Nerja

An Evening With Friends At Restaurant Olvido, Nerja

Out of the blue I received an invitation from Steve, our host, to join him for a dinner party at the restaurant Olvido, Nerja. In my innocence, I thought it might be for four of us but the party was for ten and I had the opportunity to meet some nice new friends who already appeared to be in a party mood.

Having been greeted at the door and asked if we had booked a table (very politely), and assured the owner that we were not gatecrashers but indeed, we were part of a larger party, our coats were taken and we were shown to our table.

The usual introductions were made and I tried very hard to remember all of the names but I think I only managed about two thirds of them and had to ask for names to be repeated. I put it down to age and this excuse seemed to work. One of the few benefits of being gray haired I think.

A waiter came and took our order for drinks. A difficult job because we were all busy chatting away, and with the cacophony of chatter from the other tables and our indifferent Spanish vocabularies, (with the exception of Steve, our host, and Aiveen, who has kissed both the ´Blarney Stone´of Ireland and the Spanish equivalent, who can both chat to any one in any language), we gave our orders and hoped that we had picked the right ones.

The head waiter followed and we all listened carefully to what others on the table were ordering to see if we could pick up tips as to what we should select. The choices available to us were legion in number and as a consequence I became confused and asked the charming young lady to my left to help me. She told me that the lamb cooked in French style was delicious so I ordered it. I should have been a little more cautious because the sheer quantity was a little overpowering. Delicious it was, but there is a limit to the amount you can eat in one sitting and I had to ask if the remainder could be put into a doggy bag. (My dog was very pleased that I had limits to my apatite because he manged to enjoy the rest of the meal for the next four days!

Delicious food with a great variety of choices, fabulous ambiance, excellent service and a table of wonderful company; the whole evening left us with a feeling that we had made new friends and I had found a restaurant that I would want to revisit. It was just joyful!

For those with a GPS you can find Restaurante Olvido here:-

36°44’55.04″N 3°52’22.69″ W

Posted under Restaurant Reviews

This post was written by editor on January 16, 2010

Tags: disabled facilities, eating out and drinking, food and drink, Nerja, Plaza Olvido, Restaurant Reviews, SPAIN

An invitation to dinner with friends at Hotel Carebeo 34, Nerja

Occasionally an unexpected invitation arrives for dinner, or a party, and you have no idea how the evening is going to turn out, but life is an adventure so my philosophy is “Go for it”. I was not too sure if I was going to be up to par because I had been to a late night party the night before and parties in Spain tend to last until the next day as a matter of course. However, the ambiance, service, menu and good friends were all delightful and I was able to quickly get into the ‘enjoy myself ‘ mode.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten my glasses so I was dependent upon my friends to read the menu to me so that I could choose the dishes that I wanted. Of course this was easier in the telling than in the doing. The menu was so extensive that I experienced great difficulty in remembering all the dishes that were available, and we were just at the starters part of the menu. All the items sounded mouth-watering but I managed to be decisive, although the decision was not an easy one because of the competing alternatives.

My friend had originally ordered a table on the garden terrace overlooking the sea, but as it had decided it would rain we were quickly assigned to the garden room part of the restaurant, overlooking the swimming pool. Good, but not quite as stunning as the Mediterranean.

The weather had a change of heart and it decided to stop raining and my friends decided that they preferred Plan A, i.e. dining on the garden terrace. The transition was conducted smoothly without fuss. Our drinks, etc. were brought to us as though this was an everyday occurrence and we continued with our conversations and awaited our main courses.

I had the same experience with the main dishes. There was a plethora of choices, all very tempting but I eventually chose Sea Bass. My friends chose a richly flavoured lamb dish and commented on how good it tasted, so have no fear if you decide to eat there. All of the dishes are cooked to order so sit back and enjoy yourself between dishes.

What I particularly enjoyed in addition to the lovely food was the delightful service which was unobtrusive, but excellent. We were never kept waiting, it was courteous without undue formality and above all else, it was friendly.

I cannot comment on the price because I was a guest, but I can thoroughly recommend this restaurant if you want to treat yourself or a loved one – or even special friends to a night out. We eventually left just after one o’clock in the morning, and still were not rushed nor lights turned out as some sort of hint. I would not hesitate to recommend this reataurant for a social and gastronomic experience worth remembering. Long may such restaurants flourish.