Albarino in Shrewsbury

Wait what? So when I bought you a round at the wonder bar I was contributing to the diliquency of a minor?

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Umm… :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Happy, happy birthday!!

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Just drove past and they now have outside seating. Anyone been?

So as we are re-entering dining out. again we decided to give an old favorite a try after an absence for obvious reasons. We were fine with dining inside since most of the outside tables were taken while the dining room was maybe 40% occupied. Nice two top in the corner and we were fine.

I’ve gotten take out a few times during lockdown and have always been happy but that was always paella. I wasn’t in the mood tonight and I found their menu to be rather limited.

We started with the grilled eggplant which as always was delicious, for mains my wife ordered the beet salad with chicken and I ordered a mixed grill. (Parallila)

Let’s start on a high note, the eggplant was delicious as usual. The wife’s salad was ok it was with yellow beets and came with prosciutto which she does not enjoy. lol

Now for mine…let’s start with the price it was $46, for which I expected a decent platter of delicious meats. What I received was 2 single cut lamb chops, 3-4oz grilled chicken and 1 piece of chorizo cut into quarters, over a bed of grilled vegetables.

Ummmmm…ummmm…let’s just say this was my only meal today and I’m still hungry as I type this. I mean c’mon $46 ? Really? $46. No soup, no salad, no potato hell no bread!!! When I did the Apella meat sweat challenge it was literally 2-3x’s the size of this and under $40. Fernandes…,…for this money you can eat all night and have a salad bar too!

Look I’m still an overall fan of this place but I think we learned to stay in our lane get the eggplant and paella and leave satisfied, unfortunately that wasn’t the case tonight.

In case you don’t believe me!

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Sorry you had a bad experience. I’ve found this is almost ubiquitous these days. Most of the time I’ve gone out and eaten in restaurants I’ve left feeling ripped off.

The pandemic! I get it. But if this is the way restaurants are going to get fiscally healthy, I may start cooking at home more and more.

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I think the summer menus are now in effect. Not all restaurants are doing this, but a lot are. Before last weekend I booked and then cancelled two places that are popular here after reviewing the current menus to see what I might order.

Edited rant about $18 chicken wings and $16 starter salads.

And after all that you get time limits on your table :smile: But a lot of these places are packed on the weekends so obviously people are paying.

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The world is quite topsy turvy, but wing prices are up across the board.

That said, $18!!! :astonished:

I don’t want to say it was a “bad experience” because overall it wasn’t. Was it an experience that left me satisfied, maybe not, but that’s still not bad. As you know I’m very sympathetic to the industry and it has negatively impacted me personally, but if this is going to become a trend I think it’s a bit short sighted of the industry. I truly hope the trend isn’t going to be exploit the summer season for every dime they can and figure the rest out in the fall.

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Yeah now add tax and tip.

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as a fan of mixed grill entrees, I have noticed that some restaurants charge higher for this. For instance at It’s Greek to Me, an individual meat platter is $24 but if you want the mixed platter it is $48 (and no, you don’t get 2x the meat).

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When we became fully vaccinated earlier this month, Alberiño was the place we chose to go to after not having done any restaurant dining for 14 months. We wanted to have dinner on their very nice outdoor patio, so when we were informed via a phone call that those tables could not be reserved, we went at 5 p.m., and were able to be seated there. The food was delicious, as has always been the case whenever we dined there in the before time. We went back the following week for lunch, again on the patio, and had another very fine meal. This post on my blog has all the details of what we had at both meals , along with photos.

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I don’t know when lamb chops became a precious metal, but that’s prob what took your mixed grill over the top price wise. Here in KC an order of 2 2-bone chops runs $44 and comes with nothing.

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I’m sorry but this is just a ripoff for $46. But they play to the area’s clientele so it’s really not a surprise. My favorite mixed grill in the area by far is at the Greek Spot in Red Bank across from the wawa. You get a mountain of meat plus two sides for under $40. Can’t beat it.

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I’ll just leave this here on the lamb chop conversation:

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Went to Albariño a few weeks ago (Father’s Day weekend) before watching a show at Count Basie. It’s kind of a last minute thing so did not do any research or planning; didn’t realize there’s a thread here on HO. Anyway we seated at the high top table near the bar around 4:30pm to take advantage of the happy hour menu. Happy Hour price is now $7 for drinks and selected tapas (not much to choose from really ). We had meatballs, ceviche, paella, potato bravas and a burger. I thought the food was great and I really liked the paella.






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I’m on Albarino’s mailing list and just got this note today:

Join us to welcome the newly installed outpost of Teresa’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar at Albariño! For over 30 years, Teresa’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar has offered artisanal pizzas and pastas to the Princeton community. Due to popular demand, we will open a second location at Albariño, in Shrewsbury starting Wednesday April 12th.

They’re having a very reasonably priced (imo) Spanish/Italian wine tasting as a kickoff ($22pp).

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Did it explain if they are expanding or converting existing space over to the pizza concept?

It sounds to me like an expansion within the restaurant, even though I thought it was odd.

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seemed like they converted existing space. When you walk in, the kitchen is right in front and it looks like seating is on the left.