The wine gallery — Restaurant in Valencia

It’s been a long, long time since I’d had such a bad restaurant experience.

We were seated at the bar just before 9pm, ordered 2 drinks, a glass of water and some tapas: prawn carpaccio, cockles and scallops. Drinks arrived soon after. However, instead of a glass of water, one of the two waitresses served me bottled water. I gave it back to her and reminded her I had asked for a glass of water. She rudely dismissed me, claiming “tap water in Valencia is not potable, I’m from Valencia, I know.” Well, she doesn’t. I looked it up. According to several official sources I found online, not only is Valencia’s water safe for consumption, as per EU regulations, it has more minerals than some bottled water. I understand that in Spain the custom is to drink bottled water in restaurants but to adamantly refuse serving tap water? Getting nowhere with the first, I approached the second waitress, hoping for more customer oriented server, who haughtily retorted “It’s illegal to serve tap water to customers in restaurants”. Bullocks. Actually against the law NOT to serve tap water. I asked her for proof. She didn’t provide it. Instead, we got a hefty dose of passive-aggressiveness. I was thirsty, no choice but to drink the bottled water… The prawn carpaccio arrived after 20 minutes and was tasty. ONE HOUR after placing our order, I reminded the second waitress, Karla, who informed me she was the manager, that we were waiting for 2 more dishes, wondering what was taking so long. Apparently they had forgotten. Less than a minute later, the dishes arrived. A can of shellfish swimming in mystery sauce was unceremoniously plopped—tin and all—onto each plate and a handful of processed potato chips were dumped on the plate next to each tin. I bravely tried a cockle. Tasteless, overcooked and saltier than the Dead Sea. Inedible. On hindsight, I should have left after the water bottle episode. Or after the first dish. Instead of waiting another 40 minutes for tinned rubbery seafood and supermarket crisps. I guess I had hope. Maybe because the wine was decent. I told the manager we couldn’t eat this. She didn’t seem to care so we got up to leave. Of course the water and the 2 tins of uneaten seafood were on the bill. No apologies for the delay. No consideration. No solutions offered. No customer service. Proper restaurant etiquette involves a combination of considerate behavior, professionalism, attentiveness, and respect towards clients to ensure a pleasant dining experience for everyone. This includes being mindful of your customers, respecting them, accommodating their wishes and addressing their concerns. The staff at The Wine Gallery falls flat on all of the above. We found a good place to eat a few blocks away and had a good meal. And of course, we were allowed to drink tap...

We ended up at The Wine Gallery by complete accident after missing a train at Valencia North Station and having an hour to kill. It turned out to be a very nice little detour.

We got there just as they opened for the evening, so it was very quiet at first. The ambience is super casual and nicely decorated, almost giving board game cafe vibes which I really loved.

They have a nice selection of Verdejo, which is one of my favourites, so we went for a bottle of Peramor Verdejo. It was fruity, light, and perfect for the early evening.

We didn’t stay very long, but as it started to get darker the place began to fill up and felt much livelier. I can see it being a popular and fun spot on weekend nights. Nothing bad to say at all, definitely worth stopping by if you want a relaxed glass of wine...

Nice candle lit interior plus outside seating. Quite lively on some nights when passed by previously. Service great - attentive, relaxed and super friendly. Nice wine and tapas. Only small minus that request just for a bit of bread go with burrata kinda refused and so I had to order bread with tomato and aioli. Fair enough but bit mean and went against the vibe. However, recommended and I...