Barbillón Marbella — Restaurant in Marbella

We booked two sunbeds and a parasol for €160, which included €80 worth of food and drinks. When we placed our order, we asked for a variety of beverages, including San Pellegrino sparkling water. A few minutes later, the waiter came back to inform us that they didn’t serve San Pellegrino. However, just 10 minutes later, I went to the restroom and noticed that several tables in the restaurant clearly had San Pellegrino bottles on them. Very confusing and disappointing.

Later, we ordered a burger and lamb racks. The burger arrived after about 10 minutes, but the lamb never showed up. The waiter didn’t seem to notice or follow up on the missing dish. I assumed it would arrive shortly afterward (though food should be served at the same time). After waiting around 35–40 minutes, I went to the bar and asked the waiter if the lamb was still coming. He said he’d check and came back a few minutes later saying they were unfortunately out of lamb.

I then ordered the tenderloin instead, which arrived fairly quickly. Unfortunately, it was very undercooked, too raw to enjoy properly. No one from the staff came to ask if everything was okay, so I ate about half of it and later pointed it out to them.

To finish, I ordered a cappuccino and asked for the bill at the same time. The coffee arrived, but not the bill. Eventually, we went down to the reception to settle the check. We mentioned the poor service to the staff, who apologized, but no gesture of goodwill or compensation was offered.

It’s not about the money — but when service is clearly below standard, a restaurant should make some effort to show appreciation or take responsibility. A complimentary dessert or even waiving the coffee charge would have been something. Instead, we were charged for everything, including the cappuccino.

All in all, a disappointing experience that didn’t meet expectations — especially at this...

I had a very odd experience at this establishment today and I thought it was only right to alert other patrons to what happened today.

The restaurant manager had an issue with my bottle of water I had brought, sitting on the side table for 10 minutes prior which was against their rules apparently, even though they do not provide water to customers, which is against EU Law. When the manager came to me, the bottle was already on the floor for a while. He continued to scold me to not have it on the table and I told him its not on the table it hasn't been on the table for a while now. It was a very odd and somewhat targeted interaction. Meanwhile, with photo evidence, other patrons had also brought their own bottles of water, sitting visibly and clear on their tables by the pool. Staff had no issues, served them food and never scolded them. Mind you, I had ordered multiple drinks and food from the establishment so I found it appalling that I was not entitled to have my water beside me.

Another odd scenario was that I had asked politely for my umbrella to be adjusted for the sun. The first time I was rudely told to 'wait'. I waited for 20 minutes as I watched other patrons being served and the staff were not busy. I had to ask the same staff member again, he did not offer to adjust or move the umbrella , in fact I was told to move to a different pool chair and physically adjust and drag the object away from the sun.... Once again, I witnessed and I have photo proof of the staff adjusting, moving and being attentive to the other patrons pool umbrellas with no attitude and no delays.

At this point I genuinely thought that I was being ostracised by the staff, discriminated against and I left earlier than I wanted due to being this uncomfortable. I will never return to this...

Our first visit to Barbillón Marbella and we have mixed feelings.

First of all Rafael was amazing he ensured that we were looked after with our drinks by the pool, so thank you Rafa.

Being totally honest we didn't feel a super friendly vibe from the staff when we arrived, and this continued throughout the day.

The pool area is stunning and we were very impressed until we realised that it was full of babies and children all day! Don't get me wrong the children were very well behaved however it made the pool area so wet and dangerously slippery from the constant jumping in and out of the pool and I feel it will only be a matter of time before someone has a nasty accident!

There is also an email booking confirmation provided when you reserve which states no floats - toys etc, however this was ignored by the other guests visiting.

It just didn't have the relaxing vibe that we had hoped it would have, next time we visit I will be sure to ask for the beds which are furthest away from the pool.

The food when we had lunch was AMAZING, all dishes were super delicious and we were very impressed. It took a long time for us to have our order taken however the speed of the arrival of the food was great.

It did take a long time for our table to be cleared after we had finished eating and we did actually have to ask on two occasions for this to be done, so this was not so good.

Overall, We felt that there are a few things that need to be worked on to make the...