Mar I Terra

Spanish, Tapas·
££££
·

SquareMeal Review of Mar I Terra

Well-worn features and a faded green frontage testify to Mar I Terra’s longevity and enduring appeal – and it’s easy to see why people keep coming back to this thoroughly authentic tapas joint. There’s no doubting the excellence of the all-Spanish wine list or the punchy vigour of the nifty menu – try habas tiernas de Lodosa (baby broad beans sautéed with pata negra ham, mint, tomato and sofrito), higadillos de pollo (chicken livers with Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar on a bed of spinach) or garlicky sardines ‘a la plancha’. Food is available throughout the day, although it’s limited to cold deli plates during the afternoon – so draw up a perch at the bar (a relic from the building’s past life as a boozer) and conjure up some satisfaction from a glass of sherry plus a plate of exclusive jamón gran reserva.

Good to know

Average Price
££££ - £30 - £49
Cuisines
Spanish, Tapas
Food Hygiene Rating

Mar I Terra is featured in

Location

14 Gambia Street, London, SE1 0XH

020 7928 7628 020 7928 7628

Website

Opening Times

Mon-Fri 12N-11pm, Sat 5.30pm-11pm

Reviews

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11 Reviews 
Food/Drink
Service
Atmosphere
Value

Anon

15 January 2023   - Verified Diner
Food & Drink 5
Service 5
Atmosphere 5
Value 5

Never fails to deliver. Excellent as always. 

Julie W

21 June 2022   - Verified Diner
Food & Drink 5
Service 5
Atmosphere 5
Value 5
Perfect in every way

Visited this restaurant every time we are in London and can't fault it on food wine atmosphere and service - very much look forward to our next visit ***** all the way

Sue H

08 May 2022   - Verified Diner
Food & Drink 5
Service 3.5
Atmosphere 5
Value 3.5

The best Tapas restaurant in London!

Anon

10 May 2017  
Excellent service, quality food, great prices - authentic Spanish dishes served with a warm smile - couldn't get any better to be honest!!

Jonny G

19 April 2011  
Food & Drink 4
Service 2
Atmosphere 3.5
Value 3
Tucked in a side street not far from the bustling South Bank, Mar I Terra is worth a visit simply for the peace and quiet. A sense of serenity pervades the whole restaurant – which isn't hard given it is the size of my front room. For this reason it is charming. We were greeted on entry by some very authentic looking nuns, and things just got quainter. You could reach out and touch just about every other table in the place, the waiter was moustached and paunchy, the food was delivered via a dumb waiter that must have been operated by hand, and the dishes were as rustic as any I have eaten in London. And they were glorious too. It is hard to amaze a diner with the basic Patatas Bravas, but the garish orange of the sauce and crispness of the potatoes drew me in, and gave me a benchmark against which all potato/tomato based dishes will now be judged. The octopus was another highlight, and the rest of the food passed in mist of war as my companions fought over the last of it. The blurriness perhaps helped by the excellent wine selection, which kept us entertained thoughout the meal. Eating at Mar I Terra is a jarringly intimate experience, but isn't that a refreshing change for London? I heartilty recommend it.

Dn C

07 April 2011  
Food & Drink 0.5
Service 1
Atmosphere 0.5
Value 0.5
The service it's quite awful, no one can't speak english and less recomend a good wine. The food it's “ok” but its quite expensive and sometimes the want to include in the bill things that you don't ordered. Also the manager behaves differently depending the social status of the customer… I don't recomend this place at all!

Charlotte C

14 March 2011  
Food & Drink 1
Service 1
Atmosphere 1
Value 0.5
This place has really gone down the pan. We used to come here when we lived close by a couple of years ago but when we dropped in recently we had a less than luke warm experience. The first thing that hits you is the smell of bleach.. well at least it must be clean. Staff didn't have a clue about the wine, even though it was Spanish wine and couldn't tell us what grape it was, but were pleasant enough when they weren't hovering over you waiting for you to finish and talking about you in Spanish! The food used to be some of the best tapas in London but now it's pretty average and seems like you're being served up luke warm left overs that have been sitting there all night. The patatas bravas was unlike anything you've ever seen or tasted before – potatoes covered in huge dollops of greasy orange mayo. God knows what it actually was… The cold garlic bread was inedible and burnt – how it can be both burnt and cold I don't know. The only edible thing we had was the gambas pil pil which were hot and sizzling when they came out which made up for tasteless tapas. We decided not to tip gratuity – afterall it is optional – which resulted in an agressive interrogation by the owner from behind the bar as to why we were not tipping before being asked to leave. We were ignored when we asked for our folded bike back which the owner had very begrudgingly stored away behind the bar area…in the end we had to ask one of the waiters to get it for us. A horrible restaurant with a very unpleasant owner. To be avoided!

Ashley W

21 October 2010  
Food & Drink 1
Service 2.5
Atmosphere 2
Value 1
I have just returned from a very unpleasant meal. Everything was swimming in oil, tortilla was cold and meatballs were rock hard. In my experience patatas bravas should have tomatoes on top of them and not a weird pink mayonnaise. Chicken dish and pea and ham dish were completely inedible. £15.00 for some slices of ham, that were not that pleasant. From when we were greeted with the overpowering smell of disinfectant to when we were weirdly asked to pay service in cash and the bill on card, the experience was bad. A massive waste of my Thursday lunch time and £84.00. I would most definitely not return to this restaurant.

Nigel C

12 October 2010  
Food & Drink 5
Service 5
Atmosphere 4
Value 4.5
My wife is spanish and having always seen this place from the train I wanted to try it. Great authentic people and dishes and wine. Fantastic to get the piementos d padron as a northern Spanish treat from our visits there. Lovingly prepared perfectly by the gallega chef. Nice to see the coruna beer estrella Galicia too- a perfect beer xxx

Felicia M

18 October 2009  
Food & Drink 5
Service 5
Atmosphere 4
Value 4.5
The tapas in Mar i Terra is the best I've had in London. Last night we had the padron peppers (why don't I see these elsewhere?) which were just perfect. Little green spicy peppers, grilled and sprinkled with rock salt: simply done, allowing for them to speak for themselves. We had the calamari, again, simply prepared and cooked to perfection, which so often is not the case. The patatas con bravas is quite different to that I've had elsewhere, crisply oven roasted (non soggy) and topped with a moreish, creamy spicy sauce made, I think, with smoked paprika. I've rather gone off olives, having had a few duff ones at various restaurants lately, but those in Mar i Terra are marinated in house, with fresh chilli and, I think, preserved lemons, and are really quite sublime. OK, I'm talking perhaps about some of the staples, but getting these right is a good sign. I'll definitely be going back to experiment more!
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020 7928 7628 020 7928 7628

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