Es Balconet — Restaurant in Cadaqués

Ordered the seafood paellla and mussels. Mussels were very fishy, not very plump or fresh in taste. The Paella was good but very very salty. Ordered 2 glasses of wine and felt honestly scammed. I ordered a Chardonnay and was told that only the last listed can be ordered by the glass? But when my partner ordered another white (last on list), he was recommended to choose another kind — not how the menu shows it.

This goes into the waitstaff. The older gentleman was charming and kind, so I’m sorry to write this. The dark haired younger waiter unfortunately was the one who helped us. He was rude from the start despite us having a reservation. I suspect he recommended the wine to my partner to take advantage of the last pour of an old opened bottle. My partner does not drink much wine and I didn’t taste his until after he ok’d it, but when I did, I immediately saw there was sediment at the bottom and the wine was watery and had been left out far too long. Both wines were disappointing. At the end of the meal, the waiter came and just plopped the card reader on our table with the receipt and left? He didn’t even input an amount leaving us confused as to what was going on. He came back later with a weird sigh and input it for us.

Really subpar experience. I have to wonder why we were treated so disrespectfully. Was it because we were a young Asian couple? Was it because we were tourists? But you have an English menu? Who knows because honestly everyone else thus far had been so kind. Definitely recommending against this place to other travelers for the subpar food paired with extraordinarily...

Lovely setting and friendly staff – the evening started off very well. Unfortunately, the chef’s tasting menu didn’t live up to expectations. We had opted to let the kitchen decide and were looking forward to sampling a bit of everything, but the concept felt poorly thought through. There was no information about how many dishes would be served; instead, we were expected to say “stop” when we were full. This created uncertainty – should we finish everything on the plate or hold back in case something better came along?

In our case, the delicious prawns arrived last, after a far-too-large portion of zucchini soup and an excess of deep-fried croquettes, which we would gladly have swapped places with. The small piece of tuna served at the beginning was tasty but far too small. Of the nine dishes we were served, only four featured fish or seafood – surprisingly few for a seafood restaurant. Unfortunately, it gave the impression that the restaurant was trying to fill us up early, so they wouldn’t have to serve the better dishes.

We really appreciated the atmosphere and the service, but the overall food experience left quite a bit...

A delightful boutique Catalan style restaurant. Not many covers, so you need to book. Small but tasty menu. My carpaccio of tuna was perfectly cooked. Done with an eastern influence. Rolled in toasted sesame seeds and a drizzle of Soy-sauce on a bed of perfectly cooked rice mixed very finely cubed vegetables. It was devine. The croquettes of chicken and ham were quite the best we’ve ever had. Almost too many prawns in garlic and olive oil. The Mérou/Grouper was a little too dry, but that’s often the way with that fish. The accompanying various peppers were superbly grilled and very tasty. Clever use of the blow torch to crisp up otherwise boring tomato skin. Even the friendly waiter knew we wouldn’t have room for desert. The accompanying Catalonian wine was delicious as was the coffee. A very special find and...