Saona Aribau — Restaurant in Barcelona

Affordable degustation menu is good, food is ok, restaurant looks nice, but the service is horrible.

I came to this restaurant last year and absolutely loved it, hence recommended Saona for our 10ppl group for dinner. We booked 1 month in advance for 8pm and were there before the restaurant even opened. While we were still sitting down, the staff already let us know that we’ve only got 2h and started rushing us with order, pretty much shouting if we want degustation menu we need to order NOW.

While from the start the (dark skin) waiter was quite rude, throughout the dinner we haven’t seen a single smile on any of the staff faces. At 9:37 they brought the bill (while we still had full glasses of just poured new wine) and asked to wrap up quickly cuz we were running out of time. We asked to come in a bit, and they came again at 9:42 saying that there’s a group at 10pm already waiting outside.

We still had 18 bloody minutes!! We paid at 9:50 but they kept on rushing us and giving us disappointed faces.

As for the food, out of 5 starters, 3 were nice, but ensalada rusa and fuet tartar were not good. I really hope you forget how to make that tartar, because it was just nasty.

Mains were ok, but the pluma ibérico aka ribs(?) that last year was Delicious, this time came in cold and with hard meat. Desserts were nice.

I guess the price x quality is ok, given that the restaurant is actually very pretty. BUT only if you are a couple of people and come in the middle of the week.

With this service better not to spoil your evening with such...

Worst restaurant experience of my entire life. The waitstaff were extremely rude, the food was mediocre. They told us to leave because the next guests were arriving (even though we had a reservation), and we didn't even have time for dessert, which was included in the price. The moment we stepped in, they were pressuring us to order quickly and eat faster, yet they were slow with service and seemed to disappear whenever we tried to place an order.

Never in my life have I been asked to leave a restaurant mid-meal or even after. They instructed me to reuse my cutlery because they had no intention of providing a fresh set for the next dish. My friend ordered a chicken dish, but they brought out pork without any confirmation. When we brought this to their attention, they rudely stated they had run out of chicken and even attempted to embarrass us (despite my friend not eating pork). To top it off, they overcharged us and then had the audacity to argue about it. The birthday girl was in tears, and other tables around us were equally shocked and had similar experiences.

After this ordeal, even the finest cuisine wouldn't have made a difference. The food was overpriced, mediocre and everyone left the restaurant...

Beautiful interior setting and the primera and dessert dishes were exceptional. However the experience was let down with a 20min wait outside the front door awaiting the host to merely appear to seat any of the line up, having a reservation made no difference. Once seated more waiting till we eventually had to beckon a waiter to merely take our drinks order, of which when finally did arrive came out after the first course was delivered. The meal plate delivery was also lacking professionalism having been pushed on one corner of the table, forcing the two guest on that corner to themselves divvy out the meals to the rest of the table. We had a table for a small birthday gathering, with one guest making a secret request before the dessert was served, providing candles for them to be placed on top; these were forgotten about in the mere 10mins between request to being served. At least four different servers had attended to our table through the lunch. All up a very nice setting for a classy meal, however it is let down by the...