Cafe del Mar is the large and impressive facility down below the National Aquarium, not to be confused with the cafeteria at street level. This very large, crescent-shaped venue comes complete with adjacent infinity pool, open sea views, loads of space and light, pleasing modern decor and open kitchens.

We have had several meals there which to date were always very satisfactory and which very easily surpassed our lunch there this Sunday. This is an informal style venue which does not attempt to position itself above a smart and trendy casual establishment, however up until this episode we were always very pleased with the outcome.

We were five adults and two young children at table and the children had your standard chicken nuggets and chips and fish fingers and chips, which were both fine. For starters four of us had octopus carpaccio which was tasty, nicely prepared, accompanied by fresh ruccola, cherry tomatoes, orange and capers, all very nicely seasoned. Also a pizza dough focaccia which was also very acceptable and impressively copious.

The main courses on the other hand could have been of a better standard than we encountered this time round. I had a tuna steak which was served very rare as requested and which proved to be very pleasant. It was of good quality and also nicely flavoured on the exterior. Two at our table had pan-fried fillets of sea bass which were rather disappointing, as they were exceptionally thin, overcooked, dryish and perhaps not particularly fresh. The other two had grilled prawn salads which were fairly adequate although they lacked flavour and zest and the prawns were seemingly not grilled at all.

Two at our table tried their luck with desserts and selected from the long list of coupes which were the only option on offer. Although initially the choice sounded quite grand, it turned out that they were all very similar home-made desserts with similar tastes and consistencies, all served in the same coupe fashion, save for slightly varying combinations of these components.
They also proved to be far too sweet, rather heavy and slightly stodgy.

On the other hand we were very pleased to see that the service has remained very much on the high side and we were served throughout by a very pleasant and accommodating young woman, at times assisted by her manager. This in spite of the fact that the restaurant was very busy and there were very few staff around. Despite this we were very well served and at no stage of the meal were waiting times too lengthy.

Also we first ordered a bottle of French syrah wine and were accidentally served an Argentinian syrah instead. However as testament of the waitress’s good manners and concern, she apologised over and over again, in spite of our repeated assurance that we had realised it was simply a genuine mistake.

On our way out. and after having received yet another apology from the waitress, the Manager also expressed his concern to us regarding the overall service. He kindly took the initiative of excusing them for perhaps not offering their normal standard of service, due to an unexpected shortage of staff that day. I assured him that this was not at all the case and that the service was actually pretty good. By then the two kids were restless, agitated and tired, so it was much more timely to leave it at that and to head home.

In different circumstances I would definitely have taken the time and the trouble to explain to this very helpful and well-meaning gentleman that the problem did not lie in the service, but in certain of the dishes being a little bit off their normal mark. I do hope that this will not be a lasting trend here and that some attention will be afforded towards regaining an overall higher level of cuisine. We always enjoyed going to Cafe del Mar especially as it opens for lunch when you can appreciate the magnificent vista, while always being served by efficient and cheerful staff.