Voltereta, Welcome to Manhattan

I have mixed views on this place, the atmosphere, decor, and food were all great but the service and small touches which would elevate the whole experience are slightly off.

Firstly the place isn't really obvious from the outside, looks more like a bookstore than a restaurant, I understand it provides a certain mystique but we all have Google and we know it's a restaurant... The bookstore entrance was also cumbersome as it functioned as a waiting area which felt like I was queuing for a rollercoaster, not a restaurant. I would prefer being shown straight to my table, dropping the whole pointless intro and time machine fluff, it just felt unnecessary. We we're also made to wait to the exact time of our reservation after arriving 10 minutes early, the tables were clearly ready (this is the first time this has ever happened to us anywhere in the world!).

Once past the door and into the restaurant the vibe is excellent! Very cool interiors and a nice space with live music and ambiance. Our waitress didn't speak much English which made for a few awkward moments during service (she spoke better English than my Spanish so this is no big deal). The menus arrived and are completely pointless, two giant tomes of printed material only to have a small QR code hidden inside which you scan for an online pdf menu.... Just felt like a waste of time and very 'tacky', I would really appreciate a nice printed menu or at least save the space on our small table for 2 by having a QR code on the tabletop! Totally baffling! The menu itself wasn't bad with a good choice of dishes, my wife is vegetarian and it was nice to see a few options available to her! The menu isn't listed as the usual "starter, main, dessert" but a confusing layout of several sections named ambiguously like "jazz bites". This didn't help because our waitress couldn't really explain to us what they all meant, leading to my wife's choices being absolutely massive portions and mine being tiny! I believe the jazz bites might be solo starters and the other section sharing perhaps?

The actual food was really nice and well presented, no complaints aside from the veggie dishes being large and my pork being tiny (despite being a main). In terms of the image and standard the restaurant is trying to project the dishes were actually pretty basic, not plated or designed particularly creatively, nothing stood out or was special, just nice, not WOW. Between starters and main we were made to keep the same cutlery which were just left on the bare tabletop which I didn't appreciate for this standard of restaurant. Prices were really fair and the cocktails were good.

After the waitress cleared our plates we didn't even ask for the bill but it appeared promptly and we felt really rushed to leave. Overall I think this please could be something special if it dropped the pretentious facade (or lived up to it) and offered a more upmarket dining experience.