La Tintoreria — Restaurant in Olot

We needed some food at the end of a long day trip and followed Google Maps to this place. Food was good, but service was a bit lacking. We were greeted by a young girl who must have been very new to the establishment. She explained to us that dinner wasn't served yet, another hour to wait. When we got up to go somewhere else, a more senior staff member said that we could indeed have dinner now. I ordered two tapas dishes, my partner a main course which he had to wait for quite a while. Maybe they thought that I had to eat my "starters" first before he gets his main course, not sure. The food was tasty and good value for money, but staff / service a bit lacking. The young girl didn't understand that we wanted to pay, but nodded and walked off never to be seen again. Maybe not her fault entirely because we didn't speak Spanish, and she didn't speak English, and management has a responsibility to train her properly regarding service and other things she needs to know, like setting the table...

After a long day of traveling to reach Olot, we spent the late afternoon walking around the town and hiking up the volcanic crater to see the sunset from a medieval watch tower. We spotted this restaurant on our way back and decided to eat here due to the outdoor seating and beautiful dancing happening in the square by the locals on a Sunday night. We read the menu and we’re intrigued by the “unusual” combination of ingredients and decided to go all in. My mother ordered the chilled watermelon soup with anchovies and olive oil. I got the goat cheese, tomato and olive oil ice cream salad. Both were spectacular. My salad was savory and perfectly balanced in flavor and texture. The soup was astounding and the anchovies were the perfect addition of salt and umami for the broth.

Now, after the end of our trip, we’ve all agreed it was the best food we ate during our vacation. And we never...

Local amb poques taules a l'entrada però amb un espai força més ampli al fons del restaurant. L'estètica i la decoració no són gaire cuidades. Hi ha una barreja d'estils i d'elements una mica peculiar. D'altra banda, pel que fa al servei està una mica desorganitzat. Segurament hi ha pocs cambrers per les taules que tenen, la suma de dins i les de la terrassa. No donen a l'abast, però tampoc no s'entenen o tenen marcades les funcions de cadascun. Fet que provoca que, per exemple, que siguin molt lents a l'hora en el servei, et vinguin a prendre comanda dues vegades, no sàpiguen explicar quins postres tenen o hagis de demanar el pa, fins en 3 ocasions (per manca de comprensió). Probablement, el fet de ser festiu no ha ajudat i anaven sobrepassats amb la quantitat de gent que han volgut abastar. Però des del moment que tens un determinat nombre de taules, considero que no hauria de passar.

Pel que fa al menú festiu, consta d'un primer, segon i postre. De primer, vam escollir platillo de pèsols amb gírgoles i farigola. El plat era de cullera però no tenia un gust massa intens. Li calia una mica més de xup-xup, ja que, el caldo els hi ha quedat una mica aigualit. De segon, per una banda, mitjana de vedella sobre puré de patata i verdures de temporada, en aquest cas, espàrrecs verds fets a la planxa. D'altra banda, tataki de tonyina, amb puré de celerí i verdures. El cert és que eren dos trossos de tonyina força greixosos i un pèl poc fets però no era el típic "tataki" laminat. El puré era bo però les verdures massa olioses emmascaraven tot el plat. De postre, ens han dit que eren casolans. Hem triat el cremós de formatge amb pera i gingebre i la xocolata amb poma al forn. Els dos eren bons, ben elaborats i artesans. Sense dubte, el millor del menú!

Un restaurant amb potencial però amb forces aspectes...