Hotel El Hidalgo

A calm spot for coffee when you’re driving this road. There’s no table service, but the bar service is fairly quick, and you can park where you can keep an eye on your car, which can be a real plus. The restrooms were clean and had plenty of hand sanitizer and toilet paper. Sometimes that little detail deserves a mention.

The bread and soup were good, and the service was good too. But I really didn’t like the potatoes, they were oily and mushy. The artichokes tasted like they came from a can.

The food was good, though a little pricey. You can eat cheaply if you go for a sandwich. The menu is limited, but suitable for a modern café, and it’s expanded since earlier reviews: sandwiches, combination plates with fried eggs or salad, salmorejo, and Manchego-style ratatouille. Service was friendly and efficient. You order drinks at the bar, while our sandwiches and combination plates arrived quickly. The location is handy, right beside the highway, with no other establishment for quite some distance. There’s shade for cars, and you can see the road from the café. The place looks dated, with the 1960s-70s decor from when the hotel-restaurant was founded. The bathroom worked and I didn’t see any dirt, but the white walls, ochre-brown tones, and weak yellow lighting don’t give an especially clean impression.

The sandwiches at this hotel in Valdepeñas are amazing. It’s a simple, quick stop, maybe because the selection is a bit limited. Easy parking and fast service also make it a good place to stop for fuel.