Matching offers found in other, perhaps less inviting, restaurants on the wider patch of Playa Torviscas and Playa la Pinta, Blue Marlin offers tapas for two people for just 19.50 Euros. Unfortunately, the quality is nowhere near as good as some of the other restaurants in the area, such as Meson Mediterraneo or the more expensive but ambient, castle-like Bistro del Mar.
Restaurante Blue Marlin – Poor Tapas
Included in the tapas menu is chorizo (helpfully described as ‘red sausage’), typical Spanish tortilla and freshly baked sardines. All three of these dishes are delicious and would be worth ordering on their own. It’s the other tapas dishes that let the meal down.
The chefs seem to boil the chicken rather than choosing a more flavoursome alternative method, and as a result, it is flavourless. As are the battered calamares (squid) and mussels, which are also chewy and overcooked. Garlic is very much the theme for the rest of the tapas menu – garlic prawns, garlic mushrooms, vegetables and garlic, and garlic bread with tomato. Garlic, is of course a Mediterranean favourite, but it’s unfortunate that it’s the garlic that gives these dishes their flavour rather than distinguishing culinary skills and a determinate use of seasoning.
To complete the tapas line-up are meatballs in sauce, which one British diner frankly described as “tasting like Bisto gravy”, and pasta carbonara – normally considered to be very much an Italian dish, of course.
Service at the Blue Marlin Restaurant
To start with, the service at Blue Marlin is incredibly snappy and the waiters are decidedly likable. The supposed husband of the chef has even been heard telling potential diners that his wife cooks amazing food, but if they disagree, he’ll just get a new wife! His equally charming colleague – a young, strapping multi-lingual Spanish lad – has reeled in a number of customers for the Blue Marlin, albeit a disproportionate number of females.
After the initial gallantry and assiduities, however, the service seems to take a bit of a nosedive. As the restaurant fills its many tables, the staff get increasingly haggard and stressed and simply can’t cope with the sheer number of people as the mealtime rush sets in. Diners are seen waiting for half an hour to ask for the bill and aan equal amount of time to actually receive it and pay.
It would also be useful if they reminded customers that it’s Happy Hour when ordering their drinks. The majority of the once-picturesque tables are recurrently seen with soaked table-cloths, crowded with pints of beer, pints of soft drink and unwieldy glasses of extravagant cocktails, leaving no space for food until customers are well down the road of insobriety. Perhaps that’s the idea – food laced with alcohol does wonders for the tastebuds, after all.
 |
 |
 |
 |
