Pintxo de Bath — Restaurant in Bath

My partner and I dined here and were terribly dissapointed.

First, within five minutes of placing our order for four tapas dishes they arrived at our table.

Spicy chicken wings

Tortilla

Pork belly

And pemientos patron.

Now, I'm from London and frequent Barrafina where the food is prepared to order. I've also travelled extensively through Spain.

I'm OK if some of the food is prepared in advance.

But let's start with the chicken wings, baked, gelatinous, the skin was disgusting, the meat fell off thr broken wing bones and it was not spicy at all. The chef obviously baked them earlier in the day and microwaved them. I had one bite and sent them back.

Now the Tortilla, yes it is OK to make this in advance, nice portion but dry snd difficult to cut through as bottom was bit over done. The aioli was not....I had to ask the manager what it was supposed to be. Not a hint of garlic, the key ingredients.

The pork belly was actually moist snd a nice portion but had very little if any seasoning, the crackling skin was soft and not crisp. The best part of the entire meal was the Cole slaw with apple sitting under the pork.

Finally the patron peppers, again cooked sometime in advance. Sad as these only take minutes to prepare. They were pretty limp and lifeless.

Every dish was hot from the microwave.

I gave the manager some feedback and he removed the service charge and removed the chicken wings from our bill.

Seriously re-think spending money here. It is poor quality.

I've also seen the reviews on Trip Advisor and fully expect Mark Mantzel to dispute my knowledge of good food. He seems to argue with diners poor reviews.

Bottom line, if I can cook this better why am I out eating at this restaurant

30th March update- I posted this review on Trip Advisor and as expected the owner angrily replied. It astounds me how restaurant owners spend more time disputing a bad review rather than improving the food quality.

Bottom line, I've dined in over 50 countries on six continents so I have a reasonable amount of experience on food quality.

Mark Mantzel should focus on the product he's delivering rather than attack a valid review.

Update 30/05/25

Subsequent to my review on Trip Advisor, Mark Manziel has messaged me using another profile named Safarri suggesting that I should be more constructive in my review, even suggesting 'most people will agree', my review came across as pompous!

However, Mark lashes out at any negative review with rather scathing comments to other reviewers. He suggests my review shouldn't count above others, which I never suggested.

I actively review on TA, good or bad!

Mark needs to focus on the food quality rather than social media reviews.

Those of us who spend our money are entitled to express our experience for the benefit of others!

Wake up Mark

Update June 5th

Mark M continues to send me vitriolic messages on Trip Advisor

"It seems you are completely oblivious to how vile you were when you wrote your original review and then you were surprised at my response."

There is more but your get...

Sadly giving this place one star, purely because of an interaction I had with who I assume was the front of house, that left me feeling quite uncomfortable for my entire sitting. I arrived at the place on a Friday evening, my partner was already there and told me he was sitting at a table in the garden waiting for me. When I arrived at the door an Indian/Asian(assuming) man told me to wait to be seated, which I replied “oh my partner is already here actually, he’s got a table outside”. He then just stared at me blankly and said “ok well I don’t know, so text them and tell them to come and get you and wait”. I was a little confused, because I assumed the normal thing to do would be to guide me to the outside area, but it was as if he didn’t believe that I already had a table or simply he didn’t want me there. (As a young black woman in Bath it wouldn’t be the first time). I stood there quite dumbly in the door way trying to get signal in order to text my partner to get me, feeling extremely awkward because of the way this man spoke to me in front of everyone. Then a few minutes later another man who I think was the manager came up to me smiling and asked how many for a table. I repeated to him that my partner is already here outside, and he said oh okay go straight ahead. A Complete 180 to the the Indian man who didn’t let me inside, I was a little confused as to who had the authority here due to how they were interacting with me, and quite sad that my thoughts were then affirmed, that this first man clearly had an issue with me. Being a little confused at the different instructions, I asked the first man “okay can I go ahead”, and he just stared at me like id kicked his cat, rolled his eyes and wouldn’t even speak to me when I explained I’d never been there before and wasn’t sure which way to go, just pointing in silence until I’d figured it out. I’m really not sure why this approach was made toward me, and it was quite upsetting considering how nice the evening would’ve been if I wasn’t made to feel like I shouldn’t be there. Manager, if you read this - thanks for treating me like a normal human being, but the attitude of your staff may be getting in the way of...

Before you read this review, you should know I am from Spain and I know my food I was reading the reviews of other customers before coming to this place, it seemed to have good quality and genuine food. I have been bitten in all the Spanish restaurants I have been to in England and this one unfortunately falls into the same place, pricey, wrong ingredients and mean portions. You can't say you are not able to get the right Spanish products in the UK. You can walk in any Waitrose and find the real Spanish produce. Well, these people can't even be bothered to go to the local Waitrose to put together some basic Spanish tapas. I must admit I only ordered two tapas for my Estrella Galicia and my partner's Alvariño white wine. The beer comes bottled so they can't get that wrong. The wine was served in a water glass, not even a wine cup. The size of the wine was ridiculous for £6.75. I know... The croquetas de jamón were tasty. Good bechamel and well fried but again, 6 tiny balls of bechamel costing £8.50 is a bit of a joke. Another thing to mention is how uncomfortable the place feels, all the tables are crowded next to each other. It was busy, well done guys I celebrate your success, but please, learn your tapas and try to use proper cantabric anchovies and real Spanish guindillas with Manzanilla olives when you put a Hilda together. Finish it with a bit of extra virgin olive oil on top. It doesn't cost that much to make it look original. Your bar is empty, where are the pintxos? Where are the proper tortillas on top of the bar to make it look like if you were in San Sebastian? How can you call your place Pintxo if you have nothing on the bar to show? Anyway, another Spanish restaurant...