El Porteño — Restaurant in Valencia

I just want to begin this by saying myself, my brother and my father are the least picky people you’ll ever meet and we eat anything and everything. For us to send something back and make a complaint is unheard of. The meal started off very good, we selected the tasting menu for 3 people, with the ribeye steak. The sever was excellent, kind and courteous. The starters came out very quick, but were very tasty. The name of this restaurant is steakhouse so you would think the steak would be excellent, but it was far from it. Two of us asked for our ribeye steaks cooked medium rare, and I asked for medium. All three steaks were so undercooked in the middle that we had to send it back, it was cooked to blue if not less. Not only were all 3 steaks severely undercooked, they were so chewy it was like biting into a steak made out of rubber bands. We always try to give any food a chance, so we thought that sending it back to be cooked to the proper temperature would help, but upon receiving the steaks back, it did not. Most people wouldn’t even have attempted to eat these steaks, but complaining and not trying to eat the food is not something we do. Upon complaining to the server about the meat quality and cook temperature, the manger came over to the table to discuss with us. He went on to basically tell us it was our fault we didn’t get a quality piece of meat because we did not complain quick enough. This really set me off because we tried to give the meat a chance before sending it back to be cooked again. Another thing that bothered me is that all 3 of us got the same cut of steak and all 3 cuts were terrible quality. What are the chances 3 new cuts of the same steak would be any better? Slim to none I’d say, it’s clear the meat quality was just not up to par. After a long, sometimes heated discussion with the manager, he reluctantly offered to cover the cost of the entire meal which we declined. The point of complaining was not to get money off, it was to show our disappointment that we had chosen this restaurant for one of our three dinners in Valencia, based off of thousands of positive reviews, and it was truly an awful steak eating experience. We ended up paying for everything except the steaks which was very fair, but I hope people see this review amid the thousands of great reviews and think twice about eating at this restaurant if you’re looking for a good steak. If you live somewhere that has good steakhouses, I’d recommend just going to restaurants that specialize in the local...

Rather disappointed with the overall experience.

First, phone call. I wanted to modify my booking time. So, I called the restaurant 3 times during their operational hours. They don't pick up the phone. It goes straight to voice bot. After giving me a few choices, it tells me that modification needs to be done by a direct call to the restaurant and it hangs up. I ended up cancelling and rebooking the whole reservation by myself.

Second, poor service. I get to the restaurant (they have three buildings right next to each other). I walk into one of them, and the waiter just kicks me out. No hello, no asking for name and just tells me to go to the restaurant next door. He doesn't even inform his colleagues next door, so I walk in by myself and explain the situation. This time, the other colleague also kicks me out saying that I need to be assisted by his colleague outside first. It should had been checking my name and reservation, talk to each other, then take me to whichever the building or my seat is. This is an expected service. Upon waiting, Lucilia our waiter comes and helps us. She was cordial and she was essentially the only person actually working as the rest of them were just standing there doing nothing. In my restaurant building, there were 3 runners ofwhich, two of them just stood at the bar and Lucila was just taking care of all customers: She was taking order, bringing food, taking the bill. I did not see a single other runner taking care of another table.

Third, food. In my opinion, although reservation and service are bad, if the food is good then it's fine. Let's just begin by stating that my reservation was at 8:30pm and I arrived at 8:25pm. I ordered tomahawk and it arrived around 9:25pm. 1 hour to be served for my one order of steak. Ok, that's tolerable if the food is good. I get the food and I am in shock. Meat is supposed to be 1.5kg. Look at the size of that bone. Bone itself is probably a kilogram. Also, whoever cooked the steak, it was done extremely poorly. I actually told the chef to cook according to the recommendation, which I believe to be medium. I didn't know that meant cooking welldone on the left side and rare on the right side. In short, it wasn't cooked evenly. I did not send it back because I did not want to wait another 1 hour for my food to arrive.

In essence, I came here with expectations and it was simply bizarre. I am only giving a two star because our waiter Lucilia was extremely nice. She alone...

I’m that kind of person who is never wasting time on writing negative reviews, but now I will. We booked a table in this restaurant for our last evening in Valencia as tourists. With the hope of, that it’ll be a memorable dinner for all of us. On the contrary, it was bad!

The day before, we wanted to have some good red wine on the terrace, but were ironically rejected by one of the ,,main” waiters or the boss, that this is no bar or a place to drink. I’ve personally checked their wine list and I can say, that s the only positive thing here. I can assure you, that our bill of 2-3 bottles of premium wine would’ve been profitable for them than other bills around. PS. : there were plenty of free tables on the terrace after 20:00.

Eventhough we were rejected, I have put all my ego aside and I ve decided to book a table for the day after.

5 of 6 people have ordered different kind of steaks (rib-eye, tenderloin) with different cooking prefferences (medium, medium-rare, cooked). As I am a steak lover and connoisseur I ve ordered myself a medium-rare rib-eye. I can not comprehend with this restaurants ranking in Valencia and it s reviews. This steak was THE WORST I’ve ever had in my life. It was raw and inedible. I’ve kindly asked the waiter to bring it back and fix the matter. They brought my steak back, fully cooked and it was the chewiest meat I’ve ever had. The whole family complained about the steak and it’s quality. We were all disappointed.

The young waiter had no fault and tried to be cool. I felt sorry for him for a moment, because even he knew, what awful mess he’s serving.

This message goes to the manager or the bosses: please improve the quality of food served, make freshness a priority and treat all your clients with respect! Be a high quality restaurant and not a...