El Kapan — Restaurant in Varna

TL;DR: got a food poisoning from one of the dishes, management did nothing to address the issue except a weak apology and an attempt to shake off the responsibility.

We visited El Kapan on September 22, at 19:30PM, with my mother and stepfather.

First off, the restaurant was half empty, and despite my mother booking a specific table in advance, someone was occupying it - the staff excused themselves by saying they forgot to put a 'reserved sign. We sat down at another table.

The food was served fast, but the waiter didn't ask if we'd like to be served all at once (we ordered different dishes), or they should bring in the dishes as they were prepared. This resulted in my stepfather served first, and he had to wait for 5 to 10m before we got our dishes served as well.

I had ordered grilled baby blue fish, and baby squid on a skewer. Both tasted fine, however at night I had a very bad sleep, waking up with a nausea, strong desire to vomit, and running a 37.5C fever. I did not eat any food after the dinner at El Kapan, nor have I eaten anything the day after (today), as I have no appetite whatsoever due to the fever and stomach cramps.

I went to the restaurant today to politely raise the issue with the manager, explaining the story to them and asking for a refund - my mother and stepfather felt fine, so I know it must have been the baby squid or the baby blue fish because I was the only one who ate that.

The manager excused himself by saying that they dont know if I got the food poisoning because of their food, or perhaps I had eaten something else that could have caused it - despite me flat out telling that I did not eat anything else after the dinner. I had asked for a refund (meal was around 50 EUR all in), to which the manager just said 'no, its not possible'.

While the atmosphere is nice, I would avoid the place because of poor customer service and food...

Well, the is not much to tell, if you can avoid it, it will be a wise chose done by you. The service was not really there . Our starter was 4 out of 5 - Padroni peppers, but the plate was almost picked up two times by passing by waiter/waitress, without them asking if we have finished with the starter and we were not done yet!

We wanted a rise side swapped with chips in one of our main dishes but we had a straight NO from our waitress.

Then even though they have a pitta bread served with one of their dishes, you can’t have it with your “Tarama” as it does not appear as a separate “bread” option on the menu. The pork neck steak (0.5 out of 5) was dry and chewy and the fries( side to the dish) were cold and the salad was not freshly prepared either. Chicken skewer dish was 2.5 out of 5 as the basmati rise( side to the dish) was actually not too bad, so perhaps the swap we had ask about, for fries, that we received a firm “NO” to, worked in our favour 😛.

I had finish my drink within 20 min through our dinner but was never asked if I would like a refill ( we spend 50min in the restaurant).

So this was my experience and I will NOT be going back there, but if you decide to give it a...

It used to be my favorite beach place in Varna but...I need to reduce/correct my review.

Restaurant: good, great interior, same menu over the years, prices have gone up almost 60-100% for some items since 2019-2020, but ok...it is on the beach, and they serve while you are on your sunbed, there is live music on some evenings and the service is mostly good and friendly.

Beach: What was shocking this summer was the level of cleanliness of the beach they occupy with their sunbeds and umbrellas. The paid area was full of cigarette butts and small plastic items. The "free area" which is between the warer and the sunbeds was full of plastic bags and bottles, cans, even !!!toilet tissues!!!(see the pic) . That was the case for some days until I decided to collect some of them. The toilet tissues in the sand by the shore were extremely disgusting and stayed there until we left.

During the day people come for the beach and I expect that they care for the whole area they occupy, also the 2 meters between the umbrellas and the the water. Very, very ...