Ataula

amazing food on our trip. the octopus was amazing it’s a must try!

Best sangria outside of Spain that I’ve had. Waitress was on top of drinks and very knowledgeable. Fun traditional tapas– and the angel hair paella was surprisingly delicious.

This little Spanish nook is hiding away some stellar food. This place was packed, so the secret must be out and the masses are flocking in for a piece of that delicious seafood paella.
We started out with an appetizer that I’ve pretty much forgotten about because it never had a chance to be remembered once the not-​on-​the-​menu bruschetta, accompanied by shaved aged acorn ham, presented itself in all of its glory atop the bar counter in front of me. Forget about the fact that this wasn’t listed on the menu and ended up costing a million dollars, it was delicious. And let’s be honest, if you’re coming here and want the full experience then you’ve already faced the fact that your bank account is going to shed a few digits by the time your feet step back outside those doors.
Anyways, the main course was their signature paella Ataula. I’m not even a big seafood buff and this dish had me in a food trance. Consider me converted to the seafood bandwagon. The exotic flavors and the variety rubbed me the right way.
And for the drinks, what can I really say that hasn’t already been said about this city’s beer game? The local IPA they had on tap (can’t remember the name) was smooth, crisp, and not any bit the aggressively over-​hopped pale ale on steroids that makes many IPA’s a hit or miss gamble. It’s not the kind of IPA that assaults and batters your taste buds. The wines were a direct hit as well, and it was fun to have so many Spanish options.
See you soon, Ataula.

Tapas were great. Paella was ok but not as good as Toro Bravo. The server was polite but not friendly or welcoming. They were overly anxious to turn the table. I understand but we were not there too long and were paying customers. Portland has too many great restaurants to have mediocre service.

Great food and a lovely wine selection. It gets crowded and stuffy during the dinner hours. Friendly and attentive waitstaff.

First time here. Just started to order and everything was delish! Ended the adventure with a remarkable cream brûlée that had an entire layer of chocolate under the usual vanilla layer. Will be back.

Delicious Food
Good Service
Okay Desserts
Too Loud
I recently had dinner at Ataula and loved it. We tried a solid assortment of dishes including appetizers, mains, and desserts, and although some were more exciting than others, everything was delicious. We tried all four of the Paella offerings and all were very good, but I am still thinking (dreaming?) about the Rossejat (Paella variation using toasted noodles, with chicken and chorizo)!!!
The only issue I had was the level of noise in the restaurant — it was extremely loud to the point where we had difficultly holding a conversation with anyone who wasn’t seated directly next to us, and had difficulty hearing the server explain the specials (she was making a point of speaking up too — poor girl!). Otherwise, I had a great experience and a delicious meal!

I came here with a friend who was visiting town for dinner on a Friday night after having it recommended by a colleague. We arrived around 6:30 and were able to get a spot at the bar. The cocktail I got with ciudad was neat and perfect. Everything else that we ordered was just ok. There was nothing memorable to write about! I had high expectations, but would not return.

Atuala means «come to the table» in Catalan. No need to go to the east side for tapas deliciosas! I had the house smoked salmon on a bed of marscapone yogurt and truffle infused honey on something they called Coca Bread; the seared monkfish on tender flavorful potatoes (papas) and finally house made rice crackers with nori powder, smoked trout eggs (yes they were actually smoky) and battered deep fried little tiny fish! All three were excellent but my fave was the rice cracker one despite not being particularly popular with the staff. Dessert was a chocolate custard covered with crema Catalan and raspberry sorbet on the side. An orgy for chocolate pot and crème caramel lovers (although i’d give it a «pretty good but try something new next time.). I also asked for a taster of their manchego ice cream — a little weird but well executed.
Wait staff was knowledgeable and friendly and fast.

I was blown away by the food here. I think every dish was unique and amazing, We went and just order a ton (and I mean a ton) of toppas. My favorite was the Ataula Montadito, and the special which were roasted peppers. I know my table loved the Empanadilla and these potatoes with a house sauce? Honestly, it was great being able to try so many wonderful things.
The staff here is super friendly and have lots of recommendations.
I do warn there usually a long wait but worth it!

Wow. Amazing tapas and phenomenal seafood paella. We started off with some lighter tapas. The Pulpo was a light octopus carpaccio salad with sun dried tomato, parmesan reggiano, pine nuts and pickled cippolini — very light, refreshing and hit all the right notes! Ajo Blanco was a white gazpacho — out of this world, creamy and very unique take on gazpacho. The Xai was a lamb loin which was cooked to perfection. Finally we got the seafood paella and we had no problem cleaning it off to the very last piece of rice! I would come back here in a heartbeat
One negative: was not a fan of the red sangria — a little to cinnamony and sweet for my taste.

