Zills - Tapas & Mezze

Zills - Tapas & Mezze - CLOSED

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Zills - Tapas & Mezze

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About

Zills a quirky, rustic, yet modern place on the bohemian quarter of Gillygate – 60 second walk from York Minster. Sip our Taverna style drinks, travelled from Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Turkey. The likes of Keo, Efes, Peroni, Moretti. Check out our Al-Fresco courtyard, a place to enjoy, Lava Rock Tapas, Mezze, or Grills (exclusively cooked on lava rocks) Enjoy with a bottle of something different, Greek Aphrodite, Turkish Yakut, Lebanese Chateau Musar Plenty of cocktails, bubbles, a funky salsa beat, in this intimate, lively surround.

Features

CUISINES

Mediterranean, Spanish, Turkish, Greek

Meal types

Dinner

PRICE

FEATURES

Free Wifi

Full Bar

Reservations

Seating

Serves Alcohol

Visa

Location

19 Gillygate, York YO31 7EA England

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4.6

419 reviews

Excellent

333

Very good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Jed G

5 contributions

Great to see these guys back - never disappoints!

Feb 2024 • couples

We had the greek mezze bundle You pick 2 mezze as a starter followed by a mix grill as a main containing Istanbul chicken, fresh organic lamb, 2 spanish chorizo & authentic rice. Followed by Baklava for dessert Fairly priced at £14.50 per person Alternatively there was a spanish tapas bundle! Great taste of the med1

Written 2 February 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Marcus E

3 contributions

Quality, authentic Tapas and top tier customer service!

Mar 2024 • couples

First time visiting York and was on the look out for a quality restaurant and Zills exceeded expectations! We both love Tapas and this was both authentic and excellent quality! We had 6 dishes and a bottle of the Spanish White Rioja. My partners favourite dish was the delicious Potato Chorizo - Spanish Chorizo served on top of spicy, creamy Maris Piper potatoes. My favourite dish was the perfectly cooked Deep fried Calmari (always a good sign of a great restaurant!) what really made the biggest impression on us both was the excellent service. Adam who hosted us was a star. Both beforehand in dealing with our reservation and during our meal, was the perfect host and really topped off the entire experience. Whether you're a local or visiting York highly recommended this restaurant!

Written 31 March 2024

Paradisebutterfly

London449 contributions

Lovely tasty tapas!

May 2021 • couples

We love it here at Zills, the food is outstanding! We got the feta pastry rolls which are beautiful, the meatballs (bit on the small side compared to other tapas restaurants but very tasty) We also had the manchego, which tastes very flavoursome but again needs to be a bit bigger id say. Stuffed mushrooms which on this occasion was just the one mushroom so difficult to share really. The grilled chicken is cooked well and nicely seasoned, with two dips! We got about 5/6 dishes to share, to be full and if you’re big eaters, id recommend getting about 7-8 dishes. I’d recommend the Turkish Delight gin with lemonade, it’s soooo good!! Dishes to recommend are definitely the feta rolls and the chicken! We have had the goats cheese previously which also tastes amazing. I just wish you were open more days because it’s one of our favourite places! We can’t get enough! Yum!

Written 20 June 2021

Chinchitchlud

London530 contributions

Disappointing

Dec 2021 • none

We pre-booked to have dinner here on a Friday night, while visiting in York. We were really looking forward to a Tapas style dinner, but were left disappointed. We were seated and ordered a jug of Sangria to share, we were sat near the bar so witnessed our sangria being made which consisted of half a jug of lemonade, some red wine and a handful of fruit. Not how I have had before nor tasted, it wasn't great and didn't warrant the £16.95 price tag. We ordered 6 dishes between us, as recommended, so chose a selection of dishes, calamari, bread, filo parcels, arancini, halloumi and some sort of chorizo potato dish. Food took a while to arrive but when it did were underwhelmed. The food all tasted frozen and cooked to an inch of its life, nothing tasted fresh and everything was in odd numbers, so weird if you are sharing, i.e. we received 5 1/2 piece of bread for 2 people, why not 6? especially when you are charging nearly £5! We also found it really bizarre that every dish was accompanied with a pot of spice mayonnaise, literally everything came with a pot of this stuff, not very imaginative and it didn't suit all the different dishes. During our meal we heard one of the tables offering criticism, they were complaining about the food they had ordered to which the waitress replied 'that is the chef who makes the decisions, not us', we also heard the chef shouting through the hatch 'what is their problem', which we found unprofessional. Sadly, would not recommend, over priced frozen food.

