Restaurante-Arrocería La Pepa — Restaurant in Cádiz

The gluten free aspect was a big draw for the reason we came and it did deliver. (We only ordered 1 item that normally isn’t gluten free, but it was good…croquetas de puchero)

The rest of the experience was unfortunate. We had our reservation a 2pm and for 40 minutes we tried to get a waiter’s attention to at at least order something to go with the first drink (which they did take the order at once for that)

Once they came, one of the dishes we asked for were “already sold out” and we had to order alternative, which happens in Spain and is no big deal, but definitely added some frustration when trying to order for 40 minutes and no one minds you.

We ordered the arroz secreta, they brought the arroz ciega…not what we ordered. And when we told the server who brought it that it wasn’t what we ordered she took it away, THEN our waitress came and insisted it was the what we ordered and that it was our fault. (Secreto has no seafood, yet Ciega is only seafood, but sure it’s our fault…). She proceeded to explain why it was our fault and that this arroz is super delicious and should try it and if we wanted another one it would take 40 minutes (which is normal we understand that arroces can take that long) however at this point the fact that she brought it back twice and was trying to convince us why we needed to eat it, leaves a really sour taste and we ate it.

Apart from the sour taste we left with raw chunks of rice in our mouth from the arroz being undercooked. Won’t be...

We saw this restaurant was recommended in few blogs and we decided to try it. We went there for a dinner and I got a bad feeling about the service right from the moment we stepped in, since the waiter saw us with the corner of the eye but did not welcome us and instead kept doing what he was doing. Secondly, we have been asked about the drinks immediately after we sat at the table, without having the opportunity to look at a menu or a wine list. We asked for two glasses of white wine and the waiter brought two glasses and poured the wine without any information about the type of wine, which I had to ask instead. These are little details that in the end make a huge difference in the experience of the customer. Speaking about the food, the bread was clearly defrost and they charged it 2€ for two mini-buns. The papas aliñas were simple but really tasty and I would have eaten another dish, while the rice (we tried an arroz caldoso) left us indifferent. I do not really know how it should be but to my taste the rice was too cooked and it was too "runny", while I expected it to be a bit more dry and firm. All in all I do not recommend the place, we went with lots of expectations and left the place a bit...

The good: The bread was soft and fluffy. There's a nice view of the ocean. The bad: 1) The service... It took us three times to complete our order because every time we started to order the waiter would write one thing down and quite literally run back into the restaurant. And as much as I hate to write this, he also smelled quite terrible. 2) The breakfast options. I was with 5 other people and we all live in Spain, so we are used to Spanish breakfast. But the only option they was one type of bread and pre-packaged tomato puree. 3) Because the waiter couldn't stand still long enough, our drink and food order was wrong. Too many coffees, not enough toasts.

This place has so much potential between the interior decor and location, but if they don't fix their service policies it's going to run itself...