La Fonda del Port Olímpic — Restaurant in Barcelona

Last day at Barcelona! We loved the part-time guy singing but the volume was a little too loud and we couldn’t have a conversation. Unfortunately the table were we were seated had a lot of people coming and going and my seat was pushed around by a passing waiter. We really enjoy and eat seafood regularly so we excitedly order our dinner. The bread that they gave us as we sat down was to pay and we didn’t know that until at the check because €4. Let’s talk about the flavors! The soup was extremely salty.. the octopus was a let down because both the octopus and potatoes underneath it didn’t had any flavor, we could only taste the oil that we added (that was found on the table). The mix of seafood had SO LITTLE meat plus we can positively tell you that we ate quite a bit of sand in 2 razor clams. Me and my friend were ready to split the check but the waiter went directly to my friend, maybe because he’s a guy.. We were caught off guard when the waiter asked how much tip he was going to give and he wasn’t joking. The check came €77,40 are we were willing to give €80, so my friend say that we were going to pay €80, but the waiter insisted that the minimum for him is €5 and kept exclusively talking to him, that’s when my friend felt a lot of pressure at looked at me as a help sign, so I spoke up, asking if €80 was ok, but nothing, the waiter didn’t even looked at me even if he clearly heard me, he stood there pressing my friend to give more for what seem hours.. we were forced to tip him a number that was of his liking. I sincerely hope that you’ll think more than twice before coming here spending your money and your...

I went in November 2015. I'm half-Filipino and I went with my fiance who is white. We also went with four other Filipinos although we are all from USA. We followed our friends who asked the taxi driver for a place with Paella. They brought us here. We were eating at a normal hour, if not a little early (~9 PM). I noticed immediately that there were no Spaniards but a bunch of Chinese tourist in a group. We were seated promptly (it was otherwise empty). Everyone else in my group spoke only English while I spoke in Spanish. Everyone requested their drinks (mixed, water, or soda) but when I ordered a tinto rioja--a fairly common red wine--they looked at me like I was delusional. The asked to clarify and I said yes, a tinto rioja. The waiter looked super confused before bringing me the wine. My white fiance was treated well by the staff but my Filipino friends were basically ignored. I received fine treatment for speaking Spanish but there definitely seemed to be a weird treatment between how the Chinese before us were treated, my Filipino friends were treated, how my white Fiance was treated, and how I as a Spanish speaker was treated. Later they would bring us out a nice bottle of some peach schnapps for the ladies and some green menthos-y drink for the guys (for free). I saw them do it with the other Caucasians who came in later, but not for any of the Chinese tour group who came before. The portions were indeed huge if not underwhelming but it was not a terrible experience...just...

It was a busy place on Friday Apr 1st 2022 3pm but the 3 of us were seated within 15mins by the glass window near a waiter stand (on right side of the "outside" area). We ordered mixed paella for two persons and mix seafood plate, a glass of beer and a bottle of water. We were informed that the minimum paella order is for two persons (we saw on the menu that this was so for weekends but it was not clear if that applies to Friday though we did ask again). On hindsight, perhaps a waiter could have ask and suggested the daily menu which has some portions of paella. The fried seafood plate is OK though we wished it to be crispier. Our food order and seating were smooth and no further service attention were required nor any offered.

When we paid for the bill, the waiter (a) asked for waiter tip and also suggested EUR 5 for a bill of around 67 EUR (b) did not give us a copy of the receipt though he asked and we said yes

If the restaurant management reply here that it is normal for this Barcelona restaurant to allow a waiter to ask for a tip (putting a client in a slightly awkward position), I would be happy and wiser despite all my reading up and experience in Spain on the topic of tipping. I would have tipped based on normal practices here (but not to be asked!). The purpose of this review is to create management awareness of existing tipping practice in the restaurant and to correct it upfront if wrong. Or to educate a client like myself on acceptable...