Alfileritos 24

LOCATION: C/Alfileritos, 24 (no surprise) Toledo, Spain
TYPE OF FOOD: Spanish (no surprise to the second power, yes I just made that up)
REVIEW: Spain is (cover your eyes, eight year olds out there!) one heck of a country. Any real person can discover that when they wake up at two in the morning after a Barcelona/Madrid football game (just to name a specific situation). But what is amazing about the country is its cuisine. Everything about it from its eggs to its chicken is interesting (see, the eggs are before the chicken!). And no matter where you go in Spain I'm sure you can find a good example of its food (though I never really went far beyond Madrid, that's right, no Barcelona!). On a day trip to Toledo, lunchtime reared its head like a Michael Bay movie, so I decided to go to Alfileritos 24 (and coming soon, Alfileritos 25: The Anniversary of Taste).

Of course, I was given the usual menu (why can't people break traditions here? Just give me an inked up waffle!). And of course in my mind, I had to decide what to order (why? I had been there for quite some time: a few minutes count, right?). After a few moments, I finally made my decision: I would use my saliva, tongue and teeth to divide bacalao, a white fish similar to cod (straight from my brain dictionary!). And so, that was what was told to the waitress, and some time later, the fish was delivered to me.

The fish was quite fine, with nice flavor. The bread that was served with it (extra cost!) was fine as well, but nothing extremely special. I also ordered some some green tea as well, and it was served in what seemed like a ten-pound teapot with a whole lot of metal. The tea, once again, was fine, nothing extremely special (only moderately special). Overall, it was a fine meal. I paid the price of the meal, used my tibias to make my body conform to an upright posture, and using said tibias, did the motion of walking down a series of platforms down one story, and then stepped out three pieces of wood in order to reach the earth outside the frame.

SERVICE: The service seemed to be almost always in the kitchen, doing the obvious (chain smoking? Magazine reading? Being on the internet when they should be flying and landing a plane... or did they fall asleep?): serving and making food. They didn't seem to be around often, and almost seemed to have forgotten our table; despite the fact that I was seated directly in front of the door. It could be that they were just busy, but that doesn't seem likely... just like how you can overshoot an airport by miles and only say, "I wasn't paying attention." Four words: I mean, come on.

ATMOSPHERE: The atmosphere is the most appealing aspect to the restaurant. It is as new and retro as if Twitter, Facebook, Lady Gaga, auto-tuning, and Keyboard Cat shot all of their 2007-onward energy at you in one giant blow. That as it may, the place is almost designed like a children's jungle maze. It has tons of glazed glass ramps and plants leading from two feet to four feet higher. The bathroom was locked in this maze, and although the bathroom was nice and clean, the maze aspect turrrrned meeeeeeee offffffff. Get it? Huh? Huh? No? Beatles reference? Come on! Worth a shot.

PRICE: The price of my dish was thirty-one euros and forty-eight cents (not pesos!). The dish might have been a bit too costly for some tastes, but for me it was fine considering the quality of the dish. But once again. These are euros. Not pesos. Spain. Mexico. Spain. Mexico. Get it right.

RATING: Alfileritos 24 is a nice, hip hop ya don't stop restaurant in Toledo. The food overall was fine, along with it's a little less better service and good matching price. The major draw-in, though, is it's new-inspired atmosphere, which is a good and bad trait for the place. Or, for a better term, mixed. Not a mixed bag. Put a plastic bag in a bowl with a wooden spoon if you want that. Geesh. Alfileritos 24 gets a three out of five.