La Diva — Restaurant in Valencia

It is extremely rare that I leave a review, but having eaten at La Diva last night I couldn’t wait to write a review to warn everyone. As I’m sure a lot of people have been I was won over by the incredible aesthetics I’d seen in photos and ignored all the reviews I had read about the terrible service. What an error. The restaurant is indeed spectacular and the food was good and reasonably priced but the service was dire. They took our order quickly, food arrived quickly but then we were never approached again, never asked if we wanted another drink or dessert. I had to make a point of demanding another round of drinks when our plates were being cleared and then before we knew it we were presented with the bill. It is extremely out of character for me to complain but I absolutely had to make the point to the waiter that our bill would have been double if we hadn’t been abandoned for the 2 hours we were in there. The waiter was very apologetic and brought us limoncello on the house but having seen an abundance of other reviews complaining about the service the restaurant is clearly cutting corners on their staffing numbers.

We then stayed for the transformation to nightclub. We were informed by the barman that cocktails were not longer available (again, I imagine due to lack of staff). The music was excellent, a great mix of remixed millennial night out classics.

However, be warned if you need to go outside of the establishment for any reason (in my case to smoke) I knew that there had been issues of people popping outside and then being charged to go back in. I asked the waiter what I should to avoid this and he said to show the meal receipt. The first time I did this there was no problem. The second time I went out (bearing in mind I was outside for only around 5 minutes) the receipt was ripped out of my hand and I was informed by the extremely snotty hostess that if I left again I would have to pay €12 to get back in. That of course brought the end of our night to a close much sooner than we’d expected. I had been outside twice over the course of 3 and a half hours, which I don’t think is unreasonable and there was absolutely no apology or explanation of policy, just the snatching of the receipt and barking at me like a dog.

La Diva was extremely strict in its reservation policies and taking bank details in case of no show and another long email the day before asking for re confirmation of booking but none of this is justified by its abysmal service and rude staff. Apart from going purely for great Instagram photos I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone. I would also like to make the point that we are from Almeria and therefore used to slower, poorer service, but this was shocking....

First of all, your dinner slot times are not the most welcoming thing to start the evening off with. 5 meters after entering you get told that you only have 1.5 hours to eat because your table for two is given away again. For it me feels already pressured but it is what it is. I went to La diva on multiple occasions and although the decor and the hole design looks really nice at first, when you sit down things start to come into perspective. In the beginning when it just opened it was really nice, however the chairs in the middle are garden type seats, although they fit to the decor they are completely wobbly and move in every direction except a fixed position the chair should be after 1.5 years of use. In addition some cleaning materials tried to disguise the fact that there is quite a sewage toilet smell in the restaurant. More restaurants in Valencia have this, however for such a trying to be fancy restaurant this should not be present. After having received our drinks a 5cm big COCKROACH jumped from underneath the table cloth of the table next to us on the floor. The waiter conveniently was there and stepped on it and after a few minutes the dead squashed cockroach was removed. The questions for us remains where do they come from, kitchen, bathrooms, I don't know but utter disturbing to think about. I think a problem is, and you see that more often in Valencia, is that there are a lot of restaurants trying to multiple things at the same time. Being a restaurants and a full night club is something that I don't think go hand in hand. When you are at La Diva around 23:30 there is a small bar before entering. This is the pre party area where you are dancing with loud music and laser lights in the toilets / washing your hands area, next to this is a bar to supply the party guests while the restaurant is waiting to get it's dining guests out as fast a possible in order to turn the restaurant into a club. Such a disturbing weird image, but after having lived in Spain for 4 years now you get used to stuff like this. I don't want to end on a low so I do want to make a good comment about the food. My girlfriend had the Sushi and that was really nice, the burgers can be nice but when you ask for medium rare you get a complete pink burger so maybe ask for well-done and you should receive a medium burger, but the taste was good. Other items on the menu are also quite nice and advisable to order. For me this restaurant is to big and to focused on influencers who document there hole lives on there phone but forget living them for real. Overall advice go to smaller restaurants, with no fancy decorations and try the typical...

It all started when my girlfriend and I had booked a table at La Diva. She had seen that the place looked incredibly nice with a good atmosphere. We arrived and were seated at a table and started looking at the menu. My girlfriend is severely allergic to peanuts, so that’s something we always have to be extremely careful about. She finds a goat cheese salad where there is no indication anywhere that it might contain peanuts or traces of peanuts. But since we’re strict, we ask our waiter, and he assures us it’s completely safe.

The food arrives, but our drinks take 10 more minutes to come out after the food is already served – which is completely unreasonable. My girlfriend takes two bites and immediately feels something is wrong. Her mouth starts itching and it moves down her throat. I react instantly and go to the waiter to ask him to check again. He takes the salad into the kitchen and disappears for 10 minutes. If this had been a critical emergency, things could have gone really badly. I storm into the kitchen and start yelling at everyone, asking what the hell is going on and why we’re not getting any answers.

A few minutes later, the waiter comes out and clearly says there are peanuts in the sauce. We panic and start calling an ambulance. A manager then comes out and pulls us aside. He says there are only traces of peanuts, but we had clearly said that no traces whatsoever were acceptable. They give us a glass of water, and things start feeling slightly better. We decide to go to the hospital ourselves and are recommended a specific clinic.

We walk around the city for a bit, but then her condition worsens again – she throws up, and the reaction hits her throat, making it hard to breathe. We jump straight into a taxi and head to the recommended hospital, only to find out it’s private, so our insurance didn’t cover it, making it insanely more expensive than it should’ve been. She’s now received an injection and several tablets but is completely drained and unable to do anything.

So, I just want to say thanks a lot, La Diva, for ruining our last days in Valencia. I absolutely do not recommend this restaurant if you or someone you’re with is severely allergic to anything, because they have no control over the menu and the...