Restaurante Sabbia Valencia — Restaurant in Valencia

All the food we tried at Sabbia was gorgeous. We had “fritura de gambas y emulsión cilantro” (not on the regular menu on the web, but it was part of the chef’s suggestions) for appetizer, and it was fantastic. Soft crunch on the outside and so juicy and flavourful. It was irresistibly good, and I ate them literally from head to tail (not for everyone but I couldn’t stop myself). Even a seafood-hating friend of ours had to admit it was tasty.

For the main, we had a shrimp paella with seafood as well as steaks. The paella was a dream come true. There was a depth of flavours but it was very easy to eat with the lightness of the fresh oceanic scent, and it wasn’t greasy.

Some of us preferred meat over seafood, and they also enjoyed their food so much. They were surprised by the quality of their steaks, dining at a seafood restaurant. If you’re looking for an excellent seafood experience but you’re challenged by your meat-loving people, this restaurant will serve you both.

As for the interior, it is decorated beautifully. It has a luxurious feeling in the air but at the same time it’s got a friendly, laid-back atmosphere and we all enjoyed being there. The staff there were also polite and kind, and gave us nice recommendations. Their service was quite fast.

We were also happy with the fact that they accepted our reservation around 22:45. They kindly gave us a call that the kitchen would close at 23:00 and made sure we have time to order and dine without issues. We stayed there until 00:20. We felt slightly rushed to leave the place earlier than the closing time, but considering that it was quite windy and the weather was not favourable, it was understandable to me. The most important is that we all had an amazing time there, and if there is any chance to travel to Valencia again, we’ll...

We stopped in the outside terrace to have a cocktail around 6:30 pm on a Monday. We waited at the hostess station for someone to seat us, but realized after asking a male waiter that we could just sit at one of the empty table outside. We sat at one of the two empty tables. It was dirty from the previous customer. We sat and waited for 15 minutes for the young female waitress to help us. It was busy with a large table near us, but she never made eye contact or addressed us. We didn’t say anything because she seemed very stressed out. After 15 minutes I caught her eye, and she told me : “un momento.” A few minutes later she appeared and we ordered two beers. About 5 minutes later, the male waiter brought over two bottles of beer. No glasses, no wiping the table. We had a few sips of our beer, and the waitress came over and asked if we’d like to charge our beers. She had our receipt and her charge machine. I said, “ un momento.” The male waiter came over and asked if we wanted to charge or pay cash. I said that we had just started our beer that took 20 minutes to get, so we were going to enjoy it and then we would pay. He told us that the policy was to get drinks and pay, but since we had to wait so long, he would make an exception. The problem with his explanation is we watched the large party next to us hunt down the waitress to pay her. We would never feel right about going to this restaurant with our friends and family. We own property in Spain and have always admired the Spanish for their...

The ambiance is nice but the food and service was disappointing. My wife and I ordered paella and it came out very burned. Not only that but there wasn’t even enough rice to cover the bottom of the pan. My wife spoke to a manager and a new paella was made for us. The second one was better but also tasted burnt. We didn’t have much time so we begrudgingly ate it but it tasted pretty bad. Once again, there was barely enough rice to cover the bottom of the pan. The burnt taste seemed to be more noticeable in the parts of the pan with caked-on black carbon. The center of the pan seemed properly cleaned, but much of it was not and this surely affected the unevenness of the rice and the terrible taste.

When a waiter came to us and asked how the second paella was, my wife expressed her disappointment (her Spanish abuela would have been offended by the lack of attention to detail) and the waiter apologized and went directly to speak to a manager, presumably about what we had told him. Manager didn’t seem too interested.

I have worked in the service industry for many years. In any establishment that I’ve worked in, an effort would be made to please the customer (a manager’s apology, not charging for the unsatisfactory dish, etc) Aside from that nice waiter there seemed to be little concern for our experience. I would never return and I recommend that you don’t get lured in by the pretty decor for a lackluster culinary experience.

P.S. the patatas bravas...