I was forced to write a review on La Masia given the other opinions presented. This restaurant is authentic, the owner is from Spain. The building is even built in the Spanish style.

I came here with two other girlfriends and we all enjoyed the food and were happy at spending what we did, if you are on a budget then do look elsewhere.

Tapas are a fun social meal, we ended up trying a bunch of things from their menu and they also offered a fresh sheet with the tapas special for the night. The seafood tapas especially were outstanding. We shared the sangria and it was delicious, how can anyone make a bad sangria i wonder? Also this is the Spanish from Spain style of food, most of the tapas places in Vancouver are Portuguese.

As to the temperature of the food most tapas are prepared beforehand and served at room temperature, gosh its soo annoying when people eat a certain type of food and know nothing about it and then complain.

This restaurant was very memorable the food was tasty and well-executed our tummies were happy when we left. I would recommend the tapas bar of this restaurant without hesitation. We spent about $35 each, and it was worth every penny.

My husband and I suggested to our neighbours that we have a dinner out at La Masia restaurant because we had been there before and it was not bad. They had never been there before and it is very close to our homes so we went on a Saturday evening. We were taken to a table in a room hosting a child's birthday party and it was very noisy so we asked to move. We were then taken to the next area in the middle of the restaurant which was nice and quiet and not crowded. We ordered our drinks and they were brought to us. A few minutes later a party of over 20 people arrived and the staff started moving tables and chairs around to accommodate this large party. They were seated right beside our table and their chairs were so close to our table you could barely get out of your seat. After that happened we didn't see our waitress again. She started serving the large party and completely ignored us. We flagged a waiter down and asked if we could order another drink and dinner. He finally came about 20 minutes later with warm drinks and menus. We had to flag him down again to order our meal. We had asked this waiter if there was any way we could move again to another table as there were rooms completely empty and plenty of tables available but he said no. Anything we needed or wanted we practically had to beg for it. The large group were very very noisy and we couldn't even hear ourselves talking. Food finally came and was not even warm. We finished our meal and left very disappointed. Our neighbours were not impressed and neither were we. I wrote a letter to the owner a few days later explaining our horrible experience and the lack of service. I provided my e-mail address and phone number but never heard a word back. Obviously he doesn't care about what people think of his restaurant. All we wanted was an apology. We will never visit this restaurant ever again.

I had to laugh when I read such conflicting reviews. Intrigued by the combination of 'the best Spanish food in the GVRD' and 'you'd better off at the Country Buffet' attitudes, I decided I had gone without tapas for too long and dragged my partner there to celebrate my birthday tonight.

Service was fine, and yes the ambiance was a little dated, but it was homey. Very Spanish feel to the whole place, even the drafty windows.

But what we came for was the food.

The soups were delicious. The soup of the day was billed as 'green pea' but it was split pea. Still very rich and tasty, and the seafood soup was very creamy.

We had wanted raw oysters but the chef wouldn't serve them because they were too big to be eaten raw. So we had them baked. Yum. That and the artichokes were stellar. Also, the house-made pate was fantastic. The snails were delicious but a little on the overcooked side.

All of our dishes came out freshly cooked. Hot.

The house-made sangria was also very delicious. I was surprised that the wine list, as good as it is, did not have a selection of aperitifs, some of which go so well with tapas, but when I asked for sherry, like any good Spanish place would, they pulled out a wonderful fino for me. Cold and crisp, it was a perfect start.

Desserts were wonderful. Spanish flan is just the thing to make a Japanese man go homesick (because most puddings in Japan are based on the flan model), so my guy was cooing at meal's end.

Gracias, la Masia, for making it a memorable birthday.

My wife and I went to the Tapas Bar portion of La Masia recently. We were greeted and told we could sit anywhere. As we sat down, we were told we would be moved if a party of four came in and wanted that table, which I thought was odd, as there were lots of tables.... Anyways, we got our drinks, which were good, and started with the Ceviche. Very good! I'd get that again. We moved on to the Chorizo, then the beef de brochette, then the garlic fried chicken, then a stuffed pepper. The beef was ok, but I am not sure that it would be drizzled with teriyaki sauce in Spain. We had the caramel flan with peaches and ice cream for dessert, which I loved. I mostly had rum and cokes, but the Long Island Ice Tea I had, I had to send back, as it didn't taste like an LIIT I had ever had, and I've had a lot!! :) The whole Tapas bar smelled like cigarette smoke though, I don't know if it was from after hours stuff or what, but it was offputting.

I'm sure if your a regular to this resturant you may get pretty good service, or may know whats good on the menu. If you are looking for suggestions from the staff forget it, I was not sure what to order being my first time here. I asked the waitress for suggestions but all she said was I'll give you 2 more minutes. still not knowing what to get i ordered the soup of the day and she said "That's it?" and huffed away. The soup was bland with small grocery cubed in a box stale croutons. Horrible!!