Tlaxcal Cantina & Taquería Gastronómica — Restaurant in Barcelona

Mixed opinion. Is this authentic Mexican food? Absolutely not. We went for Valentine's Day.

As for the food, we found the queso fundito to be inedible. It solidified into a greasy mass before we could scoop it out with the too-few tortillas provided. The tacos were okay, though very salty.

The real problem with this restaurant is the service. Although our waiter was generally friendly and willing to speak English (note: we were happy to order in broken Spanish), the service was so incredibly rushed. We were given no recommendations or explanations on the menu. In the time we were deciding our order, two different servers approached us back to back to ask what we wanted.

This resulted in a lack of time to make the decision. We would have happily ordered drinks and perhaps even desert if we hadn't felt so rushed. My partner went to the restroom after he finished his tacos. During this time, I was asked twice if we were going to have dessert.

There is also a scam. The waiter proposes in an intentionally difficult to understand way a fourth taco for each person, which he describes as the sharing menu - but really it's a deceitful upsell. My partner believed he was offering each of us two tacos, but I understood he was trying to upsell us each individually to four. The way this option is proposed is very, very sly and hard to understand. The scam is to upsell people without their realizing it. Four tacos per person with their portions would be far too much food. Others have mentioned this scam, and the owners have (in their comments here on Google) tried to say they just plainly explain that each person could have a fourth taco for more money. This is not the case. When the server was pressed to explain this, he did so in an even more trite way. This is unacceptable behavior from a restaurant.

The ambiance is okay, but the music is far too loud.

Very mixed experience. Would not return, especially not for a...

We saw Tlaxcal recommended on a YouTube channel of great places to check out in Barcelona. We are so grateful for stumbling on that recommendation. We had early afternoon reservations and found the interior to be breezy and comfortable. Our servers were attentive, gracious, and super chill, which made for a laid-back and enjoyable lunch. The cantina played American classic rock music in the background which was a big hit and even had a group of ladies two tables over singing along. In short, Tlaxcal passed the Vibe Test. We started our meal with fresh guacamole and crunchy chicharrón and an order of delicious, meaty, citrusy ceviche, which is one of my favorite Mexican delights and was, frankly, perfect. I had an ice cold beer on draft which paired well with the peaking temperature outside. My wife ordered the Alambres Tacos with Nopales and Mushrooms which were popping with color and flavor. I asked our server what he considered the “specialties” to be and he recommended the Cabeza or the Lengua tacos. I cannot turn down an opportunity for Lengua, so my mind was already made up. These were probably the best Lengua Tacos I have ever had. No hyperbole. Cooked to perfection, full of flavor, appropriately melt-in-your-mouth soft (not chewy) - these are a definite must try! My daughter had the Gringa Tacos, which have an unassuming name but were chock-full of barbecued beef chunks and a mix of melted Mexican cheeses. Luckily she is only 3 years old and can never finish a meal, so I got to steal one of these for myself. Listen, we had so many incredible meals on this trip to Barcelona, but this was absolutely some of the most delicious food we had. There is a reason there are thousands of reviews - Tlaxcal Cantina needs to be on everyone’s shortlist of places to go when in Barcelona - good vibe, great service,...

Tlaxcal is one of those Mexican restaurants that purports its food to be "authentic" - which to them essentially means southern Mexican as opposed to "inauthentic" northern Mexican / Californian / Texan Mexican food. Sorry but California Mexican food is just as authentic as food from Oaxaca. That would be all fine and dandy if the food were good at Tlaxcal, but I've had better Mexican food from roach coaches in L.A. Several of the waiters were very rude and had that "I'm superior to gringos" attitude, which was a real turn off. (They also have a taco on the menu called "El Gringo", which is an offensive racist term equal to "wetback", but I guess they think that's alright if its coming from them but not the other way around from us gringos - but I digress).

The head waiter / manager was fairly nice, but had a chip on his shoulder like the rest of the waiters and went into a very long diatribe describing why he couldn't alter the menu or serve certain vegan variants which I requested, but then stated that he would do me the favor of making an exception just this once.

Finally the food turned out to be quite bad. The salsas just didn't taste good, the tortilla chips - to which the restaurant had ascribed the proper Mexican name "totopos" - were cheap stale packaged tortilla chips like the ones that can be bought from the corner market, the enchilada sauce was just not very good, and the refried beans were flavorless and runnier than diarrhea - not kidding they were the most watery refried beans I've ever seen (is that "authentic"? lol)

So with all the pretense, there was no delivery. I've lived in Mexico and grew up in California, and frankly, compared to most other of the hundreds or thousands of Mexican eateries I've experienced, the food here is to be avoided, and the service is...