Alice Secret Garden — Restaurant in Barcelona

This place is unfortunately very badly managed and the customer service is atrocious. I was there with a couple of friends, ordered some coffee and cake and went to the back garden. Within a minute we were told that we couldn't drink coffee in the back garden after a certain time. So we got rid of the coffee and asked for some drinks. The waitress said that there couldn't be any cups on the table. So we told her to take the cups away and ordered some drinks. Within a couple of minutes another waiter came by and told us we couldn't seat where we were because the tables were reserved for a group of people. We had seen tables with a reserved sign on them on the way in and avoided those so it was a strange claim for him to make. So we told him that when the guests arrived we would move somewhere else. He said no, and that we had to move. That he would find us a place to sit. So we told him that that was fine. That we would wait there for a minute until he found another place. He didn't like this as he possibly saw it as an affront to his authority. We didn't really know what was going on so we got up, left that section, empty as it was but for the table next to us which we were told were house guests, and asked to speak to the manager. He came to us and said he was the manager. We asked for a claims form since by then our nice coffee meeting had turned into a charade. He refused to get it for us and said we could get it from the cafeteria in the front. We asked what his name was and he said his name was Juan Carlos. We asked for his last name and he refused to give it to us. When we got to the front he instructed the waitress to give us a piece of paper, a photocopy of an official form. And that was that. I don't think I'll ever be going back there despite the fact that I really love the place. It has a very cool ambiance and I've been there several times in the past despite always being let down by the arrogant attitude the waiters have in general. I don't know if perhaps the people who work there aren't well paid or if they are mistreated by management, but what I do know is that it seems like they think it is correct to take it out on the customers. What happened today is just outrageous and I can't think what it is that would make the staff behave in such an unprofessional and rude manner toward some customers who all they did was sit down and have some drinks. A truly sad...

A friend invited me to Alice Garden after seeing an Instagram post about how magical the decorations supposedly are in their interior garden. Arriving there, they said that every Thursday evening, between 19:00-21:00 they organise a concert and a food buffet in the interior garden, for which we can pay an entrance fee of 10€. The idea sounded really good so we entered. First disappointment was the missing decorations in the garden; I don’t know how they are in the interior lounge, but outside it was nothing like marketed, more like found-on-the-street-furniture randomly placed and some old trash stored in the corners.

This wouldn’t have been a big problem, but the waiters were just ignoring us most of the time and refuse to give us a menu each for the reason that they are short on menus (one page). So we decided to wait for the buffet, until realising it has become the next big disappointment because they were bringing just about 9 baby-sized portions at a time for more than 60 persons present in the garden and “releasing the drop” every 10 minutes in non reusable containers instead of an actual buffet. Because we were sitting in the back of the garden, after more than one hour of patience we managed to “catch” 2 bowls containing the 5-6 pieces of fusilli pasta which we ate with a toothpick, but unfortunately it was kinda tasting like rotten vegetables, so we became to scared to “hunt” another buffet delight, so we decided to order a dish from the menu, for a more fresh perspective and experience. After about four failed attempts of ordering ghost plates that came back with the answer “we don’t have that one” (again, from the one page menu), we had some very overpriced 1-square-centimetre-piece-of-salmon toasts that did not worth the waiting time.

The only thing that was worth the bad service and food, and the reason we stayed there until 21:00 was the little concert, a girl singing electric piano and voice absolutely beautiful 😍.

After the singer finished the show, we had to go and almost insist to pay, because no attendant wants to interact...

Amazing homemade cakes 🍰 and quiches, huuuuge coffees ☕ and teas 🍵, cosy, chilled atmosphere, totally quaint decoration inspired in Alice in Wonderland and really, really friendly staff.

I would recommend having a cheesecake 🧀, eggs Benedict or a plain black coffee ir you are into that, as they definitely have one of the best coffees I have ever had in Barcelona; otherwise, a cappuccino or any of their teas are also great options. I really love their chai latte!

It's worth mentioning that this is not a place to go if you are in a hurry, as although service is quite fast, it's definitely a place you would rather want to stay longer, chilling out reading your favorite book 📖 or working on your laptop 💻.

They have a few breakfast/brunch menus and offers available until 16 🕓 and some other, like the quiches ones, available all day. It can feel a bit pricey overall anyway, although it's definitely worth it!

If it's just coffee what you are looking for, and although this is definitely a food place for that, you could also consider Black Remedy, next to...