La Dolce Vita is a restaurant overlooking the old harbour in Puerto del Carmen. It is in the same building as Puerto Viejo, but its entrance is on the other side of the building in the Calle de Nuestra Señora del Carmen.

Although specialised on Italian food, the restaurant also offers a selection of non-Italian dishes. The children’s menu has a variety of items on it, and the children’s pizza is a particularly good choice as it allows them to choose any pizza of the normal menu and have it in a slightly smaller size for a set price.

The food itself was good, and the pizza was even accompanied by a proper pizza cutter! The wine selection was similar to in Puerto Viejo below, but actually slightly cheaper. The house wine, whilst not bad, was from the mainland, although local wines were also available.

Instead of ordering a starter, we took the bread rolls and butter which were brought to the table anyway. These turned out to be fresh and warm.

The restaurant has friendly staff, although sometimes it did take a moment to attract their attention. As we left there was a whole round of “good byes” to do, including the kitchen staff and the pizza baker!

La Dolce Vita is closed on Thursdays.

„What do they do if it’s full?” – the words of Germany’s chef and restaurant tester Christian Rach came to mind as I visited “El Puerto” in the Calle Teide in Puerto del Carmen for the first time.  Only two tables – including ours – had anyone at them, and yet we had to wait a whole hour for our food and another 30 minutes for the bill.

El Puerto is a restaurant that serves German food, so schnitzel and geschnetzeltes have been combined with Canarian influences.  Unfortunately, when we visited, the ceiling fans were not working, and during the evening it kept getting warmer.  The smell of old fat in my corner of the restaurant didn’t help my first opinion either.

It is probably therefore better to sit at one of the two tables in front of the restaurant, even though these are next to the road.  Otherwise, the inside is decorated with a mixture of German, in particular Thuringian, and fish and nautical themes.  The music is provided by MDR, an station in the Eastern part of Germany. (more…)

The restaurant „Mardelva“ is located in the Calle Los Infantes above the old harbour in Puerto del Carmen, just off Calle Teide. It advertises itself as “fresh fish and tapas”.

When I first went there some years ago, I was not particularly impressed. A combination of wrong or late food and the rolls and butter trick were enough to put me off for several years. That is, until I received a tip that the quality of service varied depending on the staff who were on duty. So armed with information on which waiters and waitresses to watch out for, I went back there this year.

This time, the experience was totally different. Not only could we choose our food in our own time, but we were also advised on which fish was fresh and even given the honest information as to which fish was delivered frozen. (more…)