Spain officially arrived in Bethesda Row in October with the recent restaurant installment conveniently located on Elm Street.
100 Montaditos is a Spanish franchise that incorporates traditional European culture in the food. Each dish is prepared with distinct flavors and ingredients to make it as authentic as possible, while accommodating the American cuisine.
So, what exactly is a montadito? According to the restaurant’s website, the word comes from the Spanish verb montar (to mount) because small slices of bread are topped, or ‘mounted’ with the ingredients inside. The montadito itself is a bite-sized, about three-inch sandwich that is filled with a wide variety of traditional Spanish food.
The restaurant has a pretty laidback atmosphere. Plasma screens hang from the walls of the bar, which covers about half the restaurant. The walls are red and decorated with old photographs of different places in Spain, and a huge tile mural spelling out “100 Montaditos” greets you once you walk in. This place is great to bring friends, go out with your family or bring a date. The restaurant has a cool ambiance and it is easy to hear a person across the table.
However, if you’re a first-timer, the restaurant can be confusing. I stood at the hostess table right in front of the entrance for a good five minutes until a waiter told me I could sit anywhere.
The menus are already on the table along with pieces of paper and pens to write down your order.
Initially I wasn’t sure where the “100” in 100 Montaditos came from until I saw the menu. There are actually 100 Spanish sandwiches to choose from, which is a little overwhelming. Many of the sandwich choices were identical with the exception of one ingredient, which made the decision of what to get even more difficult. After making your decision, you must walk up to a single cashier with an “order here” sign at the bar to place your order. It’s a little awkward that you have to refill your water by asking someone at the bar who isn’t already helping 10 different people.
I ended up ordering a meatball and marinara sauce sandwich, grilled chicken and bacon sandwich, tomato and mozzarella sandwich, Philly steak sandwich and a shrimp sandwich with an order of fries. The food came out relatively fast. The crispy fries were served with homemade ketchup and a mystery sauce that created an intense yet delicious mix of flavors. Besides the fries, the rest of the meal was a disappointment. All the sandwiches tasted like they were missing something and had an odd flavor. The ingredients weren’t as great as the reviews hyped it up to be. The meatballs tasted stale and the meat in the Philly steak was too tough.
The beauty of this restaurant is its variety and affordability. You can order as many sandwiches as you want, depending on how hungry you are. It’s easy to try almost all the different flavors the menu offers. There are also four different sections on the menu with prices that range from $1 to $2.50. For five sandwiches that are served with potato chips and an order of fries, my order amounted to $10. The price is perfect to go out to lunch, seniors, and not pay a fortune.
Overall, I applaud the concept of this restaurant and its effort to make the food authentic to Spanish culture, but some of the flavors fell flat. Since I only tried five out of the 100 options my opinion is limited, but it was not up to my taste buds’ standards.
