Castilla Tapas Bar

Overall - Good

504 Bellevue Square Bellevue 98004
425-625-2931
3-6PM and 9-11PM
castillarestaurant.com

Menu Variety - Awesome

There are 26 items grouped in $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, and $10 levels. All beers are $5 on happy hour. It was difficult to tell what some of the items were because the names were in Spanish without translation.

Food Quality - Good

We had:

• Salmon Coca - $10
• Crab Dip with Crackers - $9
• Trickster IPA - $5
• Red Sangria - $7

The food was good, but both the pizza and crab dip seemed a bit heavy on the cheese and cream which we thought masked the flavor of both. It almost seemed like the ingredient quality was lacking and they compensated by masking with cheese and cream. The food came hot (particularly the crab dip) and stayed hot. Presentation was very nice. The Sangria was very good and full-bodied, not at all watered down.

Service Quality/ Friendliness - Good

We seated ourselves in the bar. At 4:50PM there were only a couple of tables left. Service was timely and within reason. Our original bill charged us $39 for the $7 Sangria. We pointed it out to the server and he corrected it right away. Castilla has only been open for about a month so we suspect that the wait staff is still working out some of the kinks.

Noise Level/ Ambience - Awesome

Noise level registered at 67 decibels, comfortable enough to have a conversation even though we were sitting across the table from each other. The decor and vibe in the place are awesome; a full bank of windows looks out to Bellevue Way including two garage doors that open onto the street during nice weather. Castilla retained a lot of the decor from when it was Vivo 53 (one of our favorite places before it closed).

Value - Good

The beer and Sangria pricing were very good value. The food was good value for the price, it just seemed as if the quality of the ingredients relative to price wasn't what we have experienced at some of our awesome-rated Happy Hour places. In fairness to Castilla, they are still working to dial in the menu and figure out the right mix. We look forward to reviewing them again in the future after they've had some time to work things out.