I tend to approach chain restaurants with some trepidation; there is something decidedly unappealing about sitting down for a meal knowing that you could get the exact same experience in Newcastle, Bristol or, God forbid, Luton. But, being the fair minded chap that I am (a bare-faced lie, as many will be prepared to testify) I decided to give the Derby branch of La Tasca a clean slate before eating there - any preconceived ideas were thrown out of the window. Which, in hindsight, was a pity seeing as I'd only have to go and fetch them for use in this review.
For those unfamiliar with this particular brand, it is a Spanish tapas restaurant with tentacles reaching out across Britain like, well, a squid I guess. Which is a fitting analogy, but I'll come to that later. The interior was a little over the top on the Spanish theme for my liking, and it seems it would benefit greatly from a little more subtlety and warmer decor. In fact, the feel of the place was not too dissimilar to the one you might get from a restaurant where the conversion from a Walkabout bar was only semi complete.

The principle of tapas is, I believe, for the diners to order a selection of dishes and pilfer bits of each for their own plates; this was made easier for our party of around 14 by the three set menus available.
After a short discussion we wisely agreed on the menu which furnished us with the most food (£19.95 per head), and the first course was promptly served - a feat not to be accomplished for the rest of the evening, sadly. Beginning then with bread and olives (not exactly worth mentioning on the menu, surely?), we moved down the menu with an alarming lack of speed. The next portion of the menu to arrive at our tables some 25 minutes later was that incorporating the avocado and spinach salad, Serrano ham and Manchego cheese, and the anchovies, which were billed on the menu as being 'not the salty kind!' (they were salty). At this point it became obvious that the portions were not exactly catering for Henry VIII, and in fact were more likely put together with the participants at Milan Fashion Week in mind.

The first course of king prawns, chicken croquettes, potatoes in a tomato sauce and, particularly, the famous meatballs went some way to making up the shortfall of the entrees, although these too arrived at least another 25 minutes later. I assumed that the Spanish theme was being adhered to faithfully throughout, and that numerous members of staff were taking Siestas at that point.
Finally on to the second course consisting of, amongst other things, skewered chicken, chorizo and a potato and onion omelette. The latter, however, was fairly bland and uninteresting, but this was not true of the food overall; plenty of the food on offer was of a decent quality, just sadly lacking in amount. It should also be noted that we were served free jugs of sangria to make up for the wait, which was a nice gesture, but I'm quite sure we would have preferred the food sooner anyway. In the end, for all the comment on the matter, I am loathe to blame the waiting staff for the delays; they were nothing but helpful and apologetic throughout, and I suspect the cause lay in the kitchen. In summary, if you are prepared to wait for your (fairly decent) food, then by all means give La Tasca a try. Although if it is Spanish you're after I suppose you could get an easyJet flight to Zaragoza and still have your food in front of you a lot quicker.

I tend to approach chain restaurants with some trepidation; there is something decidedly unappealing about sitting down for a meal knowing that you could get the exact same experience in Newcastle, Bristol or, God forbid, Luton. But, being the fair minded chap that I am (a bare-faced lie, as many will be prepared to testify) I decided to give the Derby branch of La Tasca a clean slate before eating there - any preconceived ideas were thrown out of the window. Which, in hindsight, was a pity seeing as I'd only have to go and fetch them for use in this review.
For those unfamiliar with this particular brand, it is a Spanish tapas restaurant with tentacles reaching out across Britain like, well, a squid I guess. Which is a fitting analogy, but I'll come to that later. The interior was a little over the top on the Spanish theme for my liking, and it seems it would benefit greatly from a little more subtlety and warmer decor. In fact, the feel of the place was not too dissimilar to the one you might get from a restaurant where the conversion from a Walkabout bar was only semi complete.

The principle of tapas is, I believe, for the diners to order a selection of dishes and pilfer bits of each for their own plates; this was made easier for our party of around 14 by the three set menus available.
After a short discussion we wisely agreed on the menu which furnished us with the most food (£19.95 per head), and the first course was promptly served - a feat not to be accomplished for the rest of the evening, sadly. Beginning then with bread and olives (not exactly worth mentioning on the menu, surely?), we moved down the menu with an alarming lack of speed. The next portion of the menu to arrive at our tables some 25 minutes later was that incorporating the avocado and spinach salad, Serrano ham and Manchego cheese, and the anchovies, which were billed on the menu as being 'not the salty kind!' (they were salty). At this point it became obvious that the portions were not exactly catering for Henry VIII, and in fact were more likely put together with the participants at Milan Fashion Week in mind.

The first course of king prawns, chicken croquettes, potatoes in a tomato sauce and, particularly, the famous meatballs went some way to making up the shortfall of the entrees, although these too arrived at least another 25 minutes later. I assumed that the Spanish theme was being adhered to faithfully throughout, and that numerous members of staff were taking Siestas at that point.
Finally on to the second course consisting of, amongst other things, skewered chicken, chorizo and a potato and onion omelette. The latter, however, was fairly bland and uninteresting, but this was not true of the food overall; plenty of the food on offer was of a decent quality, just sadly lacking in amount. It should also be noted that we were served free jugs of sangria to make up for the wait, which was a nice gesture, but I'm quite sure we would have preferred the food sooner anyway. In the end, for all the comment on the matter, I am loathe to blame the waiting staff for the delays; they were nothing but helpful and apologetic throughout, and I suspect the cause lay in the kitchen. In summary, if you are prepared to wait for your (fairly decent) food, then by all means give La Tasca a try. Although if it is Spanish you're after I suppose you could get an easyJet flight to Zaragoza and still have your food in front of you a lot quicker.