Wait, Wait, Wait
Pro Good value portions.
Con Don't be on a clock.
Pay
€
Per Person Menu del dia/set menu €12.50. El tenedor options may be available.
Find
Website Click!
Access Small step from street.
In Short
Hopes. Substance over style.
Reality. Style's pushing hard for the win.
First Impressions. Smart space. A DVD library. A big fridge,
USP? Classic daily menu food, smartened up for the Chueca set.
The offer in three words. Semi-successful lunchtime classics.
Service! Nothing like good enough.
Friend friendly? Daily menu lacks V-options
Rating for dating. Decor and ambiance would work.
Tip? Not on your nelly.
Change one thing? Warm up the plates!
Revisitability. Low.
Compare & Contrast
Another restaurant in our ongoing exploration of the four corners.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Diurno's daily menu offers generous portions of well-prepared food, but it's let down by frustrating service errors.
Another set lunch from the stew of restaurants around C/San Marcos. Seated by a waiter given instructions from a different waiter, we perused the somewhat unbalanced menu. Half a dozen starters and a similar number of desserts bookend just two mains. The absence of a vegetarian option is one of many perplexing bits of business.
Two servers got us seated, but it took 10 minutes for the drinks to arrive. Hmmm. Ideally ideal for a nippy November day, stewed beans were served in a dish as cold as the stare of a Mango mannequin. The central generous morcilla slice was fridge-cold, too. Bewildering. Starter two's poached egg with stirfried veg paralleled the beans in every meaningful way. More seasoning was needed on a generous portion and internal heat had bled away to the plate. Hello, the laws of thermodynamics. Eternal oblivion at the heat death of the universe might be our ultimate fate, but the inedible scrapings of the eat death of congealed egg yolk is probably about as much fun.
Short on mains options, two small entrañas were well-cooked, medium rare and I liked the chargrilled flavour. A touch of chimichurri would have been a more interesting extra than salsa verde. The salt cellar soon went missing in action again, as the potatoes lacked bite. And the ones nearest the plate were cold already.
It took waving and eyebrow waggling to order desserts. Based on past Chueca experiences, our hopes weren't high. But, goggle at a guinea pig, they were easily our sassiest menu del dia sweet experience in ages. A biiiig flan on one and a generous custard with a biscuit dunked squarely in it on the other. They could both have been homemade and, even if not, they eschewed the industrial. Someone cared! The former didn't need chocolate syrup, but we're talking about fundamentally smart dishes.
But our experience was ultimately undermined by the unneccessarily stress-inducing service. A 20-minute wait for first courses? It's supposed to be quick-to-serve menus, not created-to-order a la carte. A possible cause? Too few staff. Example? No-one was permanently on meet and greet, so waylaid servers couldn't keep up with previous orders. Purposeful, intense walking was heavily evident, but loaded toing and empty-handed froing meant more time lost. Consequence? VIPs-levels of eye-contact avoidance. Sigh.
Luckily, I picked up some freebies - at a rubgy match - recently. So, lesson 1;
At the price, we'd readily recommend the quality cuisine if we'd enjoyed the eating experience. Take a good book. Or I can lend you my flags.
Pro Good value portions.
Con Don't be on a clock.
Pay
€
Per Person Menu del dia/set menu €12.50. El tenedor options may be available.
Find
Website Click!
Access Small step from street.
In Short
Hopes. Substance over style.
Reality. Style's pushing hard for the win.
First Impressions. Smart space. A DVD library. A big fridge,
USP? Classic daily menu food, smartened up for the Chueca set.
The offer in three words. Semi-successful lunchtime classics.
Service! Nothing like good enough.
Friend friendly? Daily menu lacks V-options
Rating for dating. Decor and ambiance would work.
Tip? Not on your nelly.
Change one thing? Warm up the plates!
Revisitability. Low.
Compare & Contrast
Another restaurant in our ongoing exploration of the four corners.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Diurno's daily menu offers generous portions of well-prepared food, but it's let down by frustrating service errors.
Another set lunch from the stew of restaurants around C/San Marcos. Seated by a waiter given instructions from a different waiter, we perused the somewhat unbalanced menu. Half a dozen starters and a similar number of desserts bookend just two mains. The absence of a vegetarian option is one of many perplexing bits of business.
But our experience was ultimately undermined by the unneccessarily stress-inducing service. A 20-minute wait for first courses? It's supposed to be quick-to-serve menus, not created-to-order a la carte. A possible cause? Too few staff. Example? No-one was permanently on meet and greet, so waylaid servers couldn't keep up with previous orders. Purposeful, intense walking was heavily evident, but loaded toing and empty-handed froing meant more time lost. Consequence? VIPs-levels of eye-contact avoidance. Sigh.
Luckily, I picked up some freebies - at a rubgy match - recently. So, lesson 1;
With the bill finally delivered, everyone - save a hard-working washer up - had disappeared. So lunch ended with our getting up, crossing the restaurant and demanding someone make us pay - for the experience of being made to wait to pay for the experience. Simply, this place needs - needs to demand - a service manager. Cold crockery's not cool. Busily looking busy doesn't do the business.
At the price, we'd readily recommend the quality cuisine if we'd enjoyed the eating experience. Take a good book. Or I can lend you my flags.