Ken Oringer's Toro Spanish Restaurant

We went to Spain during Thanksgiving of last year, and we had a really great time there. The architecture by Gaudi was truly amazing. We loved the Sagrada Familia, which was the most beautiful church we have ever seen. The food in Spain was great too, with delicious tapas, paella, and seafood. This is why we decided to relive the experience by trying out a Spanish restaurant in Boston and tried out Toro by Ken Oringer. The atmosphere in Toro was lively and boisterous. We arrived at 5:30pm and the restaurant was already filled with crowds. We were seated in a high table, which was right next to the bar area.

For appetizers, we tried the salt cod croquetas which is a popular tapas selection in Spain. The croquetas was fried to perfection and it matched very well with mayonnaise. It also came with rings of fried lemon skin. The fried lemon rings had a sweet taste to it.

The second tapas dish that we tried was the Costilla de Buey, which is braised short ribs of beef. The buey was tender and tasted like it had been simmered and boiled for hours. The portion was pretty small and we think it was just a little over-priced.

For main dish, we ordered the Paella Valenciana. The Paella came out looking great, with mussels, clams, shrimps, chorizo, chicken drumstick, and green peas on top of rice with a tomato sauce and lobster broth. When we started digging in, we were surprised that there was so little rice! We could hardly scoop up the rice to eat. The portion that we got in Spain was so much bigger. The seafood was fresh and tasty, and the chicken was tender. However, besides the insufficient amount of rice, the sauce was too salty. The more we ate, the more salty it felt like. We were glad to have ordered a blueberry soda because it helped to counter the salty taste of the paella.

HOKAT Rating:
84/100

Address:
1704 Washington Street, Boston MA
(617) 536-4300
http://www.toro-restaurant.com/