Martel House — Restaurant in San Bartolomé de Tirajana

This was one of the worst dining experience of our recent honeymoon trip to Gran Canaria.

To start we were pulled in by a so-called “catcher” working outside Martel House while we were looking for a restaurant focusing on fish dishes. His behaviour was shocking. He approached us with lazy racial stereotypes about liking hip-hop and R&B simply because we are Black. Then, after hearing our English accents, he went on to mimic us in a fake Manchester voice — mocking, corny, and deeply unprofessional. I don’t know if he thought this was endearing, but it came across as disturbing and offensive. We decided to go to the restaurant as it looked clean and a lot of people seemed to enjoy the food – later, I saw this ‘catcher’ guy being rude to to other passersbys not just us. The fact that this man, this very poorly dressed and looking completely out of place man, is allowed to represent Martel House at all is mind-blowing. To be honest, at first I / we thought he was some sort of scammer and or pitpocket as he was not wearing a uniform unlike the rest of the staff – why do you have this man associated with you at all???

Inside, things were not great either. The service was slow and inattentive, and when our food finally came it was announced unnecessarily loudly by the server who seemed to be the manager in this case. More upsetting was how my wife was treated. She was stared at, then pointed at, and laughed about by some staff for some reason. She left feeling ogled and disrespected. To be clear, she was not dressed provocatively — we were simply dressed for a hot holiday evening. Yet it seemed that having a larger bust was enough to draw ridicule and disdain. For any women with a fuller figure, be warned: this is not an environment where you will feel comfortable or respected.

The food itself was honestly fine, nothing special, decently priced but food can never make up for such a hostile atmosphere. We’ve eaten in many other venues across Gran Canaria and always felt welcomed, but Martel House left us feeling unwelcome, singled out, and disdained.

If you value being treated with dignity, I cannot recommend Martel House. The management should take a serious look at the despicable “catcher” they have out front, he is your first point of contact and his horrible interaction set the tone for a very uncomfortable meal. For the record, this is the only place in Gran Canaria I am giving a negative review to – we will not hold the country on a whole to this standard. However it seems they have a special way of treating people of colour and bustly shaped women. DO BETTER AND FIRE THE...

Went for an early birthday meal on our last night of our holiday. The waiter who took our order was friendly.

My friends ordered a starter which arrived quite quickly but the main meals were at least 30 mins after the starters were taken away.

The mixed grill which I ordered was perfectly cooked however the 2 sirloin steaks that were ordered medium rare were either medium well done or well done. We spent about 5 minutes trying to get the attention of staff before the host came over and took one of the steaks away to be re cooked as the other friend was too hungry to wait any longer due to the long wait for the main. When the second steak came out it was rare and not medium rare, when we said that it was still wrong the host argued that we should have ordered correctly in the first place at this point my friend just said he would eat it and the host left. Once we finished the meal the server took our plates but didn't offer a dessert menu or ask if we wanted anything else. After waiting another 15 mins we finally got the attention of a server to get the bill.

This experience has ruined what should have been a good early birthday celebration.

I would not recommend going to this place unless you like your steak...

Don’t order the lobster—it’s a scam! They served us a cold dish, which was a complete disappointment. After waiting an hour, we asked the waiter for a recommendation, and he suggested this lobster dish. We trusted him, but when it arrived, it was ice cold. My partner asked for it to be heated, and they barely warmed it, making it almost inedible. When we complained, they said the dish was supposed to be served cold—something the waiter failed to explain.

We also ordered fish soup as a starter and waited over half an hour, only to be told it was never ordered. This was frustrating, especially as we had clearly provided the dish number and specified the soup.

To make matters worse, the entrance host told us we should have asked for the lobster hot. How could we know that if the lobster menu is only in Spanish, and we were misinformed? Overall, this was the worst experience. We paid the bill in full, but as customers, we will never...