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The food definitely outshines the service -- which is not saying much. The bartender seemed like he lost a best that resulted in working that night. The dining room(s) are charmless and ) smells (unpleasantly) of the kitchen. Service wavered between indifferent and ill-informed. Better dishes included the Skewer Of Grilled & Maple Glazed Duck Breast and the Torija. My dining partner liked the Crispy Brussels Sprouts; I, less so. The scored scallop was crispy on the outside, flavorless in the middle. The dishes artichoke puree, was an insipid wall flower. The seafood risotto, which was effusively recommended by the server, was a gummy low-tide mess. (Does this dish require two different cheeses?) The beef short ribs were somewhat better prepared, but the accompanied horseradish was limp and tasteless. The squid in the Wok Seared Taglierini Of Calamari were nicely cooked, but the combination of ingredients were discordant. If there were someone here who were better versed with the impressive wine list, it might have been a more pleasant experience. Expensive wines like these also should be better cellared.

Went here last week, and Alta is just as good as the times before. We had a seat on the second floor overlooking the first floor dining room, which was nice. We ordered the Lamb Meatballs, Grilled Japanese Eggplant, Mussles, Pork Empanadas, Skewer Of Grilled & Maple Glazed Duck Breast, and the crab risotto. The lamb was really yummy... had a nutmeg like flavor, and the butternut squash with it went nicely. The eggplant, I do not recomment... just was not good. The Mussles were really good, and normally hate mussles... make sure to ask for extra bread for the broth. The pork empanadas are good, and the sauce it comes with is really flavorful with a hint of spice. The duck was my favorite thing we ordered... it comes served in a bed of fois gras... the definition of decedant. The crab risotto was good... very much what you would expect. For dessert, we had the molten cake, which was a bit disappointing... I was expecting it to be hot, but came out completely room temperature. Total bill for 6 dishes, dessert, and 4 drinks, plus tax and tip came out to $140. Totally worth the price.

I went here last night with a group of 10 other women to celebrate my best friend's bachelorette party. The atmosphere is lovely and the food was decent, but our server started the meal out on a bad note. She approached me and asked if we had decided on ordering drinks. I told her that we were still discussing what we wanted, perhaps pitchers of sangria. She then said "We don't do that. We only serve sangria by the glass, so we can put an end to that idea right now." I said okay, she walked away and we all made fun of her attitude and had a laugh, but how unnecessary to phrase things in that manner! We put an end to her getting an extra tip on top of the automatic large party percentage.

I had a wonderful meal here with friends. The brussels sprouts were amazing! We also had the eggplant dip, fried goat cheese, the beat and warm vegetable salad- all that I would highly recommend. Will definitely go back again!

We're huge fans of tapas. My husband spent a year and a half living in Spain, so we were really eager to try Alta - it's right around the corner. We decided to sit at the bar for dinner. First mistake was to order a Mint Julep - today's the first real day of spring and we couldn't resist, but we'd have been better off sticking with wine. After sipping our drinks for a few minutes we ordered 6 plates, all of which arrived in our table in about 2 minutes. The food is mediocre. The plating is nice, but it's clearly all made ahead of time. Also, I'm always a fan of attentive service, but it would have been nice for there to have been a little more "flow" to the dinner instead of shoving everything in front of us at once - hey we also would have ordered a glass or two of wine, but we finished everything in about 20 minutes and were still on cocktails. When we went to pay, we gave the bartender our credit card and he literally tossed it back to us saying "we only take American Express." Luckily we had cash, but his attitude solidified our decision to never go back. Too bad, the atmosphere is great, but if you want truly great tapas, try Tia Pol.

i have eaten at alta before and absolutely loved the food, and have recommended the restaurant to friends. i was appalled, however, when i went to make a reservation for a group of 6 and was told that they only seat parties larger than 4 at 7pm and at 9:30. considering this is a small plates restaurant and is advertised as "good for groups," how can they not seat groups at prime dinner hours? i called to make the reservation exactly one month in advance--the earliest in advance they allow you to make it--so it was not an issue of availability. even when i called early on in the evening of our reservation (we took the 9:30 slot), i was told that despite there being open tables at the restaurant, our group would still not be seated until at least 9, because "that is when we seat groups." i love the food at alta but doubt that i will ever go with a group again.

Went last night (Monday) for my birthday. Walked in to a stunning atmosphere and the host was really gracious in understanding that people cancelled at the last minute and that my friends are just late by nature. They had no problem and sat us although only 3 out of 10 of us were present. The waitress was understanding as well (although just a little blah by nature hence the 4.5 rating) and also had no problem. fast forward 25 mins.. everyone has arrived and the waitress was well versed in the extensive menu. She gave us her favorites and the restaurants favorites and the 9 of us ordered to share everything. Everything came out like clock work and one thing was more delicious than the next. The moraccan spiced cashews are so tasty. We had to try the brussel sprouts that everyone talked about and they were delicious as well! Other stand out dishes were the lamb meatballs, the empanadas, the avocado relleno, the foie gras..actually everything was really really really good. Our least favorite out of the 30+ dishes we ordered were the smelts.. they just were a little lackluster. The most amazing dish we had was the Wild Boar I wish i had a vat of it to bathe in it was sooo delicious! This was all our first time and we left happy and full and didnt really break the bank. We will all be going back soon!