8 kitchens · checked August 2026
Tapas in Byron Bay: where the share plates went
Byron Bay had a Spanish tapas room for close to a decade and it closed in 2021. What replaced it is not one restaurant but 8 kitchens working across Spain, Greece, the Levant and the wider Mediterranean.
The short answer
The Mez Club, in the middle of town, is the kitchen closest to a straight tapas menu: Spanish and Mediterranean small plates built for a table, not a plate each. Loft Byron Bay works Mediterranean share plates in the same part of town and is the other obvious booking.
Those two cover most of what people are looking for when they search for tapas here.
Why this town keeps being asked about tapas
Because for about ten years the answer was easy. St Elmo Dining Room & Bar sat on the corner of Fletcher Street and Lawson Lane doing Spanish share plates, and every guide to Byron Bay named it. It closed in 2021, the guides did not update, and the question kept arriving with nowhere to land.
That is the honest reason this page exists. There is no single successor, and pretending otherwise would send you to the wrong room.
Spain, Greece and the Levant, separated out
The category people call tapas covers three different kitchens in this shire, and the distinction is worth making before you book.
Spanish and Mediterranean small plates. The Mez Club and Loft Byron Bay. Both in town, both walkable, both built around a shared table.
Greek. Taverna, also in town, which is a different proposition entirely: fewer, larger plates and a lot more charcoal.
Levantine and Middle Eastern. The Smoking Camel, from the Light Years group, which is where the mezze end of the idea has ended up.
Then there are the kitchens that work Mediterranean without calling it tapas. Casa Luna pairs it with a wine store next door. Treehouse at Belongil runs wood-fired alongside it. Raes on Wategos and The Hut at Possum Creek are both worth the drive and neither is in town.
How to order it, since the format confuses people
Three to four plates per two people is the working ratio in every one of these rooms, ordered in waves instead of all at once. Ask what the kitchen wants to send first and let it decide the order. The bill climbs faster than a main course does, which is the one genuine complaint about the format and the reason to set a number before you start.
5 of these 8 kitchens are inside the Byron Bay town boundary, so this is one of the few categories here you can work through on foot.
Every Spanish, Greek and Mediterranean kitchen open in the shire
8 venues, each confirmed against a dated source in August 2026.
Looking for a name that is not here? Search all 65 venues in the register.
Questions about tapas and share plates
Is there still a Spanish restaurant in Byron Bay?
The Mez Club is the closest thing to one, working a Spanish and Mediterranean tapas menu in the middle of town. There is no longer a kitchen here that describes itself purely as Spanish.
What happened to the tapas place on Fletcher Street?
St Elmo Dining Room & Bar closed in 2021 after close to a decade of Spanish share plates. Its own page covers what it served and why the name still appears in guides.
How many people do share plates suit?
Four upwards, and the format gets better as the table grows. Past eight, most of these kitchens will move you onto a set menu, which the group bookings page covers.
Where do I get the best Mediterranean food outside town?
The Hut at Possum Creek and Raes on Wategos, for completely different reasons. The Hut is a drive inland and cooks across Spain, Greece and Italy. Raes is a hotel dining room on the quietest beach in the shire.