Bulla Gastrobar — Restaurant in Winter Park

This is long. But let me preface my review by saying this is not my first time visiting a tapas style restaurant.

This place is way overhyped and overpriced for literally nothing.

We ordered 3 of their small plates. grilled octopus salad lentil soup mushrooms with chorizo

For starters, are ya’ll serious with the prices? I do not care about money nor was I was expecting high end opulence. However, $17 for a “grilled” octopus salad that had about 8 small pieces of tomato (the equivalent of one small tomato cut up), at best ONE small cucumber cut up, about 5 hair thin slivers of red onion and 5-6 small pieces of octopus. $17! For food that probably cost them a total of $3. The octopus was not grilled.

Next was the mushrooms. You have to be kidding me. Imagine getting those pre-stuffed mushrooms from Costco, placing 6 of them on a plate, then cutting a one inch cube of chorizo (tasted like regular ham to me) and placing the tiny cube in the center of the mushroom. $12

The lentil soup wasn’t bad so I have nothing to really say about it. It was hearty. I would just suggest you serve it with a piece of bread. (Some bread is at an extra cost)

ANDDDDD drum roll for the seafood paella.

When I say RUN!! I mean RUNNNNNN and turn a blind eye to the paella. Hands down the nastiest paella I’ve ever had in my life. I’m Hispanic. I grew up in NJ. We’re flooded with Spanish restaurants so I know what authentic paella taste like. I’ve been to Spain and have had varieties of paella there. THIS. IS. NOT. PAELLA! If you’re going to charge $46 for it, at the very least TRY to learn how to make it. It’s the wrong rice!! The main thing about paella is the type of rice used! Do some research. Using every day long grain rice will NEVER work!

For those who know saffron well and your pallet is accustomed to its flavor then you know saffron has a very distinct flavor. So BECAUSE you’re using the wrong rice it taste WAY off.

The rice was undercooked by about 10 minutes. Mind you we waited 45 minutes for it —— understandably because we were told it would take long. Crunchy raw grains throughout the rice. I can’t make this up.

I didn’t say anything because I could imagine the attitudes they would’ve had if I said anything about it being nasty. The staff SUCKS. Not to mention if they would’ve offered me to have it remade I would’ve been there for 3 hours waiting. Not sure if they’re understaffed but It takes like 20 minutes to get even the simplest request.

And finally —— the red sangria. Served in a small glass cup, not a wine glass. About 6 LARGE ice cubes. And I mean LARGE. I took the cubes out and there was 1/4 cup of sangria before I even took a sip. Since when and WHEREEEEEEE is sangria served on ice??????? The price? $12!

Whoever owns or runs this place is a joke. What a disgrace. I’ve been looking forward to going here for a while and finally did. What a waste of $120

OMG and I almost forgot!!! The “almond” cake. It’s NOT almond. The cake slice is actually lemon cake with some sweet cream frosting on top and slivers of almonds.

Every single thing, with the exception of the mediocre lentil soup was DISGUSTING. People who actually LOVE this place mustve been drunk or don’t know what good...

We must have passed this place at least a couple dozen times in a year while going to Trader Joes and never went in until this weekend! Our loss! My husband and I are huge foodies, and in another life, I'm a fake food critic. :)

