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Mis Trucos is a modern Mediterranean tapas bar set in a character house in the heart of the Davie St. shopping district. Chef Kris Barnholden combines classic French, Spanish and Italian recipes with the freshest local ingredients and his own modern twists.
I have been wanting to try Mis Trucos for a while now, so my date and I went on Tuesday night to check it out. According to the sign out front, as well as a few reviews I've read, Mis Trucos makes the best sangria in town. We decided to get a pitcher to share since it was only $15 - which works out to about 2 glasses each. It was pretty tasty - a little on the sweet side, but I have to say, it's not the best I've ever had - La Bodega and Nuba both make pretty great sangria so there is some stiff competition out there. We sat on the patio outside, which was a little run-down looking. It was still nice to be outside, so I can't really complain. Our server was friendly and came by often to check on us. He gave us a few recommendations and told us about the portions (tapas vs. shares / mains)
For the food, we decided to try a few different things to share. We opted for the salmon tartare with quail egg, the crispy bread-wrapped prawns, the scallop with crispy ham and parmesan foam, the suckling pig (which was pretty much a paté) and the lobster & white truffle risotto. Everything was really good, but I found the quail egg to be slighly over-salted and the paté was a little dry, despite the oil they put on top to mix in. The bread they serve with the paté was really good, very fresh and still warm. The presentation on everything was pretty, but kind of bare-bones in the sense that they just put the food on the plate - no garnish, nothing 'extra' to make it look any better. I enjoyed the simplicity and the flavours of all the dishes, but kind of expected 'more' - just not sure what was missing.
The lobster risotto was very flavourful, nice & creamy and the lobster was perfectly cooked. Despite another diner's review about the quantity of lobster on the plate, I found it to be a fair portion considering it was only $16 with white truffle. I guess some people aren't familiar with food costs and are only thinking how hungry they are. Our bill was reasonable, (about $75) considering we had the sangria and also a pint of beer each. I could've eaten more, but I have a pretty big appetite.
I'll probably go back and try a few other things before I make up my mind about this place. I enjoy the idea of what they do here, but I do think the portions are little on the small side. I need to go with three other people to take advantage of the price drop when you order four items (on the tapas menu) instead of one or two. That way, we can sample a few more things as well.
Went there tonight. Small cozy place, upstairs, on Davie Street. First time there, had their 6 course tasting menu($35 each person). We weren't sure if we'll be full as we read that this is a tapas place. The 6 course we had tonight include:a seared scallop on fennel and capers(delicious),seafood stew(ok),pasta with truffle and cream sauce(to die for, had to savour the taste by eating one noodle at a time as also it wasn't that much but OMG so good), trout with chorizo(nice),4 slices of striploin with veggie and a poach egg(weird combination but it was pretty good too except there wasn't too much flavour on the beef) and dessert was some cake with rhubarb which is light and quite good. We also had the $15 popular sangria made with red wine, although I wanted the white wine but they were out of it tonight. Since it was only the two of us, we had about 3 glasses each. Enjoyed it. The waitress as nice and friendly and came and check with us from time to time. Overall, it was a great experience to try so many different dishes. A bit pricey but was worth it. Will like to go back to try their other dishes soon.
Went on a Sunday night for the first time, and was pretty underwhelmed.
Food: the good bits were the arugula salad and the bread. Salad was nicely dressed and delicately balanced with heirloom cherry tomatoes. The baguette and the heartier little bread that came with the charcuterie plate were pretty lovely.
We also ordered the wild salmon with wild mushrooms and asparagus veloute, and the charcuterie plate.
Salmon: the mushrooms were super tasty. The veloute could have been interesting, but was way too salty, and the wild salmon was overly soft, almost mushy texture. It also had a very slight, not-in-the-good-way-fishy taste to it (it’s salmon, not mackerel!).
Charcuterie: there are so many good plates in town, I guess it was a mistake to order it here in the first place. The salami was decent, the lardon tasty (tasty tasty fat) but contained pretty much zero meat. The head cheese was really bland, with a mixed texture that blended creamy and bready – not exactly what I envision in a head cheese. Even the onion jam was just okay.
