Mar I Terra (Waterloo)

I was looking forward to trying this restaurant, having passed it every morning on my way to work for the past three years. I wanted to enjoy it, but I have to say it disappointed. At the outset, the greeting was hostile from an English gentleman behind the bar (he may have been the proprietor…?) who appeared to take umbrage when I mentioned we’d booked a table for two. He curtly informed us that wasn’t possible, because they didn’t take bookings for such a small number. Even though I’d physically walked into his wretched little restaurant an hour or so before and was told by one of the waiters that we could have a table for two for later that evening. Well apologies if I construed this to be a reservation. So, not a great way to start an evening, and in stark contrast to the friendly welcome we’d received beforehand from the proprietor of the Blackfriars Wine Bar just over the road.

We then had difficulties ordering food, because our waiter had little command of the English language. Yes, by all means let’s build up the Spanish authenticity, but I didn’t much appreciate having to dust off my schoolboy Spanish to explain that we wanted our sherry and almonds as an aperitif, before the main dishes arrived.

As for the food, we ordered mainly vegetable tapas, and these were excellent. Our only meat dish, beef stifado was less so, with the meat tasting old, giving the impression that it had been pre-cooked much too far in advance and then microwaved (emphasised by the dish being only lukewarm in the middle).

The final nonsense came when I asked to pay the bill with a credit card. The restaurant throws in an automatic 12.5% gratuity (tut, tut…), but I was asked by the waiter if I’d mind paying for just the food and drink on my card, while leaving the 12.5% gratuity as a cash tip. Whooaaa, what’s going on here guys? I suggested to the waiter that if I was required to pay the gratuity in cash, then it should be me who decides how much, rather than just stumping up the restaurant’s pre-determined 12.5% rate. Frankly the service wasn’t anywhere near worth that. But the waiter didn’t understand, and in the end (presumably much to his chagrin), I lost patience and instructed him to charge everything to my credit card. I have never come across this before, but perhaps I could suggest that to avoid any bad feelings in the future, if the restaurant policy is for tips to be paid in cash, then for god’s sake, just don’t whack on the automatic 12.5%, but leave it to the discretion of your customers.

All in all, I really wanted to like this place. But I won’t be in any rush to return. OK food, but let down by a hostile ambience.
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3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Friday, March 09, 2012

Oh dear ready to give a pretty positive review when the bill lands with a bottle we did not have charged on and two glasses of wine at a higher price than we had.

Explained the mistake and the waitress took the bottle off the bill after a bit of chat but i was still trying to explain the overcharge on the 2 glasses of red. The manager i presume then seemed to get heated and sent the waitress over to explain that the wine we ordered had gone up in price/or had changed since the menu was printed. I said fair enough but i will pay the amount you have stated in the menu. That is when it all got a bit sour.

The manager then wanted to stand firm and annoy us, charge the higher amount and has succeeded in getting me to post a negative review and tell others not to go to this place. I get the feeling this place is adequate if the manager does not kick off but i would not take the risk again.
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Paul
5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Monday, November 14, 2011

I've been eating at Mar I Terra for well over 10 years and am very sorry to read that some people have had such negative experiences. I had lunch there today and the quality was excellent as usual, with helpful and friendly staff (including the manager !). I've taken quite large groups there and we've always had great service and food, so I'm hoping this review will redress the balance a bit !
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Helena
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Thursday, August 04, 2011

We decided to go here after having a drink at the wine bar next door. Shortly before going in, we saw a group of 8 or so people go into the restaurant and then swiftly leave looking confused. One of our group (we were 4 thirty-something women) went on ahead to see if there was a table free. She also left looking confused. Turned out that the manager was refusing to serve us on the basis of us 'having spent all afternoon drinking next door' - we had in fact just gone for a post-work drink that had lasted one hour and consisted of one bottle of wine between us. Although she said he had shouted at her, it sounded so irrational that we weren't sure if he was joking or not. So another one of our group went inside to double-check. We were again informed that he didn't serve people who had spent their time drinking wine in bar next door; especially people who had the nerve to turn up for food at 9pm - slightly contradictory of a Spanish tapas bar......
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, July 29, 2011

I went to this restaurant recently. It started nicely enough. The waiters are Spanish, English not great and rather confused service, but the food was generally fine.

