Bar Pimentel — Restaurant in Barcelona

This restaurant was booked for me and two friends for a Sunday lunch. We live in the city and have a combined experience of 50 years of dining in Barcelona between us. We had booked for 1 pm, and on arrival at 1 pm, the restaurant was closed. When we were finally allowed in, the one waitress finally explained to us that her colleague had slept in and she was alone. Fine we said. We had been shoved in the cramped corner with a patchy fan. After about 30 minutes our drinks order was taken. Shortly after, a new waiter began his shift. He was a delight and was to be commended. The food was fine, not amazing, but standard tourist fare for the area...including tourist prices. Shortly after finishing our mains, the "manager" or supervisor came on shift. He asked us if we'd move to another table. He did this in a smarmy and patronising way, whilst touching me inappropriately on the shoulder. We explained that we would not do so. We had our dessert. Then, without asking for it, the bill arrived. We explained we had not asked for it and what was going on. Once again we had the "pleasure" of interacting with the little man who was acting as manager. When we explained that we had been given the table for 1.30 hours, but it had taken 30 mins for our order to be taken, he said it was our fault and our negative attitude was to blame. All the while rolling his eyes in disdain. Unfortunately, Barcelona is well-known for its terrible service and jumped-up little waiters like this one. It must also be noted that the table fo 6 people sat next to us and who arrived at the same time was never treated in the same way, nor asked to move or hurry up. Whilst in the end we were comped certain dishes, this "clown" who was acting as manager ruined our meal, caused unnecessary problems and trouble and ultimately created a situation in which we wouldn't return to the restaurant in a month of Sundays, we'd advise our vast network of expat and local friends not to go here and frankly expect this restaurant to be gone in a year. What an expensive shame and...

AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS IF YOU ARE ASIAN!

The food was ok but the service was terrible and racist.

We are a family of three waiting for three seats. The server first told us there were two seats available at the bar table near the entrance, which we declined. Then after 10 minutes, he came back out to tell us we would be waiting a long time if we wanted a table; and there were no available tables at the restaurant at the moment. But nowhere in the conversation have we stated that we were waiting for a table, but rather just 3 seats. I don’t think how English is that difficult to understand. Finally, after he repeatedly told us it would be a long wait because of a lot of reservations, we settled for seats at the bar.

Initially, there were 2 seats available but the couple next to us were paying and ready to leave. The woman even offered to push the stool to us so we could finally be seated, and not have one of us standing. The same server, who has tattoos all over his face and a beard, told us gruffly, “I have never offered you 3 seats. You cannot sit on that one!” We were amazed by how rude he was and looking around, no one was standing and everyone was white. This made a lot of sense because it was just racism all in all. Why would we accept the 2 seats at the bar, when in the first place we declined the ones at the entrance? When we raised the issue of racism, the same server suddenly said they have a table at the back and asked if we would accept that, instead of the ‘2 stools’ he offered us. Obviously he was lying because he did not want to serve any one of Asian descent. When in the first place, you just told us you had no more tables and suddenly there’s an empty one at the back. How ridiculous!

This is no way to treat any customer, regardless of their race. He even had the audacity to converse in Spanish with customers in the restaurant about our situation when in fact, he was the one in the wrong and was...

To be honest, the experience really fell short of expectations. Despite booking nearly a week in advance, we weren’t seated in the main section of the restaurant but in the back, which felt claustrophobic, cramped and noisy next to the kitchen.

We ordered drinks shortly after sitting down and placed our food order soon after. While the food arrived in stages (which was fine), my cocktail didn’t appear until after we had completely finished eating. Even after being told several times that it was on the way, it took more than 30 minutes to arrive. Out of courtesy, my partner left his drink untouched, so neither of us had anything with our meal. To make matters worse, the cocktail I eventually received wasn’t even the Pornstar Martini I’d ordered (clearly listed on their specials menu) but an entirely different raspberry drink that had no resemblance to what I'd originally asked for.

The atmosphere wasn’t helped by the kitchen beside us repeatedly dropping plates that shattered at diners’ feet, including ours. As for the food, it was underwhelming — the croquettes were chalky and mushy, and the rest of the dishes were fairly average.

After having high expectations, we left feeling quite disappointed. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend...