Restaurant Ca n'Ayxelà — Restaurant in Santa Margarida i els Monjos

Many years ago, a young boy came to Barcelona, knowing basically nothing about the city, except it was the home of Barça... Guess who it was... Me, of course! That's a good intro, I should write novels, definitely... 😜 More seriously, I clearly didn't know that a "calçot" was a type of spring onion that is re-planted after summer in a specific way to make these long leek-looking onions. Yes, out of 1 initial onion, you get several calçots. I tried them in a restaurant in Barcelona for the first time and I liked them a lot. But this is not the proper way to eat them. You usually go out of the city to a mansion and have what's called a "calçotada", which is a full meal that may start with some dry sausages, then calçots AYCE, then some meat, which usually is a combo of lamb, sausage and blood sausage, some white beans, braised artichauts and, finally, the dessert, which usually is a Catalan cream. Maybe 15 years ago, a group of friends took me to Ca N'Ayxelà (@restaurantcanayxela) in Santa Margarida i Els Monjos (Alt Penedès). I loved it because the calçots were good, because you could eat the cold cuts in the cave downstairs, surrounded by the vine barrels, and because it was not too expensive. Since then, I've come back maybe 20 times. I took all my friends and family there... The price has fluctuated, depending on the economical context, but the quality usually has remained the same. We went back on 1/1/23 (not my idea!) with a few friends who came for the holiday. And I was so disappointed. Let's make a list of what went wrong: we used to get as many sausages as we wanted directly in the cave. That time they brought us a couple of small plates with some already cut sausage that we had to bring downstairs ourselves; the calçots came cold; they were not sweet at all = they were not good the Romesco sauce was week the white beans were not cooked enough the blood sausage tasted like fish The lamb was good though. I'll probably give it another opportunity someday... But not this year for sure. I'm not ready to spend 2 hours in the car + €37 each to eat badly. So sad 😭

Quality & taste: 2/10 Quantities: 9/10 Atmosphere: 7/10 Originality: 7/10 Ratio price / quality: 2/10 Service: 5/10 How I felt afterwards: 3/10

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What a shame giving 3 stars to this wonderful place. Let's give first the compliments before pointing out the wrongs. Big congratulations for the amazing food served representing part of our Catalan heritage; calçots, brasa, xató, cargols a la llauna, cured meats, good wine around a table filled with friends and family. Also astonishing place where you can find a small cellar where you can enjoy cava and cured meats (unlimited and included in the price). Let downs about this place: front of house staff unprofessional and bad mannered. First waiter was pressuring us to place our orders without considering we were a table of 11 people with only one menu available. Second waiter with lack of memory who we had to ask 4 times to get garlic mayo (very common sauce typical of this kind of places). Another 3 times we had to ask for water. Finishing talking about this waiter he could not remember to bring the liquor accompanying one of the frozen desserts order, till the point of it started melting on the plate. Third waiter was asked to bring the liquor of the dessert mentioned before, being his answer "if you asked already for the liquor, you have to deal with that waiter. Your table is no my job". That was the cherry on top. Even the good things mentioned I would not come back at all, unless this issue...

We’ve already been there 3 times in two months. The first time we went to celebrate my in-law’s anniversary and we had a great time with a very good and kind service. They even offered some free cava 🍾 ‘embutidos’ and olives before they brought our starters. Food was delicious, traditional Catalan food cuisine. The other 2 times I went with my husband and child during the week and the food was again really good, they vary the menu very often so you could go every week and wouldn’t be asking for the same. The waiters really kind and friendly. The atmosphere is great with lots of green areas and even a park for kids. We’ll definitely...