However, when it came to pay the bill , it was a whole different story. The waitress asked us to pay the tip separately in cash as otherwise they wouldn't see it. No problem.

We then handed over a tenner to be changed so that we could leave an appropriate tip - they took the money away and gave us back £1. Not what we asked them to do. We could have forgiven the misunderstanding if it was a language problem, but when we queried, instead of returning the money so we could choose what to tip, apologising or querying what was wrong, the manager just got incredibly aggressive, went into meltdown, shouted at us at the top of his voice in front of the whole restaurant ( we were completely calm).

I have gone to hundreds of restaurants over the last 15 years in London, and have never, ever had such disgusting treatment . It was aggressive & threatening behaviour and shocking. Christ only knows what he's like with the staff.

We won't be back and will tell everyone we know to avoid this place at all costs.
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jimmy
2 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, June 18, 2011

This place has really gone down the pan. We used to come here when we lived close by a couple of years ago but when we dropped in recently we had a less than luke warm experience.

Staff didn't have a clue about the wine, even though it was Spanish wine and couldn't even tell us what grape it was, but were pleasant enough when they weren't hovering over you waiting for you to finish and talking about you in Spanish! The food used to be some of the best tapas in London but now it's pretty average and seems like you're being served up luke warm left overs that have been sitting there all night. Having said that the Gambas were hot and sizzling when they came out which made up for tasteless tapas.

We decided not to tip gratuity - afterall it is optional - which resulted in an agressive interrogation by the owner from behind the bar as to why we were not tipping before he abruptly asked us to leave. Very unpleasant chap and an unpleasant end to the evening! To be avoided!
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2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Saturday, March 12, 2011

This place always inspires polemic reviews, I have personally loved and hated it over the years, but feel that the bad is now outweighing the good.

I can confirm that over 30+ visits, I have found a phantom bottle of wine on the bill on more than one occasion. Funny that it has never happened anywhere else I've ever been.

The manager is both nice and horrible, it depends on his mood.

They do serve horrible bland bread, and they do charge you for it. Some of the dishes are very nice - the calamari are usually good as are the chicken livers. Some are terrible.

My latest visit was the usual mix of nice waiters, moody manager, some good food and some bad, but when the bill came to £98 for two: more than a recent trip to Bocca di Lupo (which is on another planet of quality), I decided to call it a day.

Oh and just to confirm, if you pay on card the waiters wont get the tip. If you put cash in the waiter's hand, they will get it.

I hope this is useful.
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Rob
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Friday, February 25, 2011

Six of us had a very enjoyable meal here on Saturday evening. The food - tapas - was tasty served by friendly and attentive staff who didn't mind being spoken to in my appalling Spanish.

The surrounds were a little cramped and the 20 or so dishes we ordered were all served at once giving the impression they wanted us to eat and leave.

The rioja was very good and the vino blanco di casa acceptable. Beer was expensive at £3.50 for a small bottle.

They cheekily added 12.5% service without asking and the manager got a little bit shirty when we refused to pay it. Do staff get this "tip" or does it go to the management?
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kelvin
5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Monday, January 17, 2011

I went on a busy night with a large group, so we had the set menu. From the first bite of the stale bread I realised this would not best the best tapas I've ever had and my expectations were met. Staff were attentive and the wine was nice, but the food was very average. I could definitely rustle up better tapas myself at home. There are MUCH better tapas restaurants in London with high quality ingredients for only a marginally higher cost. And the manager seemed fine to me.
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Christina
5 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Monday, December 13, 2010

This is a very authentic place - particularly if you remember Spain under Franco. The staff are nice, the food is good - but the manager is rude, arrogant, disinterested and unpleasant. Some people might think that that's a small price to pay for a bit of old pulpo and some quite nice gambas. I don't. Take your custom elsewhere.
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Esteban
3 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Saturday, November 06, 2010