Abantal — Restaurant in Seville

There was overall a lack of concern in their cooking. We could only confirm this after having been into other local restaurants that’s ARNT even Michelin. We traveled in Spain for 2 weeks and Abantal was definitely the most disappointing restaurant. It feels like a scam especially in a place like Seville where you can get simply amazing food in any corner around the street. Just wouldn’t recommend anyone to spend more than 100 euros for this kind of experience. The freshness of seafoods is very disappointing. We ordered the more expensive lunch menu especially for the red prawn, however the prawns were frozen before cooking (the manager admitted that), it completely lost the bouncy texture. All seafood lovers know, in fresh prawns, the intestine should be able to be pulled out as a whole, but it “melted” and was very difficult to clean out in the red prawns we had at Abantal. Same issue found with the oyster. There was an unpleasant fishy odor in it and the taste was much worse than any oyster one can find in any Spanish seafood market. 2. The waitress ignored our first complaint. She promised she would check with the kitchen but never came back. We had to complain for the second time and the manager finally came. 3. There are also service details needed to be improved: The bread was cold. Prosecco was not iced. Other non-seafood dishes were quite good. The crispy beef was very tasty. The passion fruit appetizer and dessert were refreshing as well. However I would say the overall quality is definitely not what one is expecting for a Michelin one...

If you'd told me this was Michelin star before eating there I'd have thought you were joking.

The service was absolutely excellent, but that's where the star-status ceased. Whilst the food was creative it was sub-par. Most dishes were dominated by one taste (onion, orange or overpowered spices) or in some cases tasted no better than a stock cube plopped into some hot water (onion broth with the duck). Others had textures that just did not work (the duck with the soggy biscuit beneath it). We expected our taste buds to be dazzled however we had much better (and excellent) food elsewhere at dingy taps bars.

In addition the wine list was incomprehensible. The list was exhaustive with reasonable and expensive bottles however zero description other than the grape. After we gave up googling for help we plucked for the local Sevilla wine thinking a Michelin Star restaurant would want to draw attention to the best local wine on offer. Given it's incredibly hot we thought the white would be light and refreshing. It was bold and deep in colour, tasting more of a sherry. We reluctantly drank 3/4s of the bottle through gritted teeth. A simple line describing the wine could have prevented this error and annoyance.

We would not return. €199 euros would buy multiple dinners at various tapas spots across the city for multiple evenings. Yes, it was an experience (I'd never ever put mackerel and strawberry ice cream together!) but overall it was very disappointing and made a mockery of the Michelin Star...

So where to start… First of all a big thank you to Nazareth for being so friendly and customer focused. She was an absolute delight and the highlight of The evening.

Secondly; I have seldom been to restaurants that made me leave with thinking that a star is overrated - Abantal is one such case.

The food: great intentions, interesting combinations and great craftsmanship - but nothing special and the taste seems to get a bit lost in the combinations. We mentioned allergy for one guest - as such they just removed the sauce/sides for one dish but did not care to replace it, making it a fairly dry/bland piece of cod.

The wine: just boring and the sommelier cannot really explain why she chose such a this pairing. Very few local producers - just the mid class of rioja that you would find in any supermarket. The sherry is nice but any decent restaurant in Seville could match it.

The Service: disaster. Chef didn’t greet nor pay attention. Sommelier didn’t care about her guests and could barely be asked to explain her wines - maybe it was a language barrier. Constantly had to ask to refill water. Staff mixed up who of the guests was allergic. They have Single serving (I think) and the staff barely pays attention to the patrons. Sadly below the expectations. Disappointing.

The price: 290 euro for the grand tasting menu and wine pairing is fair. But it’s a waste of money compared to Seville restaurants and compared to the service for similar costs at other Michelin...