Our lunch at Saffron was delicious (we had paella, black squid filled spring rolls, the cold cuts plate, avocado salad) and the atmosphere is really nice. The restaurant is in a hutong and has a courtyard guests can sit in, we came with two toddlers and they were able to play around without disturbing anyone else.

I did find it a little pricey but probably on par with other Spanish restaurants in Beijing.

I would recommend it for families, groups of friends or a date.

We dropped by Saffron last friday night after hearing all the rave reviews and that it also was one of the nominations under the Romantic Restaurant Category...

The place was nice, couldn't take a seat outdoor since it was drizzling. We ordered the bread basket with hummus, tapenade, guacamole and marinated ren chilli pappers and for maincourse the Lambshank with Couscous.
Sangria and fresh mixed juice for drinks.

The food was excellent. It was around 9.25 pm (note the time) when we asked for the menu to order some more food..the staff told us the kitchen was closed! We weren't informed the kitchen was closing and when asked again the staff told us the restaurant is open till 11pm but the kitchen closes at (*She takes a look at the clock*) and says 9.25 pm!!

We were too disappointed to even order dessert,asked for the bill and left...

If the staff would be more pleasant , they'd defnitely draw more crowds!

Not a fan of seafood really, but i've had my share of excellent paella in phippines. great wine, exquisite beef slices (not sure what's it called. basically its outside is cooked while the middle part of the meat is still raw). paella is divine, fresh scallops and shrimp.

waitstaff is nice too, and you can obviously see (from peering into that window into the kitchen) that the chef is passionate about her job (after numerous times of decorating the mango cake).

Although call in advance to book a table as I don’t think walk-ins are a priority.

Would go there again to try the 8 hour lamp stew (or something like that).

Yesterday it was Valantine's day,my boyfriend and I decide to go this place,we didn't make a reservation,so when we arrive around 8pm they said to us it was complete but to leave our tlf number and then they can call us around 20 min when somebody leave. We went to have a drink to another place waiting for them to call us, after one hour and half we come back to see, maybe they forgot to call :-C , it was 9:30 and they said to us the kitchen was close, we explain to them what happened and all they could said it was "sorry but it's close" so not romantic dinner for us and at 9:30 it's a little bit late to find something decent to eat, so for me NEVER AGAIN. I'm Spanish and I really wanted to tried it,but the staff very bad. :W

Interesting location and lovely, subtle setting and decor, especially liked the see-through pond with the fish that separates part of the first floor and basement, nice outdoor area that, while small, is very pleasant. Good service (got a free refill on dips when we asked for it, staff spoke great English and were friendly and attentive), good wine and booze list. Food was good, not amazing, but I don't think we tried any stand-out dishes on the menu. Bread came warm and fresh, dips and olives were nice, pesto was flavourful, mackerel was tasty but not de-boned properly and the garnish was a bit bland. Would go back again though to try other things. Obviously pricey so its somewhere you'd want to save for a special occasion (would be good for a date), but worthwhile as much for the food as for the ambiance.