El Llagut — Restaurant in Tarragona

Came here with my partner's family [who are not Spanish-speaking] guided by great reviews, but our experience was quite regrettable. I am grateful that they upgraded our reservation from 4 to 6. And the food is very good, based on local produce and accompanied by a robust selection of wine. But the service was disastrous.

The staff seemed completely outnumbered and overwhelmed by the crowd on a Saturday lunch. I asked for English menus, and got just 1. I considered asking for another one but it was virtually impossible to get a hold of the waiters. It took about 20 minutes for our waiter to take our order; 30 minutes for our single shared appetiser [of exceptionally-good fried fish] to arrive and another 40 minutes (!) for our mains to come.

Throughout our meal, it felt like our presence was bothersome to our waiter. For instance, a complimentary amuse-bouche was brought in without any explanation about what it was. I almost felt uncomfortable to have asked about it, as the waiter seemed bemused by the question before answering.

I asked for a [very good] rice dish and the waiter said I couldn't order it individually (despite the menu using specific marks for dishes that couldn't be ordered individually and this particular dish not having the mark). After pointing out that they should consider an edit to the menu, our waiter dismissed my suggestion by saying "it's just the way it is with these dishes". He then begrudgingly offered to make it individually for me "if I wanted it...". My partner ended up ordering it with me.

Apart from an initial apology for the time it took for our order to be taken, there was no further apology for the exceptionally long time we waited for our meal.

In fairness, the staff seemed to be spread way too thin, which might explain why our waiter seemed annoyed. And the food was very good. But the poor service and extremely long waiting times ruined our time...

I rarely leave reviews but this place deserves one - was recommended by our landlord while we were on holiday in Tarragona . And oh wow, what beautiful food! We ordered 4 dishes between us and were nicely full after. We had fish with vegetables (it was a cold dish and was called spicy but it was just tasty not spicy 😋) - absolutely heavenly. We also had mussels - they were incredibly fresh and delicious, neat mussles I have ever had (and I had a lot of them in my life!). We also had octopus croquettes which were tasty , crunchy on the outside and soft and yummy on the inside. And finished off with fried squid with beans - my least favourite but not because it was not amazing - the other dishes were just such winners. Anyway, we also had 4 glasses of wine between us and a glass of cava. All came in under 75 euros which , for the quality of the food and the lovely ambience , was a steal. The service was not the best but it really didn’t take away from the overall experience. Highly...

Disappointing to have to write this review but needs must...

I have a medical condition whereby too much salt can have a serious effect on my well being.

This was explained when we were seated before ordering from the menu, and clearly in Spanish by my partner to avoid any confusion.

Told I was advised to order from the set menu, and the cod was ordered on my behalf.

My main came, Cod, bland with asbolutely no flavour and load with pockets of salt, possibly from the cooking, underneath the skin. It also came with some kind of cake/black pudding, again loaded with salted items, chorizo included.

Very disappointing, I’m on holiday and it’s pretty much ruined my last day here.

I’m not in the habit of writing these reviews but until it’s taken seriously I feel I have to.

Warning to other diners with medical allergies and such, they may not be taken seriously, much like...