Fonda Pepa — Restaurant in Barcelona

This is a place i will not return. It is my third time here (two times with catalan friends and first time alone, unfortunately also my last time). I have tried most of their dishes here and they are great with variety and every time it changes based on seasonal availability and whats fresh on the day. Today I dressed as a tourist as I am doing an article on hidden gems in barcelona for my company so i try to test the food and service, they speak great english. i asked if i could pay €11 off company card and the rest €7 in my person card (because my company pays €11 off every dish i go test for). The staff was very annoyed by this he started murmuring to himself what kind of customers will pay €7 in a bill and make him do twice the work and pay twice commission. Regarding credit card commission I get that point and I would have happily paid with my personal card for €18 if he refused. He could have said “sorry we dont do separate bills under €20”. But he did not, instead while cursing me for the next 5minutes, with a very pissed off face, kept saying causing him trouble. he prolly frowned and sighed 10times in the next 5minutes, didn’t ask if i need a copy, didn’t say thank you or bye or see you, basically nothing as soon as he was unhappy about this request it was straight off bitch face. Its ridiculous because they were understaffed and i asked for the bill at 2:05 and he only brought it to me at 2:26, i waited for him for 21mins beause i see that he is the only person running around and i didnt want to stress him more, but i get an attitude like this. Its a pity because the food is actually good, and my job is a food columnist and its not everyday i say the food is good. The service ought to improve. I will not recommend this place and i have told all my catalan and spanish friends here about the experience I had and they were all shocked. Its really a pity because i was going to write in our tourist article to recommend this place but we pulled out last minute after today. We will have our group gatherings elsewhere from now on, for work and for social reasons. Agree with the one star reviews below regarding poor...

We went on a Thursday evening. It was empty apart from one other table - the atmosphere was dead. Many other restaurants that we passed were buzzing but we decided to still go as we had made a reservation.

The taste of the food was very good overall. The rice was a bit salty.

The price was high for what it was and for the overall experience. There are many better value options in the city. I think many people are scared off by this price:quality ratio which in turn leads to an empty restaurant - I would recommend that the restaurant looks into this as I think with either increasing the portion sizes or decreasing the prices, there could be something special here.

The service was...

Comí una sola vez hace mucho tiempo en este restaurante. Me guardé bien de dejar una reseña porque opino que: una singola experiencia como cliente no puede valorar toda la experiencia y el esfuerzo echo para abrir y mantener un restaurante con una comida de este nivel. Dicho esto; recomiendo a menudo este lugar ya que sus platos son inolvidables. Está claro que mas allá de lo que el cliente puede ver durante el servicio esconde detrás unas preparaciones previas echa por cocineros con gran conocimiento. Cada plato es perfecto, equilibrado en todos sus sabores y con notas fresca o ácidas al final de cada bocado, lo cual te permite volver a saborear una cucharada más de lo que traigan. Esta reseña la escribo para felicitarme con los dueños del local, para haber pensado, realizado y mantenido en los años un sitio tan informal donde sentirse a casa sin tener que presumir nada y hacer que el paladar pueda gozar de los mejores ingredientes que esta tierra bendita nos da. La otra razón por la que escribo, es para que otros clientes que lean está reseña y no hayan tenido una buena experiencia aqui sepan que : "es caro" - "lo hacen mejor en otro lugar" - "porciones ridicula" denotan que probablemente no sepáis comer.(tranquilos, es mas común de lo que pensáis y también tiene solución! Y el adjetivo "caro" es despectivo, o sea que has pagado demasiado por la calidad del producto.) En la comida los márgenes son mínimo en lo mejor de los casos, aunque los precios de la carta parezcan excesivo. Los mejores ingredientes costan mucho dinero, al igual que la calidad y el número de empleados que se requieren para limpiar,cocinar, salsear, decorar y acompañar por un humilde pan con tomate digno de la mesa de un rey (un simple pan con tomate! 3 ingredientes de altisima calidad! que suerte vivir en el mediterráneo.) En resumen, gracias a todo el equipo para trabajar cada día del año y ofrecer lo mejor, y a los clientes de ser felices de poder tener locales y equipos como este en el mar de mediocridad que está ciudad nos ofrece en...