Another recommendation from a girl at a bar I met. We asked her for her favorite place.
Another win of Portland! We thought we couldn’t top our last meal at mcmenamins but we were so wrong!
We started off with these quail egg chips. It was so cute looking. The salami was nice and salty. The chip added a perfect crunch. And the quail egg was just heaven! It was a party in my mouth.
We then went with the pork rib. We asked about the recipe because we had never had such a different way and taste pork has been prepared. Apparently there’s a lot of love that goes into it. Which included the whole rack slow cooked for 6 hours in fat, drained, and vacuumed packaged in marinade. The surprising thing was that it didn’t taste greasy AT all. The pork was fresh, and zingy. I could not make out the flavors in it. The sad thing is they give you one rib for 8 $…but for all the love they put into it, it’s worth it!
I have to say, I’ve never been to a tapas place where I felt like I couldn’t make it myself. Nice going Portland!
We finally ended with the seafood paella… AAAAAAAAAAMAAAAZING!
Usually, when I order risotto or paella, the rice is over cooked and the whole thing is drenched in sauce so everything has the same texture and tastes like mush! This is the BEST paella dish I’ve ever experienced. The rice was cooked but still had a bite. The sauce was just enough to just coat the rice. The mussels and clams were perfection as well as the shrimp!!! I believe there was also some scallop.
Oh. My. God.
I absolutely love this restaurant. Not only does it have great, refreshing food, but it also has great service!
The gentleman that was serving us was really knowledgable about the source of the food, the way it’s presented, the different ingredients. It was a real pleasure. An experience I’ve never had in California. I felt as if I was talking to the chef!!! I highly recommend this place. And don’t be shy of asking questions, they have all the answers!!! I wish we had more to ask.

Last night was our second dinner at Ataula, and it was just as delicious as our first time last fall.
The wait time was going to be a little too long for us to sit outside, but one of the communal tables had seats available, so we grabbed that. It turned out to be a really nice convivial atmosphere, and we had a clear view to the kitchen and the pass, which the foodie in me delighted in.
Cocktails– what can I say, but that my favorite is El Greco Tonica, while Ranjit prefers the Ciudad Vieja. We had an after dinner cocktail this time as well, When Maddy met Sherry, which was very refreshing.
Food– I recommend just getting the specials when they are available. We enjoyed both the croquettes and a refreshing salad with a type of fried smelt on top. Delish! Other tapas we ordered were: the chorizo dog (just fun), the pulpo (octopus carpaccio perfectly seasoned and melt in your mouth), Ataula montadito (cured salmon, mascarpone), oxtail sliders (those might have been my favorites), fried quail eggs with a pequillo pepper. And you must have the paella Ataula to share. It’s out of this world! And the donuts for desert:-)
I think the touch I love the most about Ataula is that Chef Jose Cesa makes it a point to stop at each table towards the end of your meal.
If you haven’t been, try it.

Fantastic spanish tapas bar that serves some of the most creative and delicious small plates I have ever had! My mom and I came here for an early dinner right as they opened and were immediately taken to a seat. Upon looking at the menu and deciding on what we wanted I noted the restaurant was becoming more and more crowded (I thought to myself if the restaurant is full right after opening then the food HAS to be good). My prediction was indeed correct because everything from the red sangria to the pickled beet salad was incredible! Highly recommend!

The world of tapas is quite unique since the only limit is ones imagination. Surely the chef has a solid one. From the sausage lollipops to delicious potatoes to the tuna served in a can to a sold with beets this place simply delivers a solid meal.
Two items that were noted by our group — a bit too generous on the use of salt and the service that really was not too attentive.
Yet, a good place to visit with delicious sangria and a never changing tapas menu fueled by the creative imagination of the chef!

Socarrat: This is the crust that forms on the bottom of the pan when paella is cooked correctly with a direct heat source from he bottom. It can be a wood fire or gas. This is known to be the most flavorful part of the paella – as the Spaniards say. This Paella didn’t have that. What I think they do is they have the rice premade and then they just put the pan under a broiler in like an oven and add seafood and it cooks like, so the top cooks but the bottom just heats up. This process works when serving Americans who can’t tell the difference, but I honestly was hoping for the real deal.
On to the good news. The paella was actually really good. it had a good amount of seafood. The rice was super flavorful (Although I don’t think I tasted saffron, and I looked for it). And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Additionally, we had the Spanish ham. This was the highlight for me. It’s aged for over 3 years, so it has a tremendous amount of aroma and complexity. It literally moves around your mouth and paints different pictures on your palate. I could keep eating that ham. It is way better than any parma ham (prosciutto di parma).
Sangria was good too.
I’d come back to this place, but only if they start making their paella with Socarrat.

