Café Andaluz — Restaurant in Great Britain

Service: 4/5

The wait staff were all very polite and attentive. They're guaranteed a 10% tip, this often leads to nonchalance. However, this wasn't the case. Sadly we were the only table which wasn't provided with complimentary bread. After enquiring (hinting) I was fobbed off with some excuse about it being a 5pm deal. The people seated before and after us received the bread, so time wasn't the issue. Not a deal breaker, but would have been nice.

Décor: 5/5

The restaurant has a very authentic feel to it. It's classically styled. Mosaic topped tables wooden chairs. The smell of Spain hits you as you walk in.

Food: 2/5

We ordered 3 tapas dishes and a desert each. Patatas bravas were good, in a rich tomato sauce. Padron peppers were bitter due to the black skin being left on after charring. Meatballs were overcooked, chicken breast was wildly overcooked and very dry. Prawns were obliterated as well... By this point you should be noticing a theme. They like to cook everything into oblivion. Croquettes were alright, despite being made in batches 3 days in advance (as per the other reviewer). Not great at all, but edible.

Deserts were very good, particularly the brownie.

Drinks: 1/5

There's no lager or soft drink menu. You have to enquire, which is both tedious for the patron and likely even worse for the wait staff who have to repeat themselves 100 times every day. Get a comprehensive drinks menu.

The mojito was £8.95. after plunging the paper straw through the 60 ice cubes to the bottom of the glass and taking a sip... It was finished. I'm not sure what was in it, as it wasn't very strong. I'd hazard a guess at 25ml of Bacardi and 25ml of soda water, a few mint leaves and enough ice to patch up the Antarctic.

Draught beer was San Miguel and was horrific. Flat and tasteless. Bottled beer was £4.25 for a 330ml. But still worth paying the premium to avoid the flat lukewarm tap lager.

Summary:

Staff are pleasant, food and drink are overpriced and poor quality. Everything was overcooked. It's like they just don't care. 10% gratuity added to every bill is not a popular move. Gratuities are compulsory in the US to top up the wages of the staff. Unlike in Scotland where they are paid the living wage. If service is particularly exemplary, then a discretionary tip should be left. I'd imagine this practice leaves a more bitter taste in the mouths of your customers than your...

Cafe Anda- LOSE more like! Came as a group booking for a friend's birthday as a group of nine, which I appreciate is a big group, however it was a Wednesday night and we had booked ahead, notifying of dietary requirements in advance (veggies and pescatarian, so nothing too awkward). The waiting staff kept trying to push the set menu on us rather than the al a carte, as the kitchen staff apparently found it difficult to cook tapas for us all at the one time. Having had tapas before in other places, we were anticipating dishes coming out when they were ready anyway. The birthday girl tried to communicate this to the waiter who kept arguing and pushing the set menu and saying that on a Friday or Saturday night, they wouldn't be able to accommodate us (again, it was a Wednesday). The set menu wasn't massively veggie friendly, and frankly was a bit uninspired.

After about five minutes of us saying we weren't too bothered about different food arrival times, the waiter then checked with the chef and came back to tell us that all a carte was indeed fine, but proceeded to have the same conversation with us as he had previously had. We did discuss leaving at this point, but two people had to go back to Edinburgh, so didn't really have the time.

Our food came, no complaints really, but I have had nicer tapas, but to be honest, the servers attitude had soured the whole experience by this point.

We were given our bill just after our pudding was served, and the staff seemed desperate to get rid of us. They couldn't have been waiting on another table as the place was pretty dead. They had automatically added a gratuity, which I appreciate is standard with large groups, but the service was terrible and probably wouldn't have left anything under different circumstances.

We do wish we had been vocal with our dissatisfaction before we left the restaurant, but none of our group particularly wanted to make too much fuss on someone...

as a vegetarian I was really looking forward to ordering the patatas bravas and the Spanish omelette as I’ve had these dishes before and really enjoyed them. I was shocked when I learned these two items are not actually vegetarian friendly as they are cooked in the same oil as the meats. Seriously? Potatoes and eggs? Two of the biggest foods vegetarians eat and they aren’t vegetarian here. There were other options on the menu which I had to order instead however I did not enjoy them at all and unfortunately had to waste a lot of it and they certainly weren’t worth almost £8 each. I have a mild dairy intolerance and found a lot of the vegetarian dishes were heavy on dairy. I thought about ordering a vegetable paella instead however the menu stated they were for two people and also there was no option for just vegetable paella. very limited menu for someone who doesn’t eat meat. very disappointed with my visit tonight. to top it off our table order of drinks, half of them never arrived despite asking twice for them and also we were missing a side order of bread which never arrived despite asking twice. one server who I assume was manager was very lovely and apologetic and we were able to resolve the issue with the missing items however from the start my night was already ruined as I really didn’t enjoy my choice of food. I had been raving about this place for a while before visiting and was very much let down and I will not be back unless there is a change in the vegetarian menu. There was a 10% tip included on the bill and my group of 8 all agreed not to pay it as we weren’t overly happy with the experience. I left the place barely eating a thing, wasted £21 and ended up ordering chips from the weather spoons...