Restaurant Casa Manolo — Restaurant in Orihuela

We have been coming to La Zenia for over 20 years and going to this particular restaurant for the last 4 or so but sadly, no longer. The restaurant itself is nice, a little less touristy than most of the other restaurants in the area and the food is more authentically Spanish too.

The staff are all usually nice, except for this one particular waiter, (you will know him when you see him) who must be the owner or the owners husband, otherwise he would have been fired a long time ago. We have always tolerated his unpleasant and often disrespectful demeanour (regretfully) putting it down to the language barrier (we have little Spanish and he seems to have little or no English) or to the fact that they sometimes seem busy (or maybe they are understaffed) however, on our most recent visit, his level of ignorance superseded his usual just about tolerable level and our expectations.

Our table was booked for 9, we arrived just before nine to be seated in the outdoor courtyard. Without a word of welcome, no hello or even eye contact from him, we were handed our menus and left to sit in the evening heat for 23 minutes, without being offered a glass of water, never mind drinks. This waiter passed our table in the region of 30 times in the interim and continuously ignored any of our very polite attempts to get his attention. When he finally did arrive to take our drinks order, he demanded we order our food straight away, at which point we said we would be ready to order our food on the arrival of our drinks as my daughter had decided to change her mind. He proceeded to tut at us, waving his hands around his head and left. Very embarressing.

Our drinks arrived about 12 minutes later (delivered by a nice friendly younger waiter) and we sat there for a further 21 minutes, in that time, this rude waiter again passing us continuously and purposefully ignoring us at every pass before finally coming over to us to take our order.

Again, he mumbled and tutted something to the fact that we should have ordered our food when we ordered our drinks.

Our food arrived 18 minutes later. Everyone liked their choices but my sons breaded chicken was very dry so I asked for some kind of sauce, like a gravy or pepper sauce (which they have on the menu) at which point he grabbed a handful of single serving Heinz ketchup and mayonnaise sachets and put them on the table in front of my son, letting us know that it would take up to 20 minutes to get a portion of sauce from the kitchen.

We ate our food without ordering any more drinks or desert and left.

We will not be returning to this place so long as this waiter is working there. He has zero manners and zero restaurant etiquette and as one can see from many of the other google reviews for this restaurant, he consistently treats customers with contempt and a lack of...

Well I've given the food and atmosphere 4 stars based on previous visits. However today I have to say we, a group of four were left very disappointed. We arrived at the restaurant about 2pm it was busy but not overly so. Having waited for a while despite numerous members of staff being present we sat down at a table. We then after a few minutes as we were clearly being ignored had to ask for menus. Now we don't mind waiting nothing could be further from the point. Again we had to wait for our menus despite other people coming in and being attended to. Eventually we got our menus to be told the table we were seated at was reserved. No reserved marker on it, in fact all the tables were reserved funnily enough. Now I got the distinct impression rightly or wrongly that on this occasion we weren't welcome. Now if that's the case, because it was predominantly spanish who were in there, well I hope in the let's say slower months you will want to be more professional courteous and accommodating. In all the years we've been coming to and living in spain I've never experienced this. And whilst this post may attract some criticism it is exactly what happened and how we all felt. Anyway, we went around the corner and had a very nice...

Ubicado en la Avenida de la Playa, 5, 03189 La Zenia, Alicante, el Restaurante Casa Manolo representa una excelente opción gastronómica en la costa alicantina. Su situación es inmejorable, no muy lejos de la playa, y con una facilidad de aparcamiento destacable en comparación con otros establecimientos de la zona, lo que sin duda se agradece, especialmente en temporada alta.

Desde el primer momento, la experiencia fue muy positiva. El ambiente del restaurante es acogedor, con una amplitud notable y una disposición de mesas bien pensada, permitiendo que los comensales disfruten de una comida cómoda, tanto en pareja como en grupos. Las mesas redondas para grupos resultan especialmente prácticas para reuniones familiares o de amigos, fomentando la conversación y el disfrute compartido. Además, cabe resaltar la limpieza del local, tanto en sala como en los servicios, lo cual transmite una sensación de cuidado y profesionalismo.

En cuanto a la atención, fuimos recibidos por Katie, una camarera que merece una mención especial. Su trato fue excepcional: amable, educada, atenta y con una gran predisposición para recomendar los mejores platos de la casa. Su conocimiento del menú y su capacidad para transmitir entusiasmo nos ayudaron a elegir acertadamente.

Comenzamos con unos entrantes compuestos por patatas fritas con tres salsas y ensalada de la casa. Las patatas estaban crujientes y bien elaboradas, acompañadas de salsas caseras con matices interesantes, ideales para abrir el apetito. La ensalada, por su parte, fue abundante, fresca y equilibrada, con una buena selección de ingredientes.

El plato estrella, sin lugar a dudas, fueron las paellas. Probamos dos:

Arroz a banda, y

Arroz de pulpo y marisco.

Ambas resultaron espectaculares, con un sabor profundo, elaborado y auténtico, que denota experiencia en la cocina tradicional valenciana. El punto del grano fue perfecto, firme y suelto, absorbiendo bien los caldos sin perder su textura. El arroz de pulpo y marisco, en particular, sorprendió por su intensidad de sabor y la calidad del producto marino. Sin duda, se trata de uno de los mejores arroces que hemos probado en la zona.

Finalizamos la comida con una degustación de postres que puso el broche de oro a la experiencia. Probamos:

Tarta de queso con helado,

Crepe de pistacho,

Sorbete de horchata, y

Sorbete de chocolate.

Todos los postres estuvieron a muy buen nivel, con una presentación cuidada. Destacaría el crepe de pistacho por su originalidad y equilibrio de sabores, y el sorbete de horchata, refrescante y con un toque tradicional muy bien logrado.

En términos generales, la relación calidad/precio es más que razonable, especialmente considerando la calidad de los productos, el nivel de cocina y la atención recibida.

Conclusión: Casa Manolo es un restaurante altamente recomendable para quienes deseen disfrutar de una auténtica experiencia mediterránea en un entorno cómodo y familiar. Sus arroces son su mayor fortaleza, pero la experiencia se ve complementada por una atención excelente, postres deliciosos, buen ambiente y un precio justo. Sin duda,...