Iberia - Belmont

The food is decent, but the cake is a bit dry. They do not accept Apple Pay.

When they first opened, the portions of paella were generous. However, now they seem to have decreased, and the presentation is lacking, with the food spread out thinly on the plate. I hope they address this shrinkflation issue. The taste is still good, though.

UPDATE-5 stars to the owner who reached out, offered his apologies and provided a gift certificate to return to the restaurant, which we did. The restaurant is really charming and its smaller size makes it feel more intimate that alot of other restaurants of its caliber. The food was definitely fine cuisine but even for tapas, the proportions were small, the bobmas! had almost no beef, the grilled rustic bread was charred so much it was ashy and the one item we most wanted, braised oxtail, was sold out by 8pm. The Sangria from the bar was awesome but it is not on the menu (we asked the server if Iberia made their own) The service, although friendly, was not overly welcoming or inspiring. When we arrived, there were more empty tables than full tables and yet there were questions about whether we had a reservation. At 8:50, the bar section of the restaurant was shut down and the lights turned off while finishing our dessert. As mentioned below, our party felt the 20% mandatory service charge does not motivate the servers to go the extra mile for the diners. ORIGINAL REVIEW After standing in the reception area for 5 minutes for our 7:45 reservation with multiple staff passing us by, we were rudely told we did not have reservations and told (not offered) with a hint of derision and scorn to sit in the corner of the bar. Advising the owner confirmed the reservation by telephone earlier in the day, it only got worse once we were seated in the tiny dining room as 15 minutes went by and no waitress and noticed most of the other diners had drinks but no food. Still waiting and discussing whether to stay, we discovered a 20% mandatory tip stated on the bottom of the menu. This feels like price gouging and clearly the staff are not incentivized to provide good service to the customers. We walked out at 8:15 just as the waitress came over to our table.

Top notch Spanish tapas. Best in the area imo. Never disappoints. Excellent service and atmosphere.

Best happy hour in the Bay Area and fantastic tapas