Someone smarter than me please explain Spanish tapas culture.

So. We’ve been road tripping through Andalucía. Seville, Ronda, the coast, and now Grenada. Wonderful time. But the rigid American “everything must make sense” part of me is having trouble understanding Tapas culture in Spain.

For example: Sometimes it’s on a menu. You simply select what you want and order it (or write your order on a card in some cases) which I prefer as you can get exactly what you want. Also at many places they are very affordable so you can try different things. Think 1 euro each. The portions are small, but if you have 4 or 5 it’s a full meal.

Now I’m in Grenada. Yesterday and today we went to two different Tapas joints where essentially you order a drink, any drink, and you are given a free Tapas. Yesterday the tapas did have a menu to choose from and the portions were very small. Today, there was no menu and the language barrier made talking to the staff pretty impossible. But we both ordered a glass of wine and the waitress brought over a very huge portion of some kind of meat stew. Little salty but aside from that, delicious. In itself, it’s a meal that I would not be shocked to cost 8 or 9 euros at most restaurants. And yet it is free with a 3 euro glass of wine. We finished it, and out of pure curiosity we ordered two more drinks. And it was accompanied by yet another HUGE portion of some kind of meatballs with a rosemary sauce and roasted potatoes. It was so delicious but we couldn’t even finish it. I cant imagine most people could finish it, and I hate to think about all that food wasted.

At places like these^, is the etiquette that you order a drink and don’t ask about the tapas and basically you get what they give you? Like I said, there was no tapas menu, and my Spanish is terrible so I really couldn’t ask the server.  The portions were huge and delicious, but I must say I would not have ordered them if I had a menu as I was hoping for something a bit healthier (I’ve put on at least 10 pounds since coming to Spain two weeks ago!). Also, how do these tapas restaurants make money?! Our bill came to 12 euros. That included two sangrias, one glass of red wine, one beer, and two huge damn plates of meat stew with roasted potatoes. And this is at a popular place in a very touristy city.

I’m just confused. Not frustrated, mind you, as I just ate two huge meals and four drinks for 12 euros. Just confused.

I’d love to hear thoughts from people smarter than myself.