Madre Taberna Moderna | Sagrada Família — Restaurant in Barcelona

Most disappointing meal of our trip. We had the seafood paella, eggplant, croquettes, and sangria. The paella was unbearably salty, and I was disappointed that the squid was heavily battered and deep fried. There were equal parts batter to squid, which really took away rather than enhancing the squid and adding even more salt. The portion of squid seemed quite small, and the batter seemed like a cheap way to bulk up the dish. The rice itself was quite fishy and not in a good way. The eggplant did not taste bad, but it was swimming in so much sweet sauce that the preparation did not enhance the ingredients whatsoever. We had several other eggplant dishes during our visit, which were much more impressive. The croquettes were good--one of the better that we tried. The sangria was not to my taste although others may like it--I prefer ones that are not so sweet and where the wine takes the center stage. The sangria was very sweet and tasted intensely of cinnamon. Although the waitstaff was not rude, the service left something to be desired. The waitress could not identify the top dishes or provide personal recommendations. Nobody asked us how our food was. When I requested the bill at the end, the waitress acknowledged me and told me to wait a moment. Then several minutes later she was standing around, so I think she forgot about us. We ate our meal outside where a homeless man sat on a bench immediately next to our table smoking a cigarette, which blew back right in our faces. The whole street smelled faintly of sewage. There were some street performers which were interesting to watch. Overall I was truly disappointed, especially after reading reviews...

When you first walk in you’re greeted by a good atmosphere however that’s where there positives start to struggle.

The wine was good, a fairly well priced option that was very palatable. However we also tried to order tap water only to be told that they didn’t serve tap water only to be given something that tasted awfully similar to tap water but while being charged €3 for the “privilege”.

We ordered 5 dishes from the menu to get a taste of what Madre had to offer. The beef brioche was quite tasty and the croquettes were fine if a little oily. The prawns in garlic and chilli oil were not nice; they were very soft and quite fishy suggesting they were far from fresh. The huevos estrellados were vile - cooked in used oil giving them a bitter taste with two over cooked eggs and bland oily jamon to garnish. However, the worst part of the meal was the paella. It was inedible; undercooked and with absolutely no seasoning.

The waitress avoided asking how the meal was when it was clear we were not enjoying and we soon asked for the bill and said that while we were happy to pay for everything (noting it may be personal preference) we did not want to pay for the inedible paella. The rude waiter said this is how the “boss wants it” and therefore they couldn’t take it off the bill. We paid to avoid any further agitation however noticed there was a beer on the bill that nobody had ordered and they refused to remove. This meal cost us over €100 for some of the worst food we’ve had in Barcelona.

This is clearly a tourist trap with sub par food, terrible customer service and extortionate prices.

Avoid at all...

We came in without reservation and waited around 7 minutes to get seated (there weren't that many people even).

The restaurant itself is very small, so you cannot have privacy at your table. There was a door right behind my seat, and I had to move when somebody went in or out. There was also a fridge behind me and an old air conditioner. They laughed it's the best table.

The service was painfully slow, we spent nearly 2 hours there, and we had just 4 mini items. We also waited for the bill payment for more than 15 minutes after asking the staff 2 times. My black rice was burnt which is a rookie mistake. The aubergine wasn't roasted it was cooked. The gazpacho soup was okay, but for the price we would truly expect something better. The bikini sandwich was tasty but it was only one toast for 10€.

The staff was pushing us to order more tapas, and suggested 3-4 tapas per person, which is just too much food before main course (Even with as small portions as they have), but also insanely overpriced, because average price for 1 tapas item was around 10€. Same for drinks.

The food itself, small, overpriced, not very tasty nor creative..

In my opinion, this is a tourist trap restaurant, as it is 3x more costly than a normal restaurant in Barcelona. Note that Google cost rating is wrong, this is €€€€ maybe €€€ if you ignore the staff...