La Cigrona Restaurante — Restaurant in Valencia

I came into this restaurant with high expectations after seeing it recommended for paella by Valencia Secreta, a generally good source of information. Unfortunately the experience simply didn’t live up to those expectations.

Among the people who filled the restaurant at 20:30, somehow we were the last to get any attention from the staff. We had some nice appetizers and drinks while we waited for our paella valenciana to arrive.

I have lived in Valencia and had plenty of legitimate paellas including homemade ones made as part of the competitions that occur during Fallas. I regularly cook my own paella at home as well using real saffron. When our paella at the restaurant did arrive, it was clear that something was not right with this paella. It was as pale as my face must have been when I saw it. It completely lacked the distinctive color you expect with paella.

When I asked about it, I was told that it did have saffron and this is how it looks when you use real saffron, that all of the other places are using artificial coloring. The taste was ok, but it was not a real paella. Check out my photo and other recent photos compared to ones from 5 years ago, and you can see that something happened to their recipe. It didn’t appear to have tomato or paprika, other vital ingredients that come in a paella. I don’t take issue with a good rice, but it was represented as something it’s not. It also appeared that a different type of bean was used instead of the large and distinctive garrofó that is traditionally used.

As soon as we questioned the paella, the staff became quite indifferent to us, reflecting the cold attitude mentioned in other reviews. They brought us an incorrect and more expensive bill, which was then corrected. When we left and thanked them, they completely ignored us.

If you want a real paella, this...

IMPORTANT: This place is listed in the tourist card website as a 10% discount and 1 free tapas and beer, but once there they told us they haven't done said discount in 4 years. Do not go there expecting to have a discount.

This place claims to have the best Paella in town, personally I really enjoyed the food, the portion of paella was very generous. The traditional paella is very tasty and the tapas were also very good.

On the downside the service is absolutely terrible. They didn't greet us going in or out (NB: the Valencians are traditionally pretty cold to tourists but this was a whole other level), the waitress almost rolled her eyes when she saw us come in even though we had a reservation and arrived at the agreed upon time. they didn't explain what they were bringing us (for example we had the cheese platter and they didn't explain which kind of cheese it was), everything was dropped on the table without a word, even though I am fluent in Spanish so they could have easily communicated. The place was not overcrowded at all so they had plenty of time to explain things if they wanted to.

I do not care for etiquette or people constantly asking if we're good, but this place lacks the minimal human interaction, which I am sorry to say passes them as rude.

All in all: good paella, won't...

A very very bad experience… it was so loud and the waiters didn’t tell to the people who were litteraly singing in the restaurant to speak quietly at any time. We wait for an hour our dishes, and the paella was burn… The worst was the alcohol. It was so painful to drink it, really usually I love white sangria but I almost spit it. And more than that the waiters were so rude… I’ve never seen that before. When I paid he almost took my credit card out of my hands and didn’t thank us. And all that for an unjustify price even in Paris I would have been shocked by the price. We’re not very complicated, and actually I never post anything on google but it was so terrible that I had to do it. Moreover we were sick after that… There’s so much orher nice restaurants in Valencia don’t lose...