If you research tapas bars in Seville, it won’t be long before El Rinconcillo is mentioned. It’s hard to skip a place that has been open since 1670 and is as old as the tradition of tapas itself.
The current owners — the De Rueda family — have operated the business from this same location since the 1850’s, with each new generation taking over from the previous.
One of the main quirks of El Rinconcillo is that there are no seats in the bar area — you try to stake out a standing spot, and then as you order food and drink, they write the price in chalk on the bar in front of you.
When you ask for la cuenta they just add everything up in chalk and write the total. Afterwards, the bar is wiped clean with a damp cloth as the next person sidles in.
Reviews warned that the waiters could be grumpy, but they were very friendly to us, obviously accustomed to tourists and augmenting my attempts at Spanish with some English to help expedite the ordering process.
Perhaps the accommodation of tourists was a bit of a warning sign, though. I wish we could say that the food was as impressive as the history and ambiance, but that wasn’t our experience.
Our suggestion to others would be to visit for a drink at the bar, soak in some history with your beer or fino, and then move on to eat somewhere else.
