Audrey’s Restaurant — Restaurant in Calp

EDIT: I informed the wait staff I was unhappy (as well as returning dishes uneaten). When I walked out, I told the front of house manager. I wrote a long email to the restaurant expressing my disappointment. All this BEFORE writing this review. Crickets. They only responded AFTER I checked out of the hotel and via this review, not in a personal message and after it was too late to actually resolve the issue. Their response here is performative with real intent to help me

I have never been more disappointed in a Michelin star restaurant as I was today. I was really looking forward to this meal while in Southern Spain but actually walked out during the service as I just couldn’t take one more bad dish. Worse, no one seemed concerned that I was taking one bite of a dish and not finishing anything. The waiter asked me once if I liked a dish. I said no. He never asked again or tried to find out why I was unhappy with course after course. There was myself and one other couple. So it was not so busy. Yet the floor manager or even the chef seemed concerned that I did not like the courses. And why did I have issues? So many dishes had a heavy fishy sauce to it. Why cover avocado with a seaweed sauce or overpower a delicate prawn with a thick, fishy sauce that coated your tongue so that was all you could taste? Other dishes, like the potatoes with egg yoke were under seasoned. The final straw was the overcooked, dried out Iberian pork. Frankly, the Iberian pork they served on the hotel buffet was juicier. It was at this point that I just gave up, paid the 200€ bill and walked out. Note: when I cancelled the rest of my meal, again no one wanted to know why. This place obviously dies it’s trade in vacationers and really are not concerned with pleasing the customer so they will return. One positive note: the scallops and mussels…I actually do not like scallops but this dish was well balanced and the only dish I completed...

We went there on a slow thursday night and were friendly greeted by the staff on duty this night. As the restaurant was completely empty (around 8.30pm) we didn't really ask if there is anything available and we were placed at a nice table.

We had the small menu with five courses and the wine flight. First of all: I have never experienced a wine flight where the wines match so incredibly good the food. Some of the dishes only worked in combination with the wine - amazing stuff which left me deeply impressed and will be the reason why I'll go back.

The quality of the food is amazing and it is really delicious. It's a bit more complex than other 1 star michelin kitchens in the city but it works well.

Up to this - a full five stars.

Service was very rushed as we were the single customers this night. We had the impression that they just wanted to close and we ate through the five dishes including appetizers in around 1.5 hours. It was just too fast to process everything (and together with the wine flight it was a lot of alcohol in this period of time). This costs one star and brings us down to four stars.

A second point is the lighting concept. The lights above the small tables is really cold which doesn't help a lot - but that's a minor issue.

TL;DR: Great restaurant, absolutely...

Intentaré describir con palabras lo maravilloso que es este lugar: Este Restaurant del aclamado Chef Rafa Soler, de comida creativa, tomando como base para toda esta interpretación la gastronomía histórica del levante español, está ubicado en Calpe y galardonado con 1 estrella Michelin (De sobra merecidísima) es una parada obligatoria, si disfrutas de la buena comida, la calidad, el placer y el lujo y te encuentras en la Costa Blanca. Ubicado en el Hotel AR Diamante Beach and Spa, es una combinación fantástica! Recomiendo enormemente probar el menú de degustación Jöel, es el más completo (18 platos) y te va a permitir conocer el fantástico repertorio del chef, con el cual se ha ganado esta primera estrella Michelin: Empezaré describiendo el local: un lugar íntimo, no muy grande, pero de amplio espacio (no éramos más de 15 comensales en total) Espectacularmente decorado con detalles marinos y bodega de vinos: un lugar muy acogedor, bien iluminado sin ser cegadora la luz. Una oferta de vinos enorme: tintos, blancos, espumosos (Cava, Champagne, entre otros) De Jeréz, etc. El menú ofrece dos alternativas: un menú Aitana, de 85€ que consiste en Snacks, Tapas y 7 platos, y el ya mencionado y elegido menú Jöel de 18 platos por 135€ (Lo recomiendo enormemente ya que es el más completo y te permite conocer a profundidad las interpretaciones de la cocina levantina española) Por 50€ adicionales, se puede optar por un maridaje según cada plato.

La primera parte del menú consiste alimentos de la huerta, con ese toque especial que le da el Chef, un segundo acto, seguido por exquisitos platos del mar: mariscos, algas, pescados. Luego platos de la tierra en un tercer acto, y para terminar, el último plato: los postres basados en cítricos y diversos sabores característicos de la región.

No describiré el sabor y las sensaciones de cada plato, invito al lector que lo descubra por si mismo: pero si digo lo siguiente: cada pase va precedido por un cambio de cubiertos para no solapar sabores, y la presentación de cada paso es parte del espectáculo: emplatado, decoración, etc.

Otro detalle a tener en cuenta, que me parece extremadamente importante: destaca la detallada explicación de cada plato, y un gesto enorme, que habla EXCELENTE del Chef y su equipo, es que el mismo Rafa Soler sirve parte de los platos y se encarga de explicar a los comensales, un poco de la historia y preparación del plato, lo cual es siempre algo de agradecer, ya que en otros lugares con estrella Michelin no sucede.

Además de lo antes mencionado, el resto del personal es atento no, lo siguiente: educado, agradable, ameno, servicial: nunca la copa ni el vaso de agua estuvieron vacíos y estuvieron pendientes de ofrecer incluso pan si era necesario.

Verdaderamente decir que esa estrella Michelin esta sumamente bien ganada, y será la primera de las siguientes que de seguro vendrán.

Muy agradecido de haber conocido esta experiencia y 100% seguro, que cuando regrese a la Costa...