Barcelona – Not Bad but Bring a Hearing Aid

Date Dined: February 22, 2014

Rating: 3.5 stars

I will start out by saying that I love tapas. It’s like Spanish dim sum, and I am a huge fan of family style dining. During my study abroad time in Madrid, I had some of the most delicious dishes I can imagine. With that said, I understand that it isn’t fair of me to compare a small family-owned restaurant in Spain with someplace in Clayton, Missouri, so I’ll keep things in perspective.

Barcelona, is one of my go to tapas places because it’s fairly affordable, filling, and good (not great but good). There are a few stand out things on the menu and I’ll make sure to mention them below.

This is the first time I’ve been there on a Saturday evening and will probably be the last. Sitting at our table, you have to literally yell at the person across from you to be heard. It’s sort of forgivable considering the cozy spacing of the restaurant, but at least turn off the loud, hipster, techno music.

The décor is nothing to write home about, but it’s not offensive. More than anything, on a busy night, it’s going to be insanely crowded. These guys really try to pack every single person they can into the restaurant. Which is funny because they never seat the back patio even though it’s covered. That’s usually reserved for the smoking bus boys.

I’ll start with the most disappointing part of the meal, the sangria. You would think as a tapas restaurant they would take some pride in their sangria. Instead what you get is three pieces of fruit placed in each glass which is then filled with a watery, tasteless, red wine. I honestly think they do take cheap red wine, add some water to it and then bring it out in a colorful pitcher. We drank it because we bought it, but never again…

 

We ended up ordering a lot of food so I’ll keep my descriptions brief. The fried artichoke hearts were okay, but the breading was a little heavy and you couldn’t taste the artichokes very well. In fact, the largest issue was that it didn’t taste like anything except for fried oil. The calamari as well isn’t anything groundbreaking. It’s not bad, but there’s almost no flavor to it as well.

I enjoyed the mussels, but the actual meat inside seemed small. The tomato based broth is very good, but I think the quality of the mussels themselves leaves something to be desired. Usually you expect a slice of meat inside at least about half the size of the shell. These were more like 1/6^th the size. It also doesn’t come with bread which I assumed would be standard with most mussel dishes. (How are you supposed to finish off the rest of that delicious broth?).

On past visits I’ve also had the Croquetas de Pollo y Jamon which are essentially mashed potato sticks. Unfortunately, again to cut costs they cut down on the amount of meat in the dish and replace it with a large amount of potatoes. The Solomillo Con Cabrales (grilled beef tenderloin with blue cheese, spinach and rioja reduction sauce) is likewise disappointing. The meat is a little tough, the sauce is blandly lackluster, and worst of all it’s usually brought out lukewarm instead of piping hot.

The paella valencia was the most disappointing thing. It used to be my favorite dish there with an assortment of white fish, shrimp, mussels, chorizo, and chicken. This last time it was obvious to cut costs that they removed the shrimp and downsized the amount of meat in the dish. Although it came with 6 or 7 mussels there were only three discernible chunks of fish and four pieces of chicken. We also ordered the chorizo on the side as one of our members was Jewish and I can say that it was probably the amount of four eighth inch slices maybe a little less. The rice was also mushy and yet each grain seemed a little chewy and undercooked. The most unfortunate part of the dish was that it was quite salty, enough that I was reaching for my water after every few bites.

Now that I’ve mentioned the negatives let me move onto the positives. First the Alas de Polico or garlic chicken wings are just delicious. The wings themselves are nothing special, they’re the same small drumsticks are wings you’ll find at a buffalo wild wings, but the sherry mayonnaise sauce is very tasty. However, I do enjoy how they bake rather than fry the wings. They also top it with small chopped pieces of garlic which I enjoyed as an avid alliophile.

The Queso de Cabra al Horno is one of my favorites. A ice cream scoop amount of goat cheese is placed in a small cast iron and surrounded by tomato sauce. The entire thing is baked and then brought out to the table with a serving of “garlic bread” (basically bread with some butter on it that’s been charred a little too long). The goat cheese is light and slightly sweet which balances the heavier and saltier nature of the sauce.

Finally, my favorite part of the meal is the tres leches cake. In general, I’m usually disappointed in desserts in restaurants. It’s not often you taste something truly unique and satisfying, this cake is it. It looks like a piece of vanilla cake with frosting on a plate that’s had milk poured over it. What it tastes like is heaven. The cake is light, not too sweet, and wonderfully moist. Each bite is like biting into a bit of what a raincloud. The sauce likewise, is slightly sweeter, but compliments the mild nature of the cake. Lately they’ve added in a layer of fondant frosting to the top, which is good, but I think the cake could honestly do without it.

Barcelona is a wonderful place to celebrate, to go with large groups of people, and to a good beer. The price also isn’t outrageous with most dishes costing between 5 to 7 dollars. We ordered 6 tapas, the paella, tres leches cake, and sangria and our bill wasn’t outrageous. If we had forsaken the paella and sangria then our per person bill would have only been fifteen dollars a person. So long as your expectations are for real tapas you can’t go wrong with Barcelona.