Restaurante Punta Prima — Restaurant in Orihuela

PLEASE, PLEASE AVOID THIS ESTABLISHMENT!!!!

With just completing our purchase of our beach villa and the weather finally warming up me, my wife and our 2 year old daughter took one of our daily walks. On our walk, we discovered this establishment. From the outset, it looked very appealing. We were a little appreciative of visiting as we were in our walking/casual clothes. Upon entry, the surroundings were beautiful, and the establishment had a nice bright vibe. After requesting a table for 2 adults and a baby, we were promptly taken to a lovely table outside on the terrace. Upon sitting, we ordered drinks as we looked at the menu. As we were only peckish and it being 12:30 in the afternoon, we opted out of food and ordered our 2 year old an ice cream. This is where the most embarrassing situation we have ever encountered happened. As we explained, we would skip food as there was nothing that took our fancy, we was aggressively told by our waitress (Katya) that "THIS IS A RESTAURANT AND WE MUST ORDER FOOD!!!" After we explained politely that there was nothing that took our fancy and we would be just having drinks and ice cream for our little one she stormed over to another gentleman (German) who i assumed was a front of house waiter and begins complaining that we are only having drinks. Within 2/3 minutes, our table was surrounded by 3 members of staff, including a manager, to explain that we "MUST" order food to sit on the terrace. At this point, we were so embarrassed at the scene that they caused we very quickly asked for the bill so we could leave as people were staring due to the totally unnecessary show . I myself have worked/owned bars, nightclubs, and restaurants across the UK and would instantly reprimand any member of staff who treated a customer in such a disgusting manner. As i worked in the industry, i know how a CRM "client management system" works and opperates. When we requested a table, I could clearly see around 4/5 covers available within that hour time slot on the outside terrace. When we entered the terrace, it was at about 30/35% occupancy. With knowing this and seeing other reviews, I think this is a deliberate ploy to upsell. They deliberately fail to inform you about policy's then force you into spending while seated. We have travelled the world and seen more than our fair share of cons, but I would never expect such a disgusting act on Spanish soil. Normally, I would not take such underhanded disgusting treatment to heart, but my wife suffers with extreme anxiety and spent nearly 10 minutes crying her eyes out with embarrassment. We are going to do our absolute best to inform as many people on as many platforms of the treatment and skulduggery that goes on at this...

We can’t say we weren’t warned. People told us the food was pricey-but-good, but the service could be lacking at times.

We sat down at 9:15pm - and after much confusion - finally got our starters at quarter to ELEVEN.

Now, a mistake was made, and we’re okay with that. Mistakes happen. But the reaction of the manager was mind-boggling. Aggressive, combative, unsympathetic, inflexible, uncaring. Some of the other staff seemed a bit embarrassed by him. We place no blame for our shoddy experience at the hands of the waiting staff, who were generally excellent.

Firstly, the manager got shirty with us because we didn’t agree to eat the wrong starters that were brought to our table. He literally stormed off while muttering “this will take more time!”. Silly us for ordering a starter that’s twenty-two sodding Euros, and then expecting to actually eat that starter.

The main course arrived before the starter, so that had to go back.

Then about 45 minutes later, once we’d had our starters, the mains arrived IMMEDIATELY. Much like they’d been waiting under a heat lamp for a bit.

By this point, one of our party, who is elderly and currently quite unwell, was becoming upset and tired.

“Not my problem!” according to the manager, who said the only thing he could do to compensate us would be a free drink each (which we couldn’t have because two of us were driving - and besides it was pushing midnight by this point).

Hi attitude stank. He kept repeating that he couldn’t “do anything" because he wasn’t the owner. We weren’t allowed to to speak to the owner. Nor would he tell us who the owner is. Bizarre. I see a few people on here have complained about him. Perhaps he’s in the wrong job?

Anyway, I know these are first world problems, but we won’t be going back.

PS - having the menu only available via a QR code should be the preserve of pub beer gardens, not high-end restaurants. Oh, and the Wi-Fi...

Very disappointing indeed. We thought we would have a drink in this beautiful seafront restaurant to be treated like second class citizens. We were told we couldn’t sit outside without having food and needed to sit inside on a plastic table right at the back of the restaurant and to not sit outside admiring the beautiful view. This defeats the object of having a drink and potentially looking at the food menu whilst here to see if it meets our culinary standards. Need to say we left the restaurant without experiencing this restaurant/bar.

This is one restaurant I won’t be dining at, as a business owner myself in a large city in the uk i can honestly give some much needed advice to the manager/business owner.

Customer service is everything and do not judge a book by its cover. People want to sample the experience before they jump right in at times. Show respect to customers whether they are spending 12 euro in drinks or 100 euros on s meal, as that 12 euro drink order could turn into 200 euros every 4-6 weeks, imagine that over a year! 1700 euros a year per 2 customers. Food for thought! As we would dine here twice every 6 weeks each time in Spain visiting our second home.

This restaurant could be absolutely amazing however you are missing a trick by your discriminatory...