La Cala — Restaurant in Benalmádena

Beautiful restaurant with amazing views. Lot of good quality wines in list, menu is great. Parking available on the street and next to the restaurant also. On high season you definitely need to book a table before going. All seemed to be perfect, BUT… I don’t know what is wrong with the service, did they had just a bad day or were most of the stuff working on the first day ever there? During my visit place was not even half full and they had at least 7 waitresses “working” and most of the time I really did not understand what they are doing. Barely said hello for new costumers, once you finally managed to get a table and menu then they just ignored you, it was quite hard to get their attention, they just talked with each other and didn’t seemed to have any interest about costumers. During my visit all the tables had problems to get attention of the stuff, so it was definitely not my problem. Once I had finally managed to tell my order to one of the waiters appear that they don’t have lamb today, it would be nice if they would tell to the costumers while serving menu if they don’t have something. So I octopus and beef. Octopus was well made and tasteful but mashed potatoes seemed to be from the flour not from real potatoes, beef would need some more salt but it wasn’t possible to get attention for stuff to get it. I ordered my meals with wines but didn’t get wine with beef, told to waiter that I had ordered wine also, he said yes, I will bring. I waited and waited, food starting to get cool off already and I was again struggling with the problem that I can’t have any attention of stuff. Finally I managed to get the attention and order for the third time wine for main course. Waitress came and started to pour red wine into my white wine glass (had a little sip there left from the first course), I asked if she could bring me another glass please since I have some white wine still left in that glass where she wanted to pour red wine.. Finally had everything on the table and asked for the check as well, since it seemed to be impossible to order something there more, because stuff just ignored costumers. I left and nobody said goodbye. To sum up- super beautiful restaurant with good food but unfortunately...

.

Great restaurant - just avoid festivos!

We come here often - love the food, love the wonderful terrace in the shade of the rubber-plant-tree, love the great views. But not on a festivo!

A Festivo is the Spanish Bank Holiday.

We came on Good Friday, having had the sense to ring up and book two days before. They gave us a choice of two times - 2.00 or 3.30. We chose the former. Never had to book before, but thought it would be wise . . .

Boy, was it lucky that we did! :-)

When we arrived at 1.50, there was a queue of 12-14 people waiting for a table to become free. The non-bookers. When we left at 3.25, there were still 20+. It was a bit un-nerving eating and seeing everyone looking over the table from a distance, willing us to eat up fast and release the table.

The waiting staff were run off their feet, but still managing to cope. Goodness knows what it was like in the kitchen . . . I felt sorry for them.

The food as usual was good, but when he came to take our order, when we ordered a salad first and then the main course, the waiter said "Why don't you have them both together? I personally think that it's nicer to have the salad alongside the fish, I always suggest to clients the things that I like myself."

I looked him straight in the eye and said "You mean it's easier for the kitchen not having to wait and be told we'll be ready soon for the main course . . ." He grinned and said "Well . . . you know what it's like on a Festivo!" (I'm a Spanish speaker, by the way, no misunderstandings on either side). So feeling sorry for them all, we agreed.

It actually wasn't a good idea, as eating fish and salad side-by-side the fish got cold in the fresh breeze that was blowing over the terrace because it took longer to eat.

And the terrace was chock-a-block, waiters rushing everywhere, people waiting for tables walking around - we shouldn't have come on a Festivo. However, we enjoyed the excellent meal.

And we shall certainly come back again to an excellent...

Wow, beautiful views. But everything else. Terrible, just terrible. What an awful disaster. Booked a table for 1pm. Arrived at 1 and waited 10 mins to be shown to the table. During this time, oddly, people behind me in the queue were seated before me. Anyway, tried to see the positives. The positives were definitely the seafront location and the menu looked great. In fact the menu would have been great if I had been able to order anything! A staff member took a drinks order (which was forgotten and I had to reorder) and said someone else would take a food order. They never came, so I asked another staff member twice. She said "this is not burger King" !!!! This is not burger King!!!! No it is not. I personally do not frequent burger King (no offence meant if you do), I prefer nice restaurants with fresh food (if they're willing to provide any- this place is not). She also said I should take note of the opening times!! I didn't understand that given I'd booked for lunch at 1. It was now 1.45pm and thankfully they'd brought some medicare food for my child and so I just asked for the bill. This took a further 20 mins and was wrong (they added bread even though I'd refused it knowing ordering anything else could take a very long time). Finally got the correct bill and got out of there. On the way out I saw the staff member who had been extremely rude. She said I'd pressured her!! I don't think asking to order food in a restaurant 30 mins after arriving amounts to putting undue pressure on anyone. There's clearly very serious issue's here. Was somewhat tempted to actually go and find burger King for the first time in my life but I'd rather wait until dinner and have a proper meal. Somewhere else with polite, welcoming staff and food that can actually be ordered within a reasonable time. I don't want or expect fast food, just a nice experience and la cala is absolutely not the place for...