CALMA BALKAN CUISINE — Restaurant in Adeje

I cannot understand why this restaurant has such a high rating, except if maybe this rating was actually given for the view. So, as for the good part: it has a beautiful view (if not for the calima), it is in a quiet area and has live music for those who enjoy these kind of things. For our actual dinner (the bad): We ordered a homemade fresh strawebery lemonade, claimed to be made with fresh fruits. I tasted one of strawbery pieces and it definetly didnt seem fresh, as it tasted quite bad. The lemonade it was very very sweet. They have an offer that you could order 3 or 5 tapas of your own chosing for a special price, but for the 5 version you cannot actualy choose anything, as they only have 5 types of tapas and we were informed we cannot double any of the type of tapas. So we had to order 2 sets of 3 instead of 1 of 5. After ordering we were informed they dont actualy have one of the tapas, the beef tongue, but they can (and usually) replace it with a very similar meat. It was a tender beef, but ofc nothing is actually similar to the tongue. Unfortunatly it was a reheated/reserved dish as it came mostly overcooked. I also ordered one of their summer recommendations, the shrimp salad, wich was around 14€. It had salad leaves, strawbery pieces and exactly 3 fried shrimps (also overdone). And it was completely tastless. I didnt have anything on the table to adjust the dressing with. When asked for feedback they seemed very ofended by my comment on the salad dressing (and by all the bad feedback). They refused to adjust it, but only brought me some extra dressing aside, witch seem made of some oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar. They mentioned that it normaly has 4 shrimps, wich should be enough for a salad. One of the octopus tapas had bad tomatoes in it. And I think it didnt very well agree with our stomachs (maybe because of the garlic, dont know). And finally they claim to be a restaurant having reprezentative dishes for the Balkanic countries. I am from one of the countries mentioned in the menu and as for those dishes marked from my country, none was really representative and one of them was definetly not a dish from my country even (nor for name, language or composition).

As for context for other customers, ofc everyone’s experience is unique, but I am a long time traveler, i ate in restarants in many countries and this is definetly not a 4.7 rating restaurant, no matter the beautiful view. I did find another balkanic ( bulgarian, although not necesarly a fan of their cuisine) restaurant on the island though, totally by accident, wich was...

TEN STARS!

If I could give Calma Balkan 100 stars I would. From the moment we stepped out of the taxi we were BLOWN AWAY by the views!

Not only did we get to watch the sunset from the most amazing location on Tenerife, the services was beyond any I have ever had.

My husband and I went to celebrate our 10 year anniversary here because we wanted a good view of the sunset, but the kinda people, AMAZING food, and incredible service made the night one I will never forget.

We were greeted and congratulated for our anniversary, were given complimentary glasses of cava, and did not need to ask for anything all night as they anticipated our every need.

We took all the recommendations for food and I can honestly say we have not had a meal as incredible as this one. (and we just spent 6 weeks in Italy.)

The cuisine is a perfect blend of balkan countries and every bite is better than the last. The wine pairing we had with it was also incredible.

The cocktails were out of this world.

We are already trying to figure out when we can go back during our limited time on Tenerife. If you happen to be in the area, please do yourself a favour and go! This was amazing! 10000% recommend!

Also, we went at 6pm so we could catch the sunset and didn't leave until 10pm and did not feel rushed at all, the staff were incredible up until the moment we left.

Thank you Calma Balkan for making our 10 year anniversary the most amazing and...

Recommended to us by reception staff at our apartment complex. We may not have found this gem otherwise. We were told it was very good!....... It was far better. The staff were to of their game, attentive without encroaching your personal space, informative and the Balkan cuisine a real pleasant change from the Adeje resort masses. We saw other dishes being served whilst we were studying the menu. So much choice we ended up ordering far more than we really needed. A well proportioned starter of cheese filled zucchini (Delicious and so fresh), traditional Balkan garlic bread, (seasoned to perfection!) A very finely sliced colourful salad of carrot, beetroot, cabbage and dressing. Tastes exceptional! Main course was the slow Roasted pot of beef for two. The flavours again nothing short of perfect. Each dish is garnished and cooked with the freshest of herbs that you can smell on the plate as the serving staff walk across the restaurant. Finally the Balkan biscuit.!!!! Just go and try out for yourself. So much choice one visit is simply not enough. The icing on the cake has to be the view of sunset over La Gomerra and the ambience. Very reasonable prices too for fresh produce and care...