Cha Cha Bistro Bar Alcalali — Restaurant in Alcalalí

We were excited to see the restaurant open again under new ownership, having been regular visitors to the area for more than 30 years. The renovation is lovely, appearing comfortable and modern. And great to see lots of diners already seated. We arrived at 7pm and were given a table away from the live music, which was perfect. Nothing against the music, but my relative has hearing aids and would find it too overwhelming. Our drinks order taken quickly, but it was 30 minutes until our food order was even taken. The staff just appeared a bit disorganised, returning multiple times to tables that had just received their food, with additional condiments etc etc. We ordered some bread to keep our appetite at bay, finding one portion was plenty for the 3 of us to pick at. We asked for a jug of tap water for the table, but was told this wasn’t possible. We’d have to order a bottle, bit cheeky at €3.50 for a 1 litre bottle. We then sat there for an hour waiting for our main courses. No waiting staff came over, despite walking past numerous times. And a nearby table seated after us had received both their starters and main courses. We eventually caught the eye of one staff member and asked him to check on how much longer the food was likely to be. My elderly relative was asleep at the table by this point. He said there was a bit of a wait on the food, but would go and find out. He returned shortly to say it would be another 10 minutes. In the meantime a helpful female member of staff came to check everything was ok as she’d heard that there was a problem at our table. She appeared genuinely shocked that we hadn’t received our food after such a long time. 1hr15 mins after ordering and 1hr45mins after arrival. Soon after one of the assistant managers arrived, very apologetic. Our food was served at that point. We don’t really have an explanation as to what the delay was, but our gut feel is that our order was simply forgotten. The food itself was fine. Good to have something different to the Menu Del Dia. The fish and chips were fresh and well cooked. The ribs could have done with a bit more cooking, still being slightly pink on the bone. Maybe because the order was rushed? But tasty nonetheless with a nice sauce. Am really hoping our experience was a simple blip for the restaurant, and know now not to leave it so long before chasing up the order. But you know what us British are like, we don’t like to make a fuss! We’re prepared to give it another go on our next visit and hope to find a successful restaurant...

I booked for a party of 9 for Saturday lunch. I made it clear that the booking was for a Christmas lunch get together. We had looked online and the website lunch menu takes you to the menu with steak, fish etc so we were really looking forward to it. On arrival however we were told that we could only choose from the lunch or bar menu and that if we'd wanted something different we should have pre-booked. At no point had this been pointed out prior to our arrival and instead of a 3 course meal we found we had the choice of burgers, salads or baguettes which was not at all what we wanted and would have booked elsewhere had we known. We asked if fish and chips would be possible given that chips were available with the burgers on the menu so clearly frying was possible, but were told this wasn't possible. Quite why remains unclear.

However to make the best of it we made our orders of 'starters' and 'mains', making very clear that 2 goats cheese salads and 1 club sandwich were to come as mains. However apart from the burgers, everything came at once so some people were swamped. My husband chose the chicken skewers as a starter but it was barely warm so he sent it back. It returned heated but the chicken was rubbery and definitely inferior quality so he declined it. The burgers then arrived. My vegetarian burger was sufficiently warm but the 3 normal burgers had bacon which was not just cool, it was actually chilled by which I mean it had clearly not been out of the fridge very long. We complained but the message from the kitchen was that the bacon had been hot. This was a blatant lie. The chef did not even have the courtesy to come and speak to us him/herself. My husband asked at the bar if he could speak to the manager or owner but was told they were not there. We did not have to pay for the burgers or the chicken skewers but were not offered anything more for the debacle other than a free coffee. Several of us had by now eaten only a 'starter' and in one case not even that but we had lost all interest in eating anything further .

Ironically during all this a Makro van arrived presumably with a delivery of frozen "European Cuisine in the Heart of the Jalon Valley" (as per the website). Throughout there were very few other tables eating so there is no excuse that the restaurant was busy. We wrote to complain the following day but have not had the courtesy of a response.

I'm afraid we will not be...

Hi all, I hope that this reviewed by the owners and not just a member of staff as this is a constructive review and I hope that it is accepted as such.

We have eaten and had drinks here on no less than four occasions. On our first visit the kitchen wasn't open, however we where made welcome and stayed for a drink before moving on to find something to eat elsewhere. The second visit was in-fact the following day, the staff where attentive, however seemed a little lost, not owning who was looking after who, supporting your team is fine but not knowing who is doing what leaves the staff confused and ineffective. Their friendliness and politeness can't be faulted. We both ate and the food was perfect, so much so that we returned a week later for dinner with friends who where visiting. The service was a little better, however far to many staff on the floor for the size of the restaurant unless you intend to set it up with a Maitre'd, sommelier, etc. We then used the online website to book a table for a business meeting the following week, which was interesting! I made the reservation and had to wait two days for any response, I had advised that it was a business meeting and that we would like somewhere where we could talk freely. Upon arrival they had no idea what had been booked, although they did know that we had a booking! We got on with things ordered lunch drinks etc and again the staff seemed uneasy with the use of PDF's, which isn't uncommon, however this requires more training to be provided. I had enquired about access to WiFi and this wasn't available to customers which is missing a trick, having customers logging into your wifi isn't the issue it once was and provides real benefit to the business in gathering information. In addition to gathering information you are also able to share information such as events, bookings etc etc. The website hasn't been updated with events for over a month and current events should be made available online which would certainly encourage me to visit more regularly when I am home. It sounds like I'm nitpicking, I'm not, I want this business to succeed and it will. I know it's early days and I hope you find this feedback useful and look forward to visiting again very soon. ...