El Papatorio — Restaurant in Santiago de Compostela

UPDATE: We're back in Santiago de Compostela and had to return to El Papatorio for a great steak meal. We were there about 12:30pm and were the first customers. We ordered a mixed salad and the 1/2 kilo beef steak cooked medium hoping it would come medium rare to share. The salad was fresh and crisp and just like our previous visit, the steak was cooked rare. So, the server took it back and when it was returned it was a perfect medium rare. Steak is served with home fried potatoes, which are of course delicious. El Papatorio is still 5 stars in our view and the undercooked meat can be remedied easily! One salad, 1/2 kilo beef steak, glass of red wine, one soda, a large bottle of water and fresh bread for a total of 34€.

Original Review 6, December 2017: We happen to stop by El Papatorio for lunch on a Wednesday, December 6, which was a Spanish holiday (The Constitution Day). The place was packed but we lucked out and got a table right away.

From the moment we entered we noticed 3 things: 1. fresh cuts of beef in the display case, 2. practically everyone looked to be local and 3. almost every table was having steak.

So, we decided we were going to have steak. Although we do not speak Spanish but can figure out menus somewhat. The waitress, who spoke some English told is they did not have menu in English but she'd help and answer any questions.

We settled on 1/2 kg beef steak, which comes with home fried potatoes or salad. We got it with potatoes and ordered a mixed salad. The salad was fresh and crisp lettuce, tomatoes and onion.

We like our steak cooked medium rare to medium but knowing that steaks are generally undercooked in countries like Spain and Portugal, we asked for it to be medium to well done, nonetheless the steak came rare but the server promptly took it back and we heard him telling the cooks to do it well done and a few minutes later a perfect medium cooked, delicious steak was delivered.

The steak was flame broiled with salt and pepper and served with no sauce, which was...

Very poor service but good food.

This experience wasted 3 hours of our time when we only had 1 day to spend in the city.

First, they told us that it would be 20 min wait to be seated. It ended up being 50min. We ordered food before we sat down to gain time, but it did not mean much. Simply they interpreted the order wrong. We were 6 persons and ordered 6 dishes. But they brought 2 of them as an appetizer and we had to wait 30 more minutes to get the rest. Some people were eating and others watching! The waitress only appeared once in a while. Not easy to speak to. The place was crazy busy. It is a positive sign but this is coming on the expense of the customer experience. We had 2 orders of veal and one of vaca. The vaca was served as a veal to the wrong person on the table.

Moreover, the steak came as a piece of blood and chewy. The order was placed as medium. But clearly it came as less than rare. On top it was chewy. So I wonder about the quality of the meat.

There was simply an immense level of mistakes one after the other that it ruined not only our experience at the table, but also our day in Santiago.

Clearly not a place that I recommend...

Went in expecting a good meal and we were very disappointed by the terrible service we received. Our waiter ignored us from the beginning of the meal, serving other tables around us quickly, and ignoring our group almost completely. We were able to put in our drinks and tapas/pinxos orders, and it was over 45' before we could flag him down for our main courses. When food was brought to us, there was an instance where it fell off the plate and was left on the table by the waiters. For several of the tapas/pinxos which were on sliced bread, the bread was stale. We ended up cancelling our mains and asked for the bill, which was the only time the waiter was prompt. We attempted to speak with the waiter in both Spanish and English, and he refused to engage with us.

I understand that Spanish dining culture moves at a different pace than Canadian, but our waiter going missing, dropping food, and overall bad service was unlike any other restaurant we have eaten at in Spain...