MoVida Aqui

Summary: the restaurant has a strong reputation in Melbourne but our experience was severely disappointing. The dinner started out promising but ended terribly.

The food:
- Food flavours were pretty good despite how small the portions were.
- Tuna tartar was great
- Mussels in the tin were pretty basic but tasted nice
- Charcuterie board was poor quality and tasted like it was bought from Woolworths
- Anchovies; the flavours in this tapas was nice but the cold tomato sorbet served with it is extremely cold and quite uncomfortable to eat.
- Mains (beef cheek, lamb, octopus, croquettes) were all pretty decent but the slow and drawn out pace of service meant we were pretty keen to get the dinner over and done with. Also the croquettes taste like frozen chicken nuggets which of course taste good, but not what you want at an exxy tapas restaurant.
- Wine: pleasantly surprised. We had a temperanillo which was reasonably priced and very tasty.
- Dessert: a boring selection of creme caramel and churros. Churros were overcooked.

Experience:
- We arrived for our booking at 6: 30pm and ordered our food. Quite unusual to me that each tapas dish had to be ordered in individual portions rather than small plates.
- After being told by the waiter the food would all come as soon as it was ready, the tapas and appetisers slowly came out one by one and quite slowly.
- By 8: 00pm we were asked to move to another part of the restaurant since our sitting was over. Fair enough but by this point.only 3/5 of our main courses had come out.
- At our new table by the bar, one main course arrived at 8: 05pm, but our last dish arrived at 8: 55pm. It was frustrating because we needed to continually enquire with our waiters where our last dish was and were told. 'oh its coming'. Clearly the waiters didn't check and were simply giving a standard response. This was made more frustrating by the fact the waiters were very focused on filling our sparking water (which costs money) but had no idea how many dishes we have left during our meal. Finally our dish came but only after we told the staff we want to cancel the dish.
- The waiter was kind enough to not charge us for the final dish due to the 60mins delay. This was the saving grace for the restaurant otherwise we would of been well upset.
- There were multiple occasions we tried to get the attention of some of the waiters but they seem to only respond to customers if they fit within 'their sections' as only certain waiters would respond to us while the remaining will walk passed us, ignore us, or tell us they'll get our waiter.
- I also note that the restaurant was not even that busy on the Saturday evening we went so this level of service is quite lacking.

The other reviews of this restaurant are quite positive so perhaps an off night for the restaurant but overall, we had a very disappointing experience and probably wont be in a rush to come back.

Fantastic staff, extremely helpful and understanding of what we wanted, and attentive. Food was all incredible, even tried a couple of things I've never enjoyed in the past and loved every bite

Tried to make a booking for 19: 00 but the only ones that were available was 18: 00. However when we left at 20: 15 there was about 25 empty tables so why couldn't we make a booking at 19: 00?
The food & service was good but could have been better. Also had a jug of Sangria - was there any alcohol in it?

What a buzzing, great vibe! Busy place yet still had an intimacy even seated at the bar. Try the vegetarian banquet/set menu for $70; plate after plate of absolutely divine tapas.those fried zucchini flowers, oh my goodness! Loved it!

I decided to take my work and head to this beautifully situated CBD restaurant/bar to escape my home office for an afternoon, I was able to sit and whip through all my tasks while being served fine wines and food by the amazing staff who were all very attentive yet not intrusive. It was busy enough to have a nice background atmosphere but not too loud that I couldn't concentrate, will definitely be adding this to my list of favorite work hide outs as well as bring friends back here to show how Melbourne I've become:)

Absolutely stunning food and very good service. I wish I had eaten more dishes but the ones I tried were perfectly executed with great flavours. The ingredients are obviously very good quality too!

The food is lovely classy modern Spanish. The staff are first rate. I just could not give it 5 stars because the portion sizes are so small and it is too expensive for what you get.

Always a great space for special occasions - and ask for your special ‘quieter’ space if it’s a group occasion.

I can't recommend this place enough.
Everything was flawless, from the wait staff, to the food. Wine was a little too dry for my palate but I was offered many wines too try to ensure I was happy with my final selection.
Next time I'm in Melbourne I will be sure to include a MoVida restaurant in my dining experience.
The entrance is a little difficult to locate so give yourself an extra few minutes just in case.

Tried the tapas they served here and they're of superb quality! Such delicacy goes into ever serving. Flavours are unique and tasteful, textures are amazingly varied and each dish has such a great visual appeal!
Would honestly recommend to anyone!

Wow! I'm always a but wary of tapas restaurants because I often end up hungry with an empty wallet. Movida isn't cheap by any means but we opted for the $80 set menu and I have to say it was definitely good value! The tapas was closer to 'fine dining', and there was plenty of food. I absolutely loved the creme caramel dessert, it had a mind-blowing texture and wasn't too sweet. Would go back in a heartbeat.

The first one followed by two more Establishment by the same name and team, Movida Aqui is all about good times. There's a reason why it falls under 5 best Restaurants category in Melbourne.

It's a place for celebrating life with good food under a vibrant decor and amazing music.

Cannot go wrong with it if you have chosen to celebrate a special occasion. Of course, it comes with a price, quite expensive but once in a while one should know to splurge.

We ordered glasses of Sangrias, 1 zucchini flower tapas (forgot the meat) and a King fish based Tapa and for mains ordered a slow cooked beef cheek

Amazing, Outstanding and Beautiful!

Plenty of options to choose from for Vegans and Vegetarians

A Must

The tapas here are next level, the combination of flavours and always changing specials make it a regular when I'm in Melbourne. The mains and meats are typical but good portion sizes. The bread and oil they use is decent unlike many others using harsh cheaper oil.

Food was poorly prepared in comparison to other Movida restaurants. Lacks the ambiance too. Avoid and stick with the original for the true Movida experience.

Hubby and I really enjoyed our visit to Movida Aqui. It had a great vibe and service was fantastic. I absolutely loved the flor and bomba tapas dishes as well as the beef cheek dish. Will definitely visit again on our next trip to Melbourne!

Never disappoints. Had the $70 set lunch which was great value. Probably ate around a dozen different dishes all of which were delicious. Couldn’t finish everything in the end. Best paella I’ve ever eaten. Love the relaxed atmosphere, especially in the outside beer garden area.

One of my favourite places to eat, absolutely killer food and a relaxed atmosphere with excellent service! Perfect for a lazy afternoon eating and drinking with friends or before heading to the airport.

Quite good food but to expensive and not enough to eat for what we have paid. We won't eat there again.

Food was absolutely delicious. Beef cheeks, figs on puff pastry and squid ink paella were the highlights. Desserts were average. Service was friendly and attentive. We had 2 bottles of Temperanillo. Reservations needed. Come early.

Oh yum the food was really tasty mmmmmmm the service was good and hell the toilets were even clean!
So good I didn’t take photos of my food I actually ate it instead.you’ll just have to take my word it was good!