Came here with a bachelorette party. We had reservations for 8:30pm and they were ready for us when we arrived.
We ordered 3 pitchers of sangria (at $ 45 a pitcher) and a plethora of tapas. The sangria was good. We enjoyed the red more than the white.
Here’s what we ordered and how we liked it:
Pa amb tomaquet ($ 6) house coca bread, shredded tomato, extra virgin olive oil: Pretty good. The bread had a nice texture and the flavors were quite good. It’s basically bread with tomato topping on it.
Croquetas ($ 8) salt-​cod fritters, smoked piquillo aioli: These were pretty tasty. There are 4 per order and we really enjoyed the aioli that accompanied it.
Nuestras Bravas ($ 8) potato, milk alioli, brava sauce: I had read that these were amazing, life changing little bites of food, but I thought they were just okay. Not my favorite of the night.
Pulpo ($ 12) grilled spanish octopus, trinxat, black olive-​pomegranate vinaigrette: Okay, I’m going to level with you, I don’t really remember eating this dish. I think I had had quite a bit of sangria at that point.
Costilla ($ 8) confit boneless pork ribs, salmorejo rojo, piquillo pepper: only had one bite of this and it was good. Flavorful and tender.
Esparragos ($ 9) grilled asparagus with some sauces: it was good, but not $ 9 a plate good.
Mejillones ($ 11) house mussel escabeche, vermut sauce, fingerling chips: these mussels were really good. Plump, juicy, flavorful. One of my favorites of the night.
Paella Ataula ($ 38) bomba rice, prawns, mussels, calamari, clams, saffron picada, lobster fumet: yummy yummy yummy. Lots of great flavor and lots of great seafood!
Paella Jardinera ($ 32) bomba rice, wild mushrooms, seasonal vegetables: this one paled in comparison to it’s meaty counterpart. We didn’t even finish it.
By the time we were finished, we were all super stuffed and I was sufficiently drunk. Note: they add a 20% gratuity for larger parties. Service was good. They were really prompt and friendly. However, we were sitting right next to the door and were a little chilly. We asked them to close the door and they did for a bit, but opened it again later. It must be their only form of ventilation.
Anyway, we had a great time. It was a bit pricey, but the food was all pretty good.

Was on my PDX wish list for over a year, finally tried it out last weekend. Its a popular place, and quite compact, pretty much how all downtown places go, so expect a wait on weeknights and weekends.
We were lucky, got seated in less than 30 mins, which meant we had to chug the beers we were getting at a nearby bar while waiting! Waste of some good stout: P
We were seated and the servers were very enthusiastic and explained all parts of the menu well. Its a tapas place, the front of the menu is your knife and fork tapas, and back is finger food tapas. Amongst the four of us, we got 5 tapas and the Rossejatas. My favorite of the night was the Montadito (salmon and mascarapone) and the pulled lamp sliders (not sure what it was called). The rossejatas was very tasty too. We also got two desserts, S’mes and the flan which were awesome! Excellent tapas bar, great service, will be back!

Do I really have to say more? Yes, it does live up to the hype. The cocktails are miracles in a glass, they’re so well balanced, you won’t realize you just had a glass full of alcohol. I made the mistake (again) of getting tapas with 8 people the first time here. Food was delicious but it’s hard to share small portions, including the paella. The paella was really really tasty and it was some of the freshest restaurant seafood I’ve had. At around $ 35 a pop and on a plate really meant for 2 – 3 people, we had a few spoonfuls each. It was really tasty and maybe it’s how Spanish cooking just is but I found it a little too rich with oil and salt for my taste. If I was trying eat fancy and wanted to save a few bucks, then paella and less tapas might help.
The second time was my anniversary dinner and so I ordered like 80% of the menu. Almost everything was my instant favorite. I recommend any of the croquettes, pulpo, oxtail raviolli, the 4 year aged ham special (the bread with tomato topping it was served with was just as good as the ham candy itself). My least favorite (I’m glad I ordered it but I won’t miss) was the rabbit loin though the beans underneath were pretty perfect. And WOW their version of the gin and tonic tastes like no gin and tonic I’ve had before.
Dessert was a good sharing portion but delicate enough to prevent me from going off the edge of bursting after such a deliciously rich meal.
Service is very well coordinated, well executed and the chef/​owner comes to greet everyone every night.
Tip: For the sake of your tummy and at risk of hanger, just don’t get tapas with more than 4 people max and be prepared to make it rain $_$.

An unexpected pleasure found in Northwest Portland, where the gentrification is making good dining options a bit scarce. Overall, the ambiance, food, and the service were top notch.
Arrived without a reservation at a 7pm Friday, and they quickly tried to accommodate us. In minutes they offered a shared a table, and the spacing was enough that it felt intimate between friends.
Service was great, very proactive in filling our waters and our sangria glasses, I almost thought they were trying to get us drunk, which is totally fine by me after a rough week.
Nuestras Bravas –Get it. It’s a bargain for the work put into this dish. Thinly sliced potatoes, each slice slicked in oil, then reconstructed slice by slice, vacuum sealed sous vide, and fried with a drizzle of cream sauce and spicy tomato sauce you typically see on patatas bravas in Spain. It’s too much work to make things taste better, and definitely something I would pay an not do myself. I imagine they must have a process which I tried to pry from the server. I don’t want to be that cook that is slicing and reconstructing these morsels or goodness.
Seafood Paella — Better paella than I had in Barcelona or Madrid, it felt like a fish market in the pan, mussels, clams, squid – all goodness. rice was perfectly cooked and embodied the flavor of strong salty sea air.
Vegetable Paella — Chef utilized mushrooms to make the the paella as umami as the seafood paella – very smart. Tasty. I almost liked this one better than the Seafood one since it flavors were more subtle.