El Camarote | Pescados y arroces en la Caleta de Vélez — Restaurant in Vélez-Málaga

We were a group of four. It was 10.45pm and not late for Spain. We asked one waiter if they were serving: affirmative. Could we have one of the many free tables? Yes, but we must wait a minute. However, two of our party needed the toilet. My partner strolled straight in to the gents, unmolested. A moment later, my female friend went to the entrance and was blocked by a large waiter and informed very aggressively and with a complete lack of manners or civility, that she was not using the toilet and instead pointed down towards the dark port and indicated she must use the public facilities.

My other friend who is a fluent Spanish speaker, called to him from where we were standing waiting still for our table, that we were intending to eat (if someone bothered to actually indicate a table). At this point, you would expect a profuse apology from the waiter for his misunderstanding, a removal of his bulky presence from the doorway and a swift move to show us to a free table. However, this is the El Camarote universe where they clearly believe, despite their low client head count in the middle of high season, they are amazing. Instead, he yelled at my friend to challenge our request for a table for dinner, clearly suggesting that we were lying to simply avail ourselves of his toilets. To put this into context, his toilet facilities are a cramped, cabin style closet which is in keeping with a fishing boat and not a restaurant.

Keep in mind, my partner and myself are nearly 60, dressed for dinner, our two friends are young women in their 40s and elegant. We are not toilet scammers and it was absolutely ridiculous to even suggest that we were. If El Camarote service had been efficient, reliable and consumer friendly, this ugly scene could have been avoided. As it was, I had enough and knew there was absolutely no way this restaurant would get my custom as the level of challenge and aggression from the waiter (still blocking access to his precious facility) was such that eating there would have been untenable.

By the time we finished our dinner at another restaurant, it was 12.30am, and we passed El Camarote, where the bulky, toilet protecting waiter had left his defensive position was hot-footing it away in a taxi even though one table of guests were finishing their drinks. Even more bizarre, this poor group were sat in absolute darkness, as the sole waiter left, was brushing the day’s debris from around their table.

El Camarote attracts a weekend crowd due to the free live music but the Mediterranean will have to freeze over (unlikely with global warming) before I’d ever consider visiting there again. In a port with so many amazing options for fresh fish and friendly service, why would anyone risk being offended and abused by a sullen and petulant waiter with all the charm of...

Its a shame the owner cannot run a restaurant as well as he plays the drums! We went last Saturday to watch Mamma Paula's Blues Band, fantastic band but our enjoyment was totally marred by the service we received! Firstly the place is packed whenever a band plays, so we ordered nice and early, at this point only 2 other tables were getting food. Our friends were starving but after being told the paella would not be ready for another 1 and a half hours, they opted for omelette and a side order of chips and we followed suit. 45 mins later a plate of wafer thin string fellow chips arrived and nothing else. Sent them back as still no omelettes and they were cold and not chips! 5 minutes later the plate was returned and promptly sent back, still no Omelettes! Then 2 plain omelettes arrived, not the cheese and ham, or the ham, cheese and tomatoes omelettes ordered but by this tie we were so hungry we ate them. The other omelettes didn't arrive so were requested again, 15 minutes later 2 more plain omelettes arrived with a very small plate of proper chips. Against too hungry to argue our friends just ate them. A short while later a plate of paella arrived!Again sent back amidst arguments that we had ordered it. Drinks were not better, white wine bought out instead of Rose, blah, blah, blah! Obviously checked the bill closet, several items, including bread charged that we had not had! Needless to say will not...

Very disappointing: When I arrived and asked the manager where my reserved table was he actually shouted at me aggressively for speaking in English! The Saturday music band was 35 minutes late in starting and the music was poor quality and singer off key. The food was okay but high prices. The waitress gave us the hard-shell to have the expensive fish but we declined. Finally the waitress overcharged me by entering a higher price into the credit card machine, I missed this but challenged her afterwards and she fessed up and refunded the difference in cash. A shame because this used to be good,...