Castilla Restaurant and Tapas Bar — Restaurant in Bellevue

This review will be covering just the horrible customer service I experienced here.

I came here with a large party for my friends birthday. I had already ate prior to coming so I was just there to celebrate my friend and I was hoping to get drinks. Since I planned to just kind of keep ordering drinks, I thought it’d be easier if I open my own tab at the bar and just go up there to order whenever I wanted more and pay for all my own drinks instead of having the server run back and forth and adding on to the tables tab when I wasn’t even eating. When the server came around to take our order I told him i wasn’t ordering food and I asked if the bar was open to just take drink orders. The server looked at me and kind of scoffed and asked how old I was. I honestly thought it was a joke because why would I be asking if the bar takes walk ups if I’m not 21? I reply that I am 22 and he again is kind of laughing like he doesn’t believe me, rolls his eyes and asks to see my ID, this throws me off because I am quite literally asking a yes or no question and also haven’t even asked for anything yet but I’m thinking perhaps he needs to verify my age to give a green light to go over there? I’m not sure. So i start digging around my purse for my wallet and after a min he says “to answer your question though, no” honestly this just felt disrespectful at that point because he scoffed at me, laughed in my face, and wasted my time to look for my ID to answer a question that he knew the answer was no? I was honestly really thrown off i’ve never received service like this I wondered if it was the kind of restaurant where the servers are purposely rude for a second. He could’ve simply answered no from the start and I could’ve decided then whether I wanted to order drinks through him or not? He was honestly really rude at first and then stopped once you could tell our table was really unhappy with the service and we couldn’t help but be vocal about how rude he was. I assume since he was receiving automatic gratuity since it was a large table, he couldn’t be bothered to be kind. I’m not a difficult customer who demands extremely friendly customer service and a smile always on their face and a high pitched voice like he’s happy to be there or anything, I just expect to not be treated rudely at the very least! From what my friends said, the food was pretty alright just the meat was lacking flavor a bit. But yeah 0/10 for service seems if gratuity is already a given there’s no need to be nice. Server was an older gentleman with a head of grey hair and wore glasses. I would come back to give it another try, but I would not let this...

As someone who grew up in Spain I was hoping to find a good paella away from home but unfortunately the rabbit paella we ordered ($64, $32 per person) was not that.

The minimum qualification for a good paella is that the rice has to be "suelto", not mushy but not undercooked either. Similar to what italians call "al dente", but with a bit less bite than that.

Our paella's rice was so overly wet to the point that even the socarrat had turned mushy without any semblance of crispiness in sight, not to mention the rest of the rice and veggies which had virtually turned into a paste. The rabbit in the paella was overcooked and dry, with a noticeable gaminess that I think was enhanced from it being prepared as two whole rabbit legs, instead of being cut into chunks (troceado) that a usual paella has.

The tortilla ($12) we got was okay, although I would have preferred the egg to be a bit runnier instead of 100% solidly cooked as we got it.

The tomato from our pan tomaca ($5, +$7 for some jamón) had clearly just been taken out of the coldest part of their fridge, because I got a brain freeze from my teeth touching it even though it was sitting on top of a warm toast. The jamón that came with it was salty and not much more, but I get that good jamón is expensive in the US due to meat product import regulations.

The chorizo and caramelized onion empanadas ($14) we got were okay as well, although the chorizo filling did not taste like chorizo from home (a gripe I have with all chorizo found in the US to be honest), and it was also missing the sweet intensity that you would expect from really caramelized onions.

All in all the food was "meh" especially for the price, especially considering we paid $65 per person after taxes and tips. The only highlights of the dinner were the excellent service and the cool interior decor. Our server was attentive and thoughtful, he even filled our water bottle without us asking. He also brought takeout boxes when he noticed we weren't making any progress on the paella.

Unfortunately the basis of a good restaurant lies in its food quality, good service can only bring up a review...

We were regulars here when it first opened—lucky if 8 tables were full but they were onto something. The food was different, well prepared, and the service excellent. Our last two meals have been beyond disappointing. Castilla has turned into a cruise ship—their success with the masses has resulted in a mediocre product and a “don’t care” attitude. My “fall off the bone”(server’s words) lamb shank was rock hard with no sauce and lacking seasoning. My wife’s rabbit also bland. But the strangest thing was what occurred when my wife got her second glass of wine. The bartender, who had been our initial server, brought over a sherry glass with another wine and said it was one of their finer Spanish reds. Since my wife had just received another glass of the first wine she ordered, I was a bit miffed and asked the bartender what he would do if my wife preferred the wine he had just brought. “If she likes it, I’ll buy her a glass” he said. My wife tasted and preferred the wine he’d brought but the bartender had lost interest. Since she was in the middle of her meal, I got up and told the bartender she indeed liked the wine he’d brought and we were taking him up on his offer. “Oh, I was just kidding” he said. He seriously did not offer to replace the wine after his earlier promise. The whole thing was just wrong: why bring a taste of another wine AFTER you’ve just delivered another one? And then why take back the promise? The manager was non-responsive with a shrugged shoulder look. The server took 10% off our meal which we asked not be done—it was just an insult at this point but the adjustment had already “gone into the system” in her words. I remember buying Croquettes to take home and speaking with the owner who it was clear cared so much about the quality of her product. Surely she knows that her success is taking a toll on her integrity. After being a regular since they opened, we will...