NYCReview
The Spaniard
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Going out on a boat for the day is great, but taking a 10-day cruise is far less enjoyable. In both situations, you’re out on the open ocean getting sunshine and not catching fish. But one gets you back to shore before you run out of limes for your beers, while the other leaves you with a shot glass from St. Lucia, a desire never to eat shrimp cocktail again, and the lingering thought that maybe you should have spent your money elsewhere. The experience is more fun when it’s casual and low-commitment, and we feel the same way about The Spaniard.
The Spaniard is a bar on a busy stretch in the West Village with an extensive cocktail menu and over 100 types of whiskey. There are a couple TVs that show major sporting events, but this place is much more of a cocktail bar like The Happiest Hour than wherever you watch the first half of Knicks games. While the food is probably better than it is at that sports bar, it’s also considerably more expensive. Overall, you’ll have a better time if you use The Spaniard as a bar rather than a restaurant.
We’re clearly not alone in liking The Spaniard for day drinking and for after-dinner cocktails with a group. The whole space - a big horseshoe bar with booths along the walls and a separate dining room - tends to be packed every night and all day on weekends. A lot of West Village bars get crowded, but they’re usually dark, small spaces where you lose your voice trying to yell over deadmau5 blasting from the speakers. The Spaniard, though, is a multi-room space that never gets too loud or dark, where you can comfortably speak with friends or even try to move beyond your “no new friends” policy.
But the crowds that make this a fun spot to get drinks also make eating a full meal here a fairly unpleasant experience. The tables always seem to have reserved signs, even though some remain empty for hours, and if you sit at the bar, you’ll have crowds three-deep shouting “whiskey ginger” over your head throughout your meal.
The Spaniard serves elevated bar food, like buffalo wings with duck, a ribeye with housemade steak sauce, and lobster toast - and it’s just alright overall. In most cases, the twists don’t actually make the dishes taste better - in the case of the wings, for example, any duck flavor is lost under the grainy, mild buffalo sauce. While some things are pretty good - like the patty melt - the prices all feel a few dollars too expensive, and $25 is more than we’re looking to spend on a patty melt and fries.
Dinner at The Spaniard is generally disappointing, but perhaps that’s due to unrealistic expectations. We had (and continue to have) good times drinking at the bar, and we got ahead of ourselves thinking the food could be great as well. It’s yet another reminder that just because something is enjoyable in small doses, it doesn’t mean that more of it will be pleasant as well. Ten days chugging Pepto on a floating amusement park should have taught us that.