Sips — Restaurant in Barcelona

Be warned—As a solo foreigner, be prepared with a reservation for either the regular bar or the experience. Try to go with a group or ask another solo traveler or a group in line if you can join them/if they want to join you; otherwise, you won't be let in.

How can you be called one of the top bars in the world if your staff is xenophobic and does not accept solo customers? I had a horrible experience trying to get into sips, which soured what would have been some genuinely excellent drinks. I tried to make a reservation to join friends for the experience a week ahead but was told it was fully booked and was not informed there was a standby line or that I had the option to make a reservation for their regular bar. We get there, and as I wait on the standby line for the experience, I am told that I could wait but wouldn't be able to get in to join my friends. I waited with my friends in the line anyway, and when they got in, I switched to the regular bar's standby line. Soon after (5 min), a pretty Spanish-speaking woman came into the standby line for the experience without a reservation and was let in. I waited about 30 min on the regular bar standby line, and when it was finally my turn, this Spanish-speaking couple (from Spain) behind me went to talk to the bouncer, and they got let in before me even though they had arrived 20 minutes after I had started to wait on that line. During this time, my friends also informed me that the experience still had 4 open empty seats and that they had seen the other women walk in. Getting frustrated, I asked the doorman why they let all these people go ahead of me while I had been waiting. They gave me the excuse that I was one person and they had no single seats at the regular bar (this was the first time they informed me of this). They then gave me the option to offer another person in line to join me when there was another opening, aka I would have to wait another 20 + minutes. At this point, my Spanish-speaking friends in the experience room were advocating for me, pointing out that there were plenty of empty seats in the experience room for me to join them and that the experience wasn't even halfway done. 5 Minutes later, I was finally let in and escorted to the experience. The drinks and presentation were excellent, and the bartender was very friendly and personable, explaining each drink well in English and answering our questions. Was the experience worth all the waiting, trouble, and frustration I had endured- Absolutely not! As such, I would not recommend Sips to anyone but rather Paradiso, another of the world's top 50-rated bars located in the same area, where I was treated much...

There is a lot of chatter and accusations here that Sips actively discriminates against east Asians when it comes to reservations. I have my own suspicious case, but with a pretty compelling bit of validation. Tldr: it is sadly true! More details below.

First things first: yes, I have an obviously east Asian last name. I made a reservation for two at Sips for May 9 almost a month in advance. About a week before heading to Barcelona, my reservation was cancelled, citing an inability to accommodate us (see attached image). As a cocktail connoisseur very interested in trying out "the world's #1 best cocktail bar," I immediately visited their site to see about another date or time slot, and discovered my original reservation request was still available. Confused, I made the same reservation a second time on May 2...and was cancelled again hours afterwards!

Only then did I start looking through Sips' negative reviews, and was floored to find many east Asians accusing them of racial discrimination. I was angry, frustrated, and hurt; did this also happen to me? And then this rebellious idea of payback struck me: my caucasian spouse could make the reservation for us instead, and prove it once and for all.

And you know what? It worked. My better half chose the same date and time and effectively re-created the reservation for a third time, this time without an Asian last name...and it held. How interesting! I had to swallow my pride, and I was a little antsy in the lineup outside, but we indeed made it into Sips on May 9.

This is all so problematic, but let's try to ignore all that blatant racism, and talk about the drinks briefly: they were fine. I'm truly not letting those ugly details affect my opinion; however, we also visited other Barcelona bars such as Paradiso and Dr. Stravinsky, and honestly in terms of taste, Sips cannot compete. The libations at Sips are each uniquely presented and visually arresting, but the flavours lacked both depth and impact. It wins at social media, because no one could suspect how flat everything tastes when it looks that good! It goes to show that a #1 title is only worth so much; I'm sure there's plenty of politics and promotion behind the scenes we aren't privy to.

I wager in a blind taste test, original creations from the top, say, 25 or so cocktail bars in the world would be difficult to rank and distinguish. My advice: use those top lists as guides more than scripture, and more importantly, support businesses that value integrity and treat guests with respect.

If the discrimination stuff somehow doesn't matter to you...well, you can find much better...

SIPS is the "number one" rated bar in the world and our bachelorette group did everything we could to secure a reservation while we were in town. We ended up splitting into two different groups at different times in order for us to experience said bar. Sadly, both groups had challenging experiences.

[First Group] We had a few ladies that did not drink and asked for non-alcoholic versions of their signature cocktails. There was likely miscommunication as the drinks still came with alcohol, likely because the bar can't make them without compromising the integrity of the drink (which is totally fine!) SIPS ended up tossing those drinks and getting the ladies non-alcoholic ones.

They were then imposed with a two drink minimum and after deciding to maybe order an alcoholic drink for a few of the ladies to try, they told them they would not make them since they had to toss out their earlier drinks. It was again likely miscommunication on both ends but I don't think my friends nor the staff had a great time with each other...

[My Group]

Imagine our disappointment when our group found out that half of our reservation 'mysteriously' canceled last minute. There was three under one reservation and four on another. The former was canceled suddenly without explanation but we all showed up anyways to see if we could speak to someone.

While waiting in line, the staff member spoke to us (and our friend who was fluent in Spanish) saying there's nothing they could do and the system "sometimes cancels with no explanation."

That excuse was problematic when you know people are planning their trips around your business especially with all that clout. There was no offer to accommodate us or to even ask the few of us to get priority in the waitlist. We begrudgingly split up so only a few of us made it inside to try SIPS.

As for the drinks - yeah, they were visually inventive and a spectacle for all the senses. I enjoyed my whiskey concoctions but nothing here was exactly the best drink I've ever had in my life. It's all subjective of course and we enjoyed our drinks, but for the price and experience, I can't really give more than a decent star rating.

Other reviewers from guests with Asian last names have shared similar sentiments, but everything is anecdotal and hard to specifically pinpoint. However, the experience getting in was very off-putting and I rather go somewhere else that arguably has better drinks and...