Restaurante Le Dauphin — Restaurant in undefined

Unfortunately having to downgrade my review, which is a first for me. Le Dauphin was one of my favourites over the years but my recent visit was a real disappointment.

The location is of course the same as ever and lovely, can't fault that. However there were number of issues with the ambience - our oddly large champagne glasses had a sheen of dust or something and were not very clean, I got an odd look when I queried it with the waiter.

Secondly, due to some technical issue with their ipad or something we were subjected to the same 12 or so song on repeat for 3 hours, 4 times we had to listen to the same songs which gets annoying even when you like the music. I pointed this out to the waiter who said it'd be fixed, then said they couldn't, then said they would plug in a phone instead and play music of that - they never did though.

Next, the food was entirely mediocre. The portions were tiny, which is fine when you're having a 13 course tasting menu where every mouthful takes you on a journey but entirely not okay when you're having to do huge pinches of salt and pepper in your underseasoned quail consommé - the leg meat of which will have ammounted to less than 40g in my estimation.

The prawns dish was a solitary prawn, it was tasty but miniscule and I've had better. The steak was nice but probably only about 100g and again, I've had better.

Next, the service. A perplexingly mixed affair, one of the younger male waiters is very nice but clearly very new and untrained. The older waiter while knowing his stuff was somewhat surly and brusque. The table next to us wanted to relocate inside, and the younger waiter pointed them to the table and was going to leave them to carry all over their own glasses and side plates etc - a clear faux pas that the older waiter spotted and corrected, correctly, but then proceeded to berate the younger waiter in front of the whole restaurant - which is entirely unprofessional.

Additionally we had to wait a lot longer than expected between one of the courses, a minor point though.

Next, it took 4 attempts to order a bottle of Tattinger - the younger staff appeared to have no idea what Tattinger was and until the older waiter came this just seemed to be a hot potato of confusion they couldn't deal with - sorry but in a restaurant with airs of sophistication your staff should know your wine menu, and really they should know what Tattinger is regardless.

I wanted to deviate a little bit from the wine choices of the table and have a single glass of red - I was informed they only do the house red by the glass, which while not ideal, is manageable if the house red is decent quality, to which I was assured quite strongly it was. However I really found it a pretty poor wine, the type you'd expect thrown in for free with your 10 euro menu del día restaurant - having checked reviews of the wine others agree, low quality.

So all in all, disappointed, my worst experience there, hopefully it will improve before my next visit which I will wait to see improved feedback on before I plan, a 400+ euro bill for 3 people should not contain any of the...

Rude and unaccommodating staff. If I could give zero stars, I would.

My friend and I called to reserve a table at Le Dauphin for Friday night. We were told there was a table available at 9pm and were asked for our contact details. The lady over the phone said 'see you tomorrow.' The next day, we took a 15 minute taxi journey to the restaurant, which is set further away from other restaurants in the area, and when we finally reached we were told they had no reservation under our name!

Instead of apologising and trying to accommodate us, one member of staff proceeded to patronise us, saying that we must have called to reserve at the wrong 'Le Dauphin', otherwise we would've received text confirmation and that there are clearly no tables available tonight. We showed her our call log to prove we had in fact called the right place, but she just ignored us...

When we asked her to check again, she reluctantly did, only to find that the restaurant had received our booking but had recorded it incorrectly. Again, instead of apologising, we were told that 'we must have gotten the day wrong'…why would we reserve a table the day we fly back home?!

After all that, we asked if we could sit inside the restaurant...We were told that we could but we wouldn't be 'uncomfortable'. When asked if we could sit on one of the two empty tables outside, again were met with an excuse to get rid of us. We only received an apology when we asked, at which point I was ready to get our of there...

Absolutely appalling level of customer service. So many other great restaurants in Moraira, with great food, good views and friendly staff. Go there instead…

(As we were leaving I looked over at the food being served to see what we were missing…i'd...

Exquisite dining at Le Dauphin, Moraira ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Our experience at Le Dauphin in Moraira can only be described as exquisite, and strangely enough, that feeling started before we even entered. Small tip: don’t make our mistake. We arrived a bit too early, saw a chain with a “no entry” sign across the main stairs, and thought the entrance was somewhere else… 😉

The approach takes you past a small sandy beach and charming terraces. Enter through the wooden gate, climb the stairs, and you’re met with a warm, inviting atmosphere. Along the way, you glimpse different dining areas. We chose the “small terraces with sea view”, just two tables on the top level, giving us privacy while still soaking in the ambiance. The larger terrace sits to the left, separated by glass, so there’s no disturbance from any hustle and bustle.

Our table was beautifully set. We were warmly welcomed by staff speaking a charming mix of Dutch, Spanish, and English (several speak Dutch). Warm bread arrived with outstanding olive oil and salt. We went for the “Menu Le Dauphin,” a thoughtfully curated 4-course menu, with two choices per course.

The view? Simply spectacular.

Service: Exceptionally friendly and professional. Restrooms: Small, but spotless. Coffee & dessert: Excellent, and any Dutch person will understand why this matters.

If I had to mention one tiny improvement, it would be that the little plant on our table looked a bit sad… but that’s just nitpicking.

A flawless dining experience with breathtaking views, warm service, and refined cuisine, worth every moment...