Stillwater which is a hidden secret.

Madmax2708's Review

   madmax2708 - 07/01/2003

beautiful restaurant, but then it stops there. food is ridiculously expensive, service inattentive, overall experience frustrating. local reviewers doing just a terrible job explaining what tapas are at this restaurant, pictures in star tribune show plates laden with food, while reality is you get very very small bites.

YC4877's Review

   yc4877 - 06/18/2003

loved it every time thanks

MF8952's Review

   mf8952 - 05/14/2003

Solera is an excellent addition to the Theatre district! The food was wonderful and the atmosphere is beautiful! I would recommend this restaurant to anyone visting the downtown area!