At a time when people are watching their pennies and dining out less, Zarzuela remains one of the best values in town. One of San Francisco's original tapas restaurants, Zarzuela offers small plates, most for less than $8.

Chef Lucas Gasco prepares such things as a stew of giant white beans with two kinds of sausage and chunks of ham ($7.25). Served in a small cast-iron skillet, the portion is as big as the main courses at some restaurants, and the flavors are comforting and homey. Plus, diners can get a carafe of very good sangria - with a good sweet-spicy balance - for $20 or a bottle of wine for a little more.

Just $7.95 will buy diners braised quail, mostly boned, that's served on a small plate with a dense knob of garlicky spinach, batons of root vegetables and a light, though intensely flavored sauce made with stock and white wine. Gasco's version of empanadas ($7.25) is unusual; they're more like pressed sandwiches cut into triangles. The fillings change each night; on my last visit, it was an inch-high mixture of ground sausage, onion and bell pepper backed by a pleasant kick of chiles. The chef also prepares poached octopus dusted with paprika that's fanned over thin slices of olive oil-glazed potatoes and onions ($9.95).

In addition to the 30 or so small plates, Gasco offers large plates that are generous enough to share, and many are available in half portions, such as the chicken sauteed with mushrooms and sherry ($9.25/$15.95).

The chef does a superb job on the Castilian-style oxtail stew ($17.95), and his paella is some of the best in the city, and a deal for $16.95 a person. Presented in a cast-iron casserole, the rice is as complexly textured as risotto, stained with saffron and other herbs. It serves as a moist bed for chunks of chicken, fish, mussels, clams, rings of calamari, green beans and strips of red bell pepper. Shrimp are mixed in the rice, and two big meaty ones, butterflied in their shell, are arranged on top with wedges of lemon. We ate until we were so full that we were nearly in pain, and took enough home for lunch the next day.

At many small-plates restaurants, the finer points of service are ignored, but at Zarzuela the waiters are as friendly as if you are a regular customer and as efficient as if they worked at Gary Danko. They always bring new plates, utensils to serve the shared dishes, and pace the selections so that there's never an overload of plates on the wood-topped tables.

The space has a clean, lived-in feel, with yellow stucco walls, a beamed ceiling, red tile floor and posters of Spanish bullfights above the windows and arch at the entrance. Owner Andy Debbane is quick to greet people as they come in the door, and the rest of the time stands sentry at his podium near the kitchen entrance, looking more like a casually dressed Secret Service agent than a restaurant host. No glass goes empty, no request unheard.

On any given night the restaurant is filled with locals who have been coming for more than a decade. We started talking to the two women next to us, and shared a little of our paella. One table over, a woman was enjoying a glass of wine and writing in a notebook between courses, when a man at a nearby table struck up a conversation. After talking for about a half hour, she joined him.

That's not to say Zarzuela is a pick-up scene like you'll find in the Marina; it's a restaurant that's comfortable and nonthreatening and treats patrons like special guests.

After all that good food and pampering, I, too, was in love.

Michael Bauer is The Chronicle's restaurant critic. E-mail him at mbauer@sfchronicle.com, and read his blog and previous reviews at sfgate.com/food.

This article appeared on page F - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle