Cava — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

I would give this place 0 stars if I could.

If you read this pls save your money and time and emotional damage by going to another place for Spanish food, there are other decent options in Mont Kiara and nearby APW.

We went here for a birthday celebration dinner. Let me break it down for you how bad this place was.

We ordered and we’re served with squid ink paella which was unbelievably salty I could feel my kidneys starting to fail. We complained about the excessive saltiness to the staff who did not get back to us on our comments. So I guess feedback from a group of 8 diners doesn’t matter to them?

We had two serves of fish. One of which was very unfresh and fishy and SLIMY. once again we complained to the staff regarding this. The fish was brought back to the kitchen where apparently the chef tasted it and said it tastes fine again, stating “it’s probably the capers”. To my knowledge capers are not made from fishy essence.

We requested to cancel the order of the unfresh portion of fish. The staff then brought us another portion of fish instead of cancelling. Appalling service and communication in this restaurant. To top it off the new serving of fish was somehow fresh instead of slimy!

TLDR;

food is meh chef has whack taste buds apparently 0 transparency on feedback 0 quality control defensive staff don’t blindly trust michelan guide

Sharing some pictures for you to see see, the fish was so bad that at that point I had lost too much sanity to take pictures...

Have been living in PJ/KL practically all my life, never knew this row of restaurants existed!

4 stars for atmosphere and ease of getting to since it is amongst this only row of shophouses along Jalan Bangkung in Bangsar. I just parked along the roadside in this residential area.... so did ALL others.

Foodwise, I was never a fan of Paella or Spanish Omelette. I prefer our local Claypot Mun Fan, Pongal, Thai Omelette & Telur Dadar. I am sure there are others out there who will absolutely adore Cava's Paella, seen quite a few good reviews.

Had the Crispy Calamari, Lamb Boulette, asparagus soup, and Sirloin steak. The tapas was really really good..... hmmm.... just wished they had some parma ham....... (actually, that would be selfish of me... forget about the parma ham..... stay the way you are!)

About the Steak, we did not have a very prime cut so we cannot complain ...... BUT we have had much more tender and succulent Sirloins before. However it was overdone and took some enthusiastic effort to get it down. Should you visit, you may need to remind them to make it on the rare side of medium-rare. Speak to the friendly staff, oh.... a good steak should not be rushed. Let them know that you are not in a hurry and are looking forward to an expertly prepared steak. I am sure they will make it happen!

Sit back have a nice chin wag, catch up with your friends and soak in...

Read great reviews about this place, gave it a go and was severely disappointed.

The squid ink paella was sadly under salted and bland. I love it when the bottom of the pan has little scraps of crisp rice and goodness, but here the paella seemed just cooked, no little charred bits to savour.

Tapas was meh. Deep fried mozzarella was again oddly bland and mdg. Chorizo balls all were the yummiest of them all, but don't expect to get chunks of chorizo in them. Rather, they were eensy weeny tiny little pieces of minced Chorizo. For the price, I would have expected a bit more tbh.

Red sangria was good and refreshing with very little wine, if any; white sangria tasted more like green apple juice. They do it a little differently by juicing the fruits in the sangria instead of chopping them up.

The menu recommends 4-5 tapas and 1-2 paella for every 2 diners. I would recommend to start with only 4 tapas and a paella. I don't think we're small eaters, but having ordered 4 tapas and a paella, we were stuffed.

It's an alright place for dinner, but there's definitely plenty of better options in KL if you're craving Spanish food. Atmosphere was alright, leaning towards the casual end. Value for money just wasn't there. Neither the quality of produce used nor the quantity of the portions...