1881 per Sagardi — Restaurant in Barcelona

We had a table reservation on Sunday at 1881 and we were assigned the second shift at 15:00. We were a family group of eight people, including a 95 year old man and a 7 month pregnant woman. We arrived punctually and ordered as usually. The starters began arriving to the table at around 15:30, it was good but nothing exceptional, except for the dessert (cheesecake) which was superb. We were charged around 55 eur per person with just a bottle of wine and no coffees due to the circumstances that followed. In summary, I would have said that I have eaten better for less money in many other places, but since one certainly knows that is also paying for the location and the pleasant marina views, I would have scored the experience with almost 4 stars. However something happened that has radically made me change my mind to 1 star, or less if possible: At exactly 17:00, while we were ordering the desserts, mr. DJ bursted into scene to deliver his hottest repertoire at full throat simultaneously as a busy cocktails catwalk started. Please keep in mind that is still Sunday we are talking about. From that first second, the poor sound system that was hanging one meter above our heads started to deliver 120 bpm trying to emulate a Ibiza Club before the pandemic era on a Saturday night at 2:00 a.m. It became exhausting to talk and hear to each other, so we end up giving up the conversation. I frankly got into a significant shock for what I used to remember as a restaurant with superior tasteful manners. I politely asked the Metre to please talk to the DJ for at least turn down a bit the volume. They did talked to each other but completely ignored our demand. If this was the way to tell us that it was time to leave, it would have perfectly worked but It still took 30 minutes to get our desserts on the table and 15 more to get the bill. It ruined quite a lot the end of our experience and by extension, the whole of it. I know that this pandemic has been specially hard for the hospitality sector, but trying to catch up the lost income with such stressful tempos may become counter-productive. Could they not have really waited until 17:30-18:00 to switch to the hard partying modus? Call me old-fashioned but the truth is that from now on, I will not propose this restaurant to people over 40 because of their poor consideration to guests. And neither to younger people because they will get a better value for their money at any of the chiringuitos that flourish next to the beach. Lets hope that one day I start hearing reliable positive feedback again from what it used to be a round experience place. Otherwise I wish you good luck with your new...

Pretty poor. After finally being seated, we ordered and specifically ordered our meat well done. The waiter challenged this saying that this type of meat needs to be rare. We explained that this wasn’t suitable for my wife and said we needed it well done. We went back and forth more than I would expect. If they didn’t want to do the meat well done, this would have been the time to refuse to serve us totally - more on this below. It’s not nice and is embarrassing to have to negotiate with a waiter.

The starters arrived, but the first dish was incorrect, it was the artichokes when we ordered the leeks. The waitress immediately knew the artichokes were wrong and that we had ordered the leeks, before I could even state this, which makes it very strange indeed that she brought them over and suggests that she was trying deliberately to give us the wrong dish. Inevitably there was a long delay bringing the correct dish. Perhaps if rather than arguing with us about how we wanted the meat cooked, the waiter could have focussed on writing down our order correctly?

I ordered two glasses of vermouth, but while one complete glass came, when the second one finally arrived much later, the other glass was filled to less than halfway. When I challenged this, the waiter said that he had run out and that he would have given me more if he hadn’t run out. We were charged for both.

Then the meat came. It is pictured below, but as you will see it was served very rare, not well done, and as a result my wife wasn’t able to eat it. A complete joke after repeatedly explaining to the waiter that we wanted it well done.

At the end of the meal the waiter was conversing in Catalan with the table behind us for lengthy periods and it took about half an hour to get the bill, which we weren’t given time to inspect as the waitress waited there with the machine for us to pay. Nobody said thank you or goodbye as we left the restaurant.

Overall a very poor experience. Expensive, dismissive and rude service. Honestly if they don’t want tourists in Barcelona they are going the right way about it.

I should add that we are both bilingual in Spanish and English so this...

Do not waste your time, money, or vacation dining experience on this place.

This restaurant sparked the need for a review after the hopeful dining experience continued to worsen as time went by.

First, being extremely difficult to locate with limited details on how exactly to find the entrance (that is within a museum) is an easy change to make for guests. More pop up signs, updated site descriptions, etc.

Secondly, the rude waitstaff. No names were given, no time with the menu, no recommendations or details about the food even upon us asking, and every item that was brought out was from a different person. (No problem with being efficient, but if you’re touting a 4 star experience, slow down and allow guests at minimum a couple minutes to skim the menu instead of rushing us through. Not one person asked how our meal was, if we needed anything, or even thought to bring our bill until we asked another waitstaff member for our waitress who was sitting on her phone while we tried to waive her down for over 15 minutes.

Third, the food. Mentioned above the waitstaff could provide little if any detail beyond menu names, which lead us running to google to better understand how something may be prepared. Croquettes were the only item on the menu I would advise anyone to order. Other items, terrible. Lack of seasoning, overall taste, severely undercooked and served a la carte for a price where the taste of the food should reflect and wow you, but frustratingly didn’t. The dessert was our last ditch effort, and even a crème brûlée couldn’t be prepared correctly.

Lastly, billing…which ties back to the service. We were double charged on several items, two desserts were brought out when we had told two different wait staff we wanted one. And for a total bill cost of over $120, I was better off somewhere else.

To be noted: I travel frequently and dine at all places from side street pop ups, to fine dining. I hold a long history of restaurant experience from my time in the industry. Where my expectations are simply, provide quality service and good food. This place failed to meet...