El Quinto Pino

This is an adorable little place that has both a bar area and a dining room. The tapas are not cheap, but nothing good in NYC is. Recommend the Fideua (a noodle dish with seafood) and the deviled eggs. Came for an early dinner without reservations and they offered us a table if we thought we could finish up before the next reservation was due (which we did). Cozy and inviting, great ambiance.

Authentic Spanish tapas, delicious execution. Surprisingly limited wine list (two choices by the glass for white and red each, half a dozen or so available by the bottle) but what they do have is interesting and nice. Service can be hit or miss. A touch on the pricey side.

Jalapeno peppers are not spanish. so i think this is somewhat fusion.

I will explain our experience in this place:

We where sit at the bar, and a waiter comes and offered us two different wines (were the wines of the day? Imagine...). Was a big surprise that he offered us just only two wines at spanish restaurant...

I asked him if that wines were spanish and he answered "yes". I explained to him we were spanish people and we asked about what wines (Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Penedes, Costers del Segre, etc) he was offering us. He replied that he did not knew, but he bring me the both bottles to check myself what kind of wine were.

I was surprised that a waiter in a Spanish restaurant, did not know what wine was offering to their customers. But I was surprised that he did not know look at the label on the bottle and then say it to me.

After serve wine glasses, came with the card to give us something to eat. To my surprise, that the letter had more wine than he had previously offered me. Why not offered me from the beginning?

Finally, and I think a very bad practice, brought us the bill without us we had ordered. I was with my partner and we were very comfortable drinking, eating and chatting. But when we brought the bill without even having asked, I had the feeling they were throwing us.

Honestly, I think it's a place that greatly improve with better service and waiters who know what wines are offering. For a good restaurant in Spain, it would be embarrassing to have waiters who did not know what wine are offering.

Too much to ask?

A homely relaxed atmosphere. Excellent service - attentive unobtrusive knowledgable staff. Fairly standard tapas menu, well executed. Exceptional uni sandwich - not at all gimmicky. Highly recommend.