Review: New San Antonio restaurant Europa Restaurant & Bar has pan-European menu with Balkan highlights near South Texas Medical Center

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This Post: Review: New San Antonio restaurant Europa Restaurant & Bar has pan-European menu with Balkan highlights near South Texas Medical Center

Note: This is a Just a Taste review, which the Express-News does soon after a restaurant or bar opens to give our first impressions.

Europa Restaurant & Bar, like its name implies, cooks the food of Greece, Italy, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria — everyone is welcome at this table in the South Texas Medical Center.

The newcomer opened in December in a corner of San Antonio already rich with international fare. No expense appears to have been spared in decking out Europa’s interior, a swanky modern space with clean lines, textured wall panels and plenty of glowing blue lights.

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While Europa’s ambitions appear grand, the restaurant faces the same challenge most places with multiple international allegiances face: Diplomacy is all about compromise, and concessions will be made. At Europa and other restaurants like it, that means plucking the low-hanging fruit from each country’s cuisine without adding anything new to our understanding of the place.

On the menu: Europa’s expansive menu taps the culinary traditions of about a dozen countries across Europe, with mixed success. Greek Zucchini ($8) is little more than a battered and fried bar snack with a token side of tzatziki sauce to dip the crispy sticks in.

Same goes for Sicilian Calamari ($12), a familiar tangle of breaded squid rings. Both were well prepared, but didn’t feel like a passport stamp.

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France gets a favorable nod in Chicken Chasseur ($15.50), a savory heap of tender poultry slices dressed in a creamy white wine sauce studded with mushrooms. There’s nothing particularly Scandinavian about the Norwegian Cod ($15.50), but it’s still an enjoyable plate of delicate fish dressed with olives, capers, tomatoes and arugula.

Europa’s bar makes a respectable French 75 ($7.75) and an entertaining carajillo ($9), a pour of Licor 43 ignited tableside and tipped into espresso. The EuropaRita ($9.50) was a version of an Italian-style margarita made with a splash of amaretto, but the results were far too sweet.

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Europa is most interesting when it shines a light on the Balkan Peninsula, and those dishes make the restaurant worth considering for a night out.

Shopska Salad ($7.50) is a good place to start. It’s a refreshing melange of tomato, red onion, cucumber and feta cheese mirroring the red, green and white of Bulgaria’s flag. Bulgarian Kebapche ($12) was also a delight, juicy and well-spiced ground pork and beef shaped into cylinders and grilled, served with a peppery smear of sauce on the plate.

Location: 8811 Fredericksburg Road, 210-558-3323, europarestaurantandbar.com, Facebook: Europa Restaurant & Bar

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday

Paul Stephen is a food and drink reporter and restaurant critic in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen