As we were in Los Montesinos, we decided to try some of the tostadas in the Square and see which we thought out of the three we’d try, we preferred.
Once again we had a good hour and a quarter to kill, so thought this would be fun to do today.
Our criteria was the same for all of the establishments; we would order the exact same drinks each and a tostada to share, which would be the same from all the places.
What We Had At Each Location
I had a cafe con leche, Soph was ordering herself a te negro and we’d share a tostada con tomate y queso. This was so our tostadas in the Square review was on a like for like basis.
We had decided to go to Bar Charly first, then select the next couple from there.
Bar Charly
We were fortunate to get a table, despite it being 11.30, the place was rammed. There seemed to be just the one server doing table service, however our order was quickly taken.
The coffee and tea came out quite quickly, we both had a biscuit on the saucer with the drinks.
We then waited, and waited, and waited some more before eventually the tostada arrived.
Granted it took ages, but everyone was being served in order, which is the joy of using electronic ordering from a tablet.
The tostada was lovely and fresh, it was nicely presented and there was a knife on the plate, to enable it to be cut. The server also brought to the table olive oil in a bottle, salt and pepper too. On the table there were serviettes in a holder.
This was a very busy bar during the tapas route the previous weekend too.
How Much Did It Cost At Bar Charly
The overall bill was 4.90€
Break down as follows:
Cafe con lech 1.50€
Te Negro 1.40€
Tostada 2.00€
Bar El Encanto
This is to the right of Bar Charly, but up the small pedestrian walkway, on the right. It is literally next door to Bar Esquina. There was one of the four tables outside in use, this customer was just finishing their drink as we sat down. The server came out quickly, took the order and everything was delivered quickly.
The coffee wasn’t as good as at Bar Charly, it was a little coarse in taste, but not unpleasant. I drink a lot of coffee and like a smooth but strong blend. Soph said her tea was good. Here we didn’t get a biscuit.
The tostada was fresh, decent cheese on there and was served with a small tub of the olive oil and a salt sachet, but no knife. There were serviettes on the table too.
How Much Did It Cost At Bar El Encanto
The overall bill was 4.30€
Break down as follows:
Cafe con lech 1.50€
Te Negro 1.30€
Tostada 1.50€
This was the best priced visit today.
Bar Esquina
We seem to have a love hate relationship with this bar, it tends to be more Spanish than the others in the square, which is where we’d rather go for a drink as opposed to the ex-pat bars. But here it is sometimes a struggle just to get served.
While we were next door, we’d seen the server tending to the tables outside, she was bringing drinks out quite frequently. There were a couple of tables available in the sun, so we took one of these and then waited. And we waited some more as did a woman who took the next table and sat and waited. In the end, I suggested to Soph she might need to pop inside to place our order. This is what she did, but she said to me as she came back out, that there were 3 staff stood chattering to a sales rep at the bar and ignoring customers, until you basically had to clear your throat and call out to them.
Drinks were brought out, again the coffee was ok at best. This was probably the least favourite of the three cups I had tried today. It was rougher than the previous place. The drinks came without a biscuit here.
The tostada was ok, this one had the least cheese of all the three we had tried today. There was no olive oil and no knife. There were also no serviettes on the table. Soph asked for olive oil, again it was brought out when she served drinks to a nearby table.
The annoying thing here was the server had walked past us to take tostadas to a table of four and they had olive oil with there food. By the time the little pot of olive oil had arrived with us, I had eaten my half of the tostada, this meant two thirds of the oil was wasted. The lady on the next table, on her own ordered a tostada. She too then had to ask for oil.
How Much Did It Cost At Bar Esquina
The overall bill was 4.80€ here.
Break down as follows:
Cafe con lech 1.50€
Te Negro 1.50€
Tostada 1.80€
Final Thoughts
There’s not a lot of difference really between the offering here. As the saying goes, ‘ location, location, location’ which is why Bar Charly is so popular, as it gets the sun and is protected from the wind tunnel of the side street. Bar El Encanto is based down this side street, so in the heat of the summer months it might be a place to sit out of the sun. Esquina is on the corner ( hence the name ) so you get the best of both worlds.
For me, personally, Bar Charly gets the nod today for the tostadas in the Square. Yes it was quite a long wait, but the service was on point, the fact your tostada was served with a knife on the plate is just one of those little things in life that makes it easy. The fact that you have people waiting to grab a table, says plenty too.
Soph and I find this a fun way to explore new areas or just bars in towns. We have done these several times, including in Dolores and down Avenue de Palacios in Formentera de Segura too.