Overall, the menu had a bit of a try-hard vibe to it. Too many elements in each dish to make it !INTERESTING!, instead of focusing on making it tasty. Too bad, too – I love that they use free-range meats and local veggies when possible.
Room: You know, they could really capitalize on the ‘hidden’ location -- instead the approach to the front door is odd and unattractive, and the room layout is somewhere between a cozy bar and a family rec room. The room is a great size and I liked the low moody lighting but the details didn’t really work for me. It’s a mix of ‘nice’ (Buckminster fuller-like repro chairs, original fir flooring), ‘cheap-but-trendy’ (plywood bar, exposed bulbs, rags for napkins) and just cheap (bad ikea coffee table, terrible saggy leather couch) – just not a very good mix, IMAO.
Tipping: the atm automatically suggests a 20% tip. You can cancel it and tip whatever you want, of course, but it still seemed a bit presumptuous.
Oh, the drink selection was pretty good for a small resto.
Prix Fixe menu.
Food was great! Tasty, we'll presented.
Good ambience - music and crowd were cool
Table settings: The Cutlery was wrapped in a rag! Ragkins??
Yes, no exageration here. You know, when you go to Canadian Tire and but a box of oil rags - they were the very same!! Even worse - you go to the washrom - there are no paper towels.. The same rags are stacked there for you to use :( Not trying to be rude but thoughts were do the washroom ragtowels get reused?
How come no one else has mentioned this?
Prix Fixe menu with 6 items
2 drinks (1 beer, 1 cocktail)
Tax!
20% mandatory Gratuity due to being a group
$70.00
It's either my tastebuds are a little on the cheap side or the food is overpriced..
the portions are tiny.. and I understand that since it is a tapas bar.
I did not like the foam on the scallop... reminded me of toothpaste.
The ambiance was ok, but the place was practically infested with flies!!!
You need to do something about those little fruit flies!!
Sangria was on special but since I'm using a coupon we get charged full price.
Water cups don't get filled maybe because there are only 2 servers who doubles as bartenders.
Small tapas come out every 15 minutes which is long considering it takes 2 minutes to eat them.
Place smelled strongly of fish. My jacket still reeks after I sprayed febreze on it.
Second time at this place on Saturday. I wish I could love it, however Mis Trucos continues to disappoint.
Don't get me wrong - the food really is very very good, and I haven't had a dish there that I didn't like.
But...
The hostess seemed genuinely annoyed that we arrived without a reservation and the servers give an air of really not enjoying their jobs or being particularly keen on the food.
The decor is very wannabe - uncovered hanging lightbulbs and canvas prints, ikea school chairs, bare floorboards and whitewash walls. The effect of this is that it can be quite noisy as there is nothing to soak up the sound. Also it's kind of boring.
But the worst thing about this place is the ventilation. There isn't any. In order to get rid of the musty/smelly/condensation-filled air, they periodically leave the front door open. Great. It was below freezing that night. As more and more people arrived, they abandoned this bring-in-gale-force-winds tactic, to just allow the humidity to increase. We left quickly because the sweat pouring down the windows was lapping around our feet.
I do not recommend this restaurant. Unless, of course, you'd like to overpay for tiny tapas that look and sound fancy but are a little high on the bland side. The atmosphere and service were great but the food just tries too hard and it's for sure overpriced and undersized. It's not terrible or anything but my girlfriend and I are in solid agreement that we won't go back...and we live less than two blocks away. That says something. We just got back from the restaurant and as I write this there's a frozen pizza in the oven that's we need to satisfy us for the evening.
Decided to try out the newish Mis Trucos with the g/f. A little underwhelmed with the food and the prices. We do realize that this is tapas so we thought we would order 4 items. We had the "special" heirloom salad with mozza, pork belly with peppers and clams, lobster risotto and the also the hazelnut shrimp. First the salad, yes it was fresh and tasty as a fresh tomato heirloom salad can be and certainly nothing to write home about. Next we had the shrimp - It consisted of 3 butterflied shrimp for $16! Next the pork - of course very tasty - as most fatty pieces of pork are - could of done with a little more rendering down as it was way more fat than pork but what can you expect for another $16. Last but not least came the lobster risotto. It looked like a bowl of porridge on the plate. No garnish, very salty and very little lobster - but what can you expect for another $16. We decided this place was just not going to work for us. If you are going to spend decent money on tapas you may as well go to Bin or Tapastree. This is unfortunate as they just need to focus a little bit more on presentation and value and the whole tapas thing would really work in the space they have, especially with the great patio at the back. They have done a nice job on a very tight budget to renovate this place but if they could get the dirty wood floors resanded it would make a real difference. We did have one alcoholic drink and tipped well, as the service from everyone there was outstanding - but for the $75 we paid and we still felt hungry............! It was poor value and unfortunately we won't be back any time soon........
