Barraca — Restaurant in Barcelona

AVOID AVOID AVOID! This would be a 0-star review if possible. The absolute worst "service" and quality of "food" that I and my party have ever encountered. A sign of bad things to come was the extremely rude man (short, grey hair, glasses) downstairs who was supposedly assigning tables, but in fact failing to do anything other than insult patient customers. Many, including us, were waiting for almost one hour after our pre-booked reservations (what is the point in offering this system when it is clearly ignored?). Somehow, the experience was even worse upon finally being seated at our table. Even though several tables were available, including by the window, and remained so during the course of our stay, we were prevented from sitting anywhere other than the cramped, awkward spot initially offered, with no reason given. This was not helped by the inefficient, surly and un-informed waiter, whose idea of a glass of wine barely filled 2mm, despite being expensive. At least the food would make up for it, right? WRONG. For a restaurant (and its owners) who go to great lengths to promote ecological and vegan options, we were informed that NOTHING on the menu, even the vegetable paella advertised as vegan, was free of animal ingredients, except for a green salad. Yet even this initially arrived with an enormous ball of cheese, and re-eppeared as nothing more than a bowl of dry rocket. This entire absence of seasoning even extended to such simple dishes as Pa amb tomàquet, and when much-needed salt was requested for the table, it was met by yet more grumpiness from the serving staff. Surely the fish options ordered by the majority of the party were more promising? NO! It is abysmal for any restaurant to serve frozen, barely de-thawed seafood with no taste, but for a restaurant specialising in fish, and situated by the sea, it is INEXCUSABLE and UNACCEPTABLE. Did I mention that the meal was in celebration of a milestone birthday for one family member attending? The restaurant were certainly pre-informed of this, yet made no effort to either acknowledge the occasion, or even offer any form of basic service. Needless to say, as Barcelona residents we will NEVER return to Barraca, and strongly advise anybody to do the same, in addition to being EXTREMELY WEARY of any establishment owned by Tribu Woki, as they have proven themselves to be superficial con-artists, based on a false and non-existent image of "care," of which they provide the...

2 very polite but overwhelmed waiters. 1 very rude manager. I went today with my wife to have Paella. We were told we could sit but they needed time to clear our table, which we waited patiently for. After the table was finally cleared we asked if we could already order drinks. We placed our orders for 2 soft drinks and we waited patiently for those too. However, the restaurant seemed to be understaffed. Even though the entire indoors area on the ground floor was empty, the 2 waiters I could see serving people were not enough to serve everyone fast enough. Our drinks were taking too long. We decided to put an end to our own frustration and just leave. However we were polite enough to go over to the bar and inform them we were leaving so that they don't open our drinks in case they were close to serving them. We also informed them the reason we were leaving and we went on our way.

The waiters were polite and had little to say. That was completely fine. But after we left, the manager (a lady dressed slightly different from the waiters) marched over to us inquiring aggressively if we were going to take our drinks. When we told her we were not she asked why, once again very aggressively. When we told her why, instead of apologizing for being understaffed, she aggressively snapped at us rudely "you are not the only table and we are busy serving others" and then immediately turned and marched back rudely, abruptly ending the conversation, without waiting for a response from us.

So here is our response: We were completely fine until that lady manager came and spoke to us rudely. We initially thought maybe one or 2 waiters called in sick in the last minute and they couldn't replace them. What to do: either tolerate the slow service or leave. We chose to leave. But to get accosted so rudely, spoken at in such an uncivil manner, and aggressively harassed by the manager ... I'm truly speechless for a hospitality-type business to be treating their customers in this barbaric and hostile manner. We are tourists here but we are owners of restaurant businesses back home. If we heard an incident like this happenned in our own establishments we would definitely consider firing or giving our manager a written warning with an urgent training on manners and...

Such a great experience here and definitely one of, if not our favorite meal in Barcelona. The owner/manager greeted us as we came in and was so so sweet. He accommodated our seating preference without hesitation and gave us a wonderful private outside oceanfront view. Our service was amazing and staff so attentive. To address the reviews that mention the service was slow: I’m curious as to whether these are from people that are just stopping by on cruises, as service in Spain as a whole can be quite “slow” and is typically to be expected. I would allot a little more time whenever you go to a nice restaurant for dinner at most places. However, this was probably the best, quickest, and most attentive service we had had so far, so this is not something I feel is deserved, at least based on our experience. And the FOOD! The patatas bravas were absolutely INCREDIBLE, and possibly my favorite dish of our trip. The paella was tasty. The wine was great. I ended up changing my mind on dessert - based on the waiters recommendation - and chose the cheesecake he recommended instead… wow. I’m so glad he changed my mind because it was amazing. Between the four of us I believe we paid just under €160, but this was with several appetizers, two paella dinners (for 4 people), 4 desserts, splurging a bit on two bottles of wine, and the bread starter. We were honestly surprised it wasn’t much more given the amount we had ordered. The owner greeted us again as we left. You can really tell he cares about his restaurant and puts his soul into this place; it shows. We hope to be back soon! Highly recommend...