Barcelona Tapas & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Bowen Island Municipality

I got initial bad vibes when a server made eye contact with us at the Please Wait to be Seated area and walked past without acknowledgement. These bad vibes continued when we were ignored for five minutes after being seated. Had I not requested menus, I'm sure we would not have been approached that night.

Things started to look up when we got a friendly server, and three of our four ordered dishes arrived quite quickly. Far too salty and far too much salad dressing, but hey, they arrived quickly.

Then the wait began for our final dish - a meatball one. We checked with the server after 20 minutes, and were assured that the meatballs "came out in batches", so when others received theirs, we would receive ours. Well, 10 minutes later, a table beside us, who came in after us and ordered after us, got their meatballs. When we brought this up with the server after a few minutes, he went to check on it, and came back to tell us that our dish had mistakenly been taken by someone else.

At that point, frustration had taken over and we just wanted the bill so we could leave. This took seven minutes to arrive, on which THE MEATBALL DISH APPEARED. The server left to get the bill corrected, and returned after three more minutes to offer free dessert. We turned down the free dessert and asked for a discount, which was rejected. We told him once again that we just wanted to leave, and it took him another three minutes to finally bring the correct bill, with a whopping $3 knocked off. Wheee! We got free bread for our trouble!

If things go well for you at this joint, I'm sure you'll have a good time. The food was all right, and the ambience is nice. If/when things go wrong, however, you can count on the restaurant's surprising inability to make things right, accompanied by further laughable errors. If you're lucky, you may even get insulted with $3 worth of bread for free, when this type of incompetence should at the very least result in a sizeable discount.

My wife and I were on Bowen Island celebrating our wedding anniversary. I won the furious battle with myself so as to not make a scene, though it wasn't without battle scars; I think my tongue was bleeding later that night from me biting it so hard during our final 30 minutes at...

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Would rate 3.5 if possible)

We came here after a long 4-hour hike, hoping to refuel with a satisfying meal in a relaxing setting. The atmosphere didn’t disappoint cozy, rustic, and welcoming. Service was great; server was warm, attentive, and helpfully suggested that groups of three typically order at least six dishes. In hindsight, we really should’ve listened!

We started with four dishes to get a feel for the portions:

Cauliflower– Lightly seasoned and tasty, but only about two small pieces per person. Eggplant – Nicely cooked, though a bit sweet and could’ve used a touch more salt. Just five small slices total. Oxtail – Two small medallions with vegetables. Good flavour, but quite minimal. Chorizo Meatballs – Five well-spiced, juicy meatballs. We added the side of bread (extra$3)

Each dish was well-prepared and had great flavour. That said, we were told in advance that the kitchen sends out one plate at a time which was a bit unusual. The portion sizes, unfortunately, didn’t match the pricing. For $92 (including tip), we left still hungry and didn’t feel the value was quite there. Realistically, each dish is best shared between two people max.

I totally understand that tapas are designed to be small and shared, but here the portions felt extra lean for what you're paying. We chose not to order more simply because we weren’t confident it would feel worth it.

The ambiance and service were definite highlights, and the food was delicious, just not particularly filling unless you’re prepared to order (and spend) quite a bit more. If you’re coming here post-hike or with a bigger appetite, it’s best to treat it as more of a snack and drinks spot rather than a full meal.

See my photos for a better sense of portion sizes. Overall, a lovely place, but not ideal if you’re hoping to leave full for a reasonable price. And I recommend reservations ahead of time. We were lucky to be 1st in line and grabbed the only table...

My partner and I were looking for a nice place with a patio to get a drink after dinner so we tried Barcelona. It was evening time and we still saw a few couples dining so we figured they might still be open. My partner stood by the “Please wait to be seated” sign and a young woman with long black hair, assuming the host, came up to him and already looked so annoyed. He didn’t get a chance to say anything before she said “Kitchen is closed” and he replied that we were “only looking for a drink, if that were possible”. She replied something similar to “I guess, sit anywhere”. When we started walking to table, she must have changed her mind… she barked at us “never mind COME HERE”. My partner and I both awkwardly looked at each other but followed her orders to a table closer to the restaurant kitchen. We have never been barked at like dogs before and immediately regretted our decision. We downed one glass of wine as quick as we could each when the server said “What do you want” I swear 4 words. Not a “hi” or “hello” and we got the heck out of the there. We still were not the last customers in the restaurant when we were leaving. The host said “thank you and have a good night”, we speculated she may have been feeling bad for barking at us earlier. Very weird experience and not expected for lovely little Bowen Island. We would have rather been turned away politely if they really wanted to close up instead of feeling like an inconvenience. We would have...