The food here was actually pretty good, so it's unfortunate that I have to dock stars for the staff's behavior.
We made a reservation, and when we arrived we were sat in a tent on the sidewalk. The tables were super close and my chair was right up against the chairs behind us.
We were told that paella dishes would take at least 30-40 minutes. We were ordering the vegetable rice and were pretty hungry because it was already late, so we opted to get bread. More on that later.
The vegetable rice actually came super quickly. The food runner asked if we would like to take a picture of it in the skillet before she served it, which was super considerate and kind. Then, she scooped the rice onto our places and took away the big dish.
The rice had a really nice flavor. It was cooked perfectly, tangy and well-spiced, with nice crunchy grains from the parts that were on the bottom of the pan.
We opted for dessert, doing one white chocolate ganache filled cake and one pistachio. They look the same on the outside. The older gentleman who took our order and delivered the dessert unfortunately switched mine and my partner and gave us the wrong one, which we didn't realize until I had finished most of mine. Womp womp.
Up to that point, everything was fine. The problem happened when the bill came. My partner questioned something about the bread and I didn't think anything of it at the time - only later, unfortunately after everything was paid - did I realize he charged us TWICE for the bread. We did bread and olive oil, and he charged us bread x2 AND olive oil and bread x2. We totally understand having to pay for bread in Europe, as my partner lives in a neighboring country (we're both foreign to other countries outside Europe.) However, there's no reason to be charged 4 euro for two portions of bread AND THEN 6 euro for bread and olive oil. Even worse, they literally just brought out a bottle of olive oil and took it back after, we used maybe like a tablespoon.
I might chalk it up to a simple mistake, but the waiter engaged in a series of red flags when we paid.
First, he told us that we couldn't add a tip to the main bill and would have to ring it up as a separate charge - and he said it's better to leave in cash. As a former server, I get why most waiters prefer cash, but that's something you're not supposed to say to customers, and definitely not push them.
I thought he was going to make us tip in cash and was fine with it, but then he keyed in a wholly separate transaction for the tip. I was confused, and was about to pay, when luckily I stopped and realized - he automatically gave himself a 10 euro tip. Didn't ask how much I wanted to tip. We'd told him to add 5 or 6 euro to the original bill so I assumed he keyed that in. We know European tipping culture and that was fair for our bill price. When we lowered the amount, the server's demeanor instantly changed. Unfortunately, after the fact, we read a bunch of other reviews on other platforms with other diners saying they had similar experiences, so we're not the only ones who've questioned their practices.
In retrospect, we also ordered water and it came in one of those glass refillable bottles instead of a sealed one - I suspect that it might have been tap, though I don't know for sure.
Overall, it was a strange and upsetting experience that tainted an otherwise lovely evening. It's unfortunate, because the restaurant was otherwise good, but I 100% wouldn't return because the end of the night was unsettling and had me questioning their standards of service. read more