The 16 best places for tapas in Cincinnati (2025)

Mita's Restaurant is a stylish establishment located in Downtown Cincinnati, offering a blend of Spanish and Latin American cuisine. The restaurant pays homage to Chef Jose Salazar's heritage and his mother's traditional cooking methods. The menu at Mita's is described as eclectic and farm-inspired, featuring a mix of traditional and modern dishes from both regions.

A well deserved 5 Stars. Well staffed at all levels, prompt service yet they would all take a moment to ask how you are doing or how you like the food. Elegant and open atmosphere. Clean, private restrooms with hand towels (research air dryer sanitation if unfamiliar - any legitimate operation will have hand towels).I had the honor of being their first Cincinnati Restaurant Week meal. One of the cooks checked in with me after each course. It was wonderful sharing our passion for culinary creativity. Each course was perfectly prepared, using a variety of ingredients assembled to create a unique experience course by course.Mita’s was everything a restaurant should be and more. A big thank you to their entire team!

Ethan P — Google review

I brought my mom in for her birthday dinner and satisfied our craving for paella that we’ve had for a year. The food was excellent and the service was as well. The atmosphere was great with unique decorations and warm lighting. I’d highly recommend coming on a special occasion. I’d like to bring friends and go back sometime

Kiara G — Google review

I brought my mom in for her birthday dinner and satisfied our craving for paella that we’ve had for a year. The food was excellent and the service was as well. The atmosphere was great with unique decorations and warm lighting. I’d highly recommend coming on a special occasion. I’d like to bring friends and go back sometime

Kiara G — Google review

This is small plates style, and I love trying different dishes. My partner is vegetarian and this is a great date night restaurant for us. I could probably just eat the tostones and guac all night - it’s delicious. She also likes the mango salad. I like getting the ceviche dishes in addition to the vegetarian dishes. Nice romantic atmosphere, and not too loud. Service is excellent.

Ted L — Google review

Great Tapas. We like all the dishes we ordered. The pulpo and the tres leches sponge cake are excellent. Delicious with reasonable price. Will try it again.

Lixin C — Google review

Great Tapas. We like all the dishes we ordered. The pulpo and the tres leches sponge cake are excellent. Delicious with reasonable price. Will try it again.

Lixin C — Google review

My baby girls birthday eve and she wanted to have a sit down adult dinner. She is busy and a single mom and this was her priority. Booked a table for 4 for 5.30 pmWe arrived in time and a friend joined us in 15 minutesThis is an upscale Tapas place and absolutely delicious 🤤 Monday eve was not busy at 5.30pm but when we left at 7pm their place was full 😀I have reviewed this place before but I come back with very high reviews in 2023. Thank you Jose Salazar for your contribution to the restaurants in Cincinnati ❤️🙏🏽😊

Radha L — Google review

The food here is great! Especially tge paella and pulpo. Our server Juan was spot on. Beautiful decor. The only complaint is the temperature. Do you really need to keep the room at what felt like 60???

Jose C — Google review

The food here is great! Especially tge paella and pulpo. Our server Juan was spot on. Beautiful decor. The only complaint is the temperature. Do you really need to keep the room at what felt like 60???

Jose C — Google review

My visit here was long overdue; they've been on my radar for a while. They've gotten lots of recognition over the years (JB Finalist a couple years in a row now, I believe, and many previous nominations). They serve a good variety of tapas covering seafood, meat, and vegetarian options, some lighter than others, and plenty I wanted to try. You can get a satisfying meal out of two of the dishes, maybe three; they don't skimp on portions. From what I tried:The pulpo is a crowd favorite and a staple on their menu. It was rich, creamy, had super fresh seafood flavor, and great textures. This was a 10/10 dish for me.The chicken skewers (brochetas de pollo) were perfection. The chicken was juicy, spicy (but not overwhelming), with complex flavors. This was another 10/10 for me.They had a special that night of masa dumpling with lobster, in a nice broth. It kept with the theme of rich, flavorful explosions, and the broth was amazing. 9/10 dish.Their drink menu is extensive, though I didn't dive much into it. I've never been a mocktail person, but they might have opened me up to the idea. The el santo was right up my alley: quite spicy, with a subtle sweetness, and great balance. The dessert menu wasn't super exciting, but I'll have to come back another day and try something so they can prove me wrong. It's not an overly fancy place, but had a nice aesthetic and can be welcoming to a casual crowd. Service was good overall; my only complaint was the time in between check-ins from my server. I waited 15-20 minutes two separate times to order food. Besides that, she was very helpful and personable. This is easily one of the best restaurants I've been to in Cincy, and I'll be back soon!

Kessashun A — Google review

My visit here was long overdue; they've been on my radar for a while. They've gotten lots of recognition over the years (JB Finalist a couple years in a row now, I believe, and many previous nominations). They serve a good variety of tapas covering seafood, meat, and vegetarian options, some lighter than others, and plenty I wanted to try. You can get a satisfying meal out of two of the dishes, maybe three; they don't skimp on portions. From what I tried:The pulpo is a crowd favorite and a staple on their menu. It was rich, creamy, had super fresh seafood flavor, and great textures. This was a 10/10 dish for me.The chicken skewers (brochetas de pollo) were perfection. The chicken was juicy, spicy (but not overwhelming), with complex flavors. This was another 10/10 for me.They had a special that night of masa dumpling with lobster, in a nice broth. It kept with the theme of rich, flavorful explosions, and the broth was amazing. 9/10 dish.Their drink menu is extensive, though I didn't dive much into it. I've never been a mocktail person, but they might have opened me up to the idea. The el santo was right up my alley: quite spicy, with a subtle sweetness, and great balance. The dessert menu wasn't super exciting, but I'll have to come back another day and try something so they can prove me wrong. It's not an overly fancy place, but had a nice aesthetic and can be welcoming to a casual crowd. Service was good overall; my only complaint was the time in between check-ins from my server. I waited 15-20 minutes two separate times to order food. Besides that, she was very helpful and personable. This is easily one of the best restaurants I've been to in Cincy, and I'll be back soon!

Kessashun A — Google review

Mita’s is Cincinnati’s ultimate urban culinary experience. Seated right downtown, the restaurant blends the sophisticated vibe of an elite cocktail bar with the casual ambiance of homestyle cooking. Except, there is nothing homestyle about this fine dining experience and it’s easy to see why Chef Jose Salazar is a multiple nominee for the James Beard award. Based nearly entirely off of the recommendations of my terrific bartender, I was able to craft the perfect tapas meal. Short rib beef empanadas were perfectly savory yet light (I could have eaten 12) and Spanish meatballs blended sweet chiles and tomatoes with locally sourced meat (this was the evening’s special) were both incredible. They highlight was the unbelievably simple stuffed pimento peppers with a twice reduced vinegar. The pimentos were perfectly sweet, the melted manchego cheese made the dish absurdly comforting, and the vinegar reduction put the dish over the top in such a way that it really had no right being as good as it was. For dessert, a delicate almond crusted Gateu Basque which perfectly ended the night without being overly sweet. The cocktail bar is also tremendously well skilled with creative drinks on the menu and even more impressive intuitiveness off the menu (I recommend anything with Mezcal). This was a 13/10 and I’ll be back the next time I’m in town. Thanks for an incredible experience.

Dominic A — Google review

My wife and I dined with a party of eight on a Friday night. We ordered four small plates, plus a dessert, and shared one dish with our group. They bring out the plates with clockwork precision, at just the right time. It was all delicious. The unhurried pace was great for conversation and catching up. Stellar first time at Mita's!

Chris C — Google review

Ok confession...I'm not a tapas fan. The whole idea of small plates to share makes little sense to me. That said, wow this place reversed my opinion. I guess if you do it right, it's great. The waiter, who was fabulously attentive, suggested each person to do 2-3 selections. We selected 2 each and that was plenty. Everything we selected was incredible so to single out any one that was better than the other is impossible. Our server brought out our selections paired the way he thought made best sense so we had two courses. The desserts were also very good, but the consensus was the tres leches was fair. When the meal was done, they presented the receipt with the option to tip the kitchen staff as well. It was explained that it was not obligatory. The atmosphere was spot on. Parking is incredibly convenient right in the same building.

