Chao Pescao — Restaurant in Barcelona

I held off posting this for a few days as tend to want to share places I love. It turned out Google had held it in my inbox for a few years as a photo of squid offended it (!) so take this with a grain of sea salt…

And I so wanted to love the place, but too much was wrong with the food to make exception for the unique experience. Yes, you order a quantity of seafood from the counter at the start and they take it off and cook it. Bonkers but brilliant. Just don’t worry that you don’t know how many crayfish are in 100g or whatever, ask for numbers and all will be well.

The first thing that went wrong was the price, which leapt from what was on the menu on the door to the reality on the ground. €2.80 for boiled shrimp vs €3.55 in reality was typical. No issue with the higher price, but consistent prices would have been helpful. Was it the “cooked price”? No idea, and customers shouldn’t be expected to guess.

The food though: hated the cream of lobster soup, which was very much the flavour of the lobster innards you try and avoid. My partner had the seafood soup which he described as tasting of “the smell of a fish market”. I admit I didn’t try it to confirm!

The seafood skewers: I normally hate salmon but loved them. Absolute delight. The scallops, just gorgeous and cooked in the shell which I consider witchcraft. Bursts of sweetness and herbs and joy.

Then, the lobster. It had been cooked in tomato, evidently the revenge of the soup. A horrible flavour, a clash between the sweetness of lobster meat and the overpowering brashness of tomato ketchup. I tasted it, scraped off what I could and wished I had a bowl of water to wash off the rest. At €30, not a cheap mistake. Maybe this is a regional thing, but nowhere on the planet have I come across lobster being assaulted like this.

Thankfully I had a dessert to look forward to in red velvet cake. Unfortunately, it could only be described as tasting store bought. Not even a really good store, more the kind of cake so artificial in ingredients it’s expiry is somewhere in the next decade. I was grateful it at least scraped the flavour of the lobster off my tongue.

The initial giddiness of pointing and buying and trying to work out what we’d end up with on the plate, what would compliment what was overshadowed by the food itself and the odd pricing in the end. Ours is not a typical experience, others have raved about it and if nothing else it is a feast for the eyes. Alas, not consistently a feast...

Firstly what an amazing concept. You enter the restaurant to be greeted by a large fish counter where you simply ‘pick’ the fish you want to eat. You’re then given the option of how you want your fish to be cooked/prepared and then move onto the next counter of sides (A selection of olives) , salads, breads and other tapas etc.. to accompany your main meal.

After this, simply select the drinks for your table, take your tray and find a seat. Simple as that!

We were a party of six, we ordered two sharing shellfish platters, one salmon fillet grilled, one octopus leg grilled and finally one monkfish again grilled. We also opted for 2x mixed salad bowls, one potato bravas, olives and bread.

The food was served as it was ready and there was allot. The sharing platter is intended to be shared between 2 persons, we thought this could easily satisfy four. Simply put there was so much food for us, but amazing quality and quantity for the price paid.

As you can see from the picture(s) the platter selection and quantity was fabulous, brilliantly cooked, as a group we couldn’t fault it.

Great restaurant, great concept and unbelievable value for money. A must when visiting Barcelona, especially if you enjoy fish...

I could say only one ‘very disappointment’.

I wanted to have sea foods for my special meal in BCN. ordering was okay. I ordered two little squids, two shrimps, tuna tartar and a whole crab.

And I got one fried squid after paying 40 mins later. And about 20 mins, there was nothing. And I argued two times, and finally I got Whole Foods at the same time. My other foods which is Shrimp, crab were cold already and I think they cooked but don’t served, and still I don’t understand why tartar took 1 hr to get. Not only me got foods late but the people who ordered after me got their foods earlier than mine.

the crab was horrible. Whole flash were cold and dried, so the texture was like a brush. Never go there again and never recommend here.

And even this restaurant was not that busy when I visited. A half of table was empty. I can’t imagine when the tables were fully packed and how long does it take to get foods. I forgot to take a picture about the fried squid.

The only thing I can say good was wine and olives and oyster which I got it...