L'albufera@Melia White House

What can I say, but outstanding!!!!

The best food we have ever tasted!

Superb atmosphere in pleasant, relaxed surrounding.

Service- excellent.

10 out of 10 !!!

We will definitely return.
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Mrs D Blackham
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, February 13, 2008

General impression was of a pleasant and comfortable restaurant with absent-minded service, overpriced and not successfully being either Spanish or British. I asked for manzanilla (e.g. La Gitana) for an aperitif but was told it was Tio Pepe or nothing. Hardly the choice expected from a Spanish Restaurant. The two finos ordered came to £13.75 for two pathetic 75 ml measures. Does anywhere else sell wine in such measures. About 800% markup I estimate.

Other wines were more comfortable priced.

The lobster and cuttlefish paella was off. Couldn't get lobster apparently. But why wait until we order to tell us? After all, this is probably their best known dish.

The Tapas (or Tapa's according to the menu) were tasty, if pricy.

Main courses come without vegetables - not something I've come across in Spain and three of the four were very tasty. The sucking pig was resembled a flattened, dried-out piece of belly pork.

Maybe it was a bad night but I wouldn't repeat the visit.
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J P Howes
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The sixth meeting of the Unofficial Dining Society chose l'Albufera as a late replacement due to the orignal reservation at an alternative venue being unconfirmed and then lost.

The 30% off food offer made it appealing and also the ability to gain a reservation at short notice. Little was known about the place and overpriced Tapas was expected. From the outside the place almost looks like an art deco apartment building/hotel however it was a pleasant suprise indeed. I started with the goats cheese and fois gras starter, beautifully presented on a large white plate (which made it look small.) It was however delightfully rich and the portion just right. There then followed a scallop and pork belly main. The scallops nicely seared just right, slightly cripy on the cooked sides while maintaining size and moisture and the four pieces of pork belly looking slightly like frazzles to accompany it. I'd suggest that this was a little small for a main dish, but as one course of a full meal was just about adequate. The quality was excellent and the accompanying mixed veg were delightfully al dente. (Some may consider them undercooked, however I'd contest that they were just right and overcooked softness would have been criminal).

There then followed a truly spectacular cheese plate, selected from the cheese cart(?). It's a bit like a cheese trolley, but much larger with a fascinating selection. One word of warning, our original table was located beside it and though impressive, pungent describes it well and we requested a move away from it by a few tables which the staff happily obliged.

I finished with a chocolate truffle with chocolate orange ice cream dessert which was the highlight of the meal. One of the best dessert's I've had in a while and I'd almost go back just for that.

A few members were less fortunate than I as two selected the suckling pig, one of which contained many small bones, (apparently it's supposed to... or so we were advised...) and the other was cold. A piping hot one was returned when asked though the vegetables were strangely absent. Also the special desert that requires 15 minutes to prepare (pre-order on the menu) was probably not worth the wait.

The wine was excellent. We chose reasonably priced red and white rioja's to complement the meal and they were both great. All in it was £55/head for three courses with aperitifs, wine, water, service and the cheese plate. For the quality of food, it was certainly considered a bargain.

In summary, this could be another anoymous hotel restaurant and I'm delighted to say that it's anything but. A fine menu with exquisite ingredients beautifully presented; (Though I didn't get to taste the suckling pig, it looked pretty good, despite the temperature and the bones.) All for a reasonable price. I don't think I've eaten this well for this much in a long time. Without the 30% discount it would have been £70/head, which was also worthwhile. At £100/head we probably would have left satsified, (though hopefully this will not be read and considered by anyone who would make such a decision. £55 is just fine!)
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AB - Founder Member UDS
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Thursday, December 14, 2006

Its one of those "grand hotel" type places with people

rushing about with luggage. A uniformed flunkey opened the taxi door

when we arrived and I was glad I had got all Paul Smithed up, although

a lot of the tourist guests were casually dressed. We went to the bar

where they had live south american music and loads of attentive staff,

two gin and tonics with all the trimmimgs, (including hot towels!)

served by a nice waiter from Madrid came to 22 of your english pounds.

