Pinocchio — Restaurant in Nerja

Please don't waste your time with this place. Let me tell you about our experience.

My wife, daughter and I went for dinner. After being seated and ordering our drinks, we waited a long time to order our food. We had to ask to order as waitresses walked past and didn't make eye contact or ask to take our order.

Two of our 3 starters arrived. We asked twice about the 3rd and the by the time it arrived we had finished the other 2. There was a sense of confusion when we asked about the 3rd starter as though they hadn't put the order through properly. We mentioned that this wasn't right to the waiter who simply blamed the kitchen.

We were half way through the 3rd starter when the mains arrived. We told the waiter this and he shrugged and put the meals down anyway.

Our daughter ordered spaghetti bolognese and when it arrived we asked for parmesan cheese. We had to ask for this twice as we were ignored the first time.

By this time we had finished our drinks and the empties were taken away. At no point we're we offered another drink or asked if our food was ok.

The plate of the 3rd starter was at the end of the table and wasn't moved until the end of our meal.

The staff there joke and talk amongst themselves and avoid eye contact with customers. You have to ask them each time you want something. We also heard other tables complaining.

Before asking for our bill we asked to speak to the manager. We was warned that he doesn't speak any English and the waitress offered to stay as a translator. I said she is welcome to stay of she wants. She walked off. The manager arrived and we explain our experience. He waived his arms about and didn't understand any of our concerns. He walked off and we asked the waitress what was happening. She said we would receive a gift for our daughter. We explained we didn't want a gift and the meal wasn't worth paying for. After some time of being ignored we decided to get up and leave. We walked past the manager who quickly printed off the bill with the drinks removed. As we only had one round of drinks (1 beer and 2 waters), we didn't feel that this was suitable. I explained that we didn't want to pay for the late starter and he knocked our bill down further then gave our daughter a lolly. We left feelin frustrated and disappointed.

I do not feel like our concerns were properly understood. They were more interested in getting us out of the door. This is a shame as the food is decent. Especially the garlic bread.

In my opinion, there are plenty of nice restaurants in Nerja, you don't need to waste your time and money...

I’ve been coming to Nerja for 12 years now for a holiday more or less every year and every year I pay a visit to Pinocchio as it’s my favourite place to eat in Nerja however this visit was pretty poor. Came in this evening and it was quiet and chilled. Was shown to my table and flicked through the menu and within not even two minutes was asked what I’d like to drink, I tried to search the menu only to be told there is no drinks menu and I just asked for a soft drink and it was brought to my table within minutes (which I was pleasantly surprised with) and I was given not even two minutes to look for what I wanted on the menu, felt rather pressured so just ordered a garlic bread and a pizza. The garlic bread was brought out in under 5 minutes stone cold?? (I’d assume they’re precooked and left out until someone orders one) and asked for a new one that was hot and would actually compliment the flavour only to be served the exact same one that was taken away but slapped in a microwave and tasted even more lesser and lesser of garlic with little to no cheese on it. Didn’t even get to finish my starter before my pizza was practically thrown at me, the pizza of which was a complete car crash. Bland, vinegary tomato sauce, bizarre tasting dough & a mix of cheeses that should not be mixed in an AUTHENTIC Italian restaurant (something you’d more so expect from a Pizza Hut or something) a combination of Italian herbs that do not go together at all not to mention that the cheese didn’t even seem to ‘string’ or ‘pull’ when the slices were pulled apart, I didn’t even finish the food which is rare as I never leave food half eaten, I asked for the bill and had it thrown down in a small pot and wasn’t asked what my preferred choice of payment would be, left the correct amount of cash & a 40 cent tip (being generous here), the service at this establishment has always been questionable (with frosty service form staff, being completely ignored when making requests, not listening to specific requests on food items and not receiving things that we had ordered) but the food has always been amazing, shame that this visit has completely made me want to steer clear of the place in future, spent not even an hour in this place and the staff seemed to want me out from the very moment I sat down at my table, they don’t seem to want to have a welcoming environment with a bustling crowd in the...

I felt compelled to leave a review as I was genuinely baffled by the high rating on here. I was even more confused by the huge queue waiting outside as I left the restaurant.

The service is incredibly unwelcoming. The waiting staff look miserable and uninterested, likely a result of the rude owner. Menus are thrown at you and grabbed back off you just as quickly. We were never asked if we wanted refills for our drinks and the waiters quickly dumped plates on the table and left without any grace. The general vibe was that they were ready for us to leave not long after we had just sat down.

The food is nothing special. My Ravioli was slopped up and spewed out onto a plate, looking as appetising as my dog's regurgitations after getting into the cat's litter box. The taste was bland but edible, however the presentation was completely careless. (This is one of their recommended dishes mind you). I was given a fork but a spoon or perhaps even a straw would have been a better utensil for this meal. My girlfriend ordered the shrimp risotto which looked better but again tasted 'meh'. As mentioned in another review, the shrimp hadn't been deveined which surprised me. Even after living in South East Asia for 2 years I hadn't been served prawns full of faeces before.

Overall, I can't recommend this place at all. Admittedly, the interior decoration is very unique, but given that I'm not a child or a blithering Disney adult, it wasn't enough to salvage a dire evening at...