La Fonda

My favorite restaurant in Cologne 🫶🏻 The food (and also the non-alcoholic drinks) is a delight, but I would especially like to praise the excellent service! The last visit was on 7/23/24, unfortunately I don't have the name of the fantastic waiter. When making the reservation, I stated my gluten intolerance and allergies and the service employee assigned to us was well briefed and very attentive. His recommendations that evening (Seibling with pearl barley, gnocchi) were excellent and I would like to express my thanks.

Went there with a group of 9 and despite the food being good I was very disappointed with a few things. To start with the positive part, the food was great, even though the venison and frittata lacked some flavour, specifically salt. However, what really bothered me was the little attention and accomodating the staff showed us. One person from the group is gluten-intolerant, when asking about one of the dishes, he told her it was gluten-free, insisting barley doesn't have gluten which is incorrect. For somebody highly allergic this can turn out very dangerous and is very irresponsible from the waiter. We then had to wait 45 minutes for the starter and over 1 hour for the main dish. Additionally, it was nearly impossible to catch the attention of a waiter to order more bread/water. I sat with my back to the side door which was opened frequently while food was brought out to the hotel next door, leaving ice-cold air inside which was anything but comfortable during the evening. When it came to dessert, I was disappointed to see that from all of the amazing options the menu has to offer, for groups the choice was limited to ice-cream and creme brulee. When I asked about potentially ordering the pralines that were on the normal menu, I was told it would be difficult as we're a group. When I questioned this as the pralines should be ready anyways and don't require preparation, I was told he would ask in the kitchen. When he then came back to take the order, he didn't seem to have asked and just said, slightly upset by my request, that it's not possible. I really don't understand this kind of treatment in a high class restaurant and was very disappointed by the overall service.