Las Cuevas — Restaurant in San Miguel de Salinas

We visited this establishment as a party of four in May 2023. A dining experience that started rather well, unfortunately, ended with a fizzle.

We arrived about half an hour too early for our reservation (and opening of the restaurant), yet we're allowed to sit on the sun terrace and order a drink from the bar.

Three of us chose the current menu of the day. The appetizer was offered as three smaller portions of offerings from the à la carte menu. This included an out-of-this-world fantastic pea soup. When the scallops were served, I felt that they were not exactly fresh, as they smelled strongly of a fish market. As I, personally, find that most seafood has an unappetizing and strong smell, I did not make mention of my concern. The three of us, who did have the daily menu did end up with different degrees of digestive problems the same evening, to include vomiting from one the party members. The third appetizer was a nicely prepared paté.

For the main dish the three of us, who chose the daily menu, each selected a different main: cod, a steak, and duck confit. The other party member selected a different steak from the menu. As a whole, we all found the main course tasty, but not delivering a lasting impression. The guest, who ordered the steak from the à la carte menu also stated that he has often had much better quality meat at other locations in the area for half the price.

The round of desserts were tasty, however, not memorable.

The design and feeling of the restaurant are extremely pleasing. We were greeted and served by an extremely pleasant server. Unfortunately, she simply disappeared after delivering the dessert. We had hoped to have an espresso or coffee with our dessert, but she was simply gone, and no other personnel was visible for over 30 minutes. When a young lady popped in to clear the neighboring table, we informed her that we would like to pay. When she returned with the check, we mentioned that our server disappeared and no one was visible for over a 30 minute period. We would have ordered a coffee or some other drink, but were abandoned with empty glasses during this timeframe. She stated that she understood, yet chose not to make a further comment, nor did she offer any further beverages or a solution.

For an establishment that wishes to represent a fine dining experience, there is much room to improve, especially in the service area. One would generally think that if there is a shift change, then the first server would, at the very least, explain they are leaving for the evening if not introduce...

So disappointed. Awful undercooked fish. Terrible for anyone with allergies or dietary restrictions - mine were ignored & the item I'm allergic to was in the food, despite emailing & clarifying again on the night.

We'd been before twice & had a wonderful meal, but it's really gone down hill. I have a painful allergy to garlic & am gluten/dairy intolerant, plus I don't eat red meat. As you can imagine, it's not always eating out - though usually in Spain there are so many seafood options & fresh salads & vegetables I've never struggled. Anyway, to be on the safe side, as always, I emailed ahead just to make sure there were options on the menu that evening. I was told there were plenty.

However, there weren't & I ordered the only 2 options available, The scallops to start & the salmon for main.

The scallops were under cooked & raw in the middle. The salmon was mushy. I couldn't have the potatoes so was offered extra vegetables - but didn't receive them. The vegetables contained the complete hairy root end of a garlic. Having told the staff about the garlic allergy I wondered what it could be as it didn't look like it belonged on anyone's plate... I thought it was maybe an onion head... either way, it should have been in the bin & not on a plate. She came back & told me that even though I'd told them about the garlic allergy, the vegetables were roasted with garlic & it was the root head that was on my plate. I had brought 6 guest for the first time for a special meal... & it was an awful disaster! I will never return. All I can say is that there must be a new chef, or he had a day off & a commis chef was running the show or the original one no longer cares! The strange thing is, another friend went the day before on my recommendation, she contacted them to say she'd read many awful reviews & was concerned - they reassured her it would be OK! & she did enjoy the set menu.... Either way, I think it's really hit & miss. You'll either be delighted or disappointed! It could go either way... personally if you have an intolerance or allergy I won't risk it! What's more the food was so badly cooked. Definitely not worth the...

A beautiful restaurant but, and sorry this is a big but, the whole evening was chaotic.

We were 2 persons and ordered the 4 course Easter menu, one with fish and the other lamb.

First course great, then they forgot to give us the second course and came out with the main course instead. Told them the mistake and we got the second. When it was time for the main course they came out with a whole different plate of “lamb” I asked the waitress about it, she didn’t even know if it was lamb on the plate or not, second waiter told me it was, but they had already given me and presented the roasted leg of lamb the first (wrong) time and now it suddenly looked like pulled pork, without any bone, or taste of lamb what so ever.

In wait of dessert they come to ask if we wanted anything else, yes, our dessert, they had forgot.

Got our dessert, ate it and when we were done the couple at the table next to ours got the same dessert, and the had forgot to give us half of the dessert!

Haven’t the waters got any learning about the menu at all before they started working? All this and we still pay full price, for the wrong food and food we didn’t even get..

I have pictures of “the roasted leg of lamb”, haven’t seen that kind of lamb anywhere on google actually, or in the restaurants on pictures of it, interesting! Of course I have pictures of every meal, the half dessert too..

And I really hope the manager does a better job with his staff from now on, most of the time it’s not their fault, just bad directions.

Loved the caves tho, hope I someday can come back for a better...