Quitapenas in Malaga port April 2014 'Una Desastre'

by Morris Bishop
(San Pedro de Alcantara)

We were so looking forward to a nice supper and an evening at Teatro Cervantes to see a performance of Beethoven 9, followed by Carmina Burana. It was just as well that we had left plenty of contingency time for the journey, however we had not allowed for the chaos that the un-signposted diversion in the middle of Malaga was to cause, due to the construction of the new Metro. Having got lost, It added over 40 minutes to our journey so that we arrived at Quitapinas at 7 o,clock, which was the time we had booked for, leaving us about 75 minutes for our supper.

The restaurant was empty and we asked the waitress if she could organize a light meal for us quickly, and we made it clear that we had to depart by 8:15, However, she said the chef wont arrive until 8 o’clock, but, she said, we can do some of these dishes, pointing to about a dozen on the picture menu.

So we gave her the order for food and were served some breaded prawns as a nibble with our drinks. Then other diners started to arrive, and as she was effectively the only waitress. serving, so inevitably after some time, we had to ask when our food was coming. Then it started arriving at our table in dribs and drabs. The breaded prawns, Clams, fresh prawns, and the salad were quite good, but the rest of the dishes were less that palatable.
To be fair to our waitress she was trying her best, but she became overwhelmed by events, and we eventually had to leave for the theater.

I was somewhat bemused at Offerplan (an offshoot of SUR) putting together this restaurant with the Cervantes tickets as a package, particularly as it was not walking distance between restaurant and theater. There are a multitude of restaurants and Tapas bars in the immediate area of Cervantes that, I would suggest Offerplan should investigate, should they wish to repeat this type of package

It was also a great shame that Cervantes was only about half full, due to the coincidence with the Easter festivities It seemed that the whole of Malaga was on the streets!
We all felt for the Ukrainian State symphony orchestra and Choir not having a full house to play to on top of all their other worries at home. At least the music was beautiful

I decline to give any BISHLIN marks as I have no experience of what a ‘proper’ meal would be like at Quitapenas
P.S.
I have subsequently learned that the performers were not the State Orchestra and Choir but a replacement due to the crisis
In the Ukraine. If this were widely known, then this may well have been a contributory factor to the poor attendance