El Coso Hotel

The restaurant was filthy when we walked in, with food, wrappers, and all sorts of stuff on the floor. The paella was extremely salty, like drinking seawater, and the service was dreadful. The fact that only three tables were occupied should have been a warning. Avoid this place. I was too busy with my child to take photos of the mess.

This review is only about the restaurant. We went for lunch on December 31 and waited ages for a menu. The staff ignored us, so I eventually got one myself. No one mentioned the Menu del Dia, and we ended up ordering almost the same food but paying more. I overheard a waiter trying to charge the next table the festive menu price, although another waiter had told them the regular menu price. After hearing that, I asked to change our order to the menu option, but they refused. The seafood paella wasn’t good and definitely didn’t seem freshly prepared, possibly reheated or overcooked. I had to keep trying to get the waiter’s attention just to get lemons for it. When the bill arrived, there was an extra charge for bread we hadn’t had. The waiter corrected it right away, which was a plus, but check the bill carefully. It was a very disappointing, overpriced meal with slow, inattentive service. There are much better spots nearby for food and service.

The food was fine, but we didn’t get drink refills, one of our appetizers, the spoons we asked for, or napkins. As tourists, we needed to eat an hour before dinner time because of our early flight. Our first waiter forgot us for about an hour and never brought utensils or napkins. I went to the front of the restaurant to ask for food and explain our situation. She was kind, but had to hand our table over to another server. He took more than an hour to bring an appetizer and our meal, didn’t say a word to us, and seemed to deliberately avoid eye contact. I’d had high hopes for this place. I understand there are cultural differences between there and the US, but being treated with hostility simply because of that wasn’t kind. As someone with a degree in tourism, the experience upset me a lot.

That paella was a revelation, finally one that was genuinely delicious! We were lucky to find a table at this little seaside spot, even with the big Sunday lunch crowd. The food came out quickly, and every dish was nicely balanced. We really enjoyed the Mediterranean cooking and would happily come back. Highly recommend it.