Cal Pinxo Palau de Mar — Restaurant in Barcelona

Shocking service. I asked the hostess by the entrance if it would be OK to just sit by the water and order a couple of drinks, she said yes but didn't suggest any tables so I said shall we just grab a table and she said OK. Nobody came to take our order or give us menus, after a long time I collared the waiter who came to see the table next to us and asked for a drinks menu, which he pulled out of a nearby drawer and handed to us. We then had to wait a long time to actually order our drinks. Once we had finally received our drinks, they waited only a few minutes before bringing the bill over (we hadn't even got half way through our glasses and we still had half a pitcher of sangria left). About 10 minutes after that, when we still hadn't finished our first glasses the hostess came over with a card reader. I told her I didn't mind paying but was not planning on leaving anytime soon (which she said was OK). Maybe that's the norm here but I've never experienced anything like it and found it all very rude. They were not very busy, they had lots of tables free, but they also were too busy to be closing early, so I don't understand why they would rush...

My husband and I just had a fabulous light lunch here today while admiring the beautiful Marina (port) and yachts bigger than houses! But back to our experience…. The restaurant caught our attention because of the location at first, but more importantly by how welcoming the people were who greeted us. We took a brief peek at the menu and decided that’s the place we belong.

The restaurant was immaculate, plants were all well groomed, the linens were perfectly crisp, and the staff presented themselves impeccably.

Whenever we ordered some water and wines, they came paired with some complimentary homemade chips and a small basket of beautiful rolls. My husband ordered the Gazpacho, which our server had recommended as one of the specials today; and I decided on the salt cod fritters with the amazing “Tomato Bread” that is seen on many menus here in Barcelona. However, once I tasted my husband’s Gazpacho, I too ordered a bowl. Wow, is all I can say. This is one very pleasant and delicious experience.

I will highly recommend Cal Pinxo Palau de Mar to any and everyone I know going to Barcelona.

Thank you for an incredible...

So frustrating. The waiter told us to leave over 30 minutes before they were closing, and then informed us that they only accept cash. We didn’t have cash on us so some in our party went to a nearby bank. During that time, I saw someone paying with a card, so I walked onto the patio and asked if we could pay with card. The waiter told us we weren’t allowed to stand on the patio, and had to go to the street, even though we were paying customers. When we tried to pay with card, he told us to stand even further from the restaurant, far enough that the card reader wouldn’t work. So we paid with cash and asked for a receipt, since he didn’t offer us one it and seemed very expensive. When he came back with our receipt, it didn’t contain a single drink we had ordered. When we told him it was wrong, he recalculated and finally said he had overcharged us (by 22%). He then continued to serve other customers while we waited for our money back. It’s clear he required cash so he could pocket what he had overcharged us. It’s very unfortunate that waiters like this make such a bad name for...