El Xalet de Montjuïc — Restaurant in Barcelona

My kids and I visited Montjuic Castle, and my 7 year old daughter had to use the restroom as we were outside Xalet de Montjuic. I asked if they had one, and the greeter said it is for customers only, which is completely understandable and expected in many places. I told him we could become a customer and then she can use the restroom. He said it' s a restaurant and I can't just buy something to take away. I told him we would sit and order and then she could use the restroom. He sort of shook his head at me. I asked him, "You're saying I can't sit down with my family and order food?" He told me we could except that they were not open and didn't open for another 30 minutes but that we could walk 2 minutes down the road for a public restroom. After a couple minutes walking looking for a restroom for my daughter, it dawned on me that it was 8:07pm when he told me they weren't open and there is no way they aren't open at 8pm. We were unable to find a toilet for my daughter so she had to try in a (sort of) shaded area of a park. To be polite, it did not go well. Thankfully, I had a scarf in my bag to wrap around this poor child.

I called the restaurant at 8:16pm and asked the woman who answered what time they open. She told me they opened at 8pm. I explained to her what happened and she didn't really understand and told me they do not have a public toilet. After a couple of explanations, she understood that her colleague at the door refused service to us and lied about being closed. She apologized, asked if we wanted to come for dinner, and said she would speak to the guy at the door and to a manager. I explained to her my daughter was not in a state to dine there BECAUSE her colleague refused us service. I looked at their description online and it says they are not kid friendly. It's one thing to not be kid friendly, but quite another to refuse service based on one's age. In fact, it is probably illegal, at least it is illegal in the United States to discriminate based on age and I would think it would be illegal here as well.

We walked back by the restaurant as my daughter was in no state to ride in a taxi or Uber and our 19 minute walk to our apartment took us back by the restaurant. There was different man at the door and I asked HIM what time they opened. He told me 8pm. I told him his colleague had told me at 8:07pm that they were closed. At that time, the man who discriminated against us and lied to us came to the door. He told me they WERE closed at 8:07 pm and that they didn't open until 8:20pm today. I told him I called and the woman told me they had opened at 8pm. I gestured to my daughter wrapped in a scarf as a "skirt" and I said I hope you feel sorry about her peeing her pants. He got angry and told me "She's a child. She can pee outside!" and gestured to the park. I replied to him, "You're a boy. Boys can pee outside. This is what happens when a little girl tries." He just got even more mad and went inside and we walked home.

Needless to say, it was a rough evening as we had already walked a lot that day, and my daughter was uncomfortable and embarrassed because a man decided it was his right to decide that a child should be able to go outside and that he didn't want children in his restaurant and to discriminate against us based on age and lie to us. Do not support these people. They have no scruples. And I read the reviews, most of which say the views are the only redeeming quality. Go to the castle for beautiful views. They are at...

If I could give this zero stars I would.

This restaurant has lovely views of Barcelona but unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant. It was our first time in Barcelona and we were very excited to go to this restaurant for dinner and watch the sunset but it ended up being a very unpleasant experience.

As soon as we arrived we found that one of the staff member was very rude and dismissive with quite a bad attitude. We asked politely if we could sit on the balcony so we could get the best view but they immediately told us no, when there were seats available. We had assumed it was because maybe they had other reservations but it didn’t seem that was the case. It was very peculiar.

We had our food which was quite enjoyable but also quite basic. After we had eaten our dinner we ordered espresso martinis which the waiter spilt down the both of us as he was putting them down on the table. We were both wearing white dresses so it was very noticeable (there was about a quarter of the drink spilt on one of us). The waiter had told us that we wouldn’t be charged for the espresso martinis as they were spilt all down us.

When it came to paying the bill we explained that the waiter said we wouldn’t be charged for the espresso martini and the staff took this very badly. We tried to explain that we were more than happy to pay the rest of the bill just not the espresso martinis as they had been spilled all down us and we had been told we wouldn’t be charged for them. The owner came over and started shouting at as and threatening to call the police when we were talking very calmly and trying to have a conversation with them. We ended up paying the full bill including the espresso martins and somehow it still got worse. We had gone to the bathroom before we left which they followed us to and waited for us to come out and then persisted to follow us out of the restaurant making very rude comments.

I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to anyone it was a very unpleasant experience to have on our last day of...

El Xalet is in the unique position of both being in an awesome location, and being the only restaurant around. This is because it is near MNAC, thus has the amazing views, and, well I don't know why there are no other restaurants around.

It's presence is indicated by a somewhat plain looking sign that says "Restaurant", and when you go in you're greeted by a gentleman who takes the number of people in your party and then radios to the main restaurant. He then ushers you to a lift that takes you to the terrace.

The decor is okay; presentable; and we didn't have to wait long for a table. The menu is kinda seafood heavy, I had the mixed paella, which has chicken and prawns in it. The prawns, however, were not cleaned which is a big sticking point with me. They'd been cooked whole, and I prefer my prawns deshelled, delimbed, and cleaned. These were whole. In addition, they made the paella have a fish taste, even the chicken.

The other sore point was the placing of bread on your table without asking (and the replacing of same), which you are then charged for. It seems to me like a cheap and sneaky way of making a few extra Euros, especially when the food is already fairly expensive.

I would say the main attraction of the place is the amazing view except that if you're in the area anyway, MNAC is a much better place to enjoy it from. Unless you're extremely hungry and or tired, you can probably get much better food for...