Nederland 1814 — Restaurant in Valencia

This was one of the worst experience we've had so I will go into details. We went there for a birthday dinner, had the table booked for 6 PM on a Friday. I know it sounds early for a dinner but we had plans for later and this restaurant was on our list for a while and their kitchen was already open so we assumed they know what they are doing. Couldn't be more wrong. We ordered starters (foie and smoked salmon with candied pears so nothing fancy to prepare) and mains (entrecote and sirloin, again simple). We waited for our starters so long that they served us "on the house" a board with some cheese and two slices of cooked ham and unwashed grapes to keep us occupied. Then after an HOUR of waiting for our starters they arrived 10 minutes apart... Smoked salmon was nothing else than few cold slices straight from a tray maybe even from Dia or other corner shop, accompanied with a spoon of philadelphia spread and few pieces of candied pears from a can. When the foie finally arrived, it was even more disgusting, it also came straight from a box with no flavor, no salt, nor any other spices, it was tasteless, bland and accompanied by membrillo blocks (very sweet marmalade) cut also straight from the box which made the bland flavor even worse. They made no prep of the foie, just chunks right from the box. I returned it to the kitchen and cancelled from the order. The mains (only entrecote) arrived after another 20 minutes and it arrived basically raw, they didn't even ask how we want it... We sent it back to the kitchen to cook it a bit more. In the meantime they brought the sirloin which supposed to be medium rare but it was actually also almost raw, so we sent that back to the kitchen too. The entrecote came back completely messed up and hard as a shoe sole. Then the sirloin came a while later and what they basically did they quickly burned it on two sides making the outer well done while the inside was still raw. At this stage we were so hungry that we eat whatever was eatable and we left the burned parts and the raw parts. Now just for clarity, I am not a fancy food expert but foie is something I very very much like and try whenever and wherever I can and I can give very good recommendations where in Valencia you can eat a good foie. Similarly for sirloins or steaks. While some other restaurants did disappoint us with starters or mains in the past however, never both at the same time. One thing I can say about Nederland 1814 for sure is that this is the worst place for food we have been to in Valencia. And we still paid around 80 EUR even after cancelling the foie. We ended up in an Andalusian tapas bar to eat proper food. No idea how Nederland 1814 got the good reviews but we are never going back there, worst choice ever and I highly DO NOT...

What a way to finishing a wonderful holiday.

I would a give a lot more starts if I had a time machine...

It would come in handy so we could travel 40 minutes into the future to get the starters, then quickly back into past and remind them to not forget the bread so we have something to spread the pate on. The octopus and foie were nice.

Then go into the future again, 50 minutes or so to get 2 main courses, rush again 15 minutes to get the last main course (table of 3), and a few extra 10 minutes to get the potatoes, as the last plate was small with nothing to give substance.

Served: 2 meats and 1 fish. Fish good.. for the meats, I wonder why they asked how we would like our Meat. Medium we said. Nice formality, but again lost in space-time continium between our table and the kitchen. My sirloin a big portion but tough. The pistachio butter a nice surprise. The iberico steak and mustard was small and left an after taste of expensive.

Will come again for ambience at the lovely square.. but only if I can treat Marty McFly and his Delorean to it.

Btw: the decor is fantastic. Like Bruno Mars? Well... they literally have a Versaci...

We were having a great time until the waiter brought our check. We were shocked to be charged $10 for a "Agua de Valencia', when everywhere else it costs less than $5, but that wasn't the problem. The problem arose when i took the check to pay at the cashier (because the waiter wouldn't show up with the CC machine), and the waiter rushed to the cashier to tell him in Valenciano something about not taking my credit card. He immediately told me the machine wasn't working, but I could get cash at the ATM machine across the street.

In other words, rather than paying Visa the retailer's fee, they wanted me to pay the ATM fees to pay for my dinner. Upon my refusal (and cursing them in Spanish!) they told me they would borrow the CC reader from the neighboring restaurant.

I am sick and tired of the "broken CC reader" scam! Nederland is Neverland or Nevermore for me! If you charge $10 for a "Agua De Valencia," the least you could do is pay for...