La Casita Penrith — Restaurant in England

This is not a review for the quality of food but for their customer service as we didn't get to eat there. We booked a table about two and a half hours prior to the dining time which was later than we wanted as they were fully booked. Half an hour before the reservation time we received a call saying they could no longer accommodate us as they were "too busy". Bearing in mind this was already late (8 pm) which left us unable to source an alternative reservation in a town which we were staying away from home. Book with them at your own peril!

UPDATE In response to the owner's response: Thank you for taking the time to respond, albeit with an inaccurate account of what happened. My partner rang initially to book and was told there was no availability until 8:30 pm at which point the call was ended. After discussing this we decided to accept this time. My partner rang back a few minutes later and said yes we would take the 8:30 reservation. The young lady on the phone said there was availability earlier at the bar however my partner said this would not work as we had a pram and small infant. The call ended with confirmation of a reservation for a TABLE at 8:30 pm. To make clear the employee on the phone was aware we required space around the table for a pram at the point of reservation.These calls were made two and a half hours prior to the reservation (call log verified). If you want to class this as last minute so be it. The next communication we had was a phone call just before 8 pm in which a female said you could no longer accommodate us as you were too busy and you didn't have a table anymore. At no point during this or the previous conversation did you say you didn't have a table with enough space around it. We had already informed you that the bar wasn't practical so offering that instead of the reserved table was pointless. Both this and the original conversation were with a female so unless she is the owner, my partner did not speak with the owner about the reservation as insinuated in your response. As a responsible business owner perhaps you could take responsibility when things go wrong instead of gaslighting customers for the sake of...

La Casita (Penrith - Lake District) - 3/5 £ - so I had very high hopes for this restaurant and I would say we were satisfied but wanted to be wowed. We took advantage of the weekday 4 for £15 tapas and we liked it, but each dish just needed a tweak. The verde sauce with cod cheeks was a little tangy for us, the chutney with aubergine crunch things was too sweet and the anchovies with the grilled bread needed some excitement. The Paella (you have to order two portions) smelt mouth watering, looked fabulous and had generous amount of seafood, however it needed a bit more flavour and salt (we ended up topping it with Tabasco sauce). The dessert of creme caramel and sticky pudding was good but would have been better with homemade ice cream (see what I mean re everything needing a little tweak). I did mention the lack of salt in the paella and the waitress appeared a little taken aback. However the service was great, although it was very quiet since were in COVID situation, we were made to feel welcome. The restaurant decor was like being in a cave which we loved, and the seating looked like church pews. The toilets are clean and parking is free in the evening outside the restaurant. Unfortunately this isn’t a place I would go again however I do encourage people to go as it may be to your tastebuds. We noticed that the flavours are slightly toned down in Lake District owing to their regular clientele’s palettes. #spanishtapas #lakedistrict...

1 star for the sangria and that's where it ends, even though we waited half hour for that. They were clearly overstretched tonight. We waited 1.5 hours for our food which was medicore to say the least. When we questioned where the food was we were told there was a back log in the kitchen, however several tables that came in after us were served quicker. The calamari tapas was very bland and rubbery and the meatball dish only has 3 meatballs. When our starter was cleared we were asked if we wanted pudding- we hadn't even had our main which took 1.5 hours even though the waitress said paella was a half hour wait. The paella was very disappointing- prawns were over cooked and rubbery like paper- the calamari was tastless and the rice was dry. It even took 3 attempts of asking for the bill for it to arrive! Needless to say there weren't any discounts or goodwill offerings! Such a disappointing evening! I know the restaurants are all trying to make up for lost time, but you shouldn't take on more than...