So me and my friends decided to go here for new years eve, thinking that it's a small place so we can get great food and service, and it'll be a quick early start to the eventful night.
I was proven wrong when we stepped into Mis Trucos. we had a party of 12, and there must've been only another 3 guests inside. The lighting inside that place was a bit too dim for my liking. i could barely read the menus, and when i asked for another candle the server never gave me one.
when the server was reading our menu specials, she was very unprofessional, clumsy, and struggling to name the menu items. it was like she was reading off the back of her hand or something. im just guessing her mind was somewhere else knowing it's newyears eve and she probably didnt want to work.
aside from that, the wait for our first appetizers took forever! that would've been an understatement. it took an hour and a half to get our appies, and another 2 hours for our entrees. keep in mind there were only 15 people in the restaurant at the time. that wasn't even the worst of it. no body ate at the same time during the appies, or entrees. there would be 2 people eating at a time while the others watched.
usually i'm fine with waiting a little bit for food, because i know that good food takes some time, and to present it nice. but this was ridiculous. The food that night was bland, definately needed salt, some extra seasoning, and some better balanced flavours. It seemed as though everyone was off duty that night. I was truly dissapointed in that last meal i had for 2010. It was the longest dinner for 3 and a half hours. btw me and my date both ordered 3 courses, 2 appies and an entree. We left Hungry... had to hit McDonalds on the way home......how sad.
This has been our fourth visit and I now feel compelled to write a review. My girlfriend as i love this place but I am always looking for something new where she likes tried and true. Kudos to her, We reserved a seat the bar and immediatley ordered one of their cocktails they are so adept at preparing. They were good but did not have the love as in previous occasions. On to the food.
As always
I came to dine here with a group of friends last night. They had raved about this place - I was a bit skeptical, but Mis Trucos won me over. I truely believe it was a combination of the tasty food and the fantastic table service we received. Our server Erin was super busy, but she was on the ball each time. All staff appeared to be friendly, accommodating and knowledgeable.
We had a 'tasting' menu of sorts. A number of 'tapas' that stood out for me were the 'anchovies wrapped olive, serrano ham with a perfectly poached egg and the lamb with chick peas. All the other dishes were impressive, but these in particular stood out. Simple but so well done.
Located on Davie, between Thurlow and Bute. Arrive early as Mis trucos doesn't take reservations. Definitely give it a go.
My husband and I went to Mis Trucos last night. This restaurant is set in an old character home on Davies next to Shoppers Drug Mart. It is easy to miss the restaurant so look for a sign displayed on the street. We decided to eat outdoors on the patio where they have heated lamps for your comfort. Now for the food.... We ordered Coca with mortadella, the slow cooked egg with ham, lobster risotto, and lamb with chick peas & chorizo and for dessert we had the mango canneloni mascarpone. The food was impeccable! The lobster risotta was my favorite and was so full of flavor. Everything was absolutely perfect! The general manager and waitress were also very informative and helpful and at the end of the night we met the chef on our way out. The setting in this character home also made for a very unique experience. The surprising part was this restaurant is only 1 month old and the owner and employees have done a great job. We give this place a two thumbs up and we will definitely be back again. I highly recommend this place!
Wow finally a great tapas place. A lot of people mistake appetizers at any restaurant as tapas. The food was great, cool little room, a great addition to the area. Service was attentive, had a great time. The fois gras mouse was awesome as well as the pork belly dish, how can you go wrong with pork belly....
The food is pretty decent. Nothing outstanding but was prepared well. The service was friendly and attentive. Although at one point the server came back about 4 times to see if we wanted desert, even though it was quite apparent that we were really involved in a conversation. The ambiance is almost like having dinner in someone's living room. Not too loud and warm.
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