El Cuartel del Mar — Restaurant in Chiclana de la Frontera

I have been coming to this restaurant for several years and have always appreciated its exceptional food, beautiful setting, and well-curated wine list. The location is lovely, and the convenience of being able to park right in front is a welcome bonus.

Unfortunately, during my most recent visit, the level of service did not reflect the standard this restaurant has upheld in the past.

After being seated, we waited more than 20 minutes before anyone came to take our order. We began by asking for water and took a look at the wine menu. We ordered a bottle of champagne listed on the menu and already placed our food order.

However, the champagne never came. We asked once, then a second time, but still nothing. Only when we asked a third time were we told that the bottle we had chosen was not available. At that point, the waiter offered a few alternatives, which we appreciated. By then, the food had already started arriving — but we still had not received any water.

We settled on a different champagne, only to be told that there were no champagne glasses available and it would be served in white wine glasses. Not a major issue in itself, but not the kind of service you would expect at this level. Throughout the lunch, the staff felt unresponsive and unaware of what had or had not been served.

Later, when we ordered dessert and coffee, the dessert was already served while we were still waiting for the coffee to arrive. In the meantime, we were asked again if we wanted coffee, even though we had already placed the order.

Despite the disappointing service, I want to highlight that the food remains great.

I will certainly return, because I genuinely enjoy this place. But I do hope the service improves and that more attention is paid to the guest experience...

Hello, we have visited the restaurant yesterday (28/06/25), and I would like to make some observations. 1 - service: my husband is more sensitive to these things - he was on the edge of leaving. So after we arrived and were seated, we were not offered menus and/or drinks for a long time, until i found someone to actually serve us. The bread - was served without a question, and it is not complementary. There was some problem with serving salt - again waiting and searching for a waiter. For future reference - it is a good idea to ask, how to serve the courses for a couple, at the same time or one after each other. One can order a main dish, and the other a starter as a main dish, to avoid an awkward situation when one is already eating and the other is still waiting for God knows how long. Please ask waiters (not all of them obviously) to be friendly in any situation, to smile at least. I understand the amount of work, but actually seeing it as a client creates a weight that you want to avoid, while enjoying the moment. 2 - atmosphere: the idea to visit the place was mine, and I received what I wanted. I liked the design, I personally think to be seated inside gives you an opportunity to breath at this hellish heat, at the same time outside you have a beautiful view indeed. 3 - food: we had a tuna tartar with garum and ibérico pork (not to go wild). We liked the food, no problem e we with that)) please add in the menu some refreshment options as a homemade lemonade, for example. I’m very grateful for a double shot of lime juice for my cravings, but giving you an idea for future development, and for kids I think it would be great,too. Can recommend, after all the location and...

Super disappointed. We considered ourselves lucky that we were able to get a table at short notice and were booked in for 8pm. On our arrival we were shown to a table in a quiet corner where the cleaner was still mopping the floor. We sat and she finished mopping and spraying the bacteria cleaner. So we put this aside and looked forward to our food. We ordered our favourite wine only to be told they don't have any left so we were reccomended another more expensive which turned out to be fabulous. At 65€ a bottle this is a good thing. The food came out very fast and my pork was uncooked still with blood and cold inside which was strange as it's served in slices. I sent it back and it returned warmer but still uncooked. The waiter explained this is how the chef cooks it. Needless to say I ate the cooked parts and left the raw. My young son had the same and his was cooked through so I'd imagine the chef overcooked his then! My wife had chicken canalone which you could see was sat under a heat lamp by the dried out sauce and it was also not hot. We asked if our 6 year old could have one ball of ice cream instead of the four scoops to which the kitchen said no, you pay for all four or you have none, so our little boy went without. We never felt welcomed and were pressurised to eat fast and leave as the after sunset crowd needed to be seated. We have eaten in many top restaurants all around the world and we were hoping this could be added to the top 10 list, sadly it doesn't make the top 100. Very disappointing and we will never return or be able...