Alsur Café & Backdoor Bar — Restaurant in Barcelona

We came here on a quiet Sunday afternoon and ordered 3 of the smashed eggs, potatoes and jamón.

Two tables arrived after us and got their food orders first leading us to question why we hadn’t received our order after waiting around 30 minutes.

The food arrived after yet another wait and was very cold. It had clearly been sat in the kitchen waiting, which puzzled us as they must have seen it sitting there in order to bring out the other customer’s food.

Despite being cold me and my partner ate our because frankly we were starving… and my partners mum ate a tiny amount and decided it was inedible… frankly it was but as I said we were starving.

In general the staff didn’t seem very attentive. This could be due to a sign on the outside terrace says “order inside at the bar” but when we tried to order inside they told us that in fact they were offering table service and would come to us. We barely saw them outside though. This lack of attention from staff may have led to the food sitting in the kitchen and getting cold.

When a member of staff finally appeared in the outdoor seating area we explained that the food was very cold, that me and my partner were starving and ate it but that my partner’s mum felt it was inedible. With that we asked for her food to be omitted from the bill, we understood we ate ours and therefore didn’t request it.

The waiter told us that he couldn’t omit things from the bill but could offer us a discount on the bill. We agreed it was acceptable, however he reappeared and said the manager had refused to offer a discount.

A ridiculous situation followed and the manager said that because my partners mum had started eating her food it wasn’t eligible for a discount. To clarify she had simply tasted the food… how was she to know whether it was acceptable to her if she hadn’t tried it? He said that we should have informed a member of staff sooner that the food was unacceptable but we were offered table service (despite the sign) and expected the staff to be attentive and visible… we informed the staff as soon as one of them finally appeared outside.

The manager refused and rather than having some goodwill, taking our criticisms and offering a discount for the uneaten food he simply refused to deal with us and was dismissive of anything said.

Would I have eaten here again? Maybe… I could have given them another go in the hopes that the food would be hot as actually I’m sure it would have been great if served properly. That said we wouldn’t return after the lack of attentive staff, to then be offered a discount and then for the manager to overrule a discount based on my partners mum trying the food to see if it was acceptable.

We waited for the staff and they didn’t appear until a long time after. Not our fault.

Anyways. I advise that this place serves its food properly, hires attentive staff, decides whether you deal with the staff at the bar or have table service and that the manager just accepts an occasion of poor quality and makes customers feel better about a bad experience.

We’d have rated higher, despite the cold food, but the cold food plus the lack of attentive staff and ridiculous manager means we wouldn’t...

My friend and I went here for Sunday brunch and it was quite busy. That’s usually a great sign that you’re going to a have a very enjoyable meal. It took about 30 minutes for them to finally get our order in, it seemed as if they were understaffed. The girl that took our order was helpful in giving us suggestions.

The food came out after 15-20 minutes and presentation for both of the dishes were excellent. I’m a huge fan of chicken and waffles which is a rare find especially in Spain and let me just say it did not disappoint! The chicken was crispy on the outside, waffles were nice and soft and the chili sauce they put on the side was phenomenal. They even put a couple of jalapeños on top which added an extra small kick to the overall dish. My tastebuds were in brunch heaven.

They would have definitely gotten 5 stars had it not been for the service at the end. It took a long time to finally get them to bring the bill and once they did my friend and I wanted to pay 50/50 but the server (who was not the original girl that took our order) snapped and said they didn’t do that. He shrieked that he was busy and did not have time to take separate payments as the restaurant was packed. In the end he took two payments as my friend and I simply did not reply. We were both shocked by the server’s reaction as we had patiently waited for them at the beginning to take our order.

I work in the service industry and am very empathetic towards staff members at other establishments as I have also been in those situations. But this reaction made the overall experience sour and left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

However the food for me was a knockout and I would easily repeat on the chicken and waffles. Maybe go when it’s not so busy as the experience will probably...

My friends and I were very excited to go there since we only read good stuff about that place and were sadly very disappointed. After we were seated it took around 20min until someone came around and asked us what we want (there was no card, just a QR Code on the table where you can order online but no one explained how) when the waiter finally came he said "it's just to look at the menu and I'll bring it to you" ok good. I got the Grilled-Cheese Waffle Sandwich with Chips. it wasn't really good, cheese wasn't melted, bacon kinda chewy and the avocado inside was a lot brown. also, I dont think they know about seasoning or even salt or pepper? the Potato Chips just tasted like the oil they were fried in and the sandwich itself was only salty due to the bacon. my friend ordered the OJ which tasted like Fanta without bubbles (for 3€ you get freshly squeezed OJ in other restaurants). my other friend hat the Avocado Toast, she said it wasn't that bad but definitely not worth the price. all in all, way too overpriced for the little quality. maybe they treat the locals better than tourists and thats why they have such good reviews.

Ps. not only did it ruin our mood since we spent a lot of money on bad food but it ruined our whole day since like an hour after that a friend of mine and I felt really sick so we spent the day in the hotel room instead of...