Aqua Nueva

Quite dissapointing first experience. Waitress unable to answer most of the menu queries, had to call someone else. Menu in Spanish does not translate to same ingredients in English. When asked what fruits they will include on the summer fruits dessert we were given a full list of summer fruits although we were having our meal in Nov... dish was served with three small fruit portions, majority being pomegranate seeds. Wine listed allocated to incorrect region...the only positive comment is that although they probably served half seabass to the three of us the main course was delicious

Absolutely gorgeous venue, its just a shame the staff ruined the experience. we were greeted by about 5 snobbish staff at reception and were told we could only go to the back terrace as the front one was full. again there were about 7 staff on the bar with a bad attitude.
gorgeous views and lovely venue, however i found it too pretencious and the staff were arrogant

The colossus that is aqua is a gem of a place,
Aqua nueva serves Spanish dishes that in my opinion are unrivalled in the city.
The waitress was French but very knowledgeable about the cuisine and its origins, nothing was a problem and she smiled throughout.
Yes this place gets busy, but that is a testament to its staff.
I can say it is on my list of places to go on a regular basis

Not a fan and I shan't be rushing back, which is a pity as I had been looking forward to trying this place. I found the entire Aqua experience pretentious and underwhelming,, from the patronising and insincere luvvy greeters (the man downstairs with a clipboard instructred me to go to the fifth floor - there is only button in the lift! How stupid does he think I am!) to the slow and inattentive service at the bar (and you'll pay 12.5% service for the privilege of waiting to order your own drinks) to the lack of napkins and bar snacks (for those prices I expect some rice crackers with my cocktail). I was told snippily upon arrival that the outside terrace was full, so we were forced to stand in the middle of the bar/restaurant area and queue to get out there, even though we were already standing about 10 feet away at the bar - no flexibility or common sense whatsoever from the staff. Admittedly the terrace is very pleasant but at this point I was so fed up with the general attitude that I couldn't be bothered with it. The decor in Aqua Nueva is really impressive but it feels like a nightclub, and quite frankly I'd rather a tumbler of Rioja and plate of Jamon at Brindisa. Our waiter was well intentioned but not very well trained, and had zero wine knowledge (he just about recognised Pinot Noir, but didn't know that there was a Gruner Veltliner on the menu, never mind whether it was any good or not). At one point we had to ask someone where our other food dishes were, and the girl shrugged and said "you have no space", referring to the ridiculously large platters taking up our table (it's not our fault the plates are so big!). We eventually asked her to swap out some of our half-eaten mediocre food for something else equally mediocre. The bill was enormous and I was glad that I was not paying it!

What is surprising about this place is the quality of what is served on your plate, it is executed with thought and skill, I admit I have been to Ell Bulli, where the head chef trained and the food is out of this world, so the expectations are really high and it didnt quite meet these standards but I will be returning again as the poached egg with porcini cream and black truffle is a delight to taste and looks visually understated but creative .

Laughably bad. Enthusiastic, but slightly shambolic service (they forgot two of our dishes, and had to come back and ask us again when we tried to order a second portion of one), but some of the food is shockingly bad. I'm a big fan of Spanish or Spanish-influenced food, and there are plenty of good places you can get it in London these days, but this really isn't one of them. Two of our dishes were practically inedible, one a piece of belly pork that came with a large slab of completely un-rendered fat wobbling on top and another cod dish that was intensely and unpleasantly fishy and had a deeply unpleasant texture. Three of us tried it, nobody went back for another go. Overpriced and slightly ridiculous. Avoid.

This restaurant has a really classy atmosphere.

At first sight, we were awed by the decorations and the intimate surroundings.

While waiting for our 21:00 reservation for 40 minutes, harassing the snotty hostess and the bartenders, we managed to get a glimpse at the upclass crowd that seems to frequent this place.

The service (for a table of 6, mind you) was rather chaotic, slow, and suffering from amnesia.

Please do not get the pork neck, if you're attending with a large party, it will either be forgotten, or remembered late and undercooked, squirting blood everywhere.

Overall, the cuisine is VERY inventive, creative and TASTY. Kudos to the kitchen manager...

There are some problems with staffing and resource flow in this place.

Despite its mediocre price to quality ratio, I would love to return to Aqua Nueva, when my simple 2 course dinner experience takes less than 150 minutes to complete and some serious staffing changes take place.

My sister and I ordered the Rioja Blanco £6.90 per glass and some asparagus parcels with lemon butter and piquillo pepper mille feuille £9.50 to get into the swing of things. As an entrée, I had the roast suckling pig with crispy orange zest and apple butter £24.50, which was an absolute delight. The suckling pig was really juicy, whereas the orange zest was a nice tangy contrast to the richness of the meat. The apple butter was highly addictive, so I scooped it all up with the bread. My sister is a vegetarian, so she had the pisto wrapped in courgette with cauliflower couscous, which looked really good and I guess it must've tasted good, because she wasn't prepared to share it with me. What I particularly liked is that they have a “serious” wine list. They even split the Spanish section into regions.

After all the hype about this restaurant, I just had to go take a look for myself. I decided to go alone to first check the venue out, rather than dragging my customers into the unknown. (Everyone knows that business should never be discussed on an empty stomach, but pick the wrong venue and you may lose your client…) I needn’t have worried though – aqua nueva is the perfect place for my monthly mini meetings. The ambience is actually quite special, not at all what I had expected. I hadn’t been to a Spanish restaurant before, so I won't judge the authenticity, but I certainly liked the fancy decoration and cosy lighting. Food-wise, all I can say is that it was incredibly yummy and I will definitely being my little group of customers next time.