Written 7 December 2021

Hilomby

2 contributions

A bit of a shambles!

Nov 2021 • couples

This place was really hit and miss. It was as if they had completely overbooked and couldn’t seat people at the tables. Everyone was swapping and changing tables all evening. We were served by a lovely lady and all the staff were friendly but it didn’t feel very organised at all. Our food... Greek salad was really basic with jarred olives and was tiny, bread- see picture £4.90!!!! Really small tapas dishes. We ordered the recommended amount and left feeling hungry. Very disappointed.

Written 21 November 2021

Jade L

3 contributions

Not a lot of for the price

Feb 2020 • none

We booked a table for 7 but received a text messaged which said 6.30 we tried to ring the restaurant to confirm which time but got put on hold, so we decided to go at 6.30 just to make sure we didn't loose our table. The place is very small and cosy not much room to move, they sat us at a table which was right below were coats were hung up so we asked to be moved which they did with no problems. We ordered the Spanish bundle for 2 of us which cost £18.50 per person, the food was OK i did enjoy the prawns and chorizo but the amount you got for 2 people for the price was very small. I would also say it was more greek than spanish.

Written 17 February 2020

graph82

York97 contributions

Delivery

Jun 2020 • solo

I was craving Haloumi and this was the only place I could find that had it so gave it a go. I ordered the Haloumi Pitta, which was Haloumi with Salad, Pickles and Sauces in a Pitta, The Haloumi was fresh and tasted good as did the salad, pickles and sauces, if anything it was a little cold and the pitta would have been beter warm, and did not seem fresh. I ordered some Fries, which at 3.99 I was expecting something good, they arrived cold and a tiny portion of what seemed to be frozen takeaway standard French Fries which would usually cost no more than 2 pound. I contacted the restaurant who blamed Just Eat for the food being cold, To their credit Just Eat did refund me. The restaurant did respond promptly and justified charging 3.99 for French Fries due to overheads and commission paid to Just Eat. It's a shame I would order again but this has put me off, paying 5.20 for Haloumi Pitta and then nearly as much again for some Chips is a bizzare business model.

Written 12 June 2020

Oxfoodreview

Oxford52 contributions

Nom nom nom

Jun 2021 • none

Unassuming, chilled place which delivers fantastic flavour and amazing service. We loved it and will be back. We asked our host to recommend dishes from the tapas/meze style menu and he did an amazing job of guiding us through the choices and making recommendations.

Written 15 June 2021

ClareHayward

Middlesbrough48 contributions

A little gem

Dec 2020 • none

Booked a table here and were very pleased we had. The food was fabulous, great service from the owner who told me his mum did the cooking. Lots of choice, very reasonably priced all in a quaint little venue. Particularly happy that we could get a bottle of Turkish wine to enjoy with our meze

Written 7 June 2021

DanW0000

Sheffield437 contributions

Perfect

Oct 2021 • couples

A great little unique find. Whilst a limited menu in comparison with other tapas restaurants, the food was perfectly cooked and served, all home made. If I could give a couple of areas to improve; Lighting was poor in parts however appreciate that this fits in with the ambience. The service was incredibly good and friendly however, the gent that served us seemed a little ‘wired’. Not a criticism but a little creepy. Would throughly recommend!