We had read the restaurant would be empty at 7.30 because most of the

diners are spanish, but there were enough japanese and american

tourists in to make an atmosphere (by the time we left the local well

cuban heeled spanish had started to arrive).

They bring a cava trolley of all different types to have by the glass

(rather nice) I had rosado something or other.

The menu has a tapas course, so you get an excuse to have extra nice

things.

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mixed croquettas

giant peas and ham, dressed with mint

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(the chef has some technique by which he deconstructs peas and makes

giant ones that still taste like peas, wizard wheeze!) they call them

"supersized" on the bill.

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poached eggs with saffron mash

foie gras topped with a mousse of goats cheese with caramalised apple (salamandered to create a wonderful crunchy contrast to the foie)

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suckling pig (the scallop and some sort of meat was "off")

sea bass with delicate morcilla parcel

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extensive spanish cheese trolley and port

change from £200 for two. Wines expensive but good. I had a Priorata.
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Carol and Mike - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Sunday, November 26, 2006

To say that this restaurant was a big disappointment would be an understatement.

Having read reviews on the net before booking I thought it would be the perfect venue to take my girlfriend for her birthday.

One was greeted and served by staff who could barely speak English, which isnt a problem seeing as we were dining in a spanish restaurant, but service without at least a courtesy smile is inexcuseable and one was left to hang an expensive suit jacket on the back of my chair with no offer of a cloakroom.

Getting to the food, the staff made no attempt to advise or promote any dishes and simply put a menu in front of our faces and left us to get on with it.

The food arrived quickly and was quite tastey, however, we were advised to have side orders of Veg...... £5.50 for a small bowl of microwaved veg, consisting of one piece of brocoli, one piece of coliflower and a few asparagus tips is not my idea of value for money. It only took us 5 minutes to eat the small portions of food we recieved, then waited over 15 minutes for our finished plates to be removed from in front of us.

Needless to say we didnt stick around for deserts, and the bill came to over £50.00 for just two main courses and a bottle of water to share.A £6.50 service charge for someone to put down and clear up one plate each seemed unreasonable.

I left the restaurant feeling we had been looked down upon being a young couple, little did they know that my partner and I are both lovers of fine dining and always leave reviews so that others are made aware of good and bad points. In all honesty, I coulnt find anything good to say on this occassion. Book with caution.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Monday, November 13, 2006

My boyfriend and I went here on a Friday evening. We arrived at 7.30pm and were the first people in the restaurant. (Not all that surprising seen as most European restaurants do not fill up until later in the evening). The Cava trolley was wheeled over to us as we sat down. As we were not familiar with Cava we asked the waiter to help us with our choice. The Cava he chose fitted exactly our description.

We had tapa's to start. Their prized Serrano ham was delighful. The chorizo delicious and the prawns with tails also very nice.

As we are not overly familiar with Spanish wines so we again asked the wine server to help us choose. From our description he again matched exactly what we had asked for. The wine was superb - we drank a Casa Castillo, Monastrel Jumilla.

For our main dishes we had the fillet steak with an amazingly rich herby crust, and the scallops with port belly. The steak was one of the best we have had in a long time, beautiful cut of meat cooked medium-rare just as we had asked. The scallops were fresh and delicious and the pork belly melt in the mouth. The table beside us were having lobster paella which was being served carefully and with great skill at the table. It was wonderful to watch.

The dessert menu looked delicious - but neither of us felt very hungry. So we decieded to share a cheeses selection. By cheese's I mean a whole delicatissean trolley was wheeled to our table. The range was fantastic - and the waiter gaves us descriptions of each that we pointed to. He cut the cheeses in front of us with great care. Again the presentation was lovely.

By the time we left, the restaurant was beginning to fill - mainly with European accents. I would highly recommend this restaurant. The food and service excellent.
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S Holmes
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Thursday, September 21, 2006

We had a delicious dinner (my husband duck, my son and i fish) but didn`t enjoyed this evening (atmosphere).

The other restaurant of the Melia White House (the Place) was more relaxed (very good food too).

So we decided to eat one time in the L´albufera and seven times in the `Place`.
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Angelika Wienert
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 9
Thursday, July 06, 2006