Wow, what a missed opportunity. Yes this place is touristy, yes it isn't as fancy as it may seem, and yes the food is tasty, It is in a beautiful architectural masterpiece, so you would think the service would at least be average or above. Not so. The lack of attention to detail, communication between staff members, and general performance of the wait staff was super disappointing.
We called ahead early to see about a table for two and after a short wait, the woman on the phone said no problem. We arrived 5 minutes later and once we got inside the guy who seemed to be the head waiter asked if we had a reservation. I said we had called and he took us into the dining room and seated us at a small table. We looked over the menu and perused the bottles on the bar to decide on drinks.
The chairs are rather uncomfortable. Some with cushions and some with just wicker bottoms and not much in the way of back support. The table next to us ended up being offered a "better" chair early into their meal.
While we waited, three other tables were seated near us. We put our menus aside and waited some more. We are used to the speed of service in Europe by now so expected a little wait, but it was getting into double digits and we hadn't even been asked for a drink order. Then the head waiter goes to one of the tables seated after us to take their drink order, and head over to put their order in, instead of seeing to any of the other tables in our section on his at way.
Head waiter finally came over and we decided we had better order all at once or we were going to be there all night. We ordered cocktails, and the Barcelona style cannelloni from the appetizer menu. For entrees, my wife ordered the Catalan style cod, and I ordered the chicken thighs stuffed with pork, which sounded delicious.
This is where things went downhill fast. Having finally ordered, I went to the restroom. I saw that another yelper mentioned the untidy bathroom, and that has not changed. I found toilet paper all over the bathroom floor including some that was bloody. There was also a spot of blood on the sink. My wife said the ladies room was even worse (though no blood).
I get back to the table in time to see the couple next to us getting served the wrong beer (by a different server). They take it away and replace it. A little while later, the same waitress brings their appetizer course, a salad. The guy at that table has to flag her down again to ask for the vinaigrette that should have come with it - they served a dry salad. Then the waitress shows up again with the right beer, and tried to serve it to me.
Later that same waitress brings out the wrong food and tries to serve it to that table. She takes the incorrect hot dish away. Then, a little while after that, the same waitress brings out our food, sort of, and tries to serve it to our neighbors. I say sort of, because we received the appetizer and my wife's cod at the same time, but my chicken dish is nowhere to be found, I share some of the appetizer with my wife while she is eating her entree, in the hope that my food will arrive soon, once it becomes clear that that Is not the case, she let me finish the appetizer. My dish never shows up, and we're both done with what was served to us by the time I could have gotten our waiter'a attention to ask about it. My wife saw similar issues at other tables behind me.
The staff needs to communicate better if they're going to share tables. They also need some sort of table numbering system to avoid the wrong things going to the wrong table. I received no apology when I pointed out the errors.
Two stars is generous and it is mainly because the food was delicious, and of course you can't say enough about the beautifully designed Gaudi building in which this poor excuse for a restaurant is housed. read more