Al Arabiya Restaurant & Cafe — Restaurant in Barcelona

As a Lebanese individual, I genuinely wonder whether the chef is Lebanese. I have never experienced such disappointing Lebanese cuisine until now. We started with appetizers, and to be fair, some of them were quite good. This gave my friends and me the impression that the main courses would be equally impressive. Unfortunately, we were mistaken. The meats appeared to be of lower quality, with an unappealing texture, some were overly soft, while others were dry. The chicken, in particular, had an odd taste and texture, almost as if it were stale. The garlic sauce (toum) was another major disappointment. It seemed as though raw garlic had simply been crushed and blended, lacking the balance of salt, oil, and lemon necessary for proper emulsification.

Additionally, this restaurant feels like a tourist trap. The customer service was average, not the worst, but certainly not outstanding. I also suspect that we were overcharged.

Arabic: Kasha5s Lebnene, btejamma3 ma3i iza l-chef huwwe Lebnene. Ma zawa2et akl Lebnene hay2 ad halo hatta hal la2t. Ballashna bil-mezza, w bi koul saraha, fi minhon kenou taybeen. Hada khallana ana w as7abi nfakker eno l-aklat el-re'esiyeh hatkoun kaman ra2i3a, bas lal-asaf, kouna ghalatin. El-la7m ken yebayen eno men jouda watiyeh, w el-qawame ma ken lazeez ba3d el-ket3 kenet waydeh n3eeme w ba3dha kenet jaffe. El-djej kaman ken fiya ta3m ghareeb w qawame 3ajib, 7assaset eno ta3mha metel eno 2adim. El-silsit l-toum (toum) kanet khaybet amal bjad, ka2anno bs da2ou w darabouh bel blender bala ta3dil, bala mal7, zeit, aw hamod. Aw iza daffouh, ma emtazaj mazbout.

Hal-mat3am bebayen eno fakh loktourist. El-khidmeh kenet mashi el-7al ma l-aswa2 w akeed ma l-a7san. Kaman 7assayet enno dfa3na aktar...

My wife and I had just landed in Barcelona and were looking forward to a good Mediterranean meal. Based on the many positive reviews, we decided to try Al Arabia. Unfortunately, our experience was very disappointing.

Service: We arrived at 11 PM and waited in line until 11:15. We were seated at 11:18 and ordered by 11:25. We requested water upon arrival but didn’t receive it until 12:05. Throughout the meal, we had to follow up multiple times with several different servers, often being ignored despite making eye contact. Other customers were served ahead of us, and our concerns seemed to be overlooked. The manager (or owner) appeared to avoid addressing our frustration, and no apologies were offered for the delays. We finally received our appetizers at midnight 30 (60 minutes ish later) and main dishes almost 1:00 AM,around 90 minutes ish after ordering.

Food: The Muhammara was light and very good, but the overall enjoyment was affected by the service experience. The baladi salad was overly oily and lacked flavor, while the hummus was average. The chicken tajine was disappointing, with very little meat and mostly bone, while the ciruela tajine was flavorful but also had minimal meat.

Atmosphere: The restaurant felt more like a shisha lounge than a dining establishment. It was hot, crowded, and noisy, with shisha smoke and crying babies, which made the experience uncomfortable.

Overall, we were extremely disappointed, especially considering the positive reviews that had raised our expectations. Service and management fell far short of what one would expect, and unfortunately, it overshadowed what could have been a...

We arrived at about 11pm and we're welcomed by a waiter . They took our order something like 10mns later and it's was a waitress..Except from the lentilles soup which was great the rest of our orders (a variety grilled meats ) and rice with chicken were very bad . Mashed meat brochettes contained too much mint ...the chicken and meat pieces give you the impression they were already served before and they just reserved us ...they were cold from inside ...not something cooked especially for us ...we didn't finish eating ...the rice ...we didn't touch...the texture and the colour do not encourage you to taste ...we did a take away but it was left in the fridge for 2 days .. The final thing...coffee..I asked for coffee with heil ... cardamome...I was served a nice tray with a nice cup blabla but the coffee was the worst I could ever imagine ...it was coffee juice ..I got upset and said please respect Arab coffee and bring me something I can have ...they changed and made an effort ...but it was too late ...the deception was great They were now all watching us to make us understand we have to hurry coz they had to close ...midnight they close ....my friend and I paid 72 euros ...for the worst service in Barcelona ...Turkish food and tastes and even coffee are not served there ...i give a star to the lentilles soup ...another to the decoration which was fine ...for me this diner was a waste of money ...they need to change the cook... to revise the ingredients they use and most important to be aware the client comes to such a restaurant in ramadane to find some tasty and fresh Arab halal food ...we don't come for...