La Tartana Can Massanet — Restaurant in Vilafant

After reading many excellent reviews we were exited to have a dinner here....eventually it was our worst culinary experience during our 14days trip to Catalunya. I am trying not to use the word "scam" but, it really felt like one. No menu, no prices....all is a Fusion and a surprise ....OK, could accept that. There was no option to choose, the whole table had to choose and to eat the same...could be problematic....but OK could be managed. What could not be accepted and managed it's a complete lack of service and attention from the staff. We were waiting for half an hour (at least!) to get Some! attention. This was the first and almost the last time we got it. During almost 2hours meal nobody checked on us, nobody asked us if something was needed. The second glass of wine we ordered was forgotten at all, in order to pay we needed to approach the cashier by ourselves. We ordered T -bone steak as a main dish, at least this is what was explained to us. We got a BONE instead, a big one! The part of filet was missing....obviously eaten by somebody else. When we asked the staff why they call it t-bone when it is not, why were we served a new york steak with a huge BONE while it has to be served without a Bone(for which we obviously paid) , the staff was surprised and just made a baby face .... We ended up being hungry , paying 210 euro for a very doubtful meal experience. Nothing sofisticated, extremely overpriced, disappointing. Felt like a tourist trap - you come once and you never return again. It was the most expensive and the most disappointing meal during our 14 days trip...

21 Stars - no really, twenty one.

Alberto and Estelle and their team are building something unique, special and, in normal terms, not measurable - except to say that it was a wondrous journey through food, tastes, sense and experience.

Of course, as we are lactose intolerant vegetarians, we create additional challenges for most restaurants - but not here.

We simply sat and enjoyed a wine tasting/ sampling followed by 5 or 6 dishes - this was just the starters for the two of us, then a further 5 or 6 dishes which we thought was the main course only to discover that these were just the side dishes.

Then, piece-de-resistance, came the many mushroom-ed variety paella.

Of course, you need to know that all the mushrooms (and each variety) are grown by the owners - as are many of the vegetables too. That means that what we ate was (nearly all) local, in season and bursting with flavour.

And, from this fusion of late summer pomegranate and asparagus, baked garlics, vanillas, roasted onions, aubergines and honey or green sauces pungent with herbs, lemon tangs, figs with courgette leaves and so on and so forth, we simply feasted.

So yes, I give 21 Stars - for we felt as if we ate four times. And yes, we spent until midnight enjoying the vaulted roofs and open space of the converted mill not knowing what would come next or when, but, always knowing that something fabulous was on its way.

It felt as if we tasted performance. And it was...

I had probably one of the worst experiences of my life in this restaurant. We drove nearly an hour for a romantic dinner and a taste of the local cuisine, and almost immediately upon our arrival, we were greeted with inflexibility, rudeness, and contempt.

For a price of 50 euros a menu, one would expect to, at least, be addressed with basic education. The waiter confronted us in the most hostile manner for having asked to clear the table. I was speechless. Since when does saying, "Excuse me, can you take the plate away?" provoke such a reaction?

Especially after having waited an hour for the first course. True, we were late; then again, we called to let them know. It seems they are quite vindictive when it comes to that—or so the many negative reviews say. And no wonder! We asked to talk to the owner, who misjudged us in the most shallow of ways and treated us as inferiors. She pretty much told us, while we were waiting for our second course, that we were free to find another restaurant. That our "tone" was inappropriate. Should we speak to her as if she were a monarch? Would that, perhaps, erase the condescension of her smirk?

In other words: they are hospitality-challenged. All of them except for one of the waiters, who went out of his way to make us feel less out of place, less uncomfortable.

They describe their cuisine as ephemeral. What is actually ephemeral are...