Casa Vasca/Newark

[Rachel Perlow]

Fornos is worse than nothing special. I'll admit to only being there as an adult once (I'm pretty sure I'd been with my family as a kid), and it was just horrible. With no equivocations. Even the touristy Spanish Tavern is a better bet than Fornos.

I'm sorry you didn't like Casa Vasca. I've never had a problem with their food, but the long waits and smokiness of the bar/waiting area makes us only go there on weeknights -- with backups in mind in case it is crowded.

Spanish Sangria is good, although we have found many dishes to be way over salted, we should probably go back at some point and give it another chance.

We recently tried Solar Do Minho in Belleville and it was fabulous. We had the rodizio, but many other dishes were coming out of the kitchen (as opposed to a dedicated rodizio place) and they all looked good. Get there early, the restaurant gets packed quickly.

[jwjojo]

I remember reading about Fornos mediocrity, and wondered if their tastes could be trusted. Shame.

[Rachel Perlow]

I'm sorry you didn't like Casa Vasca. I've never had a problem with their food, but the long waits and smokiness of the bar/waiting area makes us only go there on weeknights -- with backups in mind in case it is crowded.

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Hmm, I should add Casa Vasca to the list of places to check out again, now that the smoking ban is in effect.

[allie]

Wow, I don't think I've ever read a bad review of Casa Vasca. Chris & I used to eat there all the time, but I haven't been back in about a year so possibly things have changed. I've always had good experiences there, but I did notice after eating there repeatedly that everything is *loaded* with garlic, so alot of the entrees have a similar taste.... I'll chow there again soon and post a review!

[KatieLoeb]

I just got a whole bunch of great Newark restaurant recommendations from one of our suppliers of authentic Spanish products at Amada. He's originally from Barcelona, so I trust him implicitly. I need to dig up the business card he wrote down the names of the restaurants for me so I can report back.

[Curlz]

Adega Grill on Ferry Street is also good...and I'm with the majority on Casa Vasca; have always enjoyed their food.

[lmkennedy53]

I have to say I prefer Adega Grill and Sol Mar to Casa Vasca. I have had some good meals at Casa Vasca, I love the soup but I LOVE cod fish which is a very typical portugese dish but the 2 times I had it there, there were soooo many bones it was barely ediable. I tried it 2 different ways on 2 different occasions and the same thing happened both times. Unfortunately, the last time we were there our service was horrible so now I'm reluctant to go back.

[phaelon56]

I've only been to Casa Vasa once - back in 2002 - I was underwhelmed but figured that maybe I caught it on a bad day. I have been to many other places in Ironbound and Seabra's Marisqueria remains my favorite.

[Jason Perlow]

I've only been to Casa Vasa once - back in 2002 -  I was underwhelmed but figured that maybe I caught it on a bad day.  I have been to many other places in Ironbound and Seabra's Marisqueria remains my favorite.

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Seabra's Marisqueria is an excellent restaurant but they don't serve the same kind of stuff. It's heavily seafood focused, particularly grilled seafood, and its Portuguese, not Spanish. Its also much more of a sit down at the bar type atmosphere and the dishes are the type that are meant to accomodate that.

Incidentally, I thought Marisqueria was going to become hard to get into since it was profiled in Tony Bourdain's show in the New Jersey episode. But I don't remember exactly if that part was left on the cutting room floor or not, I saw the original uncut version.