Barrafina Adelaide Street — Restaurant in London

I had been wanting to visit Barrafina for years, and unfortunately my first experience here left me quite dissapointed.

Firstly, as a solo diner, the very cold young lady at front of house decided to sit me sandwiched in between two couples at the only end of the bar that was busy when I arrived. A few ackward looks were exchanged, and when I politely requested to be moved to a less busy part of the bar, she told me "no can do", as we are fully booked and don't have any spaces for individual diners. Fair enough, I suppose, although I should be in and out reasonably quickly (but more to come).

A first look at the menu and specials, and I ordered cuttlefish croquetas (2, very good), grilled lamb kidneys (best part of the meal), their famous patatas bravísimas (nothing to write home about, potatos tasted like frozen, should have gone for one of the mini tortillas the couple next to me had) and arroz de mariscos as my main course.

I love a nice arroz caldoso (wet), so was very excited when this arrived, as it looked tremendous. Unfortunately upon the first bite, my excitement dissapeared. Rice was bland and insipid, so at £24 a pop I decidedto send it back. I don't tend to do this often, especially wuth other diners sitting around me being forced to witness this whole exchange, but trust me it was bad. When asked what was the problem I said it either hadn't been seasoned, the stock was too thin and flavourless, or both. I also said that if it was going to take a long time to recook or the issue lied with the stock, I'd happily order something else, but my request was ignored, and the otherwise very nice and professional waiter went to ask the chef to redo the dish.

The problem with open plan bars and kitchens is that conversations and body language that normally happen in private are now for everyone to see and witness. I'm providing this context because, as a customer, I did not particularly appreciated the chef's reaction to the waiters request. He smirked, he made faces, he rolled eyes in discredit, and a series of hush-hush, wink-wink commentary with the guy asked to recook the dish followed. At this point I was no longer hungry to be perfectly honest.

I then had to wait for anothef 15 minutes sandwiched between strangers in a cramped bar staring at my phone until the new rice arrived. Chef brought it to me with a smile, I have to say, and told me to let him know how it was second time around. I tasted it, and to their credit, they managed to revive the rice and it was now appropiately seasoned (still a bit thin flavourwise, but acceptable). What it was not acceptable this time around was to receive three barely opened, undercooked mussels. So, after tasting the first one, I said to the guy, "the rice is good now, but the mussels are raw", politely and with a smile. All I got back was another smirk and a shrug of his shoulders, which I don't think it's particularly good service.

All in all, a very expensive and dissapointing meal, where I paid £85+ for three small, run of the mill tapas and a plate of rice they got wrong twice, coupled with a bit of unprofessional attitude. Not even a coffee was offered as any kind of gesture for having me waiting with nothing to do for half the meal, but they didn't forget to add the "discretionary" 12.5% service charge.

I paid my bill and left thinking what a dissapointment after all the hype I'd heard over the years. Suffice to say I won't be...

This was on my to go list for a long time as I've walked past one their branches countless times and their reputation carries them towards a lot of top lists. So finally went as part of the 'help out eat out scheme' and the food was good but generally unimpressed. I had my hopes up as they have a Michelin star and I’ve heard so much about them, the food does taste good but the issue is that nothing was amazing (even though I ordered lots of dishes)...even with the discount I didn’t think that the price reflects the taste as I've had plenty of seafood from standard lesser known places which equally serve 'good food' at a way cheaper price. Further to this, I can see that they have a lot of staff but it’s so hard to get anyone’s attention, most staff avoid looking around and walk with tunnel vision from one place to another so they wouldn’t even notice that I’m waiting for a while which was the case through my entire time there. Initially I wanted to add courses and keep ordering after each course based on how full I am but after the 3rd long wait I decided to just order several courses at once and avoid further waits.

All meals were good but that's about it (I chose 4 out of 5 dishes based on reading countless reviews and the last one following the chef’s recommendation). Looking at them in detail... The classic tortilla was nice; I like the texture of the outer egg and runny inner. Chipirones were fun to eat, I liked the saltiness (after the mackerel mentioned below). Gambas tasted quite nice, nicely spiced and overall very good flavour...not much to eat though. Roast suckling pig, the textures are perfect with the outer skin nice and crispy while the inner part is soft and breaks apart with ease...not much flavour though. The mackerel was the best dish out of all of these, tasty fish prepared well.

Overall, all the dishes were good but I can't say much more as I've had this level of taste at many lesser known places at a cheaper price and better service (just to clarify all the staff are polite, nice and make funny jokes when you have their attention, only issue is the extended waiting periods when you try to find someone...it’s not like they acknowledge and make you wait...instead no one notices at all that you're try to get someone’s help for up to 5 minutes). I had high expectations and left a bit...

WHAT A MISTAKEAH, TO MAKEAH!

The first time I visited here I loved it. The staff were friendly smiley and seemed just like one big happy family.

The second time I went here I noticed a new staff member who was different than before. They tried to tell me they did not have a seat for me. Then one of the lovely ones from my first visit spotted me leaving and sent her after me. They found me a place to sit and eat and I enjoyed a meal.

However the friendly atmosphere was gone. It was as if the staff had changed and it had messed up the group dynamics. Things front of house just didn’t seem the same.

I left not really with the same feeling as the time before and wishing I’d not spent so much money for such a mediocre experience. I also didn’t feel that great physically, I had a bit of a stomach ache but ignored it.

Anyway fast forward a few weeks and I’m in London with my young son who said he wanted sea food. So I thought I’d go again and give it one last chance. I thought that seeing the fish in the ice and watching it be prepared would be lovely for him. Again the atmosphere was as dull as a headlight on an old Renault Clio. And the same unwelcoming staff member greeted us. It just didn’t seem the same.

We both left for Waterloo station my son non the wiser and me feeling like I’d just been mugged. To top it off me and my young son both had real upset stomach’s and ended up stuck in the toilets at the royal festival hall for about 20 minutes.

I thought I’d never find a toilet in time for my little boy. The journey home was long. It felt bad I had paid all that money to people who couldn’t care less and got unwell in the process. I’d love to know what’s changed and why. I’m even tempted to get a friend to try it and send the food off to environmental health. It’s put me off eating food in London. Maybe it’s just the over population and the vermin problem in London. I don’t know even the lager wasn’t as good as it was the very first time I had it here. And to me it was the best estrella I’ve ever had even better...