L'Alqueria del Pou València — Restaurant in Valencia

Best authentic & affordable paella!

I’ve been living in Spain for almost 4 years now and I’m always on a quest for a good paella that doesn’t hurt my pocket. I’ve also done paella cooking classes so I can tell what’s a real good one vs a tourist trap.

I recommend booking a few days before. I called on a Tuesday for a Saturday lunch and told it was already full so we opted for the last spot on Friday at 15:30. They accommodated us even though we got in the restaurant 30 mins early.

Great customer service—friendly & humorous servers! Our Spanish isn’t great but they were very helpful about our concerns.

The menu didn’t have allergen info so we asked them which of the starters are gluten-free since I was with a Celiac. They only had one option which was calamari in chickpea flour. Good portion for the price and we can tell that it was made fresh and not the frozen ones from the supermarket.

Then come the paella! Patience is key to a good paella. Don’t expect it to be ready in 30 minutes because it shouldn’t be!

From first look, you’d think there’s so little seafood on top but don’t be discouraged! It was actually packed with lots of fresh seafood! Every spoonful of paella had so much seafood in it! I want to stress the freshness of the seafood! I’m a seafood girly and trust me you will know the difference of what they used in this paella.

We spent 44€ in total for a bottle of water, calamari, and paella for 2. It’s worth every penny. I’d definitely come back here when I go to...

We went without a reservation and we got seated after about 20 minutes at the last table in the back and it was very windy and dusty. That was not the reason for my two stars review though. The reason is what we've ordered: fried fish as starter - one portion (16 EUR), sea food paella for two (16*2= 32 EUR) and a 1l water bottle (3 EUR). The bill came for 72 EUR because the waiter charged two fish starter dishes (but it was brought on the same plate, big yes, but we've never ordered two and couldn't know it was two dishes served on a single plate until the bill came) so they've charged us extra for something we didn't order.

We were foreigners but this doesn't matter because both of us were speaking Spanish, speaking it well. So they've just wanted to take advantage of us and so they did.

The food was good but the paella arrived after about 1h.

The experience was not great and the location either. Also, we didn't receive the complimentary drinks that everyone else got, which made us feel as the forgotten table in the corner, which they didn't forget to trick though.

We didn't make out a charade out of this (charging us for two plates that we didnt order) because in the end we ate it, but we didnt know it was two dishes unless we saw the bill.

Overall, I don't recommend it. I think you can find same food quality and maybe even better price somewhere in the city, and for sureeeeeee...

We got traditional paella with rabbit and snails 🥘. My God! It was out of this world. The waiters don’t come until exactly 1 pm so no use coming earlier. Make sure you have a reservation before hand as at first I was the only one sitting there, then by 2-3 pm the place was packed out. The service was slow but there was no need to hurry as the lunch is a 3 hour ordeal. They cook the food from scratch on an open fire… the traditional way. You order wine first, if you want some small bites, then the big meal arrives after some time. We didn’t order any appetizers as the main course itself was huge and we knew it was going to be filling up our tummies. Even though we were three people we ordered the paella for only two people. It was enough. We were ready for a siesta afterwards. The food was so tasty and delicious. Perfect for a hot afternoon in Spain. We had traditional coffee with rum after the meal. A great digestive. We couldn’t get a reservation online so I went 20 minutes before 1 pm and luckily we got a table. I would give this place very high marks. It made me feel very traditional compared to the other touristy places where the paella is not cooked in the traditional way and does not have the...