Restaurante Taberna Las Meninas — Restaurant in Valencia

Absolutely poor service!! After arriving, my brother, invalid father, and I seated ourselves at Restaurante Taberna Las Meninas in Valencia between 15:45 and 16:15 on 16 August, at a non-busy part of the day, a condition that is common at most restaurants throughout Spain at those hours. Tables to the left of us and in front of us were empty. After waiting a long while, my brother had to go to the waitstaff podium to retrieve menus, since no waiter had even acknowledged our presence. Eventually a couple showed up and sat at the table next to us and then several minutes later another group sat at a table in front of us. All this time, no one acknowledged our presence. What bothered me the most was that a waiter (red head with a full beard) began attending to both those other tables first and continued to ignore us. Finally, I had to speak up, and interrupted his conversation with the other table to let him know that we were there first before anyone else. The first seated couple told the waiter that I was speaking the truth and the red headed waiter’s response was “I’m sorry I didn’t see you.” So I’m wondering, had I not spoken up, how much longer would he not have seen us. My 94 year old father was in a wheelchair which was quite obvious and all three of us are people of color. Was his behavior racially motivated or not, ageism or not, I’ll never really know why we were completely ignored while he attended to other guests who came much later than we did, but I had my suspicions. Since we will not be disrespected, at that point we gathered our father and we began to depart as the waiter tried to apologize and denied that it had anything to do with our color, since I indicated to him in front of the other guests that perhaps that this was about our race. In my mind, there just wasn’t any other explanation for why he managed to see the people around us, but somehow overlooked our table. However, if he’s telling the truth, which is hard for me to believe, then I hope he learns that as a waiter, he should always maintain situational awareness as to who is entering the restaurant space, the order of guest seating, and observing whether or not a table has received menus or utensils. I would not recommend this restaurant, which for us resulted in a terrible experience on an otherwise great vacation...

There are restaurants one remembers for the food, and others — regrettably — for the service. This was, without question, the latter.

We arrived as a large family, a mix of adults and children, entering to find a waitress who, rather than pausing to greet or guide us, swept past without so much as a glance. Left to our own devices, we approached the counter, where the man stationed there seemed equally uninterested in the presence of customers. Only after deliberately interrupting whatever task so thoroughly occupied him did we receive a cursory instruction: “Sit outside, someone will be with you.”

The park across the street made for a pleasant setting. The restaurant's staff, however, did their utmost to sour the moment. After over fifteen minutes of being entirely ignored, we conceded defeat and returned inside to place our order. In hindsight, we ought to have left then and there.

The food arrived in awkward, staggered batches, delivered by a waiter we’d previously seen in the kitchen — a man whose disheveled appearance and dazed demeanor conjured immediate comparisons to Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, though with none of the charm. One could reasonably question whether he was entirely sober, though the management seemed unconcerned.

As for the food: decent, but utterly forgettable. I find myself struggling to recall the specifics of what we ordered — a problem not shared by the memory of the appalling service, which remains vivid.

It is often said that good food excuses bad service. I disagree. Hospitality is the soul of any dining experience, and no park view or tolerable pizza can compensate for a staff that so clearly resents the presence of...

We've visited this charming little square before and have never had any problem with this place. When we arrived it was very quiet and we were seated immediately. The waitress was not very friendly at all and despite us speaking Spanish she decided that she would only speak English. We ordered a couple of drinks to start as we weren't sure we wanted to eat. As soon as we ordered the drinks the food menus were abruptly taken away. The drinks arrived and were slammed down as she abruptly left. She obviously feels that being a waitress is far beneath her, and is destined for better things. She also, obviously,has problems communicating with her colleagues as the drinks we had already been served came out again, before the waiter realised the error. We decided to order some croquetas and the same drinks. The second drinks arrived but the vermouth had only one little piece of ice. We beckoned the waitress over to ask for more but this took at least 5 minutes to arrive. Still only 2 other tables were occupied. The croquetas arrived but without any aioli, so we asked for some. Again, we had to wait at least 5 minutes before she was able to bring us any. To add insult to injury, after asking for the bill, we then discovered that we had been charged €2.50 for a small lot of aioli. We paid the bill, but we will never go back there. I dread to think how bad the service would be if this place was any busier. Fortunately, there are a few other places nearby which we will visit next time we are...