Restaurante Taberna Gaspar — Restaurant in Marbella

I don’t often write reviews for restaurants but our experience in this establishment was so memorable that I feel compelled to share it.

My family and I went to Taberna Gaspar two days ago, and honestly we all left wondering what had happened. Was there a competition that had been setup by the management with a reward for the member of staff who could be most rude? Did they have too many customers and wanted to get rid of people with rudeness ? Perhaps it’s the end of the summer and they’re just sick and tired of seeing tourists ? I don’t know, and will probably have to take these questions with me to my grave. I do know that the staff were incredibly rude. All of them, it wasn’t just one server having a bad day. It was as if they took turns coming to our table to not be helpful and express some passive aggressive annoyance.

Now, we come from a culture where hospitality, food, and good manners go hand in hand and are valued very highly - it’s possible we set the bar higher than most when it comes to service, but the contempt with which we were treated seemed a bit much. Perhaps this is one of those places where getting rude service is part of the “charm”. Maybe people go there to get treated badly. Well, we just wanted food and to be treated with at least the same level of respect one might show to a stray dog.

We had reserved a table ahead of time and were shown to it by a member of staff. No smiles, no “hi, welcome”, that sort of thing. An inauspicious start. After eventually flagging down a member of staff who failed to pretend to not notice us, we got our menus. We examined the menu and we had a few questions so we again spent the next five minutes flagging down a member of staff. My better half began asking a questions in fluent (if accented) Spanish and was interrupted with “Wait”, the waitress left and came back with an English menu and then disappeared again. I don’t how much time had passed before we managed to place the order, but there are insects who would have lived their entire lives in that space of time.

So the food arrives and one of the dishes was not what we ordered. We informed the waiter (like I said, they were taking turns to maybe see who could be the most rude) and he wordlessly grabs the plate and disappears. Time passes, so much time. 3 of us had food, one person was still waiting on their dish. We decide to eat very slowly not wanting our dish-less companion to feel awkward. Eventually her food arrives, no apology for the delay, nada ( a Spanish term for nothing). The food itself was alright … just alright: meatballs, Spanish omelette, musaka, and chicken. The musaka had caramelized onions that were so sweet the dish should have been a desert. It tasted OK, though it seems like it belonged in the wrong part of the menu (that’s neither here nor there in terms quality, just an observation). We had a flan for desert, it was OK. The prices were OK. At least we didn’t pay a lot to be ignored.

So to sum up, this restaurant is a popular restaurant with ok food that would rather not serve tourists. If you enjoy being ignored, interrupted, and served the wrong food, you should...

I have been a client of Gaspar for around 6 years now, but my most recent experience highlights serious cause for concern. I would also hasten to add that I do not have a language barrier.

My most recent visit was with my partner and a visiting family member (also fluent in Spanish). My preceding visit had been just a few days prior and it sparked the idea to invite our guest to enjoy local Andalusian cuisine.

My reservation was for 9pm, however we found ourselves ahead of schedule and I asked a staff member if it might be possible to bring our reservation time forward. I was told that this would be no problem, but that they didn’t open until 8.30pm.

As my reservation was for an outdoor table (all of which were already in place, I asked if we might sit at the table whilst we await for them to open. At this time it was 8:15pm. I was informed that this would be no problem, but just to wait a few minutes whilst her colleague allocated the tables (which was fine).

My guest asked to use the washroom, whilst my partner momentarily took a seat just next to the entrance, which was free and not allocated to any table.

At this point a woman arrived and informed us that my partner could not use the chair and that we could not wait outside (contrary to what we had just been told). She insisted my partner vacate the seat and proceeded to remove it and place it to one side in storage. Now if that is not bloody minded I don’t know what is!

I informed the woman that we had been informed by her colleague we could sit at our reserved (outdoor) table to wait the 15 minutes for them to officially open, but this was abruptly dismissed.

Make no mistake, despite the replies (excuses!) posted in response to the reviews of my partner and our guest, this was a blatant act of racism, and when I say blatant, I mean blatant!

There is no place for racism in society, more importantly it is illegal in Spain (as it is in all EU countries).

We proceeded to leave and enjoyed a fabulous dinner in Marbella old town, and despite Gaspar having my contact number, they didn’t bother to call when we failed to return, not surprisingly, because my partner and her family member were quite obviously not welcome!

Not only will I never be returning, I am going to make a formal complaint with the ayuntamiento of Marbella, because blatant racism in this day and age is despicable and this woman should be ashamed.

Thus, if you wish to enjoy the cuisine and ambience of Taberna Gaspar, then I can safely say I have done so many times and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, if you happen to be with a partner or guest that is not white, maybe you should think again.

Shame on you Taberna Gaspar!

Now I am looking forward to the pathetic excuse you are going to post...

The TL:DR is this:

Book a table Eat amazing food Be very happy

On an unassuming side street off of the seafront, lies this absolute gem.

In off season you may be able to get a table without booking, but it's still unlikely on busy evenings so it's really best to book.

The menu is always changing, and written out for that particular day. You may be asked to take a picture if you want to spend a while looking and translating, as they would rather spend their time cooking and serving great food than writing out menus, which I think is fair enough!

The dishes are best shared - think of this more like "mega tapas" rather than ordering courses per person.

We had the tortilla (best we've eaten anywhere), moussaka (incredible), cod in spicy sauce (almost tagine-like with reduced fruity notes), oxtail (mmmm) and the baked cheesecake (off the scale).

So home made and delicious, it made us extremely happy, especially as we were dining on the last day of a great holiday.

To top it all, I'd consider it "cheap" compared to a lot of local restaurants, especially those that charge a premium for their name even if the food is rubbish.

If you like to eat great food, which we do, eat here. You won't be disappointed.

The only negative is that the dishes are so good I only snapped one pic (of the cod) due to being in...