La Taberna Timanfaya — Restaurant in Mogán

Damn you online reviewers! Why do you do this to me every time? If your tastebuds have a pizza on your top 5 food experiences or wearing a t-shirt while dining, please dont comment outside of pizza hut! (This place had a 4,9 star rating when I wrote this)

Me and my girlfriend visited La Taberna to try out the much hyped tapas at this place. We knew we where in Puerto Rico, but we trusted the online reviews and articles about this place. You had to order the tapas one day in advance, which only made the expectations rise.

When we first sat down and the first dishes arrived we where amazed by the plating and the looks of it. A few dishes later we started to become concerned about when the traditional spanish cuisine would enter. Our concern grew as most of the dishes served troughout the meal reminded us of a swedish cafeteria buffet from the 80's.

We knew this wasn't domestic spain, but we still had the expectations of traditional spanish tapas. To give an example, we were NOT served: chorizo, manchego, patata brava, fritatta, abondigas or anything resembling garlic or tomato marinade....where is the tapas?

But we where served curry gulasj, 5 day old salsa, and a lot of "tasters" from the regular menu. Including a lot of overcooked fish dishes which make me belive the other dishes doesn't add up to a great review either by normal standards.

We kind of felt sorry for the poor waiter who gave excellent service and was a delight throughout the meal. The total price of 107€ were somewhat justified by the ingredients and a bottle of wine, but the courses were bland and uninspired.

I can't really say i would recommend this place to anyone by my one experience, but there is a lack of high end dining in puerto rico, and I think if this place where to be modernised, they have the potential to become a great dining experience...

My wife and I visited this place based on last recommendation. And the steak disappointed me... good thing my wife ordered the offer of the day!

For aperitif we were served focaccio with aioli and beef stroganoff. We really liked it. All my wife’s dishes were decent: Hungarian goulash soup; Tomato tartare with goat cheese mousse; Passion fruit sorbet; Tender venison fillet with wild berries sauce, red cabbage and mashed potatoes; White coffee mousse and apple ragout.

I had: Risotto; Black Angus Steak (which I couldn’t finish because of the stringy meat; the man at the next table also didn’t eat most of this dish. Apparently he also read the same review🙁🙁), BUT they brought me a small Beef fillet “Club” for tasting portion (without payment) and explained that the presence of sinews at the counter is the norm, but if I want meat without sinews, then I must order a dish with the prefix “fillet”. Mille-feuilles like dessert.

All the dishes were too rich, just bordering on "too much": salty or overcooked, but overall it was tasty. They lacked lightness; the vegetables did not feel juicy.

But the desserts were a great success! Not a lot of sugar, tender, light, pleasant. The cappuccino was tasty, with a thick, pleasant foam.

PLEASE NOTE: AT THIS RESTAURANT, THE WAITERS ARE CAREFUL ABOUT DINING ETIQUETTE AND WILL PAY ATTENTION THERE HOW YOU WILL LEAVE THE CUTLERY ON THE PLATE WHEN YOU WILL FINISH EATING YOUR DISH.

The atmosphere in the establishment is very cozy and inviting! Good background music.

However, it was quite hot, it would have been nice to lower the temperature by 2-4°C.

We would recommend: Tender venison fillet with wild berries sauce, red cabbage and mashed potatoes; Beef fillet “Club”; White coffee mousse and apple ragout; Mille-feuilles (dessert only...

Unfortunately the food got worse at every course. The best part was the free focaccia and accompanying butter and curried potato, all were delicious.

The starter was decent but not as nice as these hors d'oeuvre.

Next the main dish, the fish special of sole. This was quite poor, the fish fell completely flat and was quite mushy in texture. I would expect a nice firm texture from the fish with a nice delicate flavour but this was not what I received. There seemed to have been a slight floury coating around the fish aimed to give it a bit of crisp but instead this became rather soggy and ended up leaving the fish with an oily floury taste - also under seasoned. As for my partners chicken stroganoff, it was just okay, perfectly acceptable but for the price point of €23 I would have expected this to a bit more stand out ish.

The place itself is lovely, with it built into the mountain with a good atmosphere. The service also was great - but unfortunately the food was lacking, and at a quite high price (€12 starter...