Casa Don Carlos

Fantastic little place.

I still dream about the wonderful "tarte de queso", a dreamy cheesecake desert occasionally available as a special, with an equally sublime red wine sauce. Lovely...
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Enjoyed a late Saturday afternoon sit down with friends ordering 6 tapas between the 3 of us plus bread ; this was just the right amount for two men and a woman.. Having been here in the past we kinda knew what to order. The fried aubergine had a crisp batter- we liked this a lot. The Patatas Bravas was perfectly acceptable. We loved the meatballs though they got burped up later so be warned. Our chef's special chorizo, served as fried unsliced mini sausages, was fine but we didn't really notice it being superior to the regular- and it cost more. The liver- a new pick for us -came out sizzling and was well liked by the liver lover among us. The tortilla, another tapas we don't usually order, wasn't anything special. With a bottle of house red and two bottled beers the bill was around £50.

Casa Don Carlos is not a fancy place as is typical of tapas joints in and out of Spain. The service was a bit of a stickler for me as the Uraguyian waiter was on the gruff, macho , show offy side. He asked what us "guys" were having which is a peeve of mine. He insisted that I taste the house wine even when I said that I didn't want to. ( it's house wine,duh, I know that it's plonk). He encouraged us to get the pricier chorizo. He seemed slightly pissed off when I asked him where he was from. All silly really but next time I'll pray for another server.

All in all, a good stand by in the Lanes, not a destination place but also not a chain and for that it is a blessing.
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V. Daly
Thursday, September 27, 2007

With respect, there are some very childish comments being made about this restaurant. To the respondents from the capital with their ubiquitous comments of 'it's not as good as I'm used to in London' my response is, fine, stay in London. Casa is easily the best restaurant in Brighton bar none, and a long way better than any tapas bar/restaurant I've been to in London (and I've been to a few). It's also considerably more authentic as a taste of Spanish dining. No, the food doesn't arrive all at once, but that's the point with tapas: it's a social affair, a chance for people to get around a table and chat, eat some excellent food in smallish portions (and the food here is execllent), enjoy and chill out. If your idea of a restaurant is meat and two veg followed by pud, this isn't the place for you (and neither, I guess, is Spain ...).
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Will
Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Enjoyed some fantastic tapas here late yesterday afternoon including an Oxtail Casserole which was just the tastiest dish I have eaten in a very long time. I had only really experienced tapas at various La Tasca outlets outside spain (usually as a guest of a larger party!) and there is no comparison.

I was surprised by the comments by some of staggered service. This is how it is supposed to be, it is not a three course type of restaurant. The idea is to eat the food as it arrives and not to leave it to get cold.

If you are able to relax and enjoy good food and wine then go, you won't regret it!
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Marc
Monday, September 10, 2007

we were told at the front to wait a few minutes, the waiters then proceeded to clean one of the tables and set it up properly, after 5 minutes waiting the waiter looked over at us and ushered us to a table that no one had been sitting at and had already been set up, I don't know why we couldn't of sat down before. We ordered 8 dishes between the four of us and all the food was lovely, especially the roast lamb that was so tender it was served with a spoon rather than a knife. Although the food was good their was massive time gaps between the dishes which meant some were cold by time the others got there, also when we asked for some more drinks they forgot to bring them over and they got confused and only gave us 7 of the eight dishes, we asked for the bill and had all agreed that the food was amazing and the service sub standard, the bill was brought over with an apology from the waiter and a shot of lemonchello for each of us, he also took one dish off the bill. In conclusion I think that I will return and judge on my second visit because of the apology
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David McDonnell
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

This restaurant was recommended to us by a friend of my wife, most of the reviews seemed to make it something to look forward to.

Boy, was I disappointed.

It seems that previous reviewers who say that this is better than tapas bars in Barcelona and Seville etc either are content with average food.

We felt lucky to phone on a Saturday evening for a 21.30 booking and to be accepted but that's where our luck ran out.

Whilst the service was very good, the couple next door wanted to order 9 dishes until the waitress informed them that 4 would be plenty to start with, the quality of the food was not on an even par.

We chose spanish omellete, calamari, a spanish lentil and chorizo stew and pisto.

The mushrooms in the kitchen must be far harder than all the other vegetables as they managed to fight their way onto 3/4 of the dish to the detriment of the others, the calamari was ok but not great as was the omellete.

My lentil dish was very poor with 3 slices of chorizo, pudding was good but not good enough to salvage the meal.

we were in and out in less than an hour which says it all really.

it's the first time in years I have been to Brighton and this first meal was not what I expected, when we had been looking forward to it.

Not to worry, back to London to places we know and trust.
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Ruthers
Saturday, August 18, 2007

A brilliant restaurant.

Not for the anally retentive though judging by one of the reviews ;)
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Simon
Friday, August 10, 2007

One of our favourite restaurants in Brighton. Would visit more often if it stayed open all day, but hey, they have to rest sometime! Visited Tuesday lunchtime and it was heaving! However, service was prompt, friendly and the four tapas dishes, (chorizo and lentil, mushroom and peppers, pork with garlic and paprika and the rabbit with chilli and garlic) more than ample, in fact we had to doggy bag!. A bottle of chilled Rioja rose slipped down a treat with the tasty food. Ah bliss!
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Anne Bond
Thursday, August 09, 2007

Hands down the best food I've had in Brighton since moving here in September 06. With a friend, we ordered 6 Tapas dishes, but they turned up and were huge portions. 4 would have been plenty, but each dish was so sumptuous, we managed to eat the lot. Highlights for me were the special (Roast Lamb & Potatoes) and the Paella. Atmosphere was good, got talking to some regulars next to us, they said it's their favourite restaurant in Brighton and is booked 3 weeks in advance Thu-Sat.
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Simon - View all reviews by this user
Friday, August 03, 2007

Casa Don Carlos is really good unless you want an english version of a spanish restaurant, all the food comes out at diferent times, just like every tapas restaurant I've been too here, in Spain and Catalonia, the wine flows and it's the best Tapas restaruant in Brighton.
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Mitch DJinc
Friday, July 27, 2007