Restaurant L' Escoleta — Restaurant in Dénia

I really didn't want to put a bad review about this place because the blonde haired waitress was lovely and did her best to be helpful, and smiling. But from the get go it was obvious the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. The service was atrocious. The night started off badly when we were shown to our seats then left without any menus or asking us what we would like to drink. After we had sat a while someone came over and asked us if we would like something to eat, when clearly we had no menus in front of us. So we said no could we have a menu first and some drinks with that the waitress turned around and disappeared with no apology. Eventually we were given menus and we ordered drinks and food. My friend ordered a gin and tonic the first time it was right the second time he was given Berry flavoured tonic instead of normal tonic water. Everytime we ask for another drink the waiter forgot and we ended up asking for it again.The starters arrived the chilli prawns were probably the best thing on the order, the ceaser salad consisted of tomatoes onions lettuce avacado and weird breadcrumbs chicken that resembled a chicken burger sliced into pieces. It was pleasant but not amazing and it was a starter which again was odd as it was huge. My other friend had the sheep's cheese and tomatoes which is exactly what he got and my other friend had the gazpacho with pine nuts. All of the starters were of less than average quality for a restaurant charging way above average prices. For main course 3 of us had the pigs cheeks, I could not eat mine it was served in a bowl on top of some pureed mash it looked vile and tasted vile. My friend gave me his curry, and the term curry I use very loosely because I have had better curries from my local Chinese. I have no idea how this restaurant got such rave reviews or its four and a half stars. The staff all run around like crazy getting nowhere fast and the chef needs to go back to flipping burgers. I have eaten in some of the best restaurants in the world and this is one of the worst I have ever been in. The surroundings and decor suggest it is fine dining but trust me there is nothing fine about it. Just to add one of the friends with us, who I will not name is actually a famous chef and he chose this place, you can imagine he was mortified. So if you want to sit around for ages waiting to be served substandard food at extortionate prices. Then this is the place to go. Dont say I...

A slightly strange experience and mixed feelings about this restaurant, but let me explain. On arrival, we were greeted by the maitre d' but it seemed that they weren't sure about our reservation. They disappeared and reappeared to show us to what they were keen to describe as their VIP area, so overall that worked out well, eventually. The menu is quite extensive and lots of choice to work through, which is great, but we were initially rushed to choose drinks and place our order while we were still just getting settled. Once the order was placed I was able to relax a bit and take in what is a beautifully decorated restaurant and obviously a high-end establishment. Also, the quality of food is beyond question, pushing for Michelin star levels in my opinion and most of the group opted for the taster menu to experience it to the fullest. However, the service needs to match the quality of the food and after all the initial attentiveness we struggled to get noticed by our serving team (it seemed one did food, another drinks which was a little confusing). Another strange aspect was on this particular Friday night, while the inside area was very civilised and high-end when I went out to the inner-courtyard area there were stag and hen parties going on, with a distinctly different ambiance. Overall though, we had a very enjoyable evening and I can certainly recommend L'Escoleta for a special night or occasion. You won't be disappointed by the food, the setting or the team there. My intention though is to offer this honest feedback in a constructive manner to help the restaurant achieve the highest levels they are clearly...

My family and I tend to have high standards when it comes to eating out. We rate restaurants based on quality of food, service, decoration, music, and lighting. This place has high ratings for all of our categories. The food is definitely number 1! We actually came a second time because we loved the food (especially the octopus and ceviche). The drinks/cocktails were also good. In terms of the service, we felt rushed the first day but once we established the boundary they calmed down. The service could improve, it took us going a second time to feel like we were well taken cared of. We feel they could also get more training, but ultimately you can tell the staff has good intentions and that’s what matters the most! The music is not very consistent. We believe they could play some piano bar or jazz to match the place. We loved the decoration, lighting, and ambiance. This place is on our top places in Spain (we travel a lot around Spain and do YouTube videos about restaurants so this will be on my YouTube for sure!). Please visit! They deserve to...