Canela — Restaurant in Valencia

You've got to be kidding me to give it any more than 2 stars. Just returned and had the following experience: Arrived and after being ignored for a few minutes was told to get inside and was given a table. 15 mins in sitting down one of us got up and went to pick up menus as the waitress (that saw us sitting) couldn't be bothered, even though the restaurant was not even half full. 30 mins in we got our orders taken by a very uninterested/half smiled waitress... So we waited another 30 mins and not a sign of anybody asking us if we wanted more drinks, bread, ANYTHING. We were very hungry and we simply gave up trying to get said waitress' attention. Our Paella finally arrived, hooray.... only for it to be a joke of a paella for two. it was hardly for one person and it was obviously made with frozen items, lots of salt and powder mix.... EXTREMELY disappointed. Paid as soon as we finished, hungry still and got out of there. What a tourist trap with BAD service and food. I don't understand how this restaurant got so many good reviews. People are simply delusional... sorry folks, good food is good food, good service is good service... and this restaurant does...

We booked a table and it’s a good thing we did - it’s very popular.

You probably don’t need starters / tapa... there were three of us and we ordered too much food. We could have had one starter and the paella.

Paella comes in 2 person servings, with the minimum serving of 2 persons. It’s served in the huge dish on the table. The peeled seafood was yummy and there were no mussels / oysters etc to content with (I’m not a huge shellfish fan).

We had the fried Camembert which was delicious (very large chunks of cheese), Valencian salad was delicious (strawberry (?) sauce with pineapple with a green salad and salmon), croquettes were also large but again, delicious. The table gets free starter of a small fried croquette and a spoon of cold tomato something (I don’t speak Spanish so I don’t actually know what it was).

The service is quick and they were busy so they don’t have time to waste when you’re ordering. The efficiency / hastiness made one of our party uncomfortable but I didn’t mind it.

We were also given a Spanish moscato at the end which was...

We spent two weeks in Valencia and this was the BEST dining experience we had in terms of food, service and ambience. Canela has two restaurants steps from the Torres de Cuart landmark in the Ciutat Vella (Old City), one smaller and less formal with an outside portion and other steps away with linen tablecloths. We opted for the latter and were not disappointed.

At both, they offer two reasonable menus del dia (menus of the day), an a la carte menu and good wine list. We were served by the charming Pepe el Valenciano and Enrique from Peru (maybe Ecuador?), who walked us through the menus and offerings with a sense of humor and genuine pleasure in their work.

We had the duck and corvina (bass) entrees with all the starters, one dish more delicious than the other, and a knockout bottle of rosé from Navarra recommended by Pepe.

The next time you're in Valencia, don't miss the opportunity to eat at Canela and ask for Pepe el Valenciano and Enrique. We were there for lunch and recommend making a...