Sunday: Old School Paella Crawl

The bar at sevilla

UPDATE: Unfortunately, El Charro, stop 2 on this itinerary, has closed. Thank you, El Charro, for the many years of great food and good times. 

Greenwich Village was once home to many old-fashioned Spanish restaurants, serving affordable tapas, paella and sangria. However, as old-world charm perpetually yields to the metastatic forces of modernity, altering forever the historic landscape of the West Village, only a handful remain.  

The Dayfarer, along with some paella loving compatriots, recently paid a visit to three old-school, Greenwich Village Spanish Restaurants in one afternoon, sampling each institution's paella marinara and a few additional dishes for good measure. Here's how it went: 

STOP 1: SEVILLA (3:00PM)

sevilla dining room

paella marinara at sevilla

With dark wood-paneled walls, ship wheel chandeliers, and salsa playing through the speakers, Sevilla gets points for atmosphere. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the dining room is teeming with tourists, long time locals and nostalgia seeking millennials. However, for a mid-afternoon meal on the weekend, it is pleasantly empty.

shrimp ajillo at sevilla

The paella marinara, spooned out of the caldero by your server, is flavorful and tasty, as is the chorizo and the shrimp ajillo, cooked perfectly and loaded with enough garlic to vanquish a vampire. You can wash it down with some cloyingly sweet sangria or order from the wine list, which comes in the form of a leather-bound book consisting of bottle labels representing plenty of fine options for $50 and under. 

The service is gruff and quite slow, which at first comes off as charming in an old New York sort of way, but quickly becomes comical, then annoying. As long as your initial order is comprehensive and resembles your best elevator pitch, Sevilla is a great place to spend an indulgent and leisurely afternoon.

STOP 2: EL CHARRO (4:30PM)

el charro dining room

paella marinara at el charro

camarones in green sauce at el charro

On the ground floor of a townhouse a few blocks away, you'll find El Charro, a small room with low ceilings, exposed brick, white table cloths and ruby colored booths and banquets. While the slightly cramped quarters are not quite as charming as Sevilla, the service is far superior. The staff is fast, friendly and accommodating, receiving every order with a smile.  

The paella marinara is delicious, with al dente rice providing the texture that Sevilla's paella lacked. An entree sized portion of camarones in green sauce, cooked with parsley, garlic, onion and wine, is also worth a taste. 

Options for wine are somewhat limited, particularly for whites, but a decent bottle of red can be had for under $40. While the first few sips of sweet sangria are palatable, it begins to taste more like fruit juice as its chill wears off.  

STOP 3: SPAIN RESTAURANT (6:00PM)

the dining room at spain restaurant

Paella marinara at spain restaurant

Before entering Spain, you may notice the glass display case to the left of the front door. The case contains dusty old news clippings from the restaurant's heyday and clearly hasn't been opened in decades. One New York Post review from 1983 notes the venue's "pleasant lack of pretension," and upon entering, you'll certainly notice the absence of any ostentation, which, as it turns out, is actually not all that pleasurable. 

complementary mussels at spain restaurant

Spain is a large, cavernous anachronism, with three subterranean rooms in various states of decrepitude. The first is a claustrophobic bar room, with red brick walls and even redder table cloths. Just beyond the tiny horseshoe bar is a forbidding narrow corridor with a creepy dining alcove, a place where the masochists from Eli Roth films would feel perfectly comfortable sitting down for dinner. If you make it to the end, you'll find a large, dreary space with crooked, sun-washed paintings and a light brown banquette running along the perimeter of the room. The lighting is terrible, even with the skylight, and the whole scene is pretty depressing.   

Before you can even sit down, plates begin to arrive, including mussels, meatballs, saucers of chorizo and salad. These are all complementary, but considering the speed with which these dishes are delivered, you may want to proceed with caution.

The paella marinara is pretty average, although the mussels inside are quite good. Another order of shrimp in green sauce is forgettable, as are the gratis tapas. Knowing that this place still exists, you want to like it. But, unless you are stopping by for a cheap beer and some free tapas at the bar, Spain Restaurant can be skipped. 

RECAP:

1. Sevilla: Solid paella, excellent garlic shrimp and by far the best atmosphere of the tour. 
2. El Charro: Small space, great service and the tastiest paella of the day.
3. Spain Restaurant: An old Spanish spot dying a slow and unpleasant death. Unless you are a film location scout for New York period pieces or "tourism gone wrong" horror flicks, skip it. 

ESSENTIAL INFO:

-Sevilla is located at 62 Charles Street. El Charro is located at 4 Charles Street. Spain Restaurant is located at 113 West 13th Street.

-Total Cost: About $80 per person for food and drink at all three venues with a group of four.  Hitting just one of the stops will bring the total down to about $50 per person. Tax and tip included. 

-If you don't want to wait for a table, mid-afternoon is the best time to check out Sevilla, as they do not accept reservations. El Charro and Spain both accept reservations.

-Spain Restaurant is cash only.