Bodegas Mezquita Céspedes — Restaurant in Córdoba

Don’t be fooled — this restaurant only has a high rating because they solicit 5-star reviews after your meal. Not only will the waiter drop off a card with a QR code asking for a review, but they also try to guilt you into tipping on the receipt. How tacky and distasteful! This restaurant is 100% a tourist trap that caters to tourists who don’t know any better and can be swayed into leaving a 5-star review.

For the record, we have been in Spain for over 2 weeks and this both the worst service we received and the only place we did not tip at. The service was slow and unpleasant. Although it was far from busy when we arrived, we waited nearly 10 minutes to even be acknowledged. The restaurant was nearly empty and there were multiple people walking by us and staffing the bar. We then waited another 15 minutes before anyone took our order. This was despite multiple attempts to flag down our server. We almost got up to leave at one point.

Despite all this, we were very polite and pleasant to our server as we were hungry and just wanted to eat and leave. But it got worse — getting the bill was somehow an even more arduous task. It took another 15-20 minutes for us to get the bill and pay, and we asked a total of 4 times with one server just waving a hand at us while barely glancing our way.

On top of all this, every time we waited 10, 15 or 20 minutes for service, the staff were all busy talking and laughing amongst themselves rather than doing their jobs. I can’t believe we wasted a meal here. The food was also terrible and expensive. Would...

This restaurant is highly rated and I cannot see why. We ordered lagrimitas de pollo, chewy and tasteless, tajin de pollo was good, rabo de toro completely tasteless and questionable because next day someone from our group had digestive issues. There is something fishy to ask for tip on the bill, with the statement do we deserve tip with emojis one smiley and one sad face plus mentioning we accept tips paid by card. In Spain if they ask for tip it is mentioned as service on the bill per person. I would never return nor recommend this place not even to my enemies.

Later edit: How can someone complain from food poisoning while eating? :) It was not rotten food, could be someone who prepared food did not clean hands or sneezed on the food, there are so many ways food can get contaminated. Who ever replied to this message has no idea that symptoms post food poisoning start to occur 12-24h after exposure to food. Regarding propina, I have visited a lot of restaurants in the last 2 years and not one restaurant has even begged for review or tips, your attitude is simply lame. I will never visit your restaurant. This experience was enough for me. The personal is very friendly, the place looks clean but I come to the restaurant to eat tasty and safe food and honestly with 4.8 you had on google my expectations...

I am surprised by so many positive reviews. We are from Canada. We were in many cities in Spain, and generally we get a very friendly reception. I am not sure if racism or homophobia took place. This is our first mixed feelings about a restaurant in all Spain. Before booking I selected the place because of the great reviews on Google. Me and my partner went to dine there. There was no wine left, there was confusion about our reservation, and the manager could smile more and be polite (just an advise since they read reviews). The waiters also mixed up some orders, and overall, the management should improve the organization and flow. But to be fair, the food was just as great as the reviews say. Plus, our waiter was very friendly and kind and didn’t charge us for the last glass of wine left in the restaurant (since they had run out of bottles).

P.S Addendum

Thank you for your reply. I’m surprised by your policy of addressing only positive reviews. I shared balanced feedback because, as visitors from Canada who generally had wonderful service across Spain, we wanted to help by mentioning both the good and the areas that could be improved. It wasn’t meant to attack — just to share our honest experience so it could be useful for other travelers and perhaps for...