El Centro - Prague

Such a cute little authentic Spanish restaurant!! The paella was amazing!!!!!! we enjoyed our meal on the cozy back patio. Would love to visit again!

Great food and great services!!! If you want to eat a great Paella stop there. We also order pulpo a la gallega and was amazing

If you do anything you must come here for dinner. Norma the owner is a fantastic person and very committed to her craft of cooking. She spends all night prepping the food for customers the next day and I really felt cared for upon going here even though I only had a glass of wine.

We returned to this hidden gem in Prague since they were always so kind anytime I had visited and no surprise that they were excellent again. The chicken and beef taquitos are great and the combination of Spanish tapas and Latin American dishes offer a lovely variety of dishes. In the end, we let the owner know that 16 years ago, they were kind to me and that they have been so appreciated since. They were not surprised to hear about all of the microaggressions and bigotry I dealt with in Prague in 2006 2007, but assured me that as it's become more cosmopolitan, much of that archaic thinking is changing. I hope so, but if you're ever in need of warm welcomes and good food, El Centro is your place.

My husband decided on this restaurant as a back up to Jo's restaurant, having had an earlier experience there that wasn't so great. When we arrived at Jo's Bar, dinning was closed off due to a private reservation. Chuckling to our selves at our rotten luck (the night before, Jo's was no longer serving food at around 10pm) we made our way to El Centro. Once we found the place, a bit away from the beaten path of tourists. We were a bit taken aback by the quite of the atmosphere. Going against my sounder judgement, we entered without a waiter to greet us. Okay... we took it upon our selves to get our own menus off a decorative barrel and seated our selves. My husband had to get up after several minutes, to inquire if they were even open. That's when a waitress finally appeared. This really should have been an indicator for me to haul ass and move on. But we were hungry and wanted a bite to eat before our Underground Ghost tour at 7pm. Mind you, we arrived at this restaurant at around 5:15pm. Once we were able to finally get waited on, we ordered our Paella for two, tap water and Cappuccino. After which we asked how long it would take for the Paella to be ready, the waitress said thirty minutes. Agreeable to this time, we figure we had ample time to eat and head out to Old town Prague for our tour. This is were El Centro became a complete debacle! Once we received our beverages and a house starter of olives, a small bowl of mayonnaise and one (1) roll-cut in half, the time management went down the wayside for this place. I'm not going to blame the waitress, because once she appeared, she served us politely with smiles. We had a male waiter as well, who was equally polite and apologetic for the lack of professionalism going on. But damn it all, it was 6pm at one point, no Paella, then 6:18. My husband had to get up a third time to fetch the disappearing waiters and find out what was going on. We told them around 5:45pm, that we were pressed for time and had a tour appointment at 7. The first time we asked, the male waiter sos it was coming soon. The second time, it was being plated. Never in my life have I been so brazen, I was ready to walk out. I'm sitting there hungry and potentially late, hearing them kicking and out right cackling from the kitchen or where their fun gathering were, below. At which point I'm livid (I work in the hospitality business) I would parish at the very thought of having a guest/client, waiting with out proper service while I and my staff loudly laugh below. At this point, o want to laugh too. Just when I get up, grabbing my purse, the Paella is brought out by the same slightly harassed looking male waiter. My husband looks at me and says we can try to eat some and take away the remainder. I feel bad, because I know my hubby is hungry. I sit down and he spoons some on his plate, I go spoon a bit on mine and immediately I can see that the rice is under cooked.... *Jesus take the wheel*. I look at the waiter who has finally decided to hover in distance (as is proper), seeing my face, rushes over. I look at him, letting him know it's under cooked. Allowing us to know, that the cooks had oven troubles. Dear God, why didn't he say that at 5:30, or 5:45, 6pm. I took pity on him because, it wasn't his fault. I ended up just taking it away, hoping the remaining heat of the food would finish off the cooking process of the rice. We ended up dropping it off at our hostel on the way to the tour and eating it after. Even then, the rice was still undercooked. The male waiter did give us two free slices of cake and although the Paella was under cooked, the flavors were solid. I hope they got their stove fixed and work on that time management and communication.