Nectari — Restaurant in Barcelona

Like being on business class

Just had our valentines dinner at Nectari and it was an experience I cannot forget. In summary the wine is excellent, the service is good, the food is mediocre and the decor is poor.

Ambience From the outside the restaurant look like an airport lounge with blinded windows, when you walk in you basically go directly into a quite poorly arranged seating area. The room is separated into two distinct rooms with the 1st room being quite small and with very small tables and very tacky decor. Honestly I've been in hair dressers with better style. The waiter sat us right next to the wine serving table which made us feel sitting next to a working area. I don't think this create the best sensation for this kinda place. The tiles of the floor and the decoration give as sensation of an upscale Airbnb apartment but didn't really hit the spot

The waiters "Happy" ringtone only rang 3 times in the 1st 10 minutes, but then the nice fellow turned it off. The waiters were nice and, so that's a plus for the place

Positive: The wine menu is amazing; really good selection; especially the cava and the port wine and red wine was superb. The service was also quite good. Friendly waiters, attentive service with good in finding solutions for my pregnant wife The cheese menu and the meat was really good.

Improvements: The food was a bit too off in general; 1st dish was served from a piece of African inspired decor used for candles. The taste of the starter wasn't anything particular and got us started of the wrong foot 2nd dish was a dish served in a can. It was funny but almost felt me like being back at KLMs business class.. the foie, was good but the design made it look like a cookie and the colour was the same as the previous dish which didn't fly well with my wife. the bacalao was good but the serving was ridiculously small and served of something that looked like a toilet bowl. The meat was really good though.

The poor experience might be because it was a Valentines dinner menu, which didn't hit the spot. but the decor is so tacky and the price/value equation didn't sum up what I expect from a Michelin star restaurants. Sorry guys, I'm not flying with this...

Seriously , the WORST experience of my life ! This restaurant is the biggest joke ever ! (But a very expensive and sad one) . How come those people have 1 star at Michelin ?? We have eaten there for New Year’s Eve... all courses were below average and some were absolutely uneatable ! My girlfriend and I have spitted back one of my dish : the unbearable canned enchovies rolled in a burnt sauce . This one got me physically sick ! The ‘paté’ of Duck (absolutely not fois gras) was one of the biggest laugh ! It looked like a brown/grey mixture from a 7/11 store associated with pure sugar on top . Absolutely disgusting even for the cheapest restaurant ... the side dish was also burnt black and we couldn’t figure out what it was from the taste ... it was it fact just potatoes ... the Big Mac menue at mc Donald would have been a blessing compare to that awful menu . The only nice things we were about to eat was the caviar ... Unfortunately it was served with metal spoon .... The decoration of the restaurant is pure bad taste , violet and purple walls and ceiling , with small little multi colored cupboards that even my grandmother would have thought outdated ! The service was also bad ... the first 2 courses were explained to us but they stopped right after probably too bored to be there on a New Year’s Eve . Now let’s talk about the saddest part ... all of that would be only a bad memory if the price of that awful evening was not 420 euros for 2 people with no bottles of wine (only 2 glasses of the cheapest one ) . Looking at that unbelievable bill we noticed that they charged us 15 euros for 2 slices of dry bred per person . That Michelin star is the perfect tourist trap and absolutely non understandable! . We know what a Michelin restaurant should be , this one as not even the charm of a cheap kebab place... The chef must have been on holydays that night and was replaced by drunk children ! . We have been totally ripped of and we will never forget that scammy restaurant who should be compare to the notorious Barcelona pick pocket ! Please stay far far far away of that...

If you have doubts to go or not - leave them behind, go and enjoy it! I was there for a Sunday lunch with a 7 years old gentleman- and we both totally enjoyed it. Tasting menu includes 9 plates, plus 3 go as a kind of chef compliment (strawberry gazpacho is a jaws dropping must). Plus incredible selection of warm bread (make sure you try the olive ciabatta). The first starter, Coliflor y caviar, is a subtle mix of cauliflower sauce, truffle flavor and seafood. Cream soup with lobster and mushrooms is simple but delicious. The main course is fish and meat, separated by sorbet. Bacalao was quite average, I’m not sure wakame is the right ingredient there with it’s quite strong taste; but the meat was out of this world, mix the different flavors on the plate - one for each piece of meat - and you’ll live heaven on earth. Cheese plate is good with cheeses quite peculiar and nicely selected. Pre-dessert is an incredible beetroot pineapple where you feel cinnamon flavors and a pure freshness. The dessert, a Nectari hamburger, is a divine mix of white chocolate, nuts-filled biscuit pillow, mango and ice cream. Ketchup- and mustard-like bottles is a nice touch for presenting sauces. By this moment you barely can breath but the bonbons are like small gremlins - they will attack you and you’ll eat them all (although coconut one could be more sophisticated).

All the meals were also tasted by the little one - and enjoyed a lot. Don’t hesitate to bring a kid there- it’s totally worth it to raise an adventurous eater who has respect for food, its ingredients and the way it’s presented. There’s also a good selection of plates outside of tasting menu - my son enjoyed risotto with mushrooms and truffles.

Two things I would change: a smaller room which is super nice for a quieter meal (only two tables) features a mountain of some stuff covered with a table cloth - you feel like in a kind of back room. tea experience- if you would like to drink tea there you would expect a more refined experience...