Casa Marcelo — Restaurant in Santiago de Compostela

How this place has a Michelin star is absolutely confusing to us. Please let me breakdown our experience:

The restaurant itself is quite small on the inside. Their main seating is a ~20 person community table. We arrived promptly at our reservation time of 8pm, along with several other people. We were seated directly across from and next to two other parties.

This was our first complaint. At a Michelin star restaurant, I don't feel like eating with strangers. My husband and I, on our honeymoon, just wanted to have a quiet romantic night just the two of us. But were forced into a group seating situation.

What really pissed us off was that even though several different parties were all sitting directly next to each other, the staff treated us all as "separate" tables. What I mean is, the staff approached the couple across from us first. He very quietly explained to them the menu and got them water. Then they moved on to the next party and did the same thing. So my husband and I sat at the table for TWENTY MINUTES watching the staff telling the other parties sitting directly next to us the same thing over and over again. All the while we didn't even have water at this point!!! Let alone a chance to order a drink. We were completely ignored during this entire time.

Finally the staff makes their way to us, gives us a gigantic menu, just to open it up on the inside to see it says "surprise 8 courses". Ok. Great. At this point we're annoyed and just want a glass of water and wine. We asked if we could see a wine list to order something, to which they told us they like to wait for us to order drinks until the first course comes out and we get a chance to talk to the sommelier. What a terrible business model.

So we sit. And wait. And make awkward conversation with the people next to us. Then finally the food starts coming out. And just as I described before, the people in front of us get served first. Then the people next to us. Then finally us last. What's the point of having a "surprise" menu if you watch everyone in front of you get served first???

45 minutes. 45 minutes was the exact time it took between arriving at the restaurant until the time we had food and a glass of wine served to us. UNBELIEVEABLE.

The icing on the cake was the sommelier. We were interested in doing a wine pairing, but I myself prefer mainly whites. At first he said he could cater a special wine pairing for me to solely whites and sparklings. Great! However, when the first course came out, he immediately tried to serve me a red. He claimed that "this dish just HAD to be served with red". Yet five minutes earlier he was telling me he could do a pairing of all whites no problem? We sent it back and thankfully the did not charge us for it.

All night long the sommelier was pushing and showcasing French wine. I'm sorry, your restaurant is arguably nestled in one of the best wine regions in all of Spain, why on earth would you not showcase your own local products? We kept telling him we were here on a wine tour and truly enjoyed Spanish wines, and that is what we wanted to drink, and yet he kept bringing us "his favorites from France".

Now to some of the positives. For the most part the food was great. But nothing mind blowing. At a Michelin Star restaurant I'm expecting to try things out of the box that blow my mind and challenge my conceptions of different foods. However it was all very basic. Very good. But nothing exciting.

As the meal progressed our sommelier did end up giving us some fantastic pairings. I will give credit where credit is due. But disappointed to see a restaurant not celebrating their local products.

Did they ask us if we were celebrating anything? Or do anything special for our honeymoon? Nope. The chef spoke to us once and that was it.

After all of this the bill was a whopping $450. We visit Michelin start restaurants all of the time, and are happy to pay this amount when the restaurant is worth it. In the case, it was not. We would NEVER go back and do not recommend this restaurant as an...

The positives: the food is great and some dishes where amazing! The decor and vibe is good and fun/modern. Seeing the kitchen in full action close up adds a very interesting dimension to the experience and I really liked that. Seeing Martin keeping it all under control and getting the dishes out was an awesome experience. They have a class garden area at the back where you can have a coffee or a drink after your meal. That was really nice and felt relaxed and allowed some time to take it all in.

The strange bits: The way the restaurant is set up (Sharing a big table with other people / you don't get a say on what food you order / more laid back service than one would expect) will not be for everyone! I thought that losing control over what you order allowed us to try some things that I would not have ordered normally. My favourite dish of the day was discovered this way. Sharing a table was a bit intimidating for me but not too much of a problem after the initial shock. It also allows you to have a sneaky look at your neighbors dish and feel good, or bad, about what lands in front of you. I didn't get to try the tartar but my neighbor did :( but we got one up on them when our amazing fish salad appeared and they had a measly soup :) The service was great but not the normal over the top, which I think is the point and I liked it.

The negatives: way to rushed. Having two slots for dinner (8:30 or 10:30) means that they need rush you. There wasn't a massive explanation of the dishes and by the time you are on the desert, 65 minutes after sitting down, you are overwhelmed and have forgotten what you first had! Not expecting the A to Z on each plate but a bit of showmanship and education is always nice. But the biggest problem for me was the dishes and presentation. I get this is probably my own particular expectation for a Michelin star restaurant, and lots of people will not care about this, but I love seeing all the unique ways of serving the food and the amazing plates, dishes, knifes and other amazing things these chefs use to present the food... I guess that they have changed the dishes since the last photos I saw before booking the restaurant because everything was served on boring white plates and one of them was chipped... That bit was really disappointing for me and hence the 3 stars review. But the food...

This is where my Spain culinary journey ended. I spent 9 nights between Barcelona, Madrid and Santiago de Compostela and was able to get a reservation to do 8 menu tastings. I ended up getting in to another one unscheduled so it became a total of 9.

This was hands down the best one of all 9. All around. From where they seated me which was right in front of the kitchen where I got to watch the whole team prepare everything. To ALL the wine I indeed up downing. To how beyond delicious every dish that came out was - and there was a total of 8, 6 food and 2 desserts.

The experience starts with a refreshing mocktail paired with a spoon of whatever that was that opened up my palate and got me ready for what was ahead of me. After the soup was the tastiest oyster I’ve ever had in my life. It was so tasty and perfectly seasoned.

I loved every bite of every single plate that got dropped off. Don’t even get me started on their brioche. It was so good I got another piece. The gambitas was super delicate it practically melted in your mouth. The next two dishes were so bomb that I was so full by the time we got to the chicken. After that were the two desserts.

The service was above and beyond. From the moment I sat down, to the in between dishes where someone comes by to clean up your area or checks in to make sure everything was going well, to my exit- the whole staff were so accommodating. The sommelier took such great care of me. He was challenged after I specifically asked to only be given Spanish wine.

Chef Marcelo takes the time to speak to every diner. He made sure to check in here and there and he sends you off at the end of your meal.

Truly, one of the best experiences. I can’t wait to come back to see what other dishes Chef Marcelo has...