Vivant — Restaurant in Barcelona

Poor service but decent food. I probably won’t be back. I ordered a Rioja Crianza on the menu and they they tried to bring me a normal Rioja instead for the same price. I rejected it and ordered a Catalunyan Crianza instead and this time they brought the bottle opened, filled the glasses and left. I looked at it and it wasn’t a Crianza either. I asked the waiter why he brought me another item I didn’t order and he said they don’t have the menu wines as things changed with the pandemic. That is a poor excuse as we are 18 months later. Also, he should have told us he was switching the wine yet again. In the end, they charged us a crianza and gave us a joven. The waited disappeared after that and had a different waiter attend to us. Horrible service and quite the bait and switch. I can’t recommend...

The food is VERY good. Fresh, original combinations. You won't be disappointed. Service: their model is shared dishes. Expect to receive them slowly over time. If you have a party and want to all receive mains at the same time, don't come here. It is a slower, more social meal.

The only 2 things preventing 5 stars are that the service was ridiculously negligent. We had to go request each thing (another beer, a tea). In 2 hours here, no wait staff ever came to ask if we need anything else unless we called them.

Also beware a 15% additional fee for service on the patio. It is not marked on the menu but they will add it. Not uncommon in Spain but is usually marked clearly on the menu or mentioned when you are seated at the patio.

All that said, the food is...

Nice atmosphere, atentive service, pleasant evening. Well presented dishes. Shared pimentas de padron for a starter - this classic tapa looks deceptively easy - but is in fact difficult to pull off, getting the perfect edge is hard - or undercooked and hard with a harsh taste or overcooked oily mush. Here the dish was a good effort - tasty and fingerlicking good with a good sprinkling of Malden sea salt

2 shared second dishes A- Lubina with zamburina and veg tempura. Nice combination - the sauce worked well with fish and the tempura was crispy and light. B Magret - rare as I like it, but too raw for my partner - good crisp skin, deep savioury meat - the orange sauce accompanied the dish well. 3 glasses of afotunada white wine. 2 carajillos de...