Barril del Gusto — Restaurant in Marbella

I would like to go give 5 stars and 2 stars. Why ? 5 stars for our first visits in 2020. It was incredible. Very modern and advanced interpretations of a large variety of absolutely delicious and perfectly manufactured tapas and dishes. You have to see our pictures of dishes and the menue to understand. We have tasted this nowhere else, and came 3 of 4 evenings of our 2020 Marbella stay. The service was efficient and expert, the owner is a superb sommelier understanding all of his wines, and giving top recomendations. We added this place to our 2 other reasons just for COMING to Marbella (that are the outstanding hotel Amare, and the finest quality beautiful vintage shop Deja Vu). We were so disappointed when we returned in 2022 (2021 we omitted because of Covid). All had changed. The menue was much reduced of the delicious specialties, partly the prices had quite gone up for less. The menue was very close to standard, and had lost all the excitement we experienced in 2020. I dont care much about prices, but we missed the fantastic food. The staff was partly quite slow and ignorant of the menue, only the owner still recommends fine wine, but seemed to hve lost his happiness and enthusiasm. So this visit 2022 only 2 stars. We wre not sure whether the cook is still the same, might be or not. We very much hope and pray, also in our own interest, that the owner returns to his roots and finds back to the old size and his engagement, it would be a pity if not....

Very bizarre dining experience. If anyone in the UK has watched Fawlty Towers, this is pretty much the experience you’ll have if you sit inside. Ordered our drinks - my elderly mother ordered a red wine and was given a number of options - she heard the word “Pinot” and went with that and was served white Pinot Grigio. When we explained she’d asked for red the waiter started arguing that she’d asked for a white wine rather than just replacing her drink. Very rude. We didn’t opt for tapas as neither or us eat meat or fish (and there aren’t many restaurants in the area that offer good vegetarian options/choices) so went with vegetarian burger and chips. The food took quite a while, but when it arrived the presentation was good. However I asked for vinegar, poured it all over my chips and discovered it was a flavoured olive oil so they were inedible. The burger was large, taste so-so. The main off-putting factor was the constant commotion and bickering between the waiting staff and another gentleman, who I assume was the Proprietor. Think of Manuel and Basil standing right by your table making lots of noise and shouting and you have the idea. I’ve read many rude rebuttals to some of the other negative reviews so I’m expecting one for this too. Which will serve to prove my Mr Fawlty reference! (Shame this guy wasn’t at all...

We were the only diners inside at 7pm. Good tapas but quite a high price for the quantity on the plate... Extra Bread is charged €4 but we actually didn't mind paying for additional bread because the bread served with the tapas was too brittle. Unfortunately the waitress couldn't recommend a wine to accompany our tapas dishes and we were prepared to buy a bottle starting from 26euro+. After tasting 3 white and a merlot rose neither seemed palatable for the tapas we had ordered so we opted for a white wine by the glass - and I'm really glad we did. Mainly because I do believe wine should be stored / served at the correct temperature. As it will taste completely different stored at the incorrect temperature. The tapas presentation was wonderful we loved the flavour of all 3 chosen albeit the...