Review of Calle P – by Anna G.

It is hard to decide how to rate this place. I hesitated between a 2 and a 3 but in reality it’s everything from a 5 to a 1. A 5 for the party atmosphere and outside terrace, end of June, just magical. 3-4 for the food which got some real compliments from some of the friends I was with. I took the pasta alle vongole and they were just ok. The portion was a little small for me and the whole thing lacked subtlety - drowned in oil and garlic. But lots of vongole, which was a plus.

Now what leads me to taking this down to a 2... The welcoming from the host/bouncer was mostly an unwelcoming. Although we had booked a table, we were greeted very drily and told to wait outside of the restaurant terrace for almost 15 minutes because our table wasn’t ready. Almost unapologetically! We were told: “you understand, we must clear your table. We don’t want you to sit at a table that isn’t clean.” But it took 15 minutes to clean the table? Beyond the wait, it’s really the attitude. The unwelcoming non-smile. The way of saying “Really? You have a reservation? Let me check… ah yeah. You’ll be so kind to wait out here.”

Then the service! We ordered a bottle of Chablis and waited a good 15 minutes for it, to find out it was from the “storage” and wasn’t cold! So we asked for a replacement and got a bottle that was 80% more expensive than the first one, which we only found out about because we asked… slightly worried at the sight of the mention “Premier Cru” on the label. I asked: “is this bottle not going to be a lot more expensive?” And the waitress said: “no it’s in the same price category. 1200 instead of 750.”
We found another replacement.

The food came after about 40 minutes wait. And at the end, as we ordered the desserts, we had to ask “did we really finish that bottle of wine?” (we had only had one glass each) - the waitress realised she had put our bottle in a cooler behind a counter somewhere and brought it to us. Without a smile or an apology.

So yes, if service and warm welcome is a must for you, this is a 1. If you only care about the cool vibe, it’s a 5. I could be generous and give it a 3 because in the end I did enjoy my evening with friends there. But I still think that this level of service is inexcusable. I won’t be back soon.