Berbena — Restaurant in Barcelona

I've returned home after sitting on the marble table for the second turn this evening. It's 1:45am. I should probably go to bed. But whilst writers will tell you to "write drunk, edit sober," my love for this place can't wait until the morning.

I'll let Frank Ocean's "Nights" provide the vibes in the background while I tell you why I adore this restaurant so much.

I arrived in Barcelona in November, 2018. Berbena had recently opened. My friend Francois (from Origo Bakery nearby) told me about this small restaurant that was making some of the best food in the city. The type of food you'd be charged $300 per person for back in SF, where we lived a while ago.

I started eating there regularly. And I just kept coming back.

I've lived here for three years now. I've eaten at Berbena at least a dozen times, maybe closer to twenty. One night our friends from Amsterdam came over, and we ate every item on the menu, and they told us it was the best meal of their lives. A friend from SF, no stranger to excellent restaurants himself, demands we take him here every time he visits. A friend from New York kindly picked up the tab one night, and told me he'd normally pay that just for his own share of a dinner at one of their favourite restaurants.

All these words and I haven't even started to tell you about the "why." The food, of course, the food: inventive; playful; serious, but with a wink; crafted with an attention to small details, local ingredients (like using the roasted coconut ice cream from the ice cream shop around the corner) making nods to the city's past, present and future.

But explaining the magic of Berbena by focusing on only the food is akin to saying "Barcelona is great because it has a beach." A small starter of why this place is better than your average place—The soundtrack (not "the music", but an actual vibe). The staff. The theatre of the whole evening.

It's not a dinner. It's a performance. With the food and wine taking centre star—simple ingredients paired together in ways that will leave you scratching your head wondering a) how they cracked the puzzle of how something like ice cream, olive oil and salt might work together, or how a gyoza could possibly taste that good, b) how come you're not paying twice as much for food that is clearly this good and c) where the f could you buy that bread from?!

I don't want to hype things up too much. I don't want to raise your expectations so much that you'll worry if they can surpass them. But I've been eating here for three years. And every time I think it can't get better, it always does.

(There are intentionally no pictures attached to this review, because I was so focused on the food, and the vibe, that I didn't take it out of my pocket once. Berbena isn't really something to enjoy by looking at tiny pictures on your phone. You just have to experience yourself.)

Thank you to all the staff for continuing to make this little place one of the most magical spots...

Without a doubt the best meal and restaurant experience we had in all of Barcelona!

Before I begin, for anyone that read the strange review just before mine.. we were coincidentally at the restaurant the same day some random guys barged in straight to the bathroom to do god knows what, and I think the name on the review might be similar? Check out the other reviews and you can make your own mind up regarding the “claims”. I will say that the restaurant definitely responded more diplomatically than I would have 😂

The reason I start with this is because we had an unbelievably accommodating experience thanks to Carles and his team. So let me set the record straight and break it up into three sections:

Making the reservation We actually made reservations the first night in Barcelona however my partner was not feeling well so we called to reschedule for the following night. Even though it was (unsurprisingly) completely booked the next day, not to mention the rest of the week, Carles promised that he would do whatever he could to help us out if there was a cancellation since we called to do the same before and boom - we were able to grab a table the next day! Even when we first arrived he greeted my partner and asked if she was feeling better, big brownie points (for me as well!).

The service You can always tell a lot about the meal/experience by the way the staff interacts with you and each other. On both of these notes it was a perfect harmony; multiple attentive waitstaff whom were experienced in both food and wines, just a class act all round that really made it feel professional and family orientated at the same time. Our local sommelier (Gonzalo) and my wife teamed up to pick a local Catalonian white wine which was surprisingly a light orange colour but delicious and went perfectly with the meal.

The food, of course! Great service is amazing but food to match is a necessity, and Berbena delivered magnificently. In particular both the sting ray and the oxtail gyoza in broth were sensational, whilst the 3 separate dishes for the endives, cecina and beef cheeks were literally melting in your mouth and packed with flavour. Also being in proximity to watch the chefs create the meals together was a privilege, you could see how discerning they were around using only the highest quality produce.

I would say that it can be quite difficult to make a booking so try and plan in advance. However, with absolute confidence, this was absolutely worth it and definitely an authentic Barcelona experience which blew us away.

Thanks again to Carles and the whole team for a wonderful meal, highly...

Due to unfortunate circumstances that come with traveling to a foreign country - getting lost, phone dying / losing service, arriving back from a day of traveling much later than expected - my friends and I missed our reservation at Berbena. We were unable to contact the restaurant in advance to inform. Two days later I received a charge for 180 Euro - over 200 USD - for the missed reservation.

After explaining the situation to the restaurant and pleading with them to refund the cancellation fee as this imposed an ENORMOUS financial burden on my personal finances (I’m a young waitress, I don’t have a very high salary and had been saving for this trip for a very long time) the chef/owner Carlos messaged me personally from the restaurant’s IG and refused to refund me as if I had purposefully and maliciously missed my reservation, refused to have a conversation on the phone about the matter, and blocked me from the restaurant’s Instagram page so that I could not make a further complaint.

I find this behavior textbook narcissism, unprofessional and inhuman - to have such apathetic disregard for unforeseen circumstances and other human being’s personal financial situations is a disgrace. I apologized profusely for missing my reservation, and as I’m a waitress and also work in restaurants I understand the financial impact of no-show tables. But for a chef/owner of such a successful, well-respected, highly-rated restaurant that clearly has financial success, to personally send downright unkind messages, refuse to refund a young NOT wealthy traveler on whom this charge imposed an ENORMOUS and devastating financial burden is simply disgusting, disappointing, and sick behavior. I recognize it was my fault we did not inform the restaurant we could no longer arrive - none of us had working cell phone service, as can happen in a foreign country. But for a chef owner to have such lack of empathy and understanding is so cruel that I’m certain this behavior and attitude is reflected in the character of the restaurant.

I highly recommend travelers to avoid dining here. There’s plenty of other restaurants in Barcelona that treat visitors with basic respect and human dignity, this one does not deserve your...