Azul Playa — Restaurant in Alicante

POOR SERVICE & AGGRESSIVE/THREATENING MANAGER Me and my 9 year old son dined here and had the most disturbing experience with the manager. A series of poor service experiences that ended with the manager threatening to call the police which made my son cry and which he didn’t care in the least about. The reason? The bill came to ~€80 but after our poor experience, I asked them to discount our dessert which cost €7.50, based on principle than cost cutting, and he refused. Here’s why I thought it was a more than reasonable request: I asked for the same appetizer a second time and it arrived half the size of the first. When I questioned they told me the first one was two portions but I pointed out I hadn’t asked/nor told it was two portions. I was charged for all three portions. I ordered one mojito with alcohol and another without alcohol for my son. I was charged the same price ie the price with alcohol for both I ordered grilled sardines and was told 15 minutes later that it wasn’t available I ordered ‘anchovies with spinach sauce’. It arrived without the spinach sauce and a wedge of lime instead. I was not told in advance. I asked for a spoon and was given one that was visibly dirty and had to ask for another. The first bill also had the sardines that I ordered but they didn’t have

After all the above I was expecting some kind of gesture as an apology/sign of decent customer service when the bill arrived. When it didn’t, I asked for it. The first time I was told this wasn’t possible at all and our waiter had consulted the manager. I pushed back saying it wasn’t reasonable and can they at least take off our dessert at €7.50 - I was told the manager refused. Eventually he agreed to take off €2 for the missing spinach sauce and €1 for the extra appetizer served in error. Thinking this was ridiculous that for the sake of €4.50 the manager wouldn’t budge I did push back again (calmly as I did throughout). At this point the manager came and demanded in a threatening tone ‘pay now or I call the police’. My son was so upset by his confrontational attitude I did pay immediately.

I am most appalled not by the poor service, nor by the incompetence of the manager but by his threatening attitude towards me and the complete disregard he had for upsetting a little boy. I hate to think it but I wonder if I wasn’t a female Asian alone whether I would have been treated better.

RESPONSE TO RESTAURANT REPLY- you clearly have no idea about customer service given my experience and your response to my review. Nor are you decent human beings. I did not leave refusing to pay. It was taking so long to hear back from the line manager that I explained to two of your staff I was going to join my son who was playing in the sand just meters in front of you. I was in plain view the whole time. I refuse to waste any more...

I had come here out of recommendation. I had ordered the chicken and seafood rice without the seafood (allergy). When it arrived it was very salty and the lemon could not quench that. I didn’t see a waiter for ages to notify until I had my food collected (I hadn’t finished my rice due to the salt and lack of seasoning). I spoke to the waiter about this and he informed that if I had told him he would’ve replaced it but it wouldn’t have mattered (plus I hadn’t seen a waiter since I was first served) as it was very salty and under seasoned for my first time having paella. I quizzed if it would still be the same price as there was no seafood and 2 pieces of plain small pieces of chicken (pictured below)? the waiter said yes😕 For what it was worth - it wasn’t worth 18 euros (maybe 7 for the fact it was salty rice and 2 small pieces of chicken respectfully). Wouldn’t have paella again following this overpriced experience. First time in Alicante and I can say I won’t be returning to Azul.

(Picture posted to show the truth of what I ate because 18€?)

IN RESPONSE TO THE OWNER:

In response to the comment from the restaurant - I spoke English and the staff who I was trying to get help from did not (even when I tried to use the translate app) so I could not even get support nor did anyone check on me during my time there. I believe you were misinformed as I did not finish the paella. 3/4 of the paella dish was left as I could not eat it due to the salt. I don’t like wasting food but 3/4 of the rice dish was disposed of because I didn’t eat it, it had actually been taken away before I could even feedback. Your colleague actually took the dish to dispose of so I don’t know what you think I finished because I didn’t finish my dish as I was waiting to get staff attention so I could alert but nobody stopped to check in (I understand you were busy but I was basically forgotten about which is poor service in general itself). Separately from that, when I asked for the bill, the waiter had actually gone to 5 tables before coming back to me after I had asked for it - which also added to my experience feeling disappointing especially after I had a bad experience. I also work in hospitality myself and service could have been better - checking in on clients or even just addressing their concerns - of course you only knew at the end because that’s the first time I had been able to flag someone from the whole time I had been there for an hour and a half. The customer is always right by the way. Even if I didn’t have an allergy - that was not a good experience of service, food and price consideration if you’re looking at the dish itself. Thank you for your comment but I won’t be returning and I hope this helps you better the experience for...

The paella called black rice ( arroz negro ) was perfectly cooked however it was too salty! You could not find the ham in the home made croquets (croquetas caseras) the lam cutlets (chuletas cordero lechal) were undercooked. I asked for tomato ketchup and the waiter did forget about that so that I had to complain and say that I am still waiting for it and I am very close to finish my lunch. Service was very slow. As I was there for booking a table I did ask for a table close to the window. The person who took my table booking said that as he is not the one who organise the tables he can not promise me that I can get it. Well for some reason another couple without reservation got the table I water. The portion of the lam cutlets was very small for the price. However the portion of paella was very generous for the price. Very disappointed I would not recomendamos it even though I was told that a lot of celebrities go to this restaurant because of their great...