The Iberia Tavern and Restaurant is not a restaurant that I was all that familiar with. I was invited to dinner at Iberia recently and heard that it had a long history in the area. I spoke about the restaurant with my father while on my way there and he told me that he remembered they had the best seafood in that part of New Jersey and was excited that I was about to have an opportunity to try them. He had been there years ago and had good memories of the place. Of course this only peaked my excitement.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Iberia is in the heart of Newark. I am not all that familiar with Newark, I do not travel there often. I always think about parking as something that I worry about. I was very happy that Iberia does have a very large parking lot behind it. Keep in mind that if you do visit Iberia, they do charge $10 to park in their lot. The parking lot attendant only accepts cash so make sure you have some on you or be ready to visit the ATM inside. The reason for this is because the parking lot is open to the public. With that said, the attendant does hand you a voucher if you are dining with Iberia. Simply show the voucher to your server or bartender and they will hand you back a crisp $10 bill because they validate parking. It's a genius move in my opinion and I understood the reasoning completely.
SERVICE
I was greet with fantastic hospitality from the moment that I walked in. I was about 30 minutes and decided to spend some time at bar. They were quick to hand me a beer and I told them which party that I was with. Soon after the server then introduced himself to me so that I knew who he was and told me to let him know if I needed anything. Once the dinner event began, the server was pleasant and helpful. He brought us whatever we needed rather quickly. He was a great part of our visit.
THE FOOD
So I took a ton of photos of not only my food but also the food from others. For the sake of their privacy, I decided to only include the food that I had the privilege of eating. We began our meal with wonderful appetizers that you will see above. The Shrimp in Garlic Sauce was light and flavorful. There was not that strong garlic flavor which worked well. The Fried Calamari was also nice and crispy while being super tender. The Chourico Sausage had nice powerful flavor and I tasted each and every spice that went into it. The crispy edges made the dish. The highlight of the appetizer course were the mussels and their broth. We ordered two extra baskets of bread just to soak up all of the wonder sauce.
My entree choice was the Paella a Marinera which included clams, mussels, bay scallops and lobster. It was served in a deep pot and was enough for three people. This was a huge portion. The lobster was cooked perfectly, the scallops were a nice addition and the clams & mussels added great flavor. This was one of the best paellas that I have ever had. I ended my meal with the Chocolate Mousse Cake which you can see was top heavy with mousse with about one inch of cake on its bottom. This cake also had lady fingers that acted like a crust along the back which complimented the cake quiet well.
LASTING IMPRESSIONS
I was excited to try Iberia upon walking in and left incredibly satisfied. My group had a great time and it was due to the experience that Iberia provided. If you are a foodie, you need to give them a shot. I gave Iberia a score of 8.8. It's a great score and they earned every bit of that decimal. I feel fortunate to have visited them and I am excited to one day take my wife there. Please make sure to try them out if you are in the Newark area and then send me a message to discuss your visit. I would love to hear if you enjoyed it like I did. Enjoy!
Iberia Tavern & Restaurant is located:
80-84 Ferry St
Newark, NJ 07105
(973) 344-7603
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