Written 31 October 2021

Kurt G

Hi dan, thanks for your review. Im glad you appreciated the home cooked food with efficient service. Due to it being halloween weekend I dressed up as a creep. Its great to see you noticed my choice of outfit. Kind regards Adam - Manager

Written 5 November 2021

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Where to go nextt

Derby95 contributions

Visited this restaurant on

Sept 2020 • friends

Visited this restaurant on a Friday in early September. The ambience was good and it’s very quite intimate. Service was friendly if a little dizzy !! Our order arrived less the 2 plates ordered first which upset one of our party - the food is genuinely good though small tapas plates are just that . The Mezze is served individually not a plate x number of diners which we felt odd. Overall reasonable in every sense

Written 16 September 2020

Jessica M

Liverpool6 contributions

First evening in York

Oct 2020 • couples

My fiance and I booked a table here on the first evening of our weekend visit to York.... and what a treat it was. Upon arrival we were greeted and taken to our table (we had a choice of where we wanted to sit). It was fairly quiet when we arrived, however it soon picked up and on leaving the restaurant was full. We ordered a bottle of the Red Rioja (and where pleasantly surprised at its price, very good value for money). As its a tapas restaurant our dishes arrived as and when they were ready, but we didn't have to wait long. Food was very nice but our favourites were the arancini balls and the honey goats cheese. It was a very cosy atmosphere, but did get quite loud as the restaurant started filling up. Would definitely recommend and will be back on our next visit to York!

Written 3 October 2020

Kelly W

4 contributions

Lovely little place!

Aug 2020 • couples

We booked for dinner on a Saturday evening, the restaurant was COVID secure and we both felt comfortable. We got a text a few hours before the booking asking us to bring cash as card machine was broken, a nice organised touch so no surprises at the end! Very small restaurant, we only saw 2 very busy staff scooting around, both were very friendly and attentive. We did have to chase up part of our order which hadn’t arrived with the rest of our tapas but we’re easy going so no bother. The food was excellent, especially the Istanbul chicken and the garlic prawns. Having tapas style dishes of mixed cuisine is a great idea, and it all went together beautifully. The food started arriving incredibility quickly, maybe too quickly- but we were starving after a day exploring York so were quite thankful for this! We shared 6 dishes between the 2 of us, and found this to be plenty. Lovely Pinot Grigio. Would recommend and would definitely book again if in York.

Written 9 August 2020

Bella

17 contributions

Best restaurant in York, no exaggeration!

Jun 2021 • family

We ate here on Saturday as a family of 7 (2 children) and had never heard of the restaurant (we are from Newcastle). As you can imagine, when we looked for places to eat everywhere was fully booked. When we stumbled upon this restaurant we had no expectations, these were exceeded above and beyond as soon as we arrived. Adam our host was exceptional. The perfect combination of attentive, professional and friendly. We felt such a warm welcome with incredible service and this made the experience. The tapas was first class !! We are all really fussy, with my partner having lived in Greece for 4 years but the food was incredible. Every single dish was beautiful and everyone got to taste a bit of everything. The goats cheese and honey and lamb kebabs were a personal favourite but there wasn’t a single dish that wasn’t fab. Everything tasted so fresh and so flavourful so hats off to the chefs!! The wine was great and overall speed of service faultless. The actual restaurant itself is small but so charming with a little outside courtyard with a couple of tables which looked perfect in the sun. Overall the food and staff were incredible and we couldn’t have been anymore pleasantly surprised. Having not heard of this place I couldn’t recommend it enough and will DEFIANTLY be returning. Thank you and we can’t wait to come back !!!!

Written 7 June 2021

Jon A

Stourbridge188 contributions

Truly outstanding

Oct 2020 • none

Arrived with Reservation to be greeted by over worked but welcoming and polite staff. Also efficient as we were served with drinks and food order taken very quickly. Food was excellent and five dishes between two was plenty.. Considering restrictions caused by Covid this small restaurant deserves the highest accolades for its staff and food. Bpokl now folks!!!

Written 15 October 2020