Restaurante Ruta del Veleta — Restaurant in Cenes de la Vega

Would never come back again

Disappointing experience, borderline casual racism.

The waiter’s attitude changed instantly when they realized we only speak English, not Spanish. Left us at the table for 30 minutes and served all other guests who speak Spanish, even the one who arrived much later, but not us.

When we tried to ask for the attention of the waiting staff, was told they don’t speak English and ignored again.

If the restaurant is not intending to take non-Spanish speaking guests, they should have made it clear on their website so tourists could be aware.

We decided to leave the restaurant and escalated this to the manager and were again told that they don’t speak English. I made my booking in email in ENGLISH, so they could have told me earlier that English is not welcomed to save us the trip really.

Not the quality of service I would expect for a Michelin guide fine dining restaurant.

EDIT to respond to restaurant’s reply

Not entirely sure what the owner meant by “when travel to a new country, it is essential to understand that customs can vary”. As a well travelled person who’s been to 30+ countries in Europe, Asia, south East Asia and the pacific regions, this is my first time to experience the “custom” of being seated then ignored for 30 minutes, and being told “we don’t speak English” then ignored when I attempt to make an order.

Meanwhile the other customers were attended and served. I have felt more welcomed in local diners and tapas places in Spain than this supposedly fine dining Michelin guide restaurant.

I have been to multiple Michelin guide restaurants from 1 star to 3 stars. This experience definitely fell short of expected standards and quality.

So while I appreciate their invitation to try their food, it is a strong...

I’ve never left a restaurant with such a bad mood and without eating anything. We made a reservation in advance for our anniversary dinner and arrived at 20:30. We were the first group of customers of that night. However, after serving the water at the very beginning, the waitstaff never came to us even at 21:00.

Besides us, there were only 2 tables (a group of 2 and a group of 4) at the moment. It was not busy at all. They both arrived after us, and the waitstaff took the initiative to take the order for them and kept ignoring us. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some casual racism going on. As a non-Spanish speaker and an Asian customer, I felt absolutely humiliated and offended.

*EDIT to respond to the owner’s reply

Thank you for informing me that ignoring customers is tolerated and even considered a local custom. The fact is, the staff that night actively avoided us but simultaneously actively provided services to other customers.

Regarding your 'friendly reminder,' my partner and I are both well-traveled and come from culturally diverse backgrounds. We have been to many restaurants around the world, from street food stalls and local diners to internationally acclaimed establishments. We’ve never been treated in such a dismissive manner. So thanks for your invitation but no, we will not come back....

The food was excellent and so was the service, but most amazing in this place is absolutely unique for Spain wine-list. No disrespect, but in my beloved Spain there is no culture of ageing the wines (anyone connected to wine in Spain will confirm my words). Bodegas sell out everything right after minimal bottling time, the restaurants and bars do the same after they get the bottles to their cellars. Everyone needs cash. So, even in most wine-oriented restaurants regardless of where in Spain what you can get is the last vintage released to the market by a certain wine producer. Best case – second last. Thus, ending up drinking majority of wonderful wines way too early in their life span. Opening wine-list in Ruta I was really stunned seeing some special old vintages starting from 1940-s. And actually, not for unreasonable prices. My wife and I ordered one of the flagship wines from Jumilla region from “regular wine-list” and the bottle that came to our table was from 2008. I don’t know any other restaurant in Spain (and I was looking hard for last 20 years) with a...