L'Espill — Restaurant in Altea

We selected this restaurant, because the reviews thus far were the best amongst the restaurants along the promenade of Altea.

Unfortunately, I can only offer a mediocre review.

We selected a white wine, which, in itself was tasty. However, it was served at a good 20 ° C and only cooled via the wine cooler brought to the table. As the wine was being presented to us, the waitress came to take the food order, and was not very compensating for trying the wine.

Moving on, the croquetas, which tasted very good, were served in an unappetizing manner. It is better to offer no garnishment rather than to have a half-wilted piece of lettuce and a shaved slice of what might have been a tomato. We had asked for a small portion of olives as an appetizer in addition to the croquetas, we are in Spain and at a Mediterranean restaurant that offers freshly-made pizzas, yet this request was under no circumstances possible.

For the main course, my partner asked if it was possible to simply order spaghetti aglio e olio: the server said that she did not understand what was wanted, it was not on the menu, and there was no room for variants. He opted for fish, as he was rushed to make a selection while trying to taste the wine. I selected one of the pizzas.

The fish was served with non-seasoned steamed vegetables, and he said that the cut of the fish filet was extremely poor. We are also unsure of the type of fish served, because it was called something different than what was on the menu. Further, due to the poor cut, he spent much time fishing out the fish bones.

The pizza was quite tasty and appeared to be from ingredients of good quality.

Upon the question as to if we wanted coffee, we were informed that anything of than a basic coffee was not offered. One guest at a neighbor table asked for a spot of milk with her tea, which was out of question.

The apparent inflexibility in the kitchen and at the bar is a major setback. The greatest setback is the table ware. The plates are too big for the table. The fork and knives are a nightmare. It was nearly impossible to cut through the pizza, as it was quartered from the kitchen, because the knife was thick and dull. The forks were of such a poor quality, picking up food with them just did not work. By going in with the points of the fork, the food was mashed, leaving the only option to scoop up what one wanted to eat.

Personally, I wish we had selected a restaurant without the assistance of the reviews, as the average by no means fulfilled our...

Seeing the positive reviews and high rating, I expected a way better experience. The quality does not reflect the price (dinner outside of daily special). The paella was large, but too salty, and the seafood was not cleaned. I mean especially shrimps, which still had intestine. I would definitely prefer them to be peeled and cut into the dish. Otherwise, you just end up playing with them—peeling off the shells, removing the intestine—and there was no extra plate provided for the waste. The shrimp itself was not very tasty, almost as if it wasn’t fresh. Besides, why is it that the menu doesn’t include non-alcoholic drinks, and you have to specifically ask for it? Water 505ml, 3€. In the menu no info about bottle size. One day before we had dinner in Xabia where 1l costs 3€. Communication in English, as usually in Spain, almost non-existent. If you dine out regularly (once a month), especially abroad, you might be disappointed. Views are great, but the dinner (paella+2water bottles) was not...

Went there on Sunday looking to get a light lunch and pizza for the kids. We asked if we can have a soup and 2 pizzas and were told that the soup was part of a menu so we can't just have soup. Then we asked if we can share pizza and were told that no - we all had to order a pizza each. Staff were incredibly rude. Not everyone wants a 3 course meal every time - perhaps if we had a chance to try it we may return for more next time. Anyway, we walked out and had a wonderful lunch in one of the nearby restaurants where we were allowed to order whatever we felt like eating. These people have to really change their attitude to customers if they want to survive in the hospitality industry. Funny thing was the place was half empty, not like they were struggling with table availability or anything. Just...