Seville – La Cueva

Bev and Andrew had chosen this restaurant as they liked its general ambience. We checked the reviews and to be honest, they weren’t the best, but we decided that we’d book a table anyway because the dining environment looked comfortable and welcoming.

There’s an indoor terrace area, as well as extensive external seating.

Warming up.

OK, the bread roll wasn’t a very good starting point. Ideally there would have been a side plate available, but of more important, it was still very slightly frozen in the middle. The restaurant doesn’t really need to use frozen rolls, it was a rather clumsy short cut I thought.

Andrew and Clive getting ready for their meals.

Sarah and Clive shared a paella, which looked colourful and interesting.

Andrew ordered some interesting dishes this week, and this one was no exception.

The paella which Bev and I shared. Again, nicely presented and the portion size between us was perfectly adequate. There were a range of ingredients which meant a variety of textures, with the seafood all tasting of a good quality. I’m not entirely sure how fresh the seafood was, and perhaps it was brought in frozen, but it met our expectations.

What exceeded our expectations was the friendliness of the service. The restaurant has received a fair number of poor reviews relating to the service, and it’s just perhaps the size of the venue means that it must be hard to provide an attentive service. The staff member that served our table was though pro-active, friendly and he made a real effort to engage with us.

Here’s Bev enjoying her paella.

No-one can deny that Bev is a classy lady.

Sarah talking to the parrot. I had thought that there was a child in another room, but Sarah mentioned that this parrot was happily talking away. This photo was taken before Bev noticed it, and Bev was able to tell us that it was a young parrot in training. I have no idea how she knows that….

Anyway, Bev shouted “hola” at the bird hundreds of times, which was a real delight for the whole restaurant to hear. Eventually Bev came back to her meal, whilst occasionally shouting to the bird in the other room. The staff covered the bird up, in an attempt to prevent it from becoming exhausted, but Bev went to stick her head under the cover to wish the bird goodnight.

Overall, this was a perfectly reasonable meal, with a pleasant dining environment and a polite and friendly service.