La Barca Restaurant — Restaurant in Monistrol de Montserrat

La Barca Restaurant – Fifty Shades of Overcooked

I took my girlfriend to La Barca for what was supposed to be a romantic evening. Starters arrived at light speed which was immediately suspicious. The croquettes were glorious little golden grenades, crunchy and creamy, the kind of thing you would happily write poetry about. But the Russian salad was greasy enough to fuel a tractor. My girlfriend normally tears through a salad like a combine harvester but this time she just prodded it while giving me side eye. Something was wrong.

Then came the wait. Forty minutes for mains. Forty. By minute twenty I was moaning, “What in the name of holy steak is going on back there?” By minute thirty I was checking the menu again just in case I had accidentally ordered something that needed to be hunted, butchered, and blessed by a priest. By minute forty I was practically narrating my own breakdown out loud and my girlfriend was hissing at me to keep my voice down.

When the mains finally arrived I realised silence would have been kinder. My entrecôte, which I had ordered rare, the kind of steak that should bleed seductively when you touch it, had been incinerated. What I got was steak jerky with trust issues. A faint pink smear in the middle, like the last gasp of a dying romance. My girlfriend’s veal with coffee sauce looked like it had been left on a radiator too long.

Flavour? None. I moaned again, louder this time, like a man at a football match watching his team concede in the ninety third minute. We did not finish. We could not. The food had defeated us.

Dessert was meant to save the day. My crème Catalan was fine if unremarkable, but hers was frozen solid in the middle. Frozen custard. She nearly broke a tooth and I nearly broke into a rant about how this was no longer dining, it was performance art in sadism.

And the bill? That was the final showpiece. We tried to leave, queued politely, and the waitress, clearly enjoying my muttering and theatrical sighs, decided to serve another couple in front of us, then seat a new table, bring them drinks, and practically adopt them before even acknowledging we existed. I am convinced she was prolonging my agony for sport.

By the time we escaped I was worn out from the moaning, my girlfriend was embarrassed, and the romance had been cooked out of the evening along...

I have been going to this restaurant over the past 8 years at least annually when i visit the Monastery and have always been impressed. Something seems to have gone terribly wrong. The sweet lady owner was not there. Only a lost manager and his staff trying to serve lots of clients. The food, second plate paella and meat were terrible. A la carte no longer available. You are just lumped with a fixed menu at €33 per person with supplements up to €10, if you require some of the menu items. No drinks are included. The octopus paella was so disappointing and meat highly undercooked. Spent over €125 and went out promising myself never to return or recommend. Sorry for this review but as before I recommended now I must review...

Comida muy escasa, pedimos menú de 32€, de primero pedimos anchoas y torradas con jamón ibérico. El jamón "ibérico" cortado a máquina y aún frío de la nevera, y las anchoas en aceite de baja calidad. Por cada plato dos torradas de pan de un dedo de ancho, totalmente insuficiente siendo el pan lo más barato. De primero calamares (un plato tan pequeño como un plato de café) y mejillón gallego. El mejillón más grande no llenaba una cucharilla de café, realmente diminutos y muchos de ellos cerrados. De segundo arroz con lágrima ibérica, estaba bueno pero no bastante cantidad para compensar la escasez de entrantes y primeros. Pedimos el vino de la casa que llegó, después de reclamarlo, habiendo empezado ya a comer los segundos. Con un carajillo de postre, la cuenta para dos llegó a superar los 88€. No lo vale, sin duda no volveremos. Serán hechos aislados, pues el sitio tiene muy buen nombre, pero demasiado caro para jugársela otra vez. Somos trabajadores y para nosotros es un esfuerzo grande para ser tratados así. Nos hemos sentido engañados. Nos atendió quien decía ser la madre del jefe, que después de cada plato venía a decirnos lo bueno que estaba cada platillo que traían, sin preguntar pues le hubiéramos dicho que mal. El hielo del carajillo tuvimos que pedir nos lo cambiarán pues tenía manchas marrones sospechosas de ser de otro café (hielos de diferentes medidas y aguados). Nos traen hielos que se nota son nuevos. Parquing para clientes en la puerta correcto. Si lo llegó a saber hago foto a cada plato, pues aún no nos creemos que tras pagar casi 90€ nos tenemos que ir a comer un bocadillo a un bar por...