Restaurante La Casa del Rey — Restaurant in Estepona

On Friday 27th September, we made last minute change to our schedule and called in to Cassa Del Ray at 7.40pm to ask if we could have a table for two. I made it very clear that we normally book and that it would be OK if a table wasn't available.

The young lady snarled and asked me to check it with her Manager, who then said we could have the table until 9pm, which meant for a tapas meal for two lasting 1 hour 20 minutes should be fine. She accepted the booking but in my opinion, it was under duress and she showed us to the table.

The four dishes ordered were Fillet Steak Foi Gras, Moussellini Crab Cake, Chicken Burrito and the Cod Gratin. Unfortunately the food was sub standard which caused delays and a lot of embarrassment.

1 The Fillet Steak could not be cut with a normal knife, which meant biting into it led to spray grease out, marking the table cloth and my shirt.

2 The Moussellini Crab Cake was nice.

3 The Chicken Burrito,?which although tasted lovely, also shot lots of fat out but this time missing my wife's napkin and marking her trousers (now needing dry cleaning).

4 The fourth dish to arrive was the Cod Gratin. Unfortunately, this had been cooked in far too much salt and even though we're happy with seasoned dishes, this was completely inedible and had to be sent back.

Returning this dish not only caused confusion but quite a long delay. We said we'd rather choose a different dish and also order two extra dishes.

Fifteen minutes went by (made up of us watching different waiters rushing by ushering in the people who had booked). I checked, the time now was 8.20pm and having had to ask to be served, and for a second drink, the replacement food order was taken. I made it specifically clear that we were mindful of the table being needed by 9.00pm but a male waiter said it would be fine and we would be told more at that time (which we presumed meant it was flexible because the couple behind us were told 9:30pm).

Another waiter went to get my drink (he shot off mid-sentence) and came back only to be asked for my wife's drink as well. The order of two mini Iberian burger tapas and a plate of Gajo Fries to share order was taken. Then someone else came back with her drink. All this was taking time and started to give us the impression the staff had not been properly to manage under pressure.

By now, it was 8.50pm. We had just about eaten the mini burgers, and had started on the fries dish with its four dips, which to be honest at €7 it wasn't a small dish and we didn't want to rush.

At just before 9:00pm, the Manager stood next to me and just said "I told you we needed this table back at 9 o'clock". It was said as if she'd already just spoken to us and we'd had an argument - a very rude way to start a conversation. We were being reprimanded for still having our two hardly-touched drinks and half finished main course.

It was embarrassing being spoken to that way especially in front of the people who by now were stood towering over us wanting the table. I explained defensively that this delay was due to us having to change dishes, and their inept way of handling the problem. She didn't want to listen and just kept saying that she'd said the table must be vacated by 9:00pm.

With half finished drinks and half a plate of food that we were sharing we were given the bill and was asked to get up and leave. The Manager said not to worry though, as she had already taken the last three items off the bill, which suggests she had already made this choice in her plan to eject us from the restaurant - in full view of all the other diners.

To the owners of the Cassa Del Wray, you should be ashamed of yourselves for employing such a poor Manager, or at least for not giving her the training she needs.

In conclusion, we have spent to our reckonings over €20,000 over the last 19 annual visits to the area, but we have NEVER felt so belittled and worthless.

We will...

I am deeply disappointed with the service my partner and I received by the woman that greets customers on 20/09/24, where we had made a reservation for 9:00 to celebrate our anniversary (which was told upon booking)

Upon arrival, we were told there was no record of our booking, even though I had called to reserve. The woman at the desk implied I had called the wrong restaurant, which I knew wasn’t the case. This was confirmed when the other restaurant said there indeed was no reservation under my name. Rather than apologise or try to resolve the issue, she kept repeating that she was at the phone all night and didn’t remember my booking. After I repeated many times a man picked up the phone, she continued to repeat she was there all night. So, basically, she was calling me a liar.

For that reason I showed her proof of the call (the phone number indeed correctly showing it was to the right restaurant) and the number of minutes on the phone. I gave in depth details about the phone call, again, only because she made me out to be lying. Instead of checking with her colleagues or anything, she kept shrugging and repeating that she was fully booked until Tuesday, leaving us stranded on a night that was meant to be special for us. She was acting as if the restaurant was better than us in a really snobby way. She was condescending throughout the entire conversation, something I wouldn’t expect from someone whose main job role is to be customer friendly. By this point I had began losing my patience and I told her: you do realise that I have not made the mistake here, this was your [the restuarant’s] mistake, to which, unsurprisingly she responded: “If you stop giving me attitude, maybe I’ll help you with a table. If you continue, I won’t do anything”. She smirked and walked off. When she came back, now regrettingly, I apologised, because I was desperate to avoid ruining the night further.

She reluctantly seated us at a table and told us “sit here whilst I figure out what to do”. This left us feeling unwelcome and uncomfortable for the rest of the evening. And on edge, as she never returned after “figuring out what to do with us” - RUDE!

This was a family go-to, seeing as both my partner and my family have been on the coast for 25+ years. This was one of the worst customer service experiences I’ve ever had, and it soured what should have been a memorable celebration. I hope management addresses this issue, because what she did that night was just nasty, horrible, and completely unwarranted.

I’ll give one star the other for the other exceptional waiters, and another for the food, but she took away the rest...

Came here with my parents for dinner and we were over all very disappointed. As other reviews state the initial service was good. After ordering our food however the standard decreased dramatically, mine and my mums food came after waiting for over an hour and my dads food was forgotten about for another 10 minutes until we complained and a waiter returned with his food straight away. I ordered the noodles with king prawns, they were just simply disappointing in every way, the noodles themself were bland ,not cooked properly and had a bitter salty taste, the prawns were not deveined. I am aware that they do not need to be deveined to be safe to eat when cooked properly, however when you’re at a seemingly high end restaurant it is reasonable to expect food to be prepared to a higher standard, therefore I was left disappointed. I raised this issue with our waitress and she was just rude, interrupted me as I was explaining why I was disappointed and just insisted that I was wrong. I am hoping she will see this review as her customer service was just poor. The monk fish was also tough and lasagna was below average. She took the noodles off the bill which was generous but didn’t listen to any of the reasons why we were disappointed and just interrupted me. We were really disappointed with this meal as we were looking forward to it before hand, I really hope they improve their service as there was other nice features such as a blanket on every table for when it gets colder. The young man working was also helpful with wine...