It is no secret amongst friends and family that my wife and I enjoy eating out. Tonight was no different from any other night that we both don't feel like cooking but the one exception to that is that neither one of use wanted to choose where we went for dinner.

So I decided to get creative and asked my wife to pick a series of numbers and then explained those numbers to her while we were driving.  Through those numbers and her responses once she under stood what they were, we landed at Sevilla in downtown Riverside.  Sevilla is a Spanish restaurant that once had a billboard that read, "Topas not Topless" near the Pierce exit that I'd see every single day.

When we first arrived we both realized rather quickly that we might have been a tad under dressed for this place but no one gave us a second look and to be perfectly honest, we both enjoyed the experience with the staff.

STAFF

Hostess

We were greeted by our hostess and were asked if we wanted to sit in the Tapas Bar or downstairs dining area.  Because we had our son, we opted for downstairs where it was a little more quieter than perhaps the bar area might have been.

The first thing that I noticed at our table before we sat down was a big glass jar with utensils in it.  I had made a small statement to the Hostess right before I noticed this was to be found on every table.  The Hostess asked if we had been to Sevilla before and we both said, "No".  She then proceeded to tell us that the extra utensils are on the table because it is tradition that everyone shares their food with others at the table.  The extra was so that we all got clean utensils to use each time.

Waiter

Our Waiter's name was Felix and he greeted us rather quickly upon sitting down and knew that we were flesh blood to the Spanish foods; the Hostess had tipped him off.  He quickly proceeded to share with us a great number of selections that would be good for starters and even mentioned some of his favorites.  I've personally never encountered a Waiter that spent that much time at a table giving recommendations.

Through out the dinning experience our waiter was prompt and always reminded us to save room for desert.  Our drinks weren't really ever empty and whenever he came by he would take whatever it was that didn't need to be on the table off of the table like used sugar packets.

FOOD

Alioli & Fresh Baked Bread

We ordered this primarily because we thought it would be the best to share with our 15 month old son.  It came pretty quickly, was hot and had two types of sauces for us to dip it into.  The first being Alioli and the second being a Spanish salsa which proved to be rather tasty.

You have the option of choosing between an olive bread or a wheat french bread so we went with the french bread thinking our son might not like the olive bread, even though we thought it sounded tasty.  

My personal complaint about the bread was that it was really hard on the outside which made it a little harder to chew.  I powered through that though and certainly cannot say if that is simply how Spanish style french bread is.

Sea Bass Cantabrico

This was my choice for the night.  I don't believe I have had Sea Bass before so I was up for a new taste.

When this arrived the first thing I noticed was the small shrimps used within the garlic sauce that covered the Sea Bass.  My initial thoughts were pretty much along the lines of, "Too bad there wasn't more shrimp".  The shrimp ended up being absolutely fantastic with that garlic sauce and I quickly realized that I could have ordered a plate with just those and would have been completely happy with my experience.

In addition to my Garlic sauce covered Sea Bass, my entree also came with a medley of vegetables that looked to be hand prepared and not straight out of a bag and cous cous.  Both were exceptional compliments to my meal and the Cous Cous was also something new for me.

At first I was kind of disappointed when I seen the portion of my plate.  However to be honest with you, by the time I was done eating, I was completely satisfied.  I ended up having the perfect amount of food and didn't leave feeling full, stuffed or even bloated.

Flat Iron Steak

My wife ordered this meal and I was able to grab a bite of the steak and the mash potatoes that came with the mean.  The steak was absolutely tender and the sauce over it was delicious in my opinion.  The mash potatoes came with a Shallot butter that I didn't get to try but wasn't a favorite of my wife's so she simply didn't use it.

PRICE

My wife and I were not looking to spend a lot of money on dinner.  However with our random selection, we were ok with trying something new.  Well we knew the minute we walked in that we were not likely to walk out of Sevilla without spending a pretty penny.  Our two meals, two drinks, bread and tip ran us a cool $50.00.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sevilla has a night club, Salsa dancing lessons on Thursdays and a host of other events.  You can find out more about what they offer at http://www.cafesevilla.com.