Restaurante El Veleru — Restaurant in Gijón

This was the worst restaurant experience we have ever had. It was extremely uncomfortable and borderline scary. First of all, we are tourists visiting Gijón from Oviedo just for the day. To clarify, we both speak and understand Spanish.

We arrived to Gijon at about 2 and we KNEW that it would be a little too late for most restaurants to serve us lunch. That is why we politely asked servers at each restaurant if the kitchen was still open and if we could have a table. Most restaurants said the kitchen was closed (which we expected) and we said thank you while walking to the next restaurant.

When we arrived to THIS restaurant we asked the server outside if the kitchen was open and she was very kind to us! She said “of course” and seated us outside. With her enthusiasm we thought it was no problem but I guess not?? All of a sudden another server comes over and asked us what we want. I said Coca Cola and he rolled his eyes, interrupted me and said “to eat????”. We said yes and he was clearly irritated. He returned with our drinks and slammed the table cover, dishes and sodas on the table. We felt really bad so we figured okay maybe we should order something small because he’s upset we are ordering food and the prices were pretty expensive for us anyway.

Upon the waiter returning, he asked us what we want. We ordered a plate of fried calamari for £20. He rolled his eyes at us and in a very angry tone he said “you should’ve told me. That is not a lot of food”. Then he stormed off. We were extremely quiet and upset at that point. We honestly didn’t say anything for the rest of the lunch to each other because we were confused why he was so mad. He gave us our plates and left. We didn’t see him after that.

After our meal was done, another man came over to clear our plates. He was kind at first which was comforting! After reviewing the check, I noticed the calamares on the check was £22 instead of £20 so I said VERY kindly that I have a question about the calamari price because it’s different. I was NOT accusatory or mad. I simply just asked! He was extremely mad in his tone and his face got so red. In the most nasty tone he said “on the menu it says 10% extra for the terrace!” We were shocked and silent. He returned, slammed the menu on the table, pointed at the phrase “10% for terrace” and swiped the menu from us literally biting his lip???

At that point I became really upset and I wanted to cry. I don’t understand why the kind woman told us “of course” about the kitchen being open but everyone else was furious we ordered food THEN mad we didn’t order enough?? It was a £32 meal for cider, calamari, Coca Cola and terrace seating so if they were mad we didn’t order enough food that’s still a pretty big bill. And I’ll say it again, we knew most restaurants were closed which is why we asked on the off chance that we found one still serving food! If they were mad about it being late to serve food then it would have been better for everyone if they had just said no the kitchen is closed. We would’ve thanked them and kept walking!

Fortunately, another man came with the card reader and was very sweet with us! He asked us where we were from, spoke English, and talked about the finals soccer game between England and Spain. That made us feel better but after we paid we left quickly. We left gijon after that because we were just mentally exhausted.

Do not come here! Before the owner rudely responds like he does to other reviews, I will reiterate that we were extremely kind and friendly. We say hello, how are you, thank you so much, etc with servers. We have NEVER had a problem in Spain or anywhere else so this was a very...

Pocas veces reseño mi experiencia, a no ser que sea verdaderamente terrible o espectacular. En este caso es lo primero. Empezaré con lo bueno: de entrantes pedimos revuelto de gulas y gambas y no tengo nada que reprochar, buenísimo. Mis amigos pidieron un cachopo tradicional a compartir y les gustó, yo lo probé y estaba bueno, jugoso y sin vetas ni exceso de aceite, aunque podría ser un poco más grande para su precio. El verdadero problema fue a la hora de servirme la carne: pedí un solomillo de ternera y de primeras la presentación me sorprendió, ocupando 3/4 del plato las patatas y ensalada, en cantidad ridículamente grande frente a la porción de carne que había, pero eso es lo de menos, si la calidad es buena la cantidad es relativa. Pero no fue así. Nada más tenerlo debajo de mí me vino un fuerte olor a pescado, al que no di importancia por poder venir de la cocina, pero provenía del solomillo, tanto el olor como el sabor eran parecidos al de las sardinas. No soporto el pescado, así que me amargó la comida. Tanto mis amigos como el camarero confirmaron que no era paranoia mía, pero nadie me compensó por ese plato del que no pude comer ni la mitad. Por supuesto que no pedimos ni café ni postre y ahora me dirijo a mi casa para comer de verdad, porque estoy molesto y hambriento. Una lástima, tenía buenas referencias de este sitio al que nunca volveré ni recomendaré de nuevo a nadie. A mí me jodió por el sabor, pero pobre de aquel que tenga una alergia, es una negligencia total. Al no recibir disculpa ni compensación aquí tenéis mi reseña, a ver si así me...

Strange and almost hostile service. Outside seating was nice atmosphere. Food was very good. The two waitstaff were on the aggressive side of dry with us. We were a group of 5, 3 of us were Spanish speakers (2 native) but we were really under the impression that they were sick and tired of dealing with us, or that we’d offended them somehow. They seemed to speak happily and freely with...