Dined at MoVida on a Monday evening during Christmas period. The dining room was full, the drinks pouring, food flying out the kitchen. We had wonderful service, and the food matched. The restaurant was a little loud, but still fine to talk across the table. Some highlights from the menu:
- Zucchini and manchego croquettes (Girlfriends favourite)
- Steak tartare with horseradish on a cracker
- Blood sausage with hash brown, and a fried egg (sauce was yum)
Would recommend to come here for any occasion. The wine list is diverse and has a great number of imported Spanish wines. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟
Eli DeVylder · 2025-12-24
What a restaurant! We tried a few of the tapas, and all of them were excellent. You can tell that each dish is made with great care and attention to the ingredients. We had a wagyu croqueta from the specials menu that was top-notch, as well as the black paella with calamares — both were fantastic.
They also have a great drink list with some excellent spanish wines and great sangria.
Service from Liza could have been better and we appreciated her recommendation to visit MoVida next door. We ended up going two days after.
Overall, I highly recommend this place!
Raquel Gallego · 2025-11-02
MoVida is a truly delicious and exciting place, offering a creative take on Spanish cuisine with a wide variety of dishes to explore. Almost everything we tried was outstanding. The goat with cheese was an absolute masterpiece — rich, flavorful, and perfectly balanced. The pork neck was also excellent, tender and packed with taste. The octopus sausage was on the heavier side and quite greasy, but still enjoyable.
The tapas here are unique and full of character, definitely different from the usual offerings you find elsewhere. The only real letdown was the scallop — it was burnt and ended up dry, which was disappointing compared to the otherwise high standard of the food.
Service, however, left something to be desired. One of the waiters who served us was abrupt, condescending, and even tried to tell me how I should be eating my food and what to pair it with. That kind of attitude is simply unacceptable in a place of this caliber and definitely took away from the overall experience.
In short, the food is fantastic, creative, and mostly unforgettable — but the service needs improvement. For that, I’d take off one star.
Ben Oleg Slavak · 2025-09-27
Went to MoVida expecting one of Melbourne’s top-tier tapas experiences, but honestly the food just didn’t hit the spot for me.
I wasn’t drinking that night, which maybe plays a role (perhaps the flavours pair better with alcohol), but a lot of the dishes leaned overly sweet or unbalanced. The anchovy dish went from a nice salty crunch to being topped with something that felt like ice cream sorbet — and for me, it just didn’t work. The bug paella/risotto was either too salty or too sweet depending on the bite, and I really wished it had more rice to ground it. A few of the other dishes felt similar — beef, potato, little biscuit-type things — textures and flavours that leaned far too sweet for my liking.
On the flip side, there were a few highlights. The croquettes were the clear standout — the butter corn one was delicious, and the special brisket croquette was bloody amazing. The tasting meat plate was also a winner — simple, clean, and exactly what you want without being overworked. But beyond that, the O’Connor steak was just okay (faint in flavour), and the ox tongue, while dressed nicely, was far too chewy with little distinct taste.
Service was excellent — friendly, attentive, and professional. Just a shame that for me, the food missed the balance and depth I was hoping for.
The churros were great at least, but the cheese and biscuits felt overcomplicated — too many random toppings and textures that distracted from what should’ve just been good quality cheese and crackers.
Christopher Wu · 2025-09-18
We took the dinner menu as we couldn't make up our mind as everything looks awesome. It comes with 5 tapas and the highlight is the Jamon Iberico. The ham tasted salty, flavourful and very thinly sliced. What we love is the mushroom made-rosti. It is both creative and tasted really good. We both like the ambience of the restaurant. It is a bit dark, but romantic. Bustling but not noisy. Overall, we weren't disappointed and had a good time here.
Alan Tan · 2025-09-14