Hamburgueseria Goiko — Restaurant in Barcelona

Coming from Dublin where burgers are treated like coffee is in Italy, I have been on a never-ending quest for two years to find a burger of such high quality in Barcelona. Today, when I walked into Goiko Grill, this quest finished. The door is manned by a friendly lady who quickly found me a table without any reservation (from observation, this is definitely a place you need to book in advance). The staff are clearly very busy here but never fail to smile and give you the service you need. I was seated in the centre under a dimly glowing light facing the kitchen. This place is very busy but extremely spacious but although it’s full you don’t feel like you’re involved with any tables around you. The music sets the scene by playing upbeat music around the restaurant which is very clean and well kept. The menu has great variety (and contrary to other reviewers there IS a vegan option with NO additional charge) offering you the choice of meat, sides, and then the style of burger. They have a daily special from Monday to Friday consisting of a burger with fries and a drink or dessert for only 11.50€, definitely a great deal. I decided to try the most daunting item on the menu; the Gordonut (I loved the name). This is a limited edition beef burger sandwiched between two glazed donuts (yes, donuts) and filled with pieces of bacon, a fried egg, and melted cheese. A jug of maple syrup accompanies the dish to add all those extra calories working against your beach body. The result is a delicious marriage of sticky & sweet with sharp meaty overtones - basically a damn good burger. The meat is high quality and carefully cooked to perfection. I also read some reviewers criticising the size of the burgers and can say that this is the correct size for a burger - so much so that I was unable to finish the delicately seasoned fries and order a dessert. Having found my burger haven in Barcelona I’ll be quick to return to try their classics which already...

One of the waitresses was very unpleasant. They sit us in the table in a corridor, between the bathroom and fridge with drinks (even thought we had a reservation from days before). The bathroom door hit one of the chairs from our table. We moved the table a bit, but then every time writer comes for drinks, they are 5cm behind your back opening the fridge. And of course at some point there was many people entering the bathroom, so it was not a nice spot to have a dinner with friends… Table disaster.

We asked if we can change it to any other free table (restaurant was half empty), but waitress lied that they have a big group and they will be joining the tables for them. Of course 1h later people showed up and they were also a group of 4, like us. No big group, no joining tables.

Fortunately one of the waiters that took our orders was very nice and attentive.

The food is nothing special. I took a veggie option, but I changed vegan cheese for regular one (not adding, but exchanging) and they charged me extra for it…

Not coming back and not recommending...

I arrived at an empty restaurant, and now I know why...

Staff was rude, a guy called Stewart (or so his name tag suggested) in particular, who welcomed us in a rather unfriendly manner, and quite openly made annoyed comments about my partner for having politely requested that her heavily undercooked burger be sent back to cook a little longer. Not only, but these negative comments continued as more staff arrived, sharing with everyone his annoyance towards my partner's innocent request.

The food? Poor quality. The meat itself looks like the low value patties you'd get at the supermarket. The cheese? Definitely cheap. In the menu mushrooms were also included in the Sexy Bomb burger, though none were ever included, and no alternative was ever offered. The only winner here was the sauce that accompanied my burger, which was quite delicious.

Though I'm aware Goiko has other branches, and cannot judge the others, I'd definitely stay away from this one. But if the ingredients are the same for all, just save yourself the money, and go find a better...