Michael Collins — Restaurant in Barcelona

Just an absolutely dreadful experience. The pub has been closed for about six weeks in the last year due to a cockroach infestation. They were instructed to remove all of the wooden panelling and clean behind it. Evidently they didn’t. They have another infestation. And it’s bad. Very bad.

I understand that given the warm weather conditions here, any place on the ground floor can get them, but this place has a serious problem. They have large ones. And lots of them. If they’re not charging rent, they should! Apologies for not taking a photo at the time. It wasn’t pretty, but you will thank me.

Having lived in Barcelona for 10+ years, I’m not freaked out by cockroaches. I could stick around for a few pints (I was in a group), but of course, I’d avoid the kitchen. Sadly, for me, the worst was yet to come.

As disgusting as the cockroach problem was, what was worse (for both me and the group of people I was with) was how we were treated by one of the bar men, Niall.

It was a busy bar. We were in the way (I get it). We smiled. We moved. He was incredibly angry and rude. We smiled again. Always do your best to be kind. Five minutes later he moved us again. He doubled down on rudeness (apparently he’s well known for this). We left. I’d suggest Niall get a job that doesn’t involve meeting with humans. He clearly doesn’t like them. Just the rudest bar person I’ve ever met. I could go further, but it was horrendous.

My friends and I, who have been occasional visitors to this bar will never visit again. Ever. We will advise our friends to do the same. That’s a small dent in their customer life time value (we live here and are decent spenders), but imagine how much this has cost the bar over the years? (Niall has been here for 15-20 years, so I’m told). How many other people has he upset? How business limiting is that? As a CEO of a business myself, I could never employ someone who is actively damaging my business and costing me money. That would be an instant fire. It’s also a reminder to me to research people in a better way, before we hire. That much I can thank him for.

P.S. The Guinness wasn’t great either. Flat and not at the right temperature.

P.P.S. Good news travels fast. Bad news travels faster. If someone has a negative experience the ratio of them sharing that is to tell 13 people. If it’s good news they only tell 2. If you need balance, my other reviews (of other places thank goodness!) are overwhelmingly positive.

TLDR: Just avoid. Like the plague. Or some other unmentionable...

I had to see for myself after reading some of the mixed reviews since I know how many trolls there are out there. I travel a fuxxing lot and have found that an Irish Pub can save a trip. I'll explain that after telling you my thoughts on this one. Between the Irish-born bartenders, the standard Irish pub decor, the above average pub food, and the location across the street from the Basilica, Barcelona's biggest attraction, I vote: yes, please go. As I began to explain, the Irish Pub has once again saved my trip. I'm an American. Not the arrogant kind who expects anyone to speak English in America, let alone in a country where they don't. The kind that loves to learn about different places and people by assimilating during slow-travel. The bottom line of it is to experience a culture as a local and at a pace that is more enjoyable so that when you return home, you don't feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. Anyway, for this reason, we also avoid American restaurant and hotel chains in non-American countries. We travel to grow and have new experiences. The only time we go to an Irish pub outside of Ireland is when we are not enjoying our time in a particular city. For example, we lived in Rome for two months once. After five weeks, we hadn't met anyone willing to have a conversation with. We felt scammed by all of the restaurants. The sites were glorious, the history amazing, and so on. We gave in and went to an Irish Pub for some "craic". We suddenly had great conversations and made friends with locals (a few who've become very close over the years). It turned our trip around completely. The locals gave us the scoop about how to avoid the scams at restaurants, which gelato places used powder mixes but still had the longest lines from the best review stats, and so on. Well, back to Michael Collins and Barcelona, we weren't getting the good side of Barcelona and found ourselves grumpy not motivated to leave our hotel room. We decided to see about the Irish Pub scene on our last night. Thank you Michael Collins Pub and all of the proper pubs with bar seating so you almost have to chat with the person next to you. Being friendly and meeting people from all over the world is one of the best reasons to travel. A proper pub is a great place to get this when the general vibe of a city doesn't offer it. Cheers to Michael Collins Irish Pub in Barcelona across from...

Absolutely uncalled for rude behaviour from the owner ( been told he the owner by people who seen his shouting behaviour towards us and came to say it was defo not US causing the issue). Never expected to pay over the odds for a beer and being shouted at for standing in the bar. Unbelievable that people still go here! Situation: we got to the bar what was full because of football. There was some space but with one man next to us ( with space next to him sitting in a corner) where we sometimes had to block his view to the screen when a barman passed. We Offered the man to swap places multiple times but he said it was FINE. The barman told us to not block his view. I explained that we offered to swap but he was fine..... the bar man started to shout that ‘why should he have to move’???? I told him he didn’t HAVE to move at all and we were not blocking his view unless a barman came By anyways. He proceeded to demand to know when we arrived; before kick of or after.... not sure if you buy drink that has anything to do with things but guess it does in this bar. He was totally losing his temper over nothing and made us feel like we were the enemy instead of people having drink in a bar. I mean pointing fingers (literally) whilst shouting at customers ( for nothing) is not the best customer service. Im not a rude person not do I not consider others and this behaviour and shouting was uncalled for. NEVER visit this bar. There are way better and WAY more friendly Irish bars in Barcelona! Go...