Arros QD, Lounge

Authentic and fantastic paella 🥘 I really enjoyed it. The starter is also delicious. The atmosphere is so amazing. It is shame that some waiters were blunt. They could have offered better services.

As someone from Alicante, Spain, I was excited to try ArrosQD, a restaurant specializing in paellas and rice dishes cooked over fire. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to the high expectations, especially given the premium pricing. To start, the front-of-house host was unwelcoming and unfriendly, setting a negative tone from the beginning. The waitstaff, none of whom were Spanish, lacked knowledge about the dishes, which diminished the authenticity of the experience. Despite the restaurant being half-empty, we waited over 30 minutes for our wine, and service was generally slow and uncoordinated. We requested to change tables due to uncomfortable seating, and this took some discussion with a host who wasn’t particularly accommodating at the beginning (she moved us finally). When our starters arrived, they brought alioli and bread at the wrong time, and they even tried clearing plates before all our starters were served. To top it off, one shared starter arrived with cutlery for only two, although we were a group of four. As for the food, the squid ink paella was overly dry, and the socarrat (the crispy bottom layer of the rice) was more burned than caramelized. One of the paellas required a £12 upgrade per person (as the one we ordered had mussels and there wasn’t mussels availability) without offering much flexibility in ingredient swaps. Overall, given the high price and numerous service issues, I wouldn’t return. For a better experience, I’d recommend the Iberica chain, which offers better food and hospitality at a more reasonable price, but I guess all depends on the day.. To finalise, I’d say not everything was bad, the starters were tasty and yummy.