De Barcelona — Restaurant in Melbourne

My friend and I went for happy hour and dinner, We had never been to this cafe before and we liked the look of it with its simplicity and rustic vibe. We took a table and the waitress came over and cleared/cleaned it for us-all good so far. Unfortunately, we did not see the sign in the very right hand corner of the counter against the wall which, unless you actually knew was there was not in direct line of sight. So we sat at the table and waited-and waited. We took a couple of selfies, and still waited. My friend then went up to the counter to ask why everyone else was being served and we were then told we had to order at the counter. That is all well and good, but the waitress said nothing to us at all when she came to our table-not one word. Where we were sitting their was another couple to my right side further blocking any potential view of 'The Sign'. The waitress did not apologise for not alerting us to the proper ordering procedure and just seid something to the effect of 'well you have to order here'. Then the couple next to us who appeared to be regulars made snide comments about us not seeing 'The Sign". That was the last straw. I commented that this was unacceptable and we left. This is not something I do regulary but I felt humiliated. There was no care factor that evening at all from the staff on duty. You may wonder why I still gave it 3 stars-well, mistakes happen and I would actually go back again when I next go to Hawthorn because I want to try the food and give the service...

I've been to Spain several times and I've eaten very well there, so I'm troubled by this 4 star rating. My experience of De Barcelona involved cold weather and the need to have something warm and simple to eat. For some reason the kitchen boss had his eye on me as I got the menu and even though the rest of the staff were welcoming, it didn't get off to a good start - but I happily paid over $60 for the food after ordering one beer, the soup, the Spanish sardines and "double fried" papatas bravas. When the plates arrived I was disappointed by the limp and slightly warm potatoes (chipped not cubed in the traditional manner), coming with an over-salted salsa brava. The portion size would have given change out of two medium size spuds. I'm aware that canned Spanish sardines are a popular delicacy, but I was surprised that there were only 4 sardines on the plate, accompanied by a few pieces of "bread", (actually those little squares of dried toast that come in cellophane), more mini toasts and some green olives. The soup never appeared, so I had to negotiate an awkward refund as they were happy to bring if I still wanted it. I didn't.

Spain is an intense colourful country with a long food history, filled with passionate, imaginative and generous people. I'm sad to say this restaurant is...

We came in a party of 10, 6 adults and 4 kids and we were the second table in the whole restaurant. As soon as we told the waitress that we were a party of 10, the head chef, person standing in front of the deep fryer or owner (Caucasian male, 40-50s, medium to large build) made an extremely sly remark; “table of 10, great, you guys are going to only order 2 churros.”

Firstly, we ordered 20 churros and drinks, totalling to 106.79. As a business owner, in a high traffic area with only ONE other table seated - you should be HAPPY that such a big table is coming in and spending money at your establishment.

Secondly, what if we did only order 2 churros? What if we were celebrating one of the kids birthday? Does it benefit you in any which way to make such a remark? Totally disrespectful.

As we finished, I thanked the man, and he just stared at me and didn’t say anything back. They should add attitude as a seperate dipping sauce because that’s what you’d be served with.

Other than that, churros are actually pretty decent, though the dipping sauces weren’t heated enough - still blocks of...