Bar Catedral — Restaurant in Seville

food was decent but the service was so terrible that i can only give a 1-star review. if you are asian, please avoid this place as the service was sadly very racist.

food-wise: ensaladilla and salmonrejo were decent, not the best but deserving of 3-stars. the tomato salad was nice after we seasoned it ourselves, and the voulevant had an interesting texture but we would never order it again.

as for the service, a male server had repeatedly asked us for the bill FOUR times, even when they hadnt served us our food yet. each time he asked, we explained that we were still waiting for the food. we noted that he did not do this to any other table in the restaurant (everyone else was not asian). we were quite confused as we had never been to a spanish restaurant which required us to pay upfront.

after we paid in cash (due to the power outage), he returned our change in a tin tray but a coin accidentally rolled off onto the floor. he put the tin tray down on our table and picked the coin off the floor, casually tossing it into the tray which made a loud clinking sound—it was so loud that neighbouring tables turned to look. we were so appalled that he didnt just place the coin back into the tray and instead had to pull such fancy moves.

another female server was clearing our glasses from the table and she snatched up two glasses in one hand which made a very loud clanging noise. i was taken aback and the lady at the adjacent table turned to glare as well. the server was unapologetic and swiftly cleared the rest of the table while not bothering that she was being unnecessarily impatient and loud.

as a minority race visiting a european country, it is not our first time on the receiving end of such micro-aggressions from service staff. we really are not asking to be treated with kindness and friendliness. it is just basic human courtesy not to be rude to others because of their race, and as someone who has worked in service before, it is an unspoken rule to treat customers with a certain level of respect.

the service was really atrocious and we felt extremely unwelcome. their actions just screamed that they wanted us to leave as soon as possible. it was such a bad experience as we were simply trying to find a place for some food and rest after being quite stranded due to the power outage—no network to navigate and got turned away at other restaurants. this left us disappointed with an unpleasant impression of the level of service provided by...

Bar Catedral Sevilla was my favourite tapas bar on our November trip to Spain in 2022. We visited this restaurant after having spent a few hours touring the Cathedral on Friday the 11th of November.

The Staff: The staff were very welcoming and attentive. They were very helpful in explaining the menu and addressed any queries that we had.

The Food: Like a lot of tapas bars beef cheeks and croquettes featured on the menu at the time of our visit. The portion of croquettes was very generous and the beef cheek with fries was delicious. The grilled chicken with wedges was also ok but nothing special. However, it was the grilled pork that stole the show for me. The pork comes with garlic confit and fries. I couldn't get enough of it! The garlic confit just melted and spread so easily over the pork which was grilled to perfection.

Drinks: There drinks menu was standard as with many of the bar/restaurants. They did offer bottled Guinness which I was curious about so I tried it. It was interesting as I am used to drinking Guinness draft.

Layout & Decor: As we walked along the Calle Mateos Gago the uniquely decorated walls of Bar Catedral Sevilla caught our eye and we said that we should check it out. The restaurant has an outdoor area to the front and as you enter you are met with the striking Bull heads mounted around the restaurant. There are little plaques underneath the wall mounts stating that the bulls were famous fighting bulls from down through the years. There is plenty of seating inside and out with a bar located towards the back and a what I assume was a Jamón Ibérico carving station located to the back right. The seating at the front was covered with an awning so you can enjoy the Spanish sun without being burnt or weather permitting you can still enjoy your food outside.

Overall Opinion: Bar Catedral Sevilla was one of my favourite restaurants from our trip to Spain! They serve delicious food with a variety of options to choose from along with refreshing drinks. I think its the perfect little restaurant along the Calle Mateos Gago to sit outside on a warm eveing for a lite bite and cool drinks! I loved it and I highly recommend...

The tapas were nice, but the place is highly understaffed which leads to long waiting times and being ignored by staff. The waitresses were nice, but one male waiter was not having his best day (I hope). Frankly, he was really rude!

After waiting with two small kids on our first tapas, we missed two plates. I tried getting the attention of the staff for a couple of minutes but that did not work. We did not want the food to go colder so I grabbed two plates from the table next to us and showed the waiter.

He got really angry that I took the plates and told me that I had to ask him first. I explained I had been trying to get his attention for five minutes but he had ignored us. That made him start screamed; “I am working and now I have to put new plates on the other table!!”. He then stormed off and basically ignored us for the rest of our lunch. I guess he had a bad day as I witnessed him having several heated discussions with a group of ladies sitting next to us and who did not received the tapas they ordered…

Again; the food is fine and a lot of the staff was too. Only this one guy maybe having a very bad day really annoyed us and a couple of other tables. Let’s hope it was an incident. Better safe then sorry; we will opt to go somewhere else next time!

As expected the owners response underlines my review; nice tapas, not so nice staff. We were at fault, as were the ladies on the other table arguing with the same waiter.

Sometimes the best thing to do when receiving feedback is accepting that this is the way your paying client has experienced the lunch and try to learn. Feedback is a gift! And as is sad in the review; tapas were good and probably the one guy had an off day. No big deal, just...