Sinestesia — Restaurant in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

We visited this restaurant on Sunday, 22nd September for lunch. From the outside it looked like a nice restaurant offering authentic Canarian/Spanish cuisine. We had walked around that area near the clock tower and La Senora Market looking for a place to eat and therefore were absolutely starving.

We walked in and sat down at the table. None of the members of staff came to greet us and hand out menus. Instead the waitresses were chit-chatting amongst themselves, playing with each other’s hair. One of the waitresses even made eye contact with me and knew that I was trying to get her attention and purposely ignored me. After around 20-30mins the waitress came over and handed out menus. She was not able to speak English, which was fine as we showed her what we wanted to order and used Google Translate.

My friend and I ordered a Tandoor Chicken salad and Sangria. My friend’s husband ordered the fresh fish dish and my husband ordered a steak dish with Estrella beer.

When we received our food after a waiting time of 40 mins. We were shocked with what we had received. My friend’s husband asked for fish and received octopus instead. Me and my friend asked for a tandoori chicken salad. Instead we received cold ‘potato mash’. There was no chicken in this salad whatsoever. When we complained to the waitress she said “Hay pollo”. We were very hungry and didn’t have the energy to argue with her, so we just ate what we were given.

The time had come to pay for the meal. Once again, we were waiting forever for the waitress to serve us and give us the bill. The staff purposely avoided us and ignored us. I had an inner feeling that they were being indirectly racist towards us. In the end we had to shout across the restaurant to get them to come and serve us.

Appalling service, will never recommend this restaurant to anyone...

Sinestesia is located about a block away from Mercado Del Africa. The entrance is located up a steep staircase right on the street where a weekly flea market takes place ("El Rastro") The handrail is made out of steel (or iron) which will heat up so much under the sun that your hand will end up like a well done steak. We arrived at 12:30 and the kitchen was still closed, the staff was smoking, having drinks and just hanging around and seemed generally uninterested in the customers. We asked if they had at least some snacks, they bought us some olives in a can, a bag of mixed nuts and a dish of popcorn. Very Classy... When they opened the kitchen at 1 pm we ordered Papas Bravas, a national dish of potatoes topped with "mystery sauce" (ketchup & mayo?). I ordered "croquetas" another national dish tuna, ham, spinach or broccoli dipped in batter, covered in bread crumbs and fried, they are about 2" long and about 1/2" wide and are usually served in a dish with 4 or 6. In some places they can be excellent, here they were awful. This place is not worth a visit. and for what we ate it was expensive, we could have gotten double the food for the same money elsewhere. A pretentious restaurant for pretentious people.

Sinestesia está ubicado a una cuadra del Mercado del África. La entrada se encuentra subiendo una escalera empinada justo en la calle donde se lleva a cabo "El Rastro" los Domingos. El pasamanos está hecho de acero (o hierro) que se calienta tanto bajo el sol que tu mano terminará como un bistec bien hecho. Llegamos a las 12:30 y la cocina todavía estaba cerrada, el personal estaba fumando, tomando bebidas y simplemente dando vueltas y parecía en general desinteresado en los clientes. Preguntamos si tenían al menos algunos bocadillos, nos dieron algunas aceitunas en lata, una bolsa de nueces variadas y un plato de palomitas de maíz. Muy elegante... Cuando abrieron la cocina a la 1, pedimos papas bravas y croquetas. En algunos lugares pueden ser excelentes, aquí eran horribles. Este lugar no merece la pena visitarlo. Y por lo que comimos era caro, podríamos haber comido el doble por el mismo dinero en otro lugar. Un restaurante pretencioso para gente...

Bonito por fuera, decepcionante por dentro – una oportunidad desperdiciada

El restaurante Sinestesia tiene una buena presencia: el local es bonito, con una decoración cuidada y un ambiente agradable. Sin embargo, la experiencia fue muy decepcionante tanto en lo gastronómico como en el servicio.

El tartar de atún estaba excesivamente salado y llevaba ingredientes no indicados en el menú, algo especialmente grave tratándose de un plato crudo. La ensalada caprese, supuestamente con mozzarella de búfala, fue servida con un tipo de queso que no tenía nada que ver. Como buen italiano, reconozco perfectamente la diferencia, y lo que nos sirvieron fue una auténtica tomadura de pelo.

El servicio fue pésimo: dos chicos jóvenes, claramente sin experiencia y distraídos, pasaban el tiempo charlando en lugar de atender a los clientes. Además, la higiene dejaba mucho que desear: el pantalón de la camarera, por ejemplo, estaba visiblemente sucio, algo que impacta nada más verlo.

Tuve que pedir varias veces sal, pimienta, cubiertos limpios para el segundo plato (a pesar de que ya habían retirado los de la caprese) y el pan sin gluten, que me trajeron en forma de unos palitos rotos dentro de un paquete. Una falta de atención evidente, especialmente para alguien con necesidades alimentarias específicas.

Además, los precios no corresponden en absoluto con la calidad de los platos. Lo que se sirve no refleja ni la originalidad ni el nivel prometido en la carta. Una cuenta elevada para una experiencia muy por debajo de las expectativas.

Una verdadera pena: el lugar tiene potencial, pero con una cocina poco cuidada, un servicio caótico y una relación calidad-precio muy deficiente, no puedo recomendarlo. Con una gestión más profesional y seria, podría funcionar. Tal como está, es solo una gran...