El Castillo - Tapas Restaurant — Restaurant in Great Britain

Visited recently and was disappointed with both the food quality and value for money.

Starter - Olives (£4): The menu simply listed "olives" but these were heavily garlic-marinated, which wasn't mentioned. While I understand that olives are somtimes combined with garlic, it would be helpful to specify this on the menu as it significantly changes the flavour profile from standard olives.

Main - Seafood Paella (£16.50 each): This was the main disappointment. The rice was mushy and sticky rather than having the proper al dente paella texture. The seafood distribution was very uneven - my dish had one prawn and four mussels, while my wife's had several prawns but only one mussel, suggesting it was simply scooped canteen-style from a large container without attention to consistent portioning and with little seafood content. For £16.50, I'd expect much more generous seafood portions and better preparation. The paella also lacked flavour and seemed like it had been sitting for some time rather than cooked to order.

Overall, the meal didn't represent good value for money, particularly at these price points. Maybe I caught them on a bad day but the quality and portion sizes didn't meet our expectations for a tapas restaurant in this...

Came as a party of 6, three of whom are vegan. Waiting staff were not forthcoming with suggestions on quantities/portion sizes which I feel is helpful when ordering tapas, leaving us to work it out for ourselves. They had not experienced the food themselves and so struggled to answer our questions. I ordered the hummus from the starter which came with very undercooked bread, though the hummus was very nice. I then had the patatas bravas which was listed as vegan, in spite of the garlic aioli, which turned out not to be the case. I also ordered the aubergine fritters which was also listed as vegan in spite of the honey dressing, but was able to come without. These were very unpleasant, unappetising and left me feeling unwell after a couple perhaps from the quantity of oiler batter. 3 of us had ordered these and they would have been much more suitable to share. I feel this is where experienced staff who take an interest in their food would have been able to make valuable suggestions. Overall disappointed, particularly as their vegan options were not vegan at all, without the phrase 'can be made vegan' it...

In Bishop Auckland due to change of plans and immediately built in a visit to this restaurant due to my love of this type of food and opportunity to try a few different dishes. I ordered mushrooms on crostini, Shetland mussels in gin and tomato sauce and poached salmon and chive fritter with two aioli’s A little disappointed that the mushrooms came first and were finished before anything else came out, I wanted everything to just flow out in quick succession. The only thing to say about the mushrooms was they were alright, and too salty. Next the mussels followed quite quickly by the croquettes. I had Shetland mussels the day before in a restaurant in Seaham, and last year in Shetland itself. On these two occasions they were magnificent. Today however not so good, and a number of them remained closed. The poached salmon and chive croquettes with two aiolis sounded great on the menu, however were about the blandest tasting they could possibly have been. Really hoped for more but did not deliver...