Ricard Camarena Restaurant

This is one of the best culinary experiences I have had. The food is amazing. I am still thinking about the Roasted onions… also fascinated by the oyster and hake with artichokes and blue lobster. Loved the open kitchen, especially as a chef.

My husband and I are in town for our daughters to attend a Spanish immersion camp, and this dinner was our one date night without them. We were blown away - the service, the dishes, the ambiance and decor - it was all amazing! Our servers, Flor and Paola, took incredible care of us and were the definition of hospitable. Every dish was unique and delicious. We also enjoyed the coffee and bunuelo in the library as a nightcap. We'd recommend this restaurant to anyone looking to have a special and one-of-a-kind dinner in Valencia!

Overall, this was an expensive and regrettable meal. The food felt overly salty, the flow of the tasting menu seemed poorly judged, and the handling of guest feedback and a service mistake (a lobster shell was left in one course and injured my partner’s teeth without any apology) fell short. The overall experience fell far short of what I expected from a two-Michelin-star restaurant. I would not recommend this restaurant for a celebration, and I would not return based on this experience. I chose Ricard Camarena Restaurant for a birthday dinner in Valencia and left feeling deeply disappointed. We had the Ricard Camarena Experience, along with a white wine and two nonalcoholic drinks, and while the evening had a few positive moments, the overall food experience was poor and not at the level I would expect from a two-Michelin-star restaurant. To start with the positives, the staff were friendly, and the waiter/sommelier was one of the better parts of the evening. It was also interesting to be seated close enough to see the kitchen and to have the chef present part of the experience. That said, warm service and a polished setting can only go so far when the meal itself does not deliver. The biggest issue throughout the tasting menu was salt. Dish after dish was aggressively seasoned to the point that it dulled everything that followed. The opening bites, especially the anchovy and butter-heavy courses, came across as extremely salty and overpowering. From there, the progression of the menu never really made sense to me. After strong salty flavors, there were sudden sweet notes, like the artichoke with hake juice and vanilla, that felt disconnected rather than thoughtful. A few dishes had merit, but not enough to save the meal. The black truffle pasta was one of the better courses, though still not especially memorable. The coconut and coffee shrimp tasted fresh, but I did not think the coffee element worked. The blue lobster with green beans and peas was one of the more enjoyable plates, but even that course was overshadowed by a careless mistake: a piece of shell had not been properly removed, and my partner bit into it and hurt her teeth. What made that worse was that neither the waiter nor the chef apologized, which felt unacceptable at this level of dining. Several other courses were similarly underwhelming. The chicken and celery creamy rice was very salty. The mustard pie and chicken velouté had the same issue. The oyster preparation felt overworked, with added sauce that overpowered rather than complemented it. The dessert, with eggplant and miso, sounded interesting on paper but ended up being mediocre and memorable for the wrong reasons. As a birthday dinner, it was also underwhelming. The restaurant brought out two glasses of champagne and a birthday card, but they misspelled the name even though the correct spelling had been provided in advance by email. For a restaurant of this reputation, I expected more care and more personalization, especially for a special occasion.

Ricard blows you away! Camarena keeps improving. Quite expensive, particularly for Spain, but Ricard and his equipe present quite surprising dishes with a great winepairing. Very fun and quite different ways of tuna tasting