Barcelona Tapas Bar Y Restaurante (Dulwich)

Average food, average setting. I wouldn't go back.
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JAMES
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Monday, August 15, 2011

Me and my wife went there on Sunday for the first time. The place is fantastic. Friendly and helpful service. The food was delicious the squid was excellently crispy, the lamb with garlic and lemon was tender and flavorful, huge grilled bread with sundried tomato paste, the croquettes where excellent. The mains we had the paella which was absolutely fantastic lots of seafood and chicken. All in all we will come back. i also don't understand the comments that its expensive. Having worked in the same trade for years I can tell that supplier costs are the same as central London and rents are very high as well. If you within the M25 you will have to pay that extra. Anyway we had 5 tapas as starters, 2 soft drinks, 1 beer, 1 wine, the paella for mains, 1 dessert, 1 coffee and a digestive all for £65 thats not expansive! And to be honest we where absolutely full couldn't fit another thing!
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Uwe Schwarz
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I live not far from here and have been many times over the years,not so often these days -maybe 3 or 4 times a year but don't recognise it from the reviews below.

Two of us went there last week had a variety of dishes all of which were good especially the Chorizo al Vino.

My only criticism of this place over the years is the hit and miss service when very busy and the West End + prices in a local restaurant.

Two of us pigged out on 6-7 dishes had a nice bottle of white,puddings and brandies for £80,not great value but enjoyable.
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mal - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, May 21, 2011

Don’t go to this restaurant if you want the true taste of Spain. I could smell the toilet bleach from my table and the food came out in 10min never a good sign if you’re meant to be cooking fresh food which it clearly was not and I had to send the food back and move the table to get away from the smell of the toilet. So they put us in front of the door when it was cold. I have been to many great Spanish restaurants but please take my advice don’t go here.
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Rain
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, April 30, 2011

We decided to go here last night for Valentines.The venue itself is great, there was a guy playing Spanish songs on the guitar which was great and the waiters were all very friendly.

It was all fantastic until the food arrived. I honestly was shocked at how poor the quality of the food was, and how they actually get away with serving it. I'm not a good cook myself, but I could've done better than every one of their tapas selections.

The worst quality food I've ever paid for. The calamari was literally wet, soggy batter, not crispy and rubbery cold squid, prawns were cold, the croquettes were absolutely vile - almost as though they were full of processed cheese - the meatballs didn't even taste of meat..the salad was a plate of sliced tomatoes with an onion on top...and so it goes on..

We picked at each plate for a few minutes, having a bite or 2 each, and then decided that was definitely enough.

The waiters could obviously tell we were having an awful time and so we explained why and they acted shocked.

I don't understand how any customer left there thinking 'that's great food!'

We had to pay over £60 for a meal that we both hated, and left feeling utterly disappointed. What an absolute joke - ruined my valentines that's for sure.
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Jennifer Hodgson
5 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A group of us looking for a good meal and place to chat on a Saturday night. We stumbled on this restaurant. It looked good on the outside and it was not busy . We all agreed it seemed perfect. Once in the restaurant and seated things wernt badly wrong. The tables are very small no table cloths but dressed with several tall glasses. The menus were big and heavy. It was impossible to view the menu without breaking the glasses or moving the chair away from the table. It was uncomfortable cramped seating and dark & gloomy environment, too dark for photographs. We were sat under a ceiling fan, but asked for it to be switched off..

A glass smashed on the tiled table. Instead of clearing the whole table, only the large obvious fragments were removed leaving lots of splintered glass. We dusted as much as we could on the floor but some still remained and could have been on our plates.

The service was apalling. Wine almost twice the cost of what we ordered was pushed on us, we refused it. The staff were hurried and unprofessional even though only 4 tables were occupied. The waiters failed to listen so the orders were mixed up. The food was over priced for it's quality. Dishes arrived out of sequence, Olives arrived with the main meal. The food was over seasoned. Dishes were duplicated & unordered dishes arrived. One person's food did not arrive until we had all eaten so it was sent back. Unordered food was added to the bill plus (to our insult )a huge gratuity, which we asked to be removed. The Manager had come in and seen the fiasco. We told him all that occurred but he blamed the poor service on a shortage of chefs. We left disgusted and disatisfied and will never step foot in there again. I would not recommend this restaurant to my friends.
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Anita
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Monday, October 05, 2009

Excellent setting, mediocre food, very overpriced, incredibly rude staff.

The venue is very beautiful, they've obviously put a lot of effort into the decor and it sets the scene perfectly for tapas. Such a shame then that they treat their customers with such contempt. From the moment we walked in we were made to feel like we were inconveniencing the staff with our presence. The waiters did not know the answers to simple questions about the menu, and had a tantrum any time you asked them anything. I could sort of understand if it was a busy Saturday night, but our visit was on a Tuesday and there was hardly any other customers. My wife and I tried to raise a complaint with the manager about one particular incident, but he waved his hand in my face to signal me to stop talking as he made a 'pshh pshh pshh' sound... unbelievably rude.

After our visit, we raised the issue with their head office who, after several weeks of emails back and forth eventually offered to refund my tip!! I'm not sure if they were just taking the mickey out of me, but I told them not to bother.

Surely the main reason people dine out is for a pleasant experience, not simply to fill their bellies. The food here was just about satisfactory (with the exception of the cooked meat platter which was dry), but very expensive, even compared with other london tapas restaurants (the menu prices look reasonable, but the portions are tiny.). Basically, you could buy all the stuff they sell for a FRACTION of the cost from your local supermarket, and save yourself the degradation of dealing with their staff.

Avoid this restaurant at all cost!!!
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Mr Williams
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Friday, May 15, 2009