Loud, Good-Looking and Sometimes Tasty

Heading west toward Huntington Beach, you’ll find Ibiza, a chic bar and cafe named for the hardest-partying of Spain’s Balearic Islands. Although there’s no live entertainment, make no mistake about it: Ibiza is a scene, with fashionable and good-looking young people checking one another out and techno music kicking out of speakers at an ear-splitting decibel level that saves them the trouble of having to bother with pickup lines.

Although there’s an extensive tapas menu offered alongside entrees and salads, the emphasis is on cocktails. The drink list boasts 175 of them, all poured generously, and they range from Cadillac Margaritas to Sex on the Beach to Long Island Ice Teas--well, you get the idea. The room is a study in cool, with turquoise blue walls adorned with faux works by Goya and Velasquez and a recessed ceiling awash in red neon light.

There are some nice touches on the menu, which tips its hat to Spanish cuisine but otherwise roves into the realm of Asian fusion: for example, the very good and fiery seared ahi heavily rolled in cracked black pepper. Some of the dishes fall flat, however. Gambas ajillo (shrimp sauteed in a white wine sauce with garlic, lemon juice and olive oil) get their flavor from the sauce, but the shrimp is overdone. The tortilla espanol is unconventional, a medley of home fries (complete with potato skins) and melted cheese OK as a snack.

Flavors of Spain is a generous assortment of Serrano ham, olives, white asparagus and marinated mushrooms and artichokes. At $8 a head, it’s a pretty good deal. But skip the paella, which comes in chicken and seafood versions. I had the latter. It was about the diameter of a tire, but the medium-grain rice was cooked to mush and bereft of saffron. The whole thing had been shoved under the broiler until its tufts of vegetables and seafood were charred and dry.

Tapas run $5 to $8 here, entrees $11 to $18.

Ibiza, 209 Main St., Huntington Beach. (714) 536-7887. Open 9 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays.