LA CARMEN: DOES THIS CASUAL TAPAS SPOT LIVE UP TO ITS IMPRESSIVE 4.9 STAR GOOGLE RATING?
The Cost - $12
The Atmosphere – La Carmen is a cute little casual restaurant that serves Spanish tapas and other casual fare on a charming pedestrian street full of restaurants, cafes, shops and bars. It has both indoor and outdoor seating and can get busy in the evenings and on weekends.
Sevilla (Seville) is a beautiful city that has a lot to offer in terms of history, art, architecture, culture, well-known Hollywood filming locations and, of course, food. On my exploration of the neighborhood of Triana, an area of the city that was inhabited by Romani people up until the 20th century, I decided to have lunch at La Carmen which had an impressive 4.9 star rating on Google.
The Order – Cartuchito de Adobo and Pepito de Ternera.
The Good – The Pepito de Ternera is a montadito, a Spanish tapas-sized sandwich. In this case, the montadito was larger than a typical montadito and was enough to be a meal on its own. Inside the fresh pan de cristal, a kneaded roll similar to a ciabatta, was juicy, thinly sliced grilled beef, caramelized onions, grilled peppers and arugula. It also came with a side of french fries which were good but not great.
The Okay – Fresh fried fish is a staple in Sevilla and the entire Andalusian region. The Cartuchito de Adobo, a traditional Spanish fried fish tapa served in a paper cone, was a generous portion of fried white fish bites served with a tartar-like dipping sauce. But, while many adobo sauces are spicy and more flavorful, I found this dish to be quite plain and bland and wished I had ordered something else on the menu.
The Verdict – For a quick and easy meal at a great price point, La Carmen definitely does the trick. However, there is nothing that I ate that came close to justify the restaurant’s 4.9 star rating on Google, a rating hardly ever achieved by highly regarded restaurants around the world.
La Carmen
C. San Jacinto, 12, 41010 Sevilla, Spain