JD S — Google review

Ok confession...I'm not a tapas fan. The whole idea of small plates to share makes little sense to me. That said, wow this place reversed my opinion. I guess if you do it right, it's great. The waiter, who was fabulously attentive, suggested each person to do 2-3 selections. We selected 2 each and that was plenty. Everything we selected was incredible so to single out any one that was better than the other is impossible. Our server brought out our selections paired the way he thought made best sense so we had two courses. The desserts were also very good, but the consensus was the tres leches was fair. When the meal was done, they presented the receipt with the option to tip the kitchen staff as well. It was explained that it was not obligatory. The atmosphere was spot on. Parking is incredibly convenient right in the same building.

JD S — Google review

Finally got in here after months of trying. Very good. Small plates but be careful not to over order. Dishes were well spaced; we never waited too long but weren't flooded with food. I'm sensitive to spicy food and our server did an excellent job of guiding me through dishes and removing ingredients. Don't sleep on this place- we'll definitely return.

Troy S — Google review

We took our three adult children (late 20's), who have never experienced a real Tapas restaurant, for Christmas dinner on the Dec. 23rd. Because none of us had ever experienced paella, we ordered it upon seating like the restaurant suggested. We then proceeded to order almost one of everything on the menu! Our server Max, which my wife and I have had serve us before, was lovely and very attentive.Our two bottles of Rose wine that we ordered were lovely.We started having our tapas and then the paella was served way before we were expecting. So the big dish took up a lot of room on the table while we were trying to navigate the other dishes. But all ended up okay. Here is what we all thought:Cheese plate: absolutely lovelyMushrooms: Rich Life Farms (local shrooms) and squash. ExcellentEmpanadas: good, sauce is lovelyCeviche: very fresh, very citrus forward as a ceviche should beTaco: favorite of our group, we should have ordered moreCarne Asada: OMG! this is the best dish we had, please order this.Paella: It was very seafood forward, which was great, but not as much food as we thought. We all loved the seasoning of the rice, but my son was the only one who ate the octopus. All of the other shellfish were cooked well and very tasty.Shrimp Skewer on a Baguette: fantastic!!We had a lovely drink called Carajillo to end the night. It's made with a Spanish liqueur that we have never tasted.

Amy D — Google review

Amazing place tha we found in Cincinnati, great food, drinks and service. We had a great time and enjoyed very much. Congratulations to the Chef🙌🙌🙌

Daniele M — Google review

Amazing place tha we found in Cincinnati, great food, drinks and service. We had a great time and enjoyed very much. Congratulations to the Chef🙌🙌🙌

Daniele M — Google review

Almost didn’t go as I was on a solo business trip and felt weird about doing tapas for one. Glad I went. Server Jake helped me order for one. Pork belly tacos were terrific. The stuffed peppers were just ok. The tres leches cake put me on another planet! I think some dishes are worth the price and others not so much…

Sarah W — Google review

Walked in early on a Friday and was able to grab a bar seats but this place gets busy so would definitely recommend reservations. The food is fantastic! Both ceviche options were delicious. The carpaccio was some of the best I've had a while. However, star of the night were definitely the ice-cream for dessert. Such unique flavors! Overall a great dining experience.

D. O — Google review

Walked in early on a Friday and was able to grab a bar seats but this place gets busy so would definitely recommend reservations. The food is fantastic! Both ceviche options were delicious. The carpaccio was some of the best I've had a while. However, star of the night were definitely the ice-cream for dessert. Such unique flavors! Overall a great dining experience.

D. O — Google review

Elegant and sophisticated, with a thoughtfully curated menu, designed to complement the array of Spanish and South American wines on offer. You won’t be disappointed, and I will be back!

Jessica B — Google review

The waitress explained the menu. I ordered the cheese tray and paella. Both were excellent. The paella takes a longer to prepare but worth it! Good stuff!!

Robert A — Google review

The food is prepared upon order and it does not disappoint. As far as I know this is the best place for paella, in town. I enjoyed the sliders and the tostones with guac. The menu has some vegetarian options, but it mostly caters to meat eaters. Expect a more expensive meal, which is not surprising for a tapas type restaurant.

Gianluca B — Google review

The food is prepared upon order and it does not disappoint. As far as I know this is the best place for paella, in town. I enjoyed the sliders and the tostones with guac. The menu has some vegetarian options, but it mostly caters to meat eaters. Expect a more expensive meal, which is not surprising for a tapas type restaurant.

Gianluca B — Google review

The 16 best places for tapas in Cincinnati (2025)
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