El Caballo Rojo — Restaurant in Córdoba

We booked on a friends recommendation,especially for a special no expense spared treat, making our first visit to Cordoba. We were very disappointed. On arrival we were told to eat in the bar, we explained we had booked a restaurant table. After a trip in the lift, not knowing which floor to go to 4 waiters finally decided we could eat in the restaurant. It was raining heavily so we had soaking coats and umbrellas we had to find a place to put, I laid my coat across a chair in a passage way as no assistance was offered. We were asked for our drink order before I had sat down . It made us feel unwelcome at this point. The red wine, Rioja, was nice but served too cold, the unremarkable sharing platter of 3 mayonnaise based salads turned out to be the best bit..it looked nice. A waitress leant across me as I was eating it to put a knife and fork by my plate, twice actually, as she wasn't happy with the knife, that was a surprise ! My Rabo de Toro, one of the specialities, was served in part cold, to lukewarm to warmer by the bone, in a very gelatinous sauce with soggy warm fries that could have come from any frozen chip bag. I was told I should have sent it to be warmed up but did I want microwaved soggy chips.. we declined a dessert, just a coffee, no nice touch of a sweet or biscuit but was ok, and brown sugar would have been better. The waiting staff seemed tired . Attention to detail was lacking, curtains hanging off rails, rusty heater in the bathroom, hand dryer left unplugged, out dated crockery which was placed haphazzardly..I mean, if the plate has a certain design at least place it the correct way up on the table for it to be admired ...all of these things count if you are expecting high quality, a standard I believe has obviously been achieved, as their reports have shown but not, alas, on our visit. Ending on a positive note...the second head waiter helped me from my chair when we were getting up to leave and there were some lovely art works to be admired, but on this occasion I was being taken out for a special meal, not a trip to The...

Oh boy, where do I even begin with El Caballo Rojo? This caballo is a good ride from start to finish, and I mean that in the best way possible. If you're a fan of Flaminquín, the Turducken of Spanish cuisine, then this is the spot for you. I've never seen anything quite like it. They somehow manage to stuff a chicken into a pork loin into a beef tenderloin into a giant roll of bread. It's like a delicious game of culinary Russian nesting dolls.

But the real star of the show for me was the Salmorejo, which they serve cold. Now, I know what you're thinking, "cold soup? That sounds disgusting." But hear me out, this stuff is like gazpacho's cooler, more sophisticated cousin. It's creamy, tangy, and refreshing all at once. Plus, it's the perfect counterbalance to the Flaminquín, which can be a bit heavy.

The service at El Caballo Rojo is top-notch, too. The wait staff is fast, no-nonsense, and knowledgeable.

All in all, if you're in the mood for a meal that's equal parts delicious, local and funky, come here when...

WARNING : THIEVES !!! We eat in this restaurant during our visit at Cordoba. They tried to make us paid the addition of another table, more expensive than our. Once we figured out the operation, we asked them to cancel the operation in order to pay our right addition. The result, a fraudulent operation : we paid 2 meals instead of one. As soon as we figure out the fraud, we tried to cancel the operation directly by calling either the restaurant, either the commercial service. However each time we call, they feign to not understand english. Since they are not responding, we are moving toward justice and bank services in order to get our money back. Regarding the services : the shoulder lamb was dry and extremely expensive regarding the quality and they tried to give us a low quality wine.

This restaurant was at the top of the geoguide tour of Andalousia for the city of Cordoba. Definitely, it's a fraud...