Dondenando — Restaurant in Santander

A deeply disappointing and upsetting experience After a long day at the art fair, my son and I stopped here for a quick bite. The place looked simple, and with all the better restaurants fully booked, we didn’t expect much. Tip: if you’re visiting Santander on a weekend, book restaurants in advance.

What followed was a complete disaster. I politely asked for a green salad five times—it never came. After waiting 30 minutes and already having finished my main, I cancelled the salad and asked for the bill. Suddenly the salad arrived. I reminded them that I had cancelled it and requested the bill again—twice.

To my shock, the €11 salad I never ate was still on the bill. When I calmly explained that I wasn’t paying for something I never received, the situation escalated aggressively. The waiter pictured was not only rude, but outright misogynistic—gaslighting me in front of other guests and my son, raising his voice and accusing me of being disrespectful. A woman staff member came out not to help, but to tell me to calm down. It was appalling.

There was zero customer care, no apology, no accountability—just a disturbing display of aggression and disrespect. This felt less like a hospitality experience and more like being cornered and blamed.

Whether this is a common way to treat women here, I don’t know—but it was unacceptable and deeply unsettling. These kinds of tourist traps should be investigated for fraud and misconduct.

Avoid this place...

It is a cute place by the beach, with outside space and to easy access. However I wasn't a big fan of the service or the food. I ordered the grilled steak and chips, the chicken and chips and prawns with garlic butter and bread. I can assure you that the food in this place is not fresh. The beef was obviously old,I could tell by the texture and the flavour, the chips was fried in old oil you could taste, the chicken was actually chicken tights and not breast and was raw in the middle, the bread was old to a point that it didn't even soak the butter from the prawns. I would not recommend this restaurant for lunch or dinner, it is simply not worth the...

Avoid , avoid , avoid! I've ordered secreto iberico and got raw meat, I mean RED, not even pink. I've asked for them to change the dish and first they said yes. After few minutes tje waiter said impossible, the supervisor doesn't want to. Then he said he'll not charge me for that. I said fine, I'll order something else. Another few minutes after he said the supervisor says he needs to charge me for that, but I can have it take away!! Horrible!. I've made a formal complaint in written which I will send to Proteccion del Consumidor as well, this place is a danger! See the pic with the take...