by Solà Espacio Gastronómico — Restaurant in Barcelona

Went here with a group of 9 friends based on the TripAdvisor reviews. The 1* Google reviews and La Menuda's unprofessional responses to these, are in fact far more accurate. I fully expect to receive a defensive response from them on this review - watch this space!

The food was mediocre overall, and overpriced. The waiter forgot to give us cutlery and napkins so my friends had to request cutlery to be able to eat their food, after waiting patiently for about 10 mins. Two of the group ordered tuna tacos not knowing that it would be unappetising, lukewarm, raw tuna, and they couldn't finish it. One friend ordered the mussels starter and was warned that it was a small dish - but we didn't think she would receive canned mussels, still in the can..! Another friend ordered the seabass main course but she, on the other hand, was not warned about how small it would be. One friend asked for a burger without the bun and this seemed to baffle the waiter, despite the fact that the restaurant advertises gluten free options. I ordered a salami and tomato paste ciabatta, which cost €4.99 and I was disappointed to find that no salad or garnish came with it and the tomato paste was almost non-existent. I had bought a similar sandwich from a bakery earlier that day for €3.50, which was nicer and full of fresh salad.

At the end of the meal the waiter approached my friend to ask if she was writing a TripAdvisor review - which was none of his business. He knew my friend spoke a different language so he proceeded to confront her about the TripAdvisor review in that language so that the rest of the group couldn't understand, which seemed like a calculated and manipulative attempt at getting her to not continue with the bad review, which she was very upset about. At that point, we paid and left.

Overall, the waiter was very unprofessional, the food gave me absolutely no desire to return, and the drinks were expensive (6€ per glass of wine). Would not recommend. There are plenty of far better places to go to...

Overall: 5+/5 Magnificent/Maravilloso! Five+ out of five! (Our first meal on Day 1 of our stay in Barcelona was excellent and this rating is on the most recent 2nd meal experience since I took more pics and is still fresh in my mind)

Return visit: YES! Already went twice within last month!

Recommend it: MUST! I’d tell and take all my fam & friends “when in Barcelona, you must stop by at least once.”

Taste: 5/5 Everything tasted great, especially the burrata with peaches, medium rare Iberian pork and the Argentine steak!

Quality: 5+/5 Seafood from Costa Brava. Best local meats. Perfect Spanish wines!

Service: 5/5 Pilar (the only hostess/waitress/manager/cashier besides the chef) is always super helpful, very friendly and really knows her food ingredients, even though she speaks only Spanish. Have your Google translator ready as she also has hers in hand so she is not doing all the translator work by herself.

Value: 5/5 I’ve had my share of Michelin 1,2, 3 starred restaurants in NYC, Paris, LA, Napa like Per Se, Masa and Alain Ducasse, and this is just as good AND even better than many others I won’t mention! Plan about $50 Euros with wine per person or $40 if without wine! We had 2 types of wine by the glass, 5-6 dishes plus 2 orders of toasted bread with tomatoes!

X-factor: 5+/5 Next door to our temporary apartment in Eixemple and 5-minutes down the same street as the entrance to Casa Mila/La Pedrera...

One of the owners started to serve us and was very attentive. After our drink order however he sat at the table beside us and essentialy ignored us. The food he recommended was the same as the daily menu but twice as expensive and when the food came we had to get our own utensils. In the end we went and got our own water as well as there was no service to be had.

It looked like the other tables that were being served by the other staff were getting good service however we did not and it seemed like the owner was trying to squeeze every last euro out of us. I'm ok with people doing that as everyone needs to make money but try not to make it so obvious.

Finally their beer was ok but nothing worth sticking around for. The best beer we've had in Barcelona has been at Garage Beer Co (great service there too) and NarpaBCN (service was lacking but beer made up for it). Unfortunately this is another place you should skip...