Beverly Café | Gran Via — Restaurant in Valencia

Under the glow of luminous praise sung by a chorus of bloggers, we resolved to immerse ourselves in the culinary offerings of this much-hyped brunch venue. The expectation, the thrill - only to find the very foundations of a good meal crumbling around us.

As we ventured into the establishment, it revealed itself to be less 'cozy bistro', more 'sardine can'. An awkward assortment of tables jostled for space in the cramped quarters, encouraging us to seek refuge in the al fresco dining option. Alas, our outdoor escape was plagued by the relentless hum and buzz of an aggressively busy road. A symphony of car engines does not make for the best brunch accompaniment.

The service? Utterly pedestrian. The sight of our expectant faces waiting for an eternity (a full quarter of an hour) didn't coax a hint of urgency from our server. A lady who, it seemed, was more statue than bustling waitstaff.

Our order was straightforward: a duo of coffees, a solitary butter croissant, and a plate of Eggs Benedict, gallantly decked with salmon and avocado. The coffees arrived promptly, only for the croissant to follow after an interminable wait, leaving our breakfast timing in disarray. Their excuse for the delay? They were 'baking' it, an assertion as believable as a unicorn grazing in Hyde Park. We knew the difference.

And oh, the eggs. It was a horror show, a culinary disaster that played out in vivid Technicolor. A deluge of peculiar pink sauce buried the hapless Benedict, the bread - a dry, day-old travesty, the salmon - sub-par, and the eggs, the titular heroes of the dish, raw and woefully undercooked. A dish so poor it had me reaching for my emergency stash of Rennies.

The staff defended their culinary abomination, saying the eggs were cooked 'low and slow' - a technique typically reserved for brisket, not eggs Benedict. Then the startling revelation that they did not possess a kitchen. Well, suddenly the dots connected.

In the spirit of fairness, they didn't bill us for the dish that insulted our palates. The ghost of the raw eggs lingered long after we had escaped the confines of this establishment, forever seared into my gastronomic memory.

My reluctant award of three stars is solely due to their admission of defeat with the dish and a subsequent adjustment on the bill. Make no mistake: this establishment is a backdrop for the Insta-obsessed, a playground for TikTok maestros. But if you seek a truly nourishing, satisfying brunch experience? You'd best...

I'd like to begin by saying that I'm typically very easy-going and tolerant when it comes to service – to the extent that I've never felt compelled to leave a review. However, today was a different story. I have genuinely never encountered such poor service in my life.

My girlfriend and I had brought my two nieces, who are visiting from Ireland for the weekend, to the establishment. At the time, it was at most 70% full. We found a table inside with two seats and additional wall seating that could comfortably accommodate three people. Before we even sat down, a woman next to us, seated at a two-person table, kindly offered us her spare chair. However, the waiter came over and told us we couldn’t sit like that. I would have understood if it were a fire hazard or if we were blocking something, but that clearly wasn't the case.

So, we returned the chair, and the three of us sat comfortably on the wall seating without encroaching on anyone. The waiter seemed perfectly fine with this arrangement until a supervisor, standing behind the counter, started signalling to him with exaggerated gestures, insisting that we still couldn’t sit that way. It was obvious that the waiter felt awkward about having to follow such over-the-top instructions, but he was clearly under pressure from the overzealous supervisor. I genuinely think the supervisor may prioritize "Instagram-ability" over actually serving...

If you want to take a selfie for instagram inside a pink venue with Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory styled seating, along with weak coffee and oompa loompa quality service, then this place is for you.

Service was certainly not as pretty faced as the venue inside:

The staff told us to wait outside after we walked in while they cleared a table to which they never called us back in to sit at. The waiter served another group of customers before us despite them coming in far after us for which I can only assume was because they were annoyed we tried to order at the till instead of at the table when they eventually felt like coming over. This only happened because there was no sign/instruction that it’s table service - so we were snuffed as punishment. Ordered 2 iced lattes which took 15 minutes to be made and consisted of easily half an espresso shot each at most. Lacked any flavour and the only nice part was the ice cubes Took 20 minutes for someone to give us the bill and to pay but only took them 5 minutes to glare at us sat at the table because they had to turn customers away while we were sat at it.

To summarise - you pay...