El Tribut — Restaurant in Barcelona

HORRIBLE STAFF AND UNCOMMON UNCOMMUNICATED POLICIES. SCAM, AVOID!!! A friend bought us a 100 euro voucher for my 30th Birthday. At no point was he told it all had to be used in one sitting. We tried to book and from the very first time the booking system automatically bounced back and cancelled. We had to book 5 times until a booking stuck. We get there, have a decently ok meal and the total came to 50 euro. We got told to go to the hostess till to pay with the voucher. When we got there, the hostess, Ticiana, said very confidently sorry but your voucher has been used. After we said this is not true she checked again and said that it was because past bookings that were cancelled (remember I mention these automatically bounced back cancelled) took the voucher value into account. However, 1. We never entered the voucher code 2. The restaurants system since time 1 trying bounced back the reservation. Eventually, after a few rude exchanges from Ticiana she said she would accept pur voucher but that the remaining 50 euro would not remain for use as it has to be spent in one sitting. This policy is firstly very strange I have never encountered it in all of Europe. Secondly, we asked to then speak to a manager. Ticiana said she would get him. We sat and waited for 5 minutes and to our surprise, a lack-luster hungover looking man (Antonio) asked if we wanted to speak to him. We were shocked as this man was 3 feet away from us for the 5 minutes texting on his phone. We asked was he the manager amd he confirmed. We asked why he stood in front of us for 5 minutes texting when he knew we wanted to speak to him. He said that Ticiana never told him. We then asked Ticiana in front of him if she told/asked him to speak to us and she said yes.....? Antonio just smirked and had no excuse for blatant lies....absolutely strange strange behaviour. We then explained the situation and Antonio took a firm stance that using in one time even if not communicated at time of purchase, or in the email. They collectively agreed we could leave and lose FIFTY EURO or sit back down to re-order. Im not sure what type of lack of EQ Antonio and Ticiana have, but in no scenario when their demeanour had already tainted our 30th celebration did we want to get reseated and re order. We ended up having to leave with 100 euro down the drain: 50 wasted on what was meant to be a 30th celebration, completely ruined by no words other than arrogant, rude hostess and management & 50 euro not spent.

We live in Barcelona many years and have never experienced this. We will be sure to spread the word to our Barcelona based family and friends as well as any visitors; key message AVOID!

What a ruined mlestone Birthday and loss of money. Anna and Albert who are apparently Antonio's and Ticiana's boss should be embarrassed woth these policies and embarrassed to have hungover, rude staff that laugh in your face specifically Ticiana here. What a horrible horrible experience, please save your money....so...

My friends and I were looking for a restaurant by the sea in Barcelona and decided on El Tribut after seeing so many great reviews and TikTok videos. Unfortunately, our experience was terrible, honestly, awful.

First, they forgot our wine. Three of my friends had already received their drinks, but two of us were left waiting for ours for over five minutes. Even then, we had to call the server again to remind her. It took multiple attempts before we finally got our drinks.

Next, when our food arrived, we had ordered seafood rice (paella) to share. Shockingly, the server didn’t even bring us a spoon to serve it onto our plates. In a restaurant of this supposed quality, the staff should serve the paella onto the plates for guests, but instead, we had to ask for a spoon and do it ourselves.

Since it was my first time trying paella, at first, I thought the burnt taste was normal. However, after tasting the seafood in the dish, I realized that our paella was actually burned! We called the server, who then brought the administrator. Instead of acknowledging the issue, the administrator told us that this is how paella is supposed to be. Are you seriously telling me that paella should taste completely burned? We each paid €27 for this dish, and it was absolutely not worth the price. My friend continued eating it only because we had already paid so much.

Lastly, when we asked for the bill, we requested separate checks for each of us. Instead, the server brought us a bill that was evenly split among all five people, rather than itemizing it per person as we had asked. Even worse, she simply placed the bill on the table and walked away without asking if we wanted to pay by card or cash. Since none of us had cash, we had to wait again for the server to return. When we asked her to split the bill properly, she told us that we should calculate it ourselves! This is beyond ridiculous, this is supposed to be a high-quality restaurant, not a self-service café. In the end we paid 41€ each.

Overall, our visit was extremely disappointing. The only good thing about this place is the view. Definitely do not...

UPDATE - RESPONSE TO EL TRIBUT BELOW In short, this restaurant is overrated. You can have a nice dinner here, albeit an expensive one and the service was average.

Cons: The booking and seating process: I made the reservation 3 months ago, when planning a weekend trip to Barcelona. There was no choice of dining location, although I did specify in the comments that this was for a birthday and made a request for a birthday message on a plate (like many similar restaurants). Despite my asking when we attended, we were seated indoors having been told the terrace is fully booked - I wonder how given there was no option for booking this. Despite being told the terrace was fully booked, there were a number of tables for two which went unoccupied the entire time we were at dinner. I did not like the attitude of the front of house staff. There was also no acknowledgement of the birthday, although I saw one other table did get their dessert with a candle in it. I must say this left a bad taste in my mouth, as I had brought my mother here for a birthday treat. Value for money: the food is good, but expensive for what it is.

Pros: The cod with dates and truffle parmentier was truly one of the most delicious fish dishes I've had. Beautiful view of the sea (had we been seated on the terrace) Nice interior design The waiter who served us throughout dinner was friendly and spoke English

RESPONSE: Dear Sofia, Thank you for getting back to me following my review. Based on your comments, I think your online booking portal might have an issue. I certainly did leave remarks regarding my mother's birthday, and in terms of the seating area I selected the only choice there was - there was no terrace option. Unless your restaurant is booked out from 3 months in advance, there might be an issue with the booking process. Thank you for passing my compliments onto the waiter and the chef. I'm happy to drop you an email directly too and will do so. Many...