Casa Manolo Leon was supposed to be the highlight of my 60th birthday vacation. After months of planning, traveling over 9000 Km, and assembling friends from Germany and the Western U.S., we all met at this restaurant for my milestone birthday. Casa Manolo Leon wasn’t a random pick; I had dreamed of this Spanish vacation for almost 40 years, and I researched dozens of restaurants around Southern Spain and Portugal to find the ideal birthday spot. Based on the reviews and photos, I thought Casa Manolo Leon would be THE spot to celebrate 60 years. As it turned out--without exaggeration--our night at Casa Manolo Leon was the most disgusting and appalling night of my life. To be fair, the restaurant was not entirely responsible for everything that happened. But service prior to “the event” and the way they handled the situation were major failures.

We were the first to enter the restaurant when it opened at 8PM. The garden setting is beautiful, 5-stars. Unfortunately, our server was less so. In fact, for a restaurant that is considered to be one of the best in Seville, the service was mediocre. All of us commented that our waiter seemed unhappy and impatient. Simple things--like olive oil for the bread--had to be requested 3 times.

Shortly after we arrived, a well-dressed French couple was seated near us. After being seated for about 10 minutes, the French man received a phone call. Rather than getting up, he proceeded to talk--loudly--about business. Meanwhile, his partner--a stylish woman in her mid 40s--began to act weirdly. She seemed drunk, but it was nothing unusual. Unfortunately, things rapidly devolved from there.

We were trying to ignore what was becoming a commotion next to us. The staff was doing the same, but it must have been distracting, because our drink requests were ignored. Roughly 20 minutes into our seating, the French woman began sagging. Eventually her head was laying on the table. The French man was increasingly agitated, telling her to quit acting up. A couple next to them asked if they could help. The woman lifted her head and began talking incoherently. This did not seem like alcohol. After returning to her slump (and the French man carrying on his loud phone conversation), one of Casa Manolo Leon’s staff asked the man if an ambulance was needed. He seemed annoyed and brushed off the help.

5 minutes later, he was off his phone, and the woman was completely out. Most of the restaurant staff was trying to carry on with dinner. Suddenly, one of my friends noticed that the woman had what looked like blood running down her leg. We were all horrified. Several of us thought she was having a miscarriage. Within a minute, it was clear that it was not blood. She was losing her bowels, and it began flooding over the floor. The stench was overwhelming.

At this point, several of the staff ran over. The belligerent man literally grabbed the woman and dragged her out of the restaurant, limp legs dripping all over the restaurant floor. It was truly the foulest thing I’ve ever experienced. The entire restaurant emptied out, jumping from clean floor spot to clean floor spot. We ALL were in disbelief. Once outside, the French man was standing away from the woman, on his phone again. She was laying on the sidewalk, covered in her drippings. We sent a member of our group back in to state the obvious, which is that we would not be returning. About 20 minutes later, as we walked back into town in a state of shock, we saw the ambulance go by.

Of course, the “man” who dismissed his partner’s condition is most at fault here. But Casa Manolo Leon handled the whole situation poorly. They were intimidated into not acting sooner to help a woman that was clearly in need of help. The deference to an arrogant, contemptible man made this situation far worse than it had to be. Coupled with the insolent behavior of the waiter before this whole tragedy began, my 60th birthday went down as one of the worst experiences of my life.