CruiX Restaurant — Restaurant in Barcelona

A sad day at the beach

I'll start with the good - the food was amazing. The gazpacho - Mon dieu! The cold soup was stunning, just the right amount of sour and sweet.. the tiny cucumber balls adding a crunch and freshness that really added that much needed texture to such a soft dish. Also the restaurant is very good value. It's unheard of to get a 10 course tasting menu at a Michelin restaurant for less than 70-80 euros where I'm from.

Now the bad - one word. Service.

Perhaps I should have walked away when I was stood waiting for 10 minutes with already sore feet.

But I stayed. That, perhaps, was my downfall.

I sat. Alone with my book, I read.

My throat felt dry. I waited. I asked for water. A speedy 15 minutes later there it was.

Meanwhile some young English teenagers were sat next to me. Immediately they were seen to and brought a drinks menu. Then they were brought wine. I think it was rosé.

Wait a minute. Am I not human? Do I not drink wine?

The sever arrived with the menu for me and the table next door I ear wigged a little and heard that the teenagers were offered oysters at extra cost to complement the menu (you know teenagers and their fondness for oysters). Please note - I was not extended that same offer.

I asked for the drinks menu now. It was with despair as I watched the server leave. When would she be back I wondered? Perhaps by then I would be old and not fancy sweet red wine anymore.

My food came. I loved the red prawn cocktail. The green bubble popped in my mouth. Fantastic.

My hand now trembled. It felt the distinct emptiness where the stem of the wine glass should be.

The wine came (this was now an hour after my supposed reservation time), and the waiter was apologetic as he poured my red wine into a glass that should be reserved for white.

By this point, my disappointment was palpable, for the service resumed to a standard I would expect at the very least in a local  pizzaria. Someone asked me if I was enjoying the food (a resounding yes). My table was wiped and a fresh set of cutlery brought before each course.

Now as I eat the last course (again, lovely), I wonder was the service deliberate to reflect the final dessert. A sad day at the beach.

In summary - the food is delicious and layered with good flavour and mouth feel. The service on the other hand, will make you wonder if you commited some kind of atrocity that you're being treated as a leper rather than a...

Incredible meal and service. There are two dinner seatings a night; one starting around 7:15/7:45 (entirely foreigners on our night) and one starting after 9 (the Spaniards). We were the first ones in the restaurant at 7:15. Overall our dinner lasted until 9:45, a little longer than average I'm sure because we happily accepted their suggestions for a welcome drink of cava and a dessert wine at the end. At 9:45 they were very polite and apologetic about asking if we minded if they brought the check as the next reservation was waiting. It was amusing to us as obviously the check would've just been plopped on the table a half hour earlier in the US. The service was wonderful, they clearly preferred to speak Spanish as they did with me when it was something that only I needed to know (like what was in my vegetarian course) but they spoke good English as well.

I am a vegetarian, which we noted in the reservation and they confirmed at the beginning of the meal. They encouraged us both to do the same tasting menu for the best experience, however they agreed to do one vegetarian tasting menu and one regular (it was my husband's birthday and I didn't want to force him to be vegetarian!). The table of four people next to us did this as well; two vegetarian tasting menus and two regular.

The vegetarian tasting menu wasn't just the same thing without the meat, although of course the items were similar (as you would expect and generally want). It was thoughtfully crafted from start to finish. There was one rice dish that served as the main course that was served in a large paella-style pan, so that had to be vegetarian for both of us, but it was fantastic. The table next to us said they preferred the...

4.5 for the food, 2 for the service. Rounding up from 3.5

Some of the dishes were amazing, especially the extra leek and eel spoon, the swordfish taco, the rice and the bacalao churros. I also really enjoyed the Tom gai ice cream 🙌

We’d read and heard that the service was not up to the standard of the food but it was truly comical!

They forgot to serve us the first course at all so when they brought the second course I had to ask them about the first and they were really surprised we hadn’t gotten it (luckily I had read the menu and seen the other tables get it, otherwise we just wouldn’t have gotten it).

Then after the mains they just never served us either of the two desserts. At first it was nice with a break considering the other dishes were served at lightening speed. Finally after waiting 25 minutes, with nearly all other tables having left the restaurant and knowing that the next seating was starting (they really stressed that we could only stay for two hours) I asked and they seemed super surprised we hadn’t already finished the TWO dishes they never served!

They served us the desserts which were delicious and then we got the check and left. I was surprised they didn’t offer anything (coffee, discount etc) considering the mistakes they made. We also ordered a bottle of wine and three of the extra dishes.

I am glad we’d been warned that the service was bad but really we were still shocked. Such a shame as the restaurant has the potential to be excellent if they up their game. Overall I’m glad we tested it but I wouldn’t go back and I wouldn’t recommend it for a...