Restaurante La Antorcha — Restaurant in Monachil

I found this restaurant online as we were looking for dinner recommendations in the Sierra Nevada area (Spain). We parked some distance away and had to climb many stairs to get to La Antorcha. It looked an unassuming place both from the facade outside and also the interiors. Since it was summer, most of the area was deserted and many eating places were shut. The restaurant was empty barring 2 diners in one table and the hostess (cum waitress cum everything front of the house) just pointed us to a table when we walked in. We had reservations, but that didn't seem to matter at the time. She didn't speak much English but enough to get our order/requests and serve us the right things.

We started with some wine, and a basket of bread, as we ran through the menu. The other diners were eating the barbecued meat on Hot Stones; it looked interesting so we decided to order the same. Between 2 of us, we picked one portion of the spicy meat (mix of pork and beef marinated in spices) and one of chicken.

While we waited for it, the hostess came and put a "Sausage Tree" in front of us saying "On the House". We were curious and delighted at the same time at the sight of it. It was basically many different types of dried sausages hung on a little tree; you could cut pieces of each and try to see what tastes best with your wine. Quite an unique starter and something we'd never seen before.

In some time, we got our Hot Stone BBQs as the hostess came & placed a hot stone in front of each of us. It's basically a stone block heated up and stays hot for about 40 minutes or so. Another novelty for us and it raised the anticipated a couple of notches. The meat was juicy and well marinated, and tasted delicious once it has been BBQ-ed on the hot stones. It also made the whole experience of eating a very interactive one, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Overall, we were glad to have had the chance to eat at La Antorcha and would recommend it to anyone looking for a novel...

Phoned asked if its ok to bring a small dog, was told yes. Travelled 45 mins to come, entered and was encountered by an incredibly rude staff member who shouted to get out with the dog. Absolutely disgusting lack of customer service. Would be understandable had we not phoned ahead, but was told they are totally fine with dogs.

Do not spend your money in this place.

Edit: the owner responded to say the no dog policy is in place for years. Absolute lie, i phoned at 17.36, a 52 second call. I was informed that my small Pomsky would be allowed, when we arrived another staff member from who i spoke to on the phone was incredibly rude and made the antagonistic behaviour.

Note to owner: if you want to lie in your response, that just makes you look disgraceful to future customers. My advice as someone in the food and beverages industry (and supplying alcohol to most of andalusia, including your restaurant) train your staff with customer service, and if issues like this arise, try to resolve in a way that allows you to provide better service and respect to...

A place for meat lovers, with steaks cooked on a hot stone as their trademark. Meat and wine were both good and we enjoyed the free tree of cold meats at the start. I marked it down slightly for two reasons : 1 of our diners ordered a main course of prawns and after reminding them twice they arrived when everyone else was nearly finished their steaks, and despite messaging them to confirm our table for 9 when I arrived no table was ready and there was confusion about the booking. As I got the message up on the phone, the guys opened the reservation book and there was our name clearly written down for that night and the agreed time. I wonder what would have happened if they had not be able to push other tables (which had reserved signs on them) together to...