Arròs i Peix Girona — Restaurant in Girona

It's really difficult to say something possitive about the restaurant after all troubles we had I such a short amount of time, probably it coudnt be worse, let's start from the beggining.

After cheking the good reviews we book a table of 7 at 10.00, we showed up a bit before (21:50) as we usually do to have some drinks while we check the menu. Our first surprise was that the restaurant was full ( something normal in this dates, wich we understand ) we asked the waitress how long it would take to have our table ready, kindly she answer that the costumers that were on the table that we would sit were done with the food, and were about to pay. We decided that would be better to let them finish and set up the table for us, so we went to have a drink somewhere else. We came back after 30min (22:20), expecting that everything would be ready for us, it wasn't the case, nothing had changed. The table wasn't ready but that wasn't the worst, we had the privilege to talk with the owner wich his words were literally "this is normal in this dates, what do you expect" without apologizing at all. After such a rude coment we were wondering if we would still wanted to eat there, it was quite late and there was not many options, so we tryied to forget his words, wait a bit and give it a chance, probably the worst desition of 2019.

We sat down at 22.40, the waitress bring us a glass of cheap "cava" wich was something kind of nice after all the waiting time, we understood that was their way to apologize after all the waiting time.

It was my first time ( and the last one) at the restaurant so I decided to let the waiter recomend me wich would be the best to eat. He friendly answer that the lobster rice (the most expensive one they have, 26eur/person) is their best seller and we shoudn't miss it, he also recomend some different starters. We trusted him and order all he said plus some of our choices.

We had some mussels, scallop, tuna and salmon tataki wich I think it was really fresh and nice I have to say. After all the starters the waiter brough the "best of the best" the famous lobster rice wich end up being a tasteless overcooked rice worth more than 100 eur. I've eaten many times rice and I could say that you can get the same or even better in a 10eur menu restaurant. When I asked the waiter why the rice was overcooked he apologize saying "you have had many starters and you were quite slow eating that's why it was like that" I simply had no words after his answer.

After eating all we ordered the waiter brough us a trail with 6 small plates wich it contains their deserts selection. Basicly it was a desserts that they probably made arround 12:00pm (right before they open) just to show us how do they look ( could be a good idea from 12 to 15 ) but after standing in a plate for more than 10 hours they just looked disgusting. Some of us ordered a "xuixo" wich is a common sweet in girona's pastry shops and usally cost about 1.5eur each ( they charged more than 8eur) such a good profit they made (completly unfair) and with and icecream ball was about 11eur ( Crazy prices to be in Girona ). One of us ordered chocolate fondant wich just looked reheated on the microwave with some sort of chocolate sauce and similar price. Just unbeliable how can they sell that.

We were quite upset about the whole experience so we asked for a free shot to make our expirience a bit better, the waiter's answer was clear and short "if you want a shot is 4 eur each"

I was freaking out about everything that happened in less than 2 hours, thinking that it coudn't be worse but they beated it, we wanted to pay our bill wich was almost 400 eur ( insanely expensive for what we got ) I cheked the bill and there was something weird, 7 eur that they charged as "bread" but we never got it. I kindly ask the waiter why it was there, his answer " sorry, it was my fault" so he remove it. (What would happen if I haven't say anything?)..

Resuming the whole experience in a few words. Waiting time too long, rude owner, good starters, overcooked rice, super...

Not more than a mouse-trap for tourists. But let's start with the good: The concept of the restaurant is interesting and the food is decent. You get to choose a whole fish at the counter and you pay per kg. The exact fish you choose is then prepared for you back in the kitchen and later served to your table. Actually quite nice if it wasn't for the incompetent and stressed service and the load mechanic ambience of the restaurant. We received the fish after a good 40min of waiting time (I now understand why they recommend pricy starters when you order) and the way they treated our meal was respectless to say the least. Instead of filetting the fish in front of our eyes (like they said they would), the fish was shortly presented to us and then immediately taken back to a corner of the restaurant were we observed two extraordinarily unskilled waiters fidgeting with their knifes, trying to helplessly scrape meat from the bones of that poor little thing. Half-way through the massacre, they approached me and literally told me the fish would have to go back into the oven again, which is when I called for the manager. After a five minutes argument, the fish was declared good to eat by the manager and we finished our 100€ meal and left as soon as we could. I eat a lot of meat and fish, but I cannot recall when the last time was that an animal was treated so respectlessly in front of my eyes. After we got a tiny scrape of "our" fish, it was thrown into the bin with half of the good parts still on it. Oh, and should I mention that people were carrying smelly garbage through the restaurant, making incredibly loud noises, because "they were about to close for siesta", while me and other guests were still eating? Four words: Do...

The food here is pretty good but the experience was ruined by very dishonest staff. When we first arrived, we asked a waiter behind the fish counter a bunch of questions about the menu. Based on those answers, we sat at a table and ordered our food.

When the bill came, the prices of the dishes that the waiter told us were completely different, with some ingredients being substituted by different sea animals without our knowledge or consent, causing some dishes to be priced differently. We felt this was very dishonest. We discussed this with the waiter and instead he and another waiter accused us of lying, "not understanding/listening properly", amongst other gaslighting techniques. We had a native Spanish speaker with us so "lost in translation" was not on the table.

If the first waiter had been honest with us, about the pricing and availability of certain ingredients, we would have eaten there anyway. The dishes tasted good and the prices were ok. What left a sour taste was the dishonest approach he took to just get us to order quickly and then bill us for things we did not agree to. Communication is always key and the staff here have a very bad and ill-intentioned approach to that here.

What also happened was that in my bread there was a piece of plastic. When we addressed that with a waitress, she blamed it on the bakery they got supplies from and didn't take any accountability for it. When we brought it up again with the two waiters when paying, they accused us again of lying. Well, here's a photo for you...