Cafeterias El Corte Ingles Cartagena

Our family joke is that El Corte Ingleson Juan Louis for the John Lewis shoppers and this is both a throwback to department store heyday and a vision of how these stores can continue to attract. We have teen, 5 yo twins, John Lewis loving mum and coffee/footy loving dad. We all cane out happy. (The sale helped). The 4th floor has an ergonomically designed toy department not overwhelming like a Toys R Us supermarket, but laid out to entice and bring gasps to small children. Teen loved it and so did I. There is also a big soft play area and parent room. We brought toys AND relaxed. The men’s and sports department had plenty for both of us and the ground floor stationary and bags etc made me feel like I did the first time I saw Paperchase consumer heaven. Before we headed off to see Cartagena’s sites we enjoyed coffee, beer and fabulous ice creams and brownies in a brilliant top floor/semi open cafe. The utter boredom of our waitress a contrast rather than a feature well worth a trip.

These places are like McDonalds ,usually reliable in that you know what you get will be the same at all the locations. And when you don't have time or the desire to seek out something more gourmet , the food is usually good enough. This branch however must have been having a bad day.The cafe is located in the basement adjacent to Nespresso shop and supermarket.It wasn't busy but must have been earlier as all the tables were dirty and full of used crockery.There is no table service here,so I waited at the bar for ages to give my order.Apart from pastries and tapas, the hot food here is of the frozen deep fried variety but on this occasion also over cooked and inedible. The rooftop cafe is a much better option.

The cafe located on the top floor of the store was almost empty when we lunched mid week. We were quickly shown to a table with view towards one of the hilltop castles and adjacent the smoking terrace : . The waitress was efficient but she must have disappeared for a break as her place was taken by a grumpy chap who seemed to be in a perpetual rush. My wife ordered soup but didn’t realise until it arrived that it was a gazpacho type even though there was no mention on the menu she would have been happy for a quick microwave job but the chap just said “should have selected from the specials” and disappeared well let me just say we weren’t shown the “specials”. I had the toasted sandwich with chicken and an egg in the middle that was fine but the limp salad and over cooked fries let it down. My wife twice ordered milky coffee and I made a point of confirming this (in Spanish but both cups were so strong she could almost stand the spoon in them. I’m not a typical “Brit abroad” and always make an effort to communicate in the local language but here I felt the waiter was being deliberately obtuse. The cafe itself is tired, in need of a refurb and a poor adjunct to what in every other respect is a high end department store so an overall disappointment.

Maravilloso descanso después de una tarde de compras una merienda reconfortante

No he ido a comer,solo a desayunar.Pero las tortitas es un clásico que nunca cambia,buenísimas.El café y la atención la correcta.