After a nice visit to the area just last week where we visited here and the establishment across the road, we said at the time we would return to both places to try out their lunches, so we chose the Vistabella menu del dia as the first return visit.
So, the same as last week, we parked up in the car park, entered through the same door, said hi to the staff as we headed out to the terrace. The female server at the bar was slicing some iberico ham which was being put on the plate with crisps, as a tapa. Very nice I thought!
On the terrace, as we were seated, a couple across from us had their drinks brought out and the plate of ham and crisps as a complimentary tapa. I was pleased last week with the plate of peanuts we received, but this looked a step up for sure.
A guy comes across, takes our drinks order (which I ordered in Spanish) for a tanque of Radler for me and a Coke for Soph, and he goes back inside. Soph and I are sat chatting away, and a couple of minutes later, he is back with our drinks, a table covering and menus. No tapas, though……
Anyway, we decided to order the menu del dia, which he took the order and wandered off. I thought, he had his hands full bringing the drinks, menus etc, so must have forgot the tapas, it will be on its way… Nope!
A couple of Spanish workers arrived while we were eating and ordered drinks, which we brought out with the serrano ham and crisps tapas. They then ordered a couple of tapa dishes to have for lunch. Anyway, while we were waiting for our desserts to arrive, a couple of English women came and sat on the terrace, ordered drinks, and the server brought them their bottle of wine, a couple of glasses, and yes, you guessed it, the free tapa of serrano ham and crisps.
Do you see where I am going here with this?
This Is A WTF Moment For Me
There are few things that actually still annoy me living out here, but this really is one of those things. Treat everyone the same if you are taking money off paying customers.
This was one of the things I really loved about living down in Granada, everybody was friendly, spoke to everyone and everyone got treated the same when ordering a drink, ie EVERYBODY GOT THE TAPAS with their drinks order. In my minds eye, picking and choosing who you deem worthy of giving this to, stinks.
Is my money not as good as the other three couples on the same terrace at the same time?
Anyway, I digress slightly here, so let’s get back to looking at the Vistabella menu del dia.
Starters.
We both had a small salad brought out, which was fine. It was fresh and enjoyable. You could tell how fresh it was because the grated carrots smelled so fresh, as though just grated in the 5 minutes before it was served.
There was a small basket of bread brought out, but nothing with it. I’d noticed the couple on the table who had their dog with them ( they were the first to get tapas), had aioli and tomato brought out with their bread, so we assumed they had forgotten ours. So, as one of the staff was passing, we asked for the alioli and tomato, which were quickly brought out.
First Course.
I went for the Guiso de patatas con marisco, which was very enjoyable. There was depths of flavour to this dish, there was a couple of large prawns and some small pieces of fish. I thought I had a mussel too, but it was just an empty shell.
Soph had gone with the pasta with salmon sauce and I think it is fair to say she was underwhelmed. The portion was generous, but it was bland, unlike my stew which had flavour.
Main Course.
My first instinct was the chicken breast delight, as I presume it would be cooked on the grill, but instead I chose the tuna, as did Soph. My reason here was we had been blown away by the tuna last Friday at Ginos that I wanted to see if there was any comparison here.
The tuna came with chips and the chips were very nice, they were salted and cooked just right. The tuna had a nice garlic and parsley dressing, which added to the flavour, but I did find a couple of little bones in mine.
Desserts.
I was going to go for a coffee, but heard mention of almond cake, so chose that. After really enjoying a delicious almond cake at Anitas in Catral, I once again wanted to compare these dishes. Soph went with the . Both desserts were okay, neither stood out as being anything special.
What Did It Cost
So this is where it gets interesting. The Vistabella menu del dia is advertised at €12 per head, so even with my maths, that should be €24. Yes, I originally ordered a tanque ( large beer, in other words ) and a menu del dia at most places, which comes with a small beer included, so what these places do is charge me the difference for the other half. So I thought, in the worst case, a large beer is €4, so the half would be an extra €2 on the bill. Thus, €24 + €2 should equal €26.
Oh no, not in this case; I was charged for the tanque at the full price of €3. So this means that despite me supposed to get a drink with my lunch, I never got one. There was also an additional item on the bill of €2 for ‘Entrantes’, which we can only presume is for the aioli and tomato. Again, I am struggling to think back to any place we have eaten at where you get charged for aioli and tomato to go with the bread, but hey ho.
So the final bill was €29. Soph had a twenty and a ten euro note in her hand as soon as I had asked for the bill, as we thought it would be €24 or €26. So when the bill arrived at €29, she passed him the €30 and that was it, there was no indication or movement to give back the change. Yes, I know it was just one euro, but it is principal.
So combine this with the lack of tapas for us, yet all the others on the terrace received theirs and the overcharging for the drink, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Would We Return?
Not in a rush, at all in total honesty. As I keep saying to family and friends, there are too many good places out here I want to return to plus dozens and dozens on our sheet of eateries we want to explore and visit.
The sad thing is, if a restaurant or bar is doing good food, the worst thing they can do is short change customers.
Their address is Calle Azahar 2, 03310 Vistabella (Jacarilla) Alicante, and their phone number is 623 36 83 47. They are also on Facebook.
