La Taberna de Mike Palmer — Restaurant in Málaga

The food was excellent overall, but the experience was undermined by bad service.

The food highlight was the slow cooked oxtail, which was super tender and soft, falling off the bone with rich flavours, hints of peppercorn and a delightful buttery sauce. The accompanying fries were nicely seasoned with hints of rosemary and not oily at all. The whiskey tortilla was also nice, with a unique sauce that had hints of lemon rind - but could have been slightly better seasoned. The eggplant was fresh but lacked seasoning and flavour and could have been baked longer.

The atmosphere was nice, with a cute rustic courtyard. Sadly no views of the surrounding mountains.

The service was below average and dragged down the overall experience. It was unhelpful and a bit rude and definitely not customer or service orientated. First strike, they don’t have an English menu, which was odd and unusual given the large numbers of customers who were clearly tourists (every other restaurant in Malaga had an English menu). When we asked our waiter to guide us through the menu since we couldn’t understand it, he looked grumpy and annoyed. He only translated the three most commonly ordered items on the menu, leaving us completely in the dark about what the rest of the menu contained. When we asked him to recommend other dishes, he was dismissive and declined to offer any recommendations, saying that it was a matter of preference. He appeared to cheer up later on when it came to desert, running us through and translating every item on desert menu in excellent English. So clearly he had the skills to deliver decent customer service when he felt like it. Much more consistent service is needed to make this restaurant a more...

I had booked this place a month back for my birthday. We got there in time and waited at the door till the waiter came and we gave him our name and when he found our reservation he said its for five people, while I clearly reserved for two people and showed him the confirmation. He basically ignored me and just literally told us to wait for 5 minutes with a rude tone. I was taken aback but didn’t want to ruin my night. We waited for 10 minutes and he didn’t even offer us a seat. In the meantime as I was getting mad cause of the treatment and behavior (as if I had made a mistake) of the waiters I called the manager myself (as I made the booking through her). I had to describe the problem and that the waiter doesn’t let us in, then her phone rang and she basically stopped talking with me and started to talk on her other phone with the rude waiter. Then he came and said that yes this is your table!! Without any apologies whatsoever! How arrogant can you get? Its a strange world where people make a mistake and still act arrogantly! At this point we both lost it and there was no appetite left so we had to leave.

I wanted to create a memorable night for my birthday but now I’m writing this review. A good restaurant serves good food, but a great restaurant makes memories for people! I chose this restaurant precisely for that reason, I wanted a memorable night. But the workers at this restaurant are not prepared/trained for that. This was an utterly disappointing...

I am very disappointed at the restaurant, you won't expect it at all from a Michelin star. We booked a table for two for my husband's birthday. We arrived there and telling the waiter that we have a reservation for two, and the guy checks the list and says no, you have for 5. We get into an argument trying to show him the text message we sent for reservation stating exactly a table for 2, but he doesn't even want to look at the message. He simply says wait here and I have to discuss with my manager. It was their mistake and the simplest thing he could offer was a sit while we wait but he even didn't bother and let us be there for over 10min. After that he comes and had a phone conversation with his manager, and simple says: now it is ok you can sit here. I was boiling with rage and he doesn't even apologize for their mistake first, and I told him I am angry and I cannot eat anymore and forced him to apologize which he did. But I no longer could stand being there let alone wining and dining there. So we sat for two minutes and we decided to leave. Imagine the restaurant is outside the city and we took a taxi there, and we had to still wait on the road for 15min to take a taxi back which in total cost us around 27 euros without a cup of water in our hand and a ruined...