Voltereta Manhattan | Valencia — Restaurant in Valencia

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...

Updated 31 December 2023 From start to finish it was a bad experience coming to Manhattan this New Year's afternoon. A place known for its atmosphere, good vibe, good food and classy environment had become a messy, spiritless restaurant with poor quality food. Here's why:

Slow service We waited 35 minutes for our drinks which we received after asking for them twice. The coke arrived 15 minutes before the long island ice tea, which was nowhere near a long island ice tea. The main course arrived after an hour.

Food quality While the croquettes and montecristo were tasty, the montecristo was served on a tray rather than in a cigar box, which is what the menu says. Because Manhattan is a theme restaurant it matters how the food is served, because the serving is part of the experience. The argentinian Angus steak was both chewy and flavourless. It tasted like it had been precooked a couple of days earler and then reheated. The meat wasn't anywhere near being fresh. The waiter said that they had change their distributor a month earlier. Ok, well ... if you are a professional place then you have a bite of the goods before exposing your cusomers to it. The fact that chefs, owner, and waiters serve this cheap meat and charge full price is unprofessional.

Busy restaurant Although the restaurant wasn't full, the waiters and kitchen appeared busy. Something must have gone completely wrong on this day ... What it is, no one knows.

Lack of customer care We were offered no compensation and no, "look we are very busy today, so you may have to wait additional time. In the meantime, here's a little something on the house ..." Nothing! This would have been a way to deal with a messy and disorganised restaurant. A second way would have been to offer compensation for the steaks. When you say "Argentinian Angus" in your menu it comes with expectations and a price we as customers pay.

If you haven't been to Manhattan before it would be a shame if you didn't experience the place. Hopefully they will have improved by then - and if you like good meat - this is not the place to go currently! For me, I was hoping to bring family and friends but to gamble with my night out like this isn't worth my energy, good spirit or time!

Original review of Manhattan

From start to finish the Manhattan concept at Voltereta is sublime with their 1920's setting. Everything from concept all the way to service and food is a high volume experience and at a very affordable price. And if you think that the food is not up to standard, think again. Dishes are delicious and garnished and the food is high quality. We were seated right in front of the stage to enjoy the two talented musicians performing on double bass and electric guitar Remember to book a week in advance online through their website and don't forget to wear nice attire and bring your camera, too. Manhattan is a must see and experience...

Gimmicks are great, and this restaurant has them, but a restaurant must satisfy two primary concerns: Good to great food, and excellent service, and the gimmicks… they are icing if they work.

Unfortunately, this restaurant failed in what matters. We were forgotten, and received sub-par service and food by any measure. So, let’s break it down…

We ordered! A bottle of wine, two melon salads, tapas, and mains, and two bottles of water

We received our wine… things usually get better with wine, right?

Nope! The couple seated after us received water, drinks, and tapas. Strange .. we ordered first.. how can this be?

We received the salads. No water and no tapas… temperature rising…!

5.. After an angry self-debate as to whether I should go to the bar and get the water myself, I relented and waved over a server and asked about our water … those pesky items had not actually been ordered. I now had other suspicions!

I asked for the manager and then asked the manager about our tapas and salads, which should have already been delivered - the salads were on the way, and the tapas they had not yet been on our order… not cool

Well, the melon salads were okay, not great but edible - not a ringing endorsement I know

Finally, the Tapas arrived before we completed the salads… and honestly… they were okay - not horrible but not great (me stomping on the bell used for ringing endorsements)

Finally… the mains showed up. My wife ordered the Corvina and I ordered the Manhattan Cheeseburger, I figured: hard to mess up a cheeseburger but my figuring… way, way, way, way off

The burger patty was over-cooked, rubbery and literally had one thin tomato slice and lettuce??? What lettuce? It was a raggedy bottom-bit-of-leaf usually reserved for the bin, and I’m pretty sure the whole thing had sat under a heat lamp for at least 10 minutes before landing on our table. I literally pulled the burger apart in front of the manager and asked her if it was normal to make an overcooked cheeseburger of such poor quality at her restaurant. She obviously said no, but I suspect it happens quite often. I watched several other tables send food back, and I asked her a different question: “Do you normally have these quality issues?” She saiid no, but I suspect this is not true. I sent back my burger and requested it not be on my bill. I declined to order anything else, and honestly… if my wife wasn’t with me and I did not have a bottle of wine to drink, I would have walked out. The service and the food was really that unimpressive.

I travel a fair amount, and I have had good and bad service in various countries and cities. This ranks among the worst.

On a barely good note: My wife did not find the corvina reprehensible. Hotel room service to...