Restaurante El Mortero — Restaurant in Icod de los Vinos

Ok-ish food, generous portions. Overall experience terrible. Started off with staff doing a solid job of ignoring us once we got a table. Changed to an inside spot and that finally drove some attention.

Now for the cherry on top - at some point a blind-drunk man walked in, asking to buy a beer. Staff (rightfully) refused, but that resulted in the drunk individual giving a lot of attention to the guests inside. No less than 5 waiters stood cautiously on the far side of the room and trying to avoid any confrontation while the drunk intruder was slurring his tale of injustice at people who were trying to have dinner.

At some point I abandoned my secreto iberico to a conversation that was trying to change topics from having 1-1 fights while the staff kept anxiously and helplessly staring at my fiancé for signs of (here, not really sure what, "now, take him down" , or "we need backup here"?!).

Overall, zero effort taken by the staff to divert attention away from guests. (There was a brief offer to change tables to somewhere further down, but the waiter moved away rather quickly as to avoid contact with the person causing trouble). Eventually my drunk-whisperer charm got the person out, where he seems to have been taken by the police who had just arrived.

Overall, maybe an off night, but staff's attitude to both usual and unusual circumstances merits a strong "avoid, if at all possible"...

This quaint little tapas restaurant exudes charm with its concise menu, hinting at quality over quantity. We sampled an array of dishes: the blood sausage, fried cheese, and croquetas.

The fish croquetas were delightful, though presented more like Dutch 'Bitterballen', they were satisfying. The smoked cheese was well-paired with papaya, creating a tasty combination. The blood sausage came with a sweet sauce, though the dishes overall leaned a bit too much towards sweetness for my taste. While the textures were pleasing and the flavors decent, a bit more spice and seasoning would elevate the experience. Less sweetness is desired.

Nonetheless, the service was excellent, friendly, and efficient. The wine list, though small, features nice local options that are affordable and enjoyable. Overall, it's a solid choice for a casual outing with no lofty expectations - just a nice time. I'd rate it 3 out of 5. A cozy spot worth stopping by for an easy, enjoyable...

We had read a lot of good reviews about this place so we came with high expectations. Unfortunately we didn't have an extremely good experience. We had tagliatelle with praws, dried tomatoes and basil as first course. They were pretty bad. Just a lot of cream and few praws tossed in. The ingredients were not cooked together nicely so the flavors were just bland (aka the cream didn't taste at all of shrimps). Didn't see the basil in the dish. Then we had a soup with mixed fish. There was tuna, cod, mussels, clams, shrimps and potatoes. That was ok but still the fish was far from being fresh unfortunately and you could taste it. The mussels were pretty horrible. They should not serve not fresh mussels. We had two cups of wine first (2 different types) and they were pretty bad. Then we had 2 bottled beer and they were really good! The place is super nice and the staff is friendly and on top of it. We were just expecting another...