La Tagliatella — Restaurant in Barcelona

Having left this restaurant, we had to stop by at a local supermarket to buy a meal as only one of us (two persons) had been served. I’m still baffled how many different ways they found to make me and my friend feel as unwelcome as we had never felt anywhere else.

1. After we asked for a table in English language (we’re tourists) we were left waiting for around ten minutes with only the Spanish menues. As nobody even looked in our direction (we were sitting in a crowded, but still small area) we had to stand up and go ask for English menues ourselves.
2. We were two persons. As it turned out in the end the waiter had misunderstood that we both had ordered the same dishes. After waiting around 15 minutes after the first dish had been served we asked about the second plate. (As we had seen that in a group of four at a table nearby also one person had been served way later than the rest of the group we had first still hoped for our second food to come). The waiter reacted very unfriendly and harshly told us we had ordered only one meal. Apart from some rather reluctant „sorry” there was nothing in order to accommodate us. We cancelled the missing plate.
3. From other Tagliatelle restaurants in Barcelona we were used to get some olives right away. I saw them on other tables, but we didn’t get any.
4. The food ordered was steak. We weren’t asked which way we would like to have it (rare, medium, etc.).
5. Would our waiter have asked and re-assured if the second of us really wouldn’t like to have something the misunderstanding would have shown.
6. All in all, we were treated very cold and hectic the entire evening. Apart from the waiter who had served us most it seems the other staff was not unfriendly to the other guests in general, but as many other guests were treated very friendly (like being smiled at and not being asked only the very least) and we were not we felt very unwanted in this place. The food itself was fine, but it’s hardly possible to enjoy it when the other persons sits there hungry and ignored by the staff. With so many other great places here I wouldn’t come back again here even if the food was...

Feia temps que el meu pare volia anar a La Tagliatella, però jo m’hi resistia: aquest local en concret acumulava un parell de crítiques molt negatives i em feia recança. Finalment m’ha convençut. L’experiència ha confirmat part de les meves sospites.

La primera impressió és que l’espai està molt mal aprofitat. Hi ha una gran quantitat de taules molt juntes entre elles, fet que converteix l’ambient en una mena de menjador de fast food més que no pas en un restaurant que vol transmetre una imatge de qualitat. El soroll i la sensació d’agobi fan que la vetllada no sigui gens còmoda.

Tot i això, intento centrar-me en el menjar. Ens atén un cambrer jove, molt amable i atent, que de seguida ens porta aigua i pren nota dels plats. Jo demano una amanida amb diferents ingredients de marisc i el meu pare, pasta.

El local és sorollós i parlar amb tranquil·litat és complicat. Al cap d’una estona, el cambrer torna i m’informa que no queda salmó fumat, però que el poden substituir per bacallà. Accepto el canvi. Triguen entre 30 i 40 minuts a portar els plats, i quan arriba el meu, em sorprèn negativament: Hi falten les gambes. Considerant el preu del plat —sens dubte elevat per la presència d’aquests ingredients— em sembla inacceptable que el serveixin així, sense ni avisar.

Reclamo, i el cambrer es disculpa educadament, dient que ningú li havia dit res i oferint-me canviar el plat. Malauradament, res més de la carta em venia de gust, així que vaig acabar sense dinar. Un restaurant amb aquest nivell de renom hauria d’estar preparat amb tots els ingredients, especialment en un dilluns, que normalment marca l’inici de la setmana amb comandes fresques. Que faltin diversos ingredients essencials en un plat i que aquest s’enviï igualment a taula, sense cap advertència, és greu.

Per postres demanem un tiramisú i un crumble de poma (si és que així s’anomenava). Triguen 15 minuts, i quan arriba el crumble, està mig desfet. El cambrer, una vegada més molt correcte, es disculpa i ens convida al postre. El gest s’agraeix, però no compensa l’acumulació de negligències que no són culpa del personal, sinó del funcionament general del local.

Per acabar d’adobar-ho, he comprovat que, després de les males crítiques recents, han aparegut de sobte moltes ressenyes positives que fan sospitar que es tracta d’intents d’ocultar les queixes legítimes.

En resum: probablement no hi tornarem. El problema no són els cambrers, que fan el que poden amb professionalitat dins un entorn caòtic, sinó la direcció de La Tagliatella, que sembla prioritzar la rendibilitat per sobre del benestar dels treballadors i la qualitat de l’experiència del client. Una llàstima, perquè amb una millor gestió i menys ànsia d’explotar l’espai i el personal, el...

A shockingly overpriced and under delivered meal. €15 for a salad that was no more than bagged supermarket leaves and a scoop of goats cheese, €12 for a cold, wafer thin Margarita pizza with next to zero topping. €10 for a tiny portion of kids pasta. We left hungry and annoyed and I had to feed my kids again when we got home.

This restaurant chain used to be a great place for families but they need to stop pursuing greedy pricing and penny pinching recipes. To charge the prices they do on high margin Italian food (€17 for a bowl of pasta!), and then also scrimp on ingredients in the way they are doing is appalling. We won’t be going back and we live across the road.

The staff are...