Restaurante Sal Negra — Restaurant in Arona

Visited here during our family vacation and got this restaurant recommended to us by a friend who spoke very highly of it, yet for us the experience was absolutely not good and we would defenitly not recommend or go back for a second visit. We came in to the restaurant and were not very warmely welcomed. We asked if it was possible to get a table for 4 people without a reservation, to which the waiter looked not happy and then said he had to look at the agenda to be sure they could seat us. After staring at a blank page in his agenda for over a minute, he ended up appointing us a table. The next waiter who came to our table was even less welcoming and friendly then the first one ! Barely looked at us and literally THREW everything on the table. We were given 2 bottles of water on the table, which the waiter then so reluctantly poured out into 4 glasses that he had poured half the water over the tablecloth. After looking at the menu, we had some questions regarding the tapas dishes to which we got virtually no answer and the answer we got was completely unclear and more than half in Spanish (while we spoke English and the waiter did speak English to the other guests in the restaurant without any problems). When the drinks were served, everything was once again THROWN onto the table (both the drinks per se and the bread basket and accompanying dips) and there was another copious spill on the tablecloth due to the boorish attitude of the waiter in question. When ordering the food, we asked for the 2 tapas platters for 3 people as the main course and a plate of fried calamari with extra baked potatoes which were all on the menu. When the food was served (this time by a very friendly young lady who had seen the whole scene happen and was so ashamed of her colleague that she hardly dared to look at us) we did not get what we had asked for. It is to be said : the fried calamares were not calamares but chopitos (so not what we ordered) and the side requested baked potatoes never made it to the table either. The 2 tapas platters for 3 persons as main course were just the 2 tapas platters but not in main course portions and not in portions for 3 persons either. We also had some questions about the freshness of the food served as some of the 'appetisers' on the tapas plates did not look or taste very fresh. In short, none of the four of us had a nice dinner and we all left the table hungry. Fortunately, we did not have to deal with the rude waiter who had served us at the beginning anymore, however, he had made us all feel uncomfortable and there was a bad atmosphere throughout the meal. Fortunately, the friendly young lady who served and then cleared away the food and her friendly colleague who came to bring us the bill and offered a digestif of the house were able to mitigate the whole experience a little bit, however, for us the experience was already beyond saving. I feel very sorry for these 2 friendly waiters that their colleagues behave this way towards customers, giving the restaurant a bad name. Given this whole situation, we will unfortunately not dine at this restaurant a 2nd time and unfortunately will not recommend it to friends or...

I think it’s the first time I’ve experienced such disrespectful attitude towards us as the restaurant guests.

We came there to have a small dinner (more like wine + tapas). We were told right from the doorway that we have 2 hours, as the table we wanted was booked. Ok, that’s fine. We’ve ordered a bottle of wine and a soft drink to start. The waiters happened to be around us quite often, we’ve ordered a big tapas plate, which was sufficient for us, yet the waitress had to make a remark that “the tapas plate is intended just for 2 people size wise, not 3”, which already started ringing a bell. After some (fairly short) period of time the waiters started approaching again asking if we are finished with the drinks and the tapas, intonationally giving us hints that we’re overstaying their welcome, although we were just enjoying our drinks and tapas. They offered the desserts (by putting a board on our table) which we kindly declined and seemingly made them disappointed. Just minutes after the waitress (who seemed to be an administrator) came and asked again if we are ordering something else. At that point of time we’ve already been quite irritated by being constantly approached by their personnel, so we asked why are they obviously trying to force us to order something extra. To my surprise, she quite baldly and without any hesitation said that we were occupying a table with the seaside view (which should’ve been irrelevant, since the things took place after the sunset), and that the other potential customers were asking for it, so the restaurant was loosing money because of us, therefore we’d have to either order something or pay and leave. We’ve gladly chosen the latter option and left the restaurant. The total time spent there with the whole bottle of wine (for 2 people, since one of us was a designated driver) because of this pressure was less than an hour.

I struggle to even express how absurd the whole situation looked like. They’ve had plenty of tables available, and as the time passed we might have gotten the appetite and ordered ourselves a sweet treat or another bottle of wine. However, they’ve chosen the worst way possible - pressing the customers out of the restaurant for not ordering as much as they’d expect. Funnily, I’ve never been treated this way in much higher class restaurants than Sal Negra even pretends to be (unsuccessfully, as you can imagine).

Definitely avoid this place if your self esteem is above the Mariana...

It's not often that i feel the need to write a poor review, but on this occasion i feel complelled to express our poor experience at Sal Negra. Our group of 11 had high expectations for a local seafood dinner at Sal Negra, but unfortunately, our experience was deeply disappointing from start to finish.

The evening began poorly when we discovered a greasy film on our white wine, which turned out to be from dirty glasses. Not wanting to cause a scene, we didn't immediately complain, but this set the tone for the rest of the meal.

Despite being one of the first tables seated on what appeared to be a quiet evening, we waited over an hour and a half for half of our order to arrive. This meant that half our party had completely finished eating before the others were even served - hardly ideal for a group dining experience.

When the remaining dishes finally arrived, we discovered moldy lemon wedges on the fish platter. Given the dim lighting, we didn't notice until we had already eaten a quarter of the dish. When we raised this serious food safety concern, our server incredibly tried to dismiss it, claiming the mold was "normal" and due to how the lemons were "marinated."

While the restaurant eventually offered to remake the dish, given the excessive wait times and our legitimate food hygiene concerns, we declined and requested our bill. Adding insult to injury, the restaurant initially refused to offer any compensation, not once did restaurantoffer any gesture of good will, perhaps some free drinks might helped ease of frustration particularlywhen we had to wait so long. We ultimately refused to pay for the fish platter due to moody lemons.

What should have been a pleasant evening celebrating local seafood turned into a memorable experience for all the wrong reasons. The combination of poor service, long delays, dirty glassware, and moldy food represents unacceptable standards for any restaurant.

While the views from our table was lovely overlooking the beach and ambient had a lovely rustic charm and the seafood was generally good (apart from the fish platter), ultimately I cannot recommend Sal Negra based on this experience and would suggest diners consider other local...