Javier Soria

I will not go back.

We were looking for a place for lunch in el Barrio del Carmen in Valencia and a local guy recommended this place: Casa Paquito. You could find “menu del dia” –lunch set— for 8 or 9 € in nearby bars, not that good I guess…this place was 12 € (50% more expensive), so I was expecting a good service. The wine, I must say, was good, the food average. Then, they charged me extra for “gaseosa” –a fizzy sugary drink we commonly mix with wine in Spain—. Well, you might think, this is how they do it at this place: fair enough, very uncommon though, first time ever to happen to me in Spain, especially when you already pay 50% higher than in other places. Then, I asked for a glass of water and they brought me a bottle, obviously, just to charge. Never mind, except for the waitress insisting I had ordered a bottle. The menu “del dia” included one drink per person and we were two, so I asked them why I was being charged for the water and “gasesosa”. The answer basically consisted in a threat to charge for the wine, which obviously comes with the “menu del dia”.

I paid and left. It was only 4 extra € but it was unfair. I forgot to mention that my wife is Asian, we communicate in English and, eventually, people in Spain think I am foreigner. I however grew up in Spain where my family had a restaurant very similar to this one. I therefore know how things work and this was just not right.

Each menu includes a drink, but it seems that if you go to this place and are more than one person, you have to sit at different tables and order your own drink, bottle of wine or whatever, and then you can move together. My wife did not drink wine and me less than a quarter of a bottle. Nevertheless, I can guarantee that you all do not have to drink wine in Spain. One can have wine and another companion at the table can have beer, lemonade or whatever.

This place just took advantage of us.