Mitsu3000gt
04-10-2015, 09:43 AM
Might as well write a review while visiting this section haha.
Because their menu looks absolutely amazing, I decided to try out Barcelona Tavern with some work colleagues. It is in the old Belgo building, which is absolutely enormous and 2 stories for those who may not know.
I was there for lunch, but the menu appeared to be the same for Lunch/Dinner.
Ambiance/Decor - No issues really, I don't care much about what the place looks like if the food is good. The only thing I would mention is because it's so huge, if it's busy, it's very loud.
Service - Average. It was busy (lunch time and a new restaurant). Drink waits were 10ish minutes but I actually prefer long wait times if the company is good. Reservation was for 11:45, we weren't eating our entrees until closer to 1pm. Again, since the place is so huge, the servers had to walk super far to the bar, kitchen, and computers (why they didn't have more than one computer location I have no idea).
Food - Pretty poor. I won't be back. Again, the menu looks absolutely amazing, but it was a huge letdown. While I was excited about the menu, when I learned it was in the old Belgo building, I was nervous because very few large restaurants are any good. We had the veal meatballs to start, which were small, dry, and very salty. I then decided to have their "House Special" which is the "Chef's special seafood chorizo paella". It came out on a hot skillet, and the bottom layer of risotto was charred black to the skillet and not really edible. The seafood was extremely sparse, small, poorly cooked, and seemingly very low quality (like from a frozen bag or something). I thought they forgot to put chorizo in it, but later found out that some of the burnt pieces stuck to the bottom of the skillet were in fact the chorizo. I assumed there would be slices of chorizo in it, but it was more like shavings, which is why they burnt I guess. Lastly the risotto was so salty I couldn't finish what wasn't burnt.
The people I was with had the seared tuna as well, and they said it was quite bad. I didn't try it.
I have since heard it is a Moxies spinoff, but I can't confirm that. It might explain the lack of quality though. It's just too big of a restaurant, and based on the quality of the food, they are just trying to maximize margins it seems. The menu looks so good, but it was a huge letdown. I would recommend avoiding that place.
Also, again since it's so enormous, I've got to believe they really suffer when it's not packed. I wouldn't expect it to be around for too long, since it wasn't great, and anything in the DT core isn't going to be that busy except for 1 hour 5 times a week unless it's extremely good.
Because their menu looks absolutely amazing, I decided to try out Barcelona Tavern with some work colleagues. It is in the old Belgo building, which is absolutely enormous and 2 stories for those who may not know.
I was there for lunch, but the menu appeared to be the same for Lunch/Dinner.
Ambiance/Decor - No issues really, I don't care much about what the place looks like if the food is good. The only thing I would mention is because it's so huge, if it's busy, it's very loud.
Service - Average. It was busy (lunch time and a new restaurant). Drink waits were 10ish minutes but I actually prefer long wait times if the company is good. Reservation was for 11:45, we weren't eating our entrees until closer to 1pm. Again, since the place is so huge, the servers had to walk super far to the bar, kitchen, and computers (why they didn't have more than one computer location I have no idea).
Food - Pretty poor. I won't be back. Again, the menu looks absolutely amazing, but it was a huge letdown. While I was excited about the menu, when I learned it was in the old Belgo building, I was nervous because very few large restaurants are any good. We had the veal meatballs to start, which were small, dry, and very salty. I then decided to have their "House Special" which is the "Chef's special seafood chorizo paella". It came out on a hot skillet, and the bottom layer of risotto was charred black to the skillet and not really edible. The seafood was extremely sparse, small, poorly cooked, and seemingly very low quality (like from a frozen bag or something). I thought they forgot to put chorizo in it, but later found out that some of the burnt pieces stuck to the bottom of the skillet were in fact the chorizo. I assumed there would be slices of chorizo in it, but it was more like shavings, which is why they burnt I guess. Lastly the risotto was so salty I couldn't finish what wasn't burnt.
The people I was with had the seared tuna as well, and they said it was quite bad. I didn't try it.
I have since heard it is a Moxies spinoff, but I can't confirm that. It might explain the lack of quality though. It's just too big of a restaurant, and based on the quality of the food, they are just trying to maximize margins it seems. The menu looks so good, but it was a huge letdown. I would recommend avoiding that place.
Also, again since it's so enormous, I've got to believe they really suffer when it's not packed. I wouldn't expect it to be around for too long, since it wasn't great, and anything in the DT core isn't going to be that busy except for 1 hour 5 times a week unless it's extremely good.