Shôko — Restaurant in Barcelona

Tourist trap. You have been warned

TLDR: this place is an overpriced tourist trap.

Hello to anyone who might be reading this. Before I get into this review I would like to say that I am someone who rarely writes reviews, especially for night clubs/ venues, as believe that one’s experience at said venue can vary greatly from person to person. Despite this, I found my experience at Shôko to be objectively poor and I want to save others the hassle of coming here and wasting their precious time and money.

For starters, expect to wait at least 30 minutes to get in past 11pm. While in the queue we saw numerous people shoving and cutting to the front of the line with security doing little to nothing to stop them. On the bright side, the venue is very nice and the staff were fairly kind. The club had a great sound system and good lighting effects. As other reviews suggested the music playing was primarily hiphop and RnB. The DJ was also good, however on busy nights expect the music to be frequently interrupted when someone purchases bottle service. There were several instances in which the music completely stopped and the intro for Star Wars started playing which I thought was rather annoying. Just because some people order bottle service doesn’t mean that the party has to be put on hold for everyone else. The venue had decent bathrooms with plenty of toilets in both the mens and woman’s room. But be warned, this club is entirely catered to who want to those who want to spend excessively. For starters, the cover on Friday was 30€ which is already pricey. It comes with a free drink voucher which my friends and I used to order a couple of poorly made vodka sodas. We also ordered 3 screwdrivers (vodka with orange juice) and each one cost 12€ (understandable for a venue like this one) but the real issue I had with this club was the fact that over 2/3 of the dance floor was for people in the “VIP” section. Everyone else who wasn’t VIP was crammed into the other 1/3 of the dance floor. This really bothered me. It seemed extremely unfair for this club to charge a hefty entrance fee only to have us all crowded together like cows getting ready to be slaughtered. There was hardly any room for us move, let alone dance.

In conclusion I wouldn’t even bother coming here unless you are planning on spending ludicrous amount of money and/or want bottle service. Quite frankly, the same could be said for many clubs in this area. They really only care about customers who are willing to completely empty their pockets. You...

The first issue started with private security at the door. They began asking for unnecessary and unreasonable verification, including a hotel card and booking reservation 🏨. When I showed them my hotel confirmation, they mocked me and joked about the booking, as if I was being naïve for showing the proper documents 😡. They just laughed and told me “fuera” (get out) in Spanish, completely disregarding the fact that I had everything in order.

The second issue was with one of the black security guards and the head of security. They started asking me strange questions like how long I’ve been living in Spain and where I was staying 🗣️. I tried to have a simple conversation with them, explaining that I’m learning Spanish and wanted to practice, but instead of listening and having a normal conversation, the head of security pushed me aside without any explanation or respect. I was treated like I didn’t matter, even though I was polite and trying to engage calmly 🙄.

To make matters worse, we had an interaction with the Tunisian 🇹🇳 chef of security, who I’d met about 20 days ago at the Tyga 🥰 event at Opium Club near Shoko. He had invited us to shoko that night, and we had a pleasant interaction. But when we went to ask him for help this time, he completely ignored us and acted like we were a nuisance. It was shocking to be treated like this after we had been welcomed before. They spoke badly about us, and it felt like they just didn’t care.

Despite having valid tickets 🎟️, we were rejected twice without a clear reason, while others were being allowed in without these ridiculous checks. The whole process felt disorganized and unfair. I saw groups being let in with no issues, and yet I was treated as if I were a criminal.

It was a complete scam 💸. The security was not only rude but also unprofessional, and I felt completely disrespected. This experience was completely unacceptable, and I will never return to Shoko again. I strongly advise anyone considering attending an event here to avoid it at all costs 🚫.

Shoko oversells tickets, treats paying customers horribly, and has untrained, disrespectful security that makes you feel unsafe. Do not waste your time or money...

Pg. Marítim de la Barceloneta, 36, Ciutat Vella, 08005 Barcelona

Like sushi? If you say yes, you must come to eat at Shoko! We went in one afternoon for a quick drink and a bit of sushi after having enjoyed wheeling (including a skater, biker, and a scooter). We had ridden down to the end of the lower boardwalk at Barcelonetta beach, and wanted to "whet our whistles" before heading home to cook dinner. We found ourselves in front of Shoko, and said, "sure let's give it a try". It was late afternoon and their staff very genteely allowed us to roll everything in (bike, skates and scooter). I guess its because it was pretty dead at that time. We were the only customers in the inner section of the restaurant. One member of our group recounted that she had been there before but late at night when it is one of Barcelona's most popular and hippest night clubs. (I looked it up and found that it is ranked as the 7th best nightclub in the world). We each enjoyed a specialty drink from their menu - a lyche pisco sour, which was to die for! We shared just one sushi roll - a spicy tuna roll. That spicy tuna roll was so exceptionally fresh and deliciously put together we decided we would have to return the next day for a long lunch.

We were under a tight time constraint to get our rental bike back in time, so we left after a brief visit, promising we would return for a longer lunch, which is exactly what we did. We enjoyed our Christmas Eve lunch at Shoka. We started lunch with their large sushi sampler platter, with samples of all of their sushis and sashimi's. They were all so delicious, amazingly fresh and each with its own special flair. Still hungry after consuming everything on the sampler platter we ordered more spicy tuna rolls - our favorite.

Service was great, really friendly and accomodating both times we were there.

I'm kind of tempted to come be a fly on the wall and accompany a group of youngin's when they go dancing here some time in the spring. I would like to see that crowd. But I know at least we will return for more afternoon lunches with their delicious sushi and...