Review: Barcelona Tapas A+++

[starchild]

We hosted our welcome dinner at Barcelona Tapas on a Friday night. I made the initial email inquiry and got a fast response for the owner, Bill Carballo. He suggested we speak in person and gave his phone numbers or offered to call me. I asked him to call my brother, which he did. My brother handled the planning as he does it professionally and felt it was one less thing I had to worry about. Bill made everything so easy. He suggested a standard tasting menu and we were able to tweak it to our specifications. He suggested a 7:30 start time so we didn't miss the sunset.

The location is in a neighborhood in the hills overlooking PV. When the cab stopped it looked like we were at someone's house, but immediately cute little kids ran up to the cab to open the door and say "Welcome to Barcelona Tapas". It was cool. There are a series of stairs to each level. We said were were there for Jamy's party and they told us to go up to the third floor. The ambiance and views are spectacular. There is a ceiling but it is an open air restaurant overlooking the city and directly above a nice swimming pool - don't know who gets to use that?

Immediately they offered us drinks. I introduced myself as Jamy and they congratulated me and said Bill was at another restaurant but would be in to meet us later. As each guest arrived I handed them an OOT bag and a server was right behind me with drinks. They make the yummiest white and red sangria there. We had arranged for unlimited pitchers. Each level must have a dedicated staff because there were always several servers who were most attentive to anything we needed.

OMG, the food was amazingly good. So good that if I'm being honest, it totally surpassed the quality of food served at my wedding the next day, which was also really good but not on the same level as Barcelona Tapas. Here is what I remember:

bread w/ oil & vinegar
garlic aioli potato salad
shrimp soup of some sort
gazpacho
green salad w/goat cheese & walnuts
cold tuna canneloni
grilled vegetable pyramids
garlic prawns
angus beef brochettes
a banana & chocolate dessert, cakes, & another dessert I never tried

There were like 12 dishes before dessert so I'm forgetting something but it was all good. Everything was brought out one at a time and served family style. There were two kids in our group and without asking (or charging extra) they made a macaroni and cheese type dish for them in case they were picky eaters. I thought that was a nice touch.

At some point Bill arrived and he was so nice. He personally introduced himself to each of my guests and asked if there was anything else they wanted to repeat, saying if there was anything we loved that he wanted us to have more of it. Um, yeah we ordered more plates of shrimp & angus, damn that was good!!

Then came coffee and Tequila Creams which were soooo good I think everyone had at least 3. It was tequila & cream, maybe Bailey's too? Not sure but it was sure good.

The sunset was spectacular and seeing real PV (the houses/neighborhood) from above ground was really nice. All of our guests were staying beachside and wouldn't have seen the city from this vantage point otherwise, many of them thanked us for showing them this side of town. There were even 2 fireworks shows from the passing by pirate ship, it was just absolutely wonderful. My guests are still talking about that dinner. Even if you aren't hosting a WD there, eat there while you're in PV. Best food I've found there to date. Here are some pics:

[hls140]

This place sounds great, thanks for the review! I'm searching for a place on behalf of my FMIL. Do you have any pricing info that you could share? Unfortunately, we're on a tight budget for this one and I've been told about $20 per person. If you have anything to share, you can email me at hls140 at yahoo dot com.

Thanks!!

[starchild]

They may be able to do something for that price, excluding drinks and with fewer tapas. The initial price we were quoted was $29 pp without drinks, we added open bar and changed the menu so it came to about $50 pp. That was more than I wanted to spend but was so worth it in the end.

[CourtneyV]

Wow Jamy, it sounds great! Just reading that menu makes me drool! lol

[MarlaB]

Thank you. I asked you about the restaurant in another post so please just ignore it.

[amyh]

Thanks for the review Jamy! I've read great reviews about this place on the yahoo group, but I'm so glad to hear it from you! I don't think we can afford this, but Hans and I really need to sneak away and head over on our own. I'll make sure to place this on our website as a Must Place to Eat!

[starchild]

I know you guys have a lot of guests so it will definitely add up fast. But yes - make a point to go on your own and be there for sunset!!