The majority of Dali’s menu is focused on tapes, which are small tasting plates of appetizers meant to be shared. Now this can make for a fun meal because the tasting plates are set in the middle of the table and everyone can compare and contrast. However, I was extremely disappointed in the size of the tasting plates for the price. We ordered a plate of olives, which normally comes free in other Spanish restaurants, and got about 15 large green olives for $4. This was the cheapest tasting plate and, obviously, was not very filling. We also tried the Spanish Tortilla which is a lot like quiche. We got a piece that would barely cover my palm for $5. Considering the ingredients are primarily eggs, onions and potatoes, I thought the price was high and the portion was teeny.
Dali has a very adventurous menu for those who like new flavors. I tried squid cooked in its own ink. The dish itself was very unappealing visually, it looked like white lumps in oil dregs, but the taste was very good. The squid had a seafood stuffing that was delicious and the ink had no flavor.
We tried pork loin that came in a white sauce with a very few portabella mushroom pieces. There was not much flavor to the dish. We also tried beef ribs. We only got two small ribs that were mainly fat and bone. Mine had so much fat, I refused to eat it. Each of these more elaborate tapes dishes were $7-8 each.
Overall, we tried six tapes dishes. At a price range of $6 to $8 for each tape, we ran up a fairly hefty bill. What was the most disappointing is that we were still hungry after plunking down about $50 on food.
We also tried a small pitcher of Sangria for $18. The Sangria was just okay. I expected it to be jammed with fresh fruit but it had just one half of an orange slice. The small pitcher gave us two average size glasses each. The flavor was okay but I have had much, much better Sangria.
After trying our tapes and downing our Sangria we decided to leave and stop at a fast food place on the way home. We really didn’t care for the food at Dali and thought each small plate was far too expensive for the portion we got. We would have had to drop at least another $50 just to begin to feel full.
