Alta - review

Alta
W. 10th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues

It is rare to be able to say about a restaurant, "I've had everything on the menu." We - me and my fellow diners at my birthday dinner - can now say that about Alta, a popular tapas place in the West Village. The food was good and can be wallet friendly, the drinks were so-so, and the crowd was fun and lively.

I arrived early and sat at the bar for a bit, and was surprised to see the amount of people coming through, especially for a Wednesday night! The food was great and interesting and we all had a good time trying to count what was coming out and comparing flavors. The food service was great and quick - though I expect that's not so hard when you just order everything, and our waiter, while somewhat odd and inflexible - he couldn't understand when some of our party didn't want non-alcoholic beverages - nevertheless deserves kudos for putting up with our demands, like storing the cake we brought in their kitchen refrigerator until after dinner. He even served it with candles and started the "happy birthday" song.

As for food, I'm having a hard time remembering what anything tasted like (there were 41 items on the menu), but what sticks out mostly are the beef carpaccio, the brussel sprouts, the "two enormous shrimp", the tuna tartar, the skate. Raves from my fellow diners include the lamb meatballs, the broccoli rabe (I hated it, others loved), the Dutch ribs, the Philadelphia truffel surprise...

In other reviews for the restaurant, I read praise for the sangria, but I'm not sure why. They advertise their sangria as "special" but there was nothing special about it. It was much less than other sangrias I've tasted, including ones that were home made. The red sangria closer to your average fruity cocktails - in fact now that I think about it, I'm not even sure it had any red wine in it- and the white sangria was so awful I sent it back - way too sweet, like they spiked pineapple juice with sugar and vodka. Skip the sangria and opt for beer or wines. The meal-end coffee was good - served in French presses and again kudos to the waiter who had to bring three French presses to our table to accomodate the 5 orders of coffee.

Atmosphere: crowded, lively downstairs, though for dinner we were seated in a smaller room on the upstairs; warm colors and decor with candle-light wattage lighting; recommend reservations

Pros: excellent menu, for the most part - only a few dishes were merely good; large seating area and interesting little alcoves; prompt seating when our party arrived (with reservations, of course)

Cons: our waiter was a bit odd but accomodating; unforgivable sangria!