El Castillo — Restaurant in Arboleas

The joint was dimly lit, the kind of place where bad decisions and worse meals go to die quietly. I sat at the table, sticky with neglect, and stared at the menu—each word a promise it had no intention of keeping. I ordered mushrooms, beef, and maybe, just maybe, a shred of dignity.

The mushrooms arrived first, slick and glistening like they’d been fished out of an oil spill. They weren’t sautéed—they were waterboarding my palate in grease. Each bite slid down like an insult, leaving my tongue coated in something that might have been shame.

Then came the beef. Sweet hell. The smell slapped me across the face like a bad memory. I took one bite, just one, and my stomach threw up a red flag. It tasted like a butcher’s mistake, left too long in the fridge and cooked with contempt. Tough, sour, and faintly rancid, it wasn’t food—it was a warning.

The waiter? A shadow. No "How’s the meal?" because we both knew. This wasn’t a meal; it was a middle finger served on ceramic.

But then, just as I was preparing to throw the whole experience into the void, it came—the lemon cake. Bright yellow like it had been kissed by the sun. I didn’t expect much after the carnage on my plate, but the first bite was...a revelation. Sweet and tart, light and tender, like a fleeting moment of hope in an otherwise brutal world.

I finished it, every last crumb, like a starving man handed salvation. It didn’t erase the horrors of the meal, but it softened the blow.

So, I add a star. Not for the service, not for the beef, and certainly not for the mushrooms. That lemon cake—like a lifeboat in an ocean of despair—deserves it. Would I come back? Only if I could skip straight to dessert and forget the rest...

From the view on arrival which takes some beating from any restaurant anywhere in Spain the staff, food and empiricism all add to the savour -faire of a delightful evening of reality of life in Spain, the staff and team behind the scenes endeavour to make your evenings experience a joy, not withholding the fact that anyone who wants their value for money taken to the the enth degree, where can you enjoy basically a five course meal of the highest standard including a bottle of red or white wine for under £40, if your not amazed and satisfied by this quality of service and food quality you need to go and look around to see what you can get in any similar beautiful establishment anywhere in Almeria for anywhere near the same price, you need to let me know, 1st class service, food and price, best place in Almeria. Ian + Eva, first place each...

Food is good, view is great! But... If you don't take the three course €19.90 option and you choose the menu option. You can't choose any started.

You can't mix from one option to another, they dont do the Tapas option any more and the €19.90 option has to be eaten inside for some inexplicable reason.

I was with a group of six sat outside and one person only chose the €19.90 option and he was told he had to eat it inside. After some discussion the waiter went to ask the owner if he could eat outside with the rest of us. We were told that seeing as they were not too busy, he could eat outside, as if they were doing us a favour.

No longer customer orientated. It was more about their rules than...