Located in a prime area, across from a busy intersection, you may get discouraged by having to park in the garage. Don't! The wait for a table was 45 minutes. We noticed there was plenty of outside seating on a beautiful, rare, breezy morning and didn't know why the seats weren't being used. Scannimg the menu as we waited for a seat, it seemed similar to other locations yet had a spin. We noticed the menu had a lot of Latin food options yet had vegetarian and gluten free options. I was puzzled - not sure if they opened the outside space because it was empty and I hesitated to wait because when I'm hungry, eating at new places is not a comfort for me. We almost turned around and left but looked over and saw 3 open seats at the far end of the bar. Reluctantly, we sat at the bar for Sunday brunch, along the window pane area, determined to give this place a try. This gave us a view of the entire place. I watched the cooks in their area about 100 feet from me. I watched the hostess at the door, the wait staff in each section, as I studied the layout and flow of each seating section. (I needed to know my preferred seating options for a future visit). I studied, and chatted with, both bartenders as they made drink after drink. I was close to the champagne spritzer drout, so I became a fake trained bartender in the 1 1/2 hours I was there, lol. Those mimosas and sangrias were flying out for "bottomless" drinks and they were done with ease and enjoyment. In fact, my husband and I were happy to see how ALL the staff moved with ease. They communicated well. They laughed with each other as they worked. Staff helped each other several times as we could see- showing a genuine, overall, good working relationship. There was also a manager on the floor helping out. Staff interacted with dining customers - not just to bring a check. All of this was wonderful to see because it showed the pride when we received our drinks and meals. My egg Benedict was done to perfection.👌 (My father was a chef at a NYC top restaurant- for 30+ years and I know Egg Benedicts)! The smoky, aged, tangy flavor of the finely shredded cheese on my avocado toast lingered in my mouth and I loved it! It reminded me of our recent trio to Greece and Italy. The crunch and sweetness of the homemade churros took me back 20 years to donut dates with my father. The added options for Caramel and chocolate were a delightful bonus. I wanted that taste to last. Our bartender was like a silent fly on the wall, yet he was multitasking. He proactively saw that our needs were met, joined our conversations when we questioned him about things, and sealed the deal to see that our first visit wouldn't be our last.

Overall, lovely. Parking in the garage was easy - much needed in a very busy area. Plenty of seating options spread throughout 4 open sections of the restaurant. You won't be disappointed. It's worth the visit. What an...

Let’s me start this by saying that this review is not a reflection of our server or the food…both of which was great! We haven’t been there in a long time simply because we are just not in the area much. This review is coming from my perspective of having been in the restaurant business for almost half my life; as an entrepreneur, owner, GM…family business.

We went to the restaurant for dinner tonight for a bit of business and to catch up with old friends. We showed up at the restaurant at about 6:15. To start, we made a reservation for a party of 6 at 6:45pm, but when we showed they had us down for only a party of 4. The table they offered us a table couldn’t fit our party. Mistakes happen. Instead of saying, “apologies, let us see what we can do” the attitude was basically “too bad…it’s your fault…what do you want us to do about it?” The host’s resolution was to seat us outside which normally would not have been an issue except tonight it was about to storm. When we pointed this out, one of the FOH manager’s comment was “we can’t guarantee the weather.” When asked about the many open tables, we were told that they had to keep them open for the “possible reservations that might show.” So, we agreed to be sat outside.

There were several open high tops on the patio that were somewhat under cover but they had already removed the seat cushions for because of the rain. The instead pushed two 4 tops together they were out in the open and sat us there. It’s now about 6:30pm. By the time we got our drinks, it started to sprinkle. We quickly moved under the awning and asked if we could be sat at a now open high top that was previously occupied by someone having a beer while waiting for a carry out order. We stood around the table for about 10 min being totally ignored while we waited. Finally one of our friends went in and asked the sameFOH manager about the table again. The response, “we have to see if the table is available…it might be.” Again we asked about the many empty tables. Eventually he said, that they were waiting for a 7:15 reservation for 6 that hasn’t showed and if they didn’t show soon, we could take their table…it was already 7:30pm. We asked him, “how much longer are you going to wait?” At that point he begrudgingly decided to seat us. Mind you, this whole time the rest of our part was still standing outside under the awning while it was storming.

After over an hour…we were finally “sat.” Once we ordered, the food was great! The grilled steak…awesome. The squid with corn purée…delicious. The food came fast and our server was great. Again, no complaints on those fronts.

All through dinner, not one of the larger 6 tops were ever sat. There were always plenty of open tables. Never once did the manager come by and address us being sat in the rain or being left outside. The simple lack of care the management staff have for the guests and they way the handled the situation is just the typical “don’t care attitude”these type of chic restaurants have. The times of creating raving fans in the restaurant business is starting to be something of the past. Long story short…won’t...