Barcelona Wine Bar — Restaurant in Brookline

FALL FROM GRACE. To sum up the disappointment that my family and I experienced here is hard to do. As a family that would consider Barcelona one of our go to restaurants since before the pandemic, we have always held Barcelona to a high standard. However, the last few visits have been worse and worse...where today was the nail on the coffin. Coming with my elderly grandparents who have always enjoyed Barcelona, we were seated by the manager who at best seemed disinterested. When the waitress greeted us with the same aloof attitude we knew we'd be in for a long dinner. Not only did the restaurant take their iconic empanadas of the menu which was a disappointment on its own, once we ordered our food, there came more issues. Taking our drinks, we ordered a bottle of wine along with my grandfather ordering another cocktail, to which the waitress said, "I'm sorry we cannot do that according to Massachusetts law it can only be one drink at a time." In my time living in the state, my entire life, no restaurant I have ever been to has ever done this or mentioned this..which was a complete shock. To continue the subpar service, the waitress did not know the menu at all, not being able to give guidance on the wine menu and not even know what was on or off the menu. When the food began to arrive, there was absolutely no pacing because our food came out before they even gave us bread or our drinks. And the restaurant was still very quiet so they very well could've paced it much better or paced it at all. The food itself was nothing special, the dishes dropped off in quality since the last times we went. The chicken was overcooked, octopus was meh, and overall the food wasn't spectacular at all. The short rib was a nice surprise and honestly the saving grace of the whole place is there bread...when they give it to you at a reasonable time. The food runner throughout the whole night had this attitude as if she was doing you a favor and when we asked for the bread she had to restrain herself from telling us to calm down. Overall Barcelona is not what it used to be at all, and if you want mediocre food, and horrendous service then by all means go back, but know that this is unfortunately the last time we will be going to Barcelona.

UPDATE This was a redemption night for Barcelona, and boy did they live up to the hype. To remind those who may have read my previous review, the last time I came here with my family, our experience was very disappointing. After writing a review about my experience, I was promptly contacted by the general manager who was very accommodating and invited me back so they could right their wrong. After telling him that I'd be bringing my friends, we decided to go tonight. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted very politely, unlike the last time I went. Our waitress Madeline was incredibly kind, helpful, and an overall great person to wait our table. The service this time was well paced, crisp, and incredibly polite. Much better improvement than the last time. The food as well was a big step up from last time. Staring with some cheese and chorizo was a great move. Then, the croquetas, empanadas, short rib, scallops, and truffled bikini were all delicious. The olives, hummus, and spinach were also well liked by the rest of our table. Overall the food was also a step up from the last time I went, which was what I expected given how many times I had been before. The theme of tonight was redemption, and Barcelona did just that. They knew what the stakes were and they rose to the occasion and made my last experience seem like a total fluke. Well...

Been here several times and most recently had among the worst customer service experiences of my life.

Overall, the food here is good, wine selection is well above average, but service is severely lacking.

Our server was good, at first.

So we ordered a few tapas, they were good, and we were waiting on a paella. Been here several times in the past, the paella is good, with a great soccarat and depth of flavor.

This time, the paella was burnt; not abhorrently, but not worth me paying the $28 for. I seldom send food back but frankly having been here before it just felt insulting and knowing likely at least 3 people noticed it being on the well side (Cook, expeditor, food runner) still serving it to us, was insulting.

The next part is the real issue, when bringing to our servers attention, very politely that we’re disappointed we couldn’t enjoy the best part of the paella as it was scorched to the bottom of the pan, our server proceeded to try and show us how to scrape the pan to little to no avail. Our server was able to scrape up half the pan in front of us, and said “this half is good”. We didn’t pay for half a paella.

Eventually the server apologized offered us another paella, (we would’ve had to wait another 30-45 minutes) so we turned it down and honestly just wanted to leave after the display of them trying to prove us wrong.

THEN a “Manager” walked over to our table letting us know he comped our paella we didn’t eat, then began mansplaining a soccarat to us and let us know that “not a lot of people know what that is.”

At not one point did any member of staff admit the product was cooked incorrectly, instead they insisted on condescension and that we must not have been cultured enough to understand a paella.

We will not be returning any restaurants in this group due to this experience alone; having been here several times and otherwise enjoying ourselves I refuse to support a business that has management that are so ignorant of proper hospitality etiquette.

This place certainly doesn’t NEED our business; however they will not be getting it.

P.S- The bread here is excellent, however the bread knives used compress the crumb and squish what would otherwise be a fluffy piece of bread with a very airy crumb. Use an offset bread knife or one with a scalloped edge to allow your bread to be cut more easily so the food runners aren’t squishing it...

This was our second time eating at Barcelona Wine Bar, and the experience was terrible compared to the first time. To start, our reservation at 9pm was delayed by over 30min. While I can understand if a restaurant is busy a reservation can't always be committed to on time, if we were 30min late the restaurant would make no hesitation to give away our seat. Multiple tables of couples were finished with and had paid for their meals, but the wait staff made no effort to turn over tables despite large crowds of people waiting for tables, including those who had reservations even earlier than ours. Once we were finally seated, the music from the opposite side of the restaurant over at the bar was so loud I couldn't even converse with my partner without being drowned out by the music. I can understand wanting ambient music for the bar crowd on the opposite side of the restaurant (it was great the first time we came!) but blasting Peppas so loud that I can't even hear what the person across from me is saying is insane.

When we finally placed our order, the food arrived suspiciously quickly, and it became obvious the food was not made to order. The patatas bravas were lukewarm, unsalted, and no longer crisp. The beef empanadas were seasoned well, but had gone cold. The carrots were both undercooked and had gone cold by the time they arrived to our table. For what it's worth, we did enjoy the steak and the garlic shrimp. When we tried to place an order for the seafood paella, we were informed the wait time for such a dish would be over an hour, and we decided to cut our losses there. When the most appetizing item we had that night was the bread, you know there is a problem.

Very disappointed in the decline in quality. This was once one of our favorite tapas restaurants. Our first time here the food was delicious, the wait staff was amazing, and the manager himself even came to talk to us and offer his contact card if we ever had any issue with making reservations. I don't know if we will ever be coming back, and we certainly can't recommend this...