Egipte, Barcelona

All the restaurants in this neighbourhood with fine reviews has a long waiting que this evening so we decided to give Egypte a try. My wife decided for 3x1/2 tapas and I for the Evening menu - mentioned in the card at 15,80 Euros (but I found out later that they charged 16,90). We ordered a sparkling water and included in the menu was 25 cl. San Miguel draft beer for me. My wife selected greek salad, gratinated cod and salad with beans. There was much discussion if it was possible to have 1/2 portions, but she managed as the female waiter started saying it was no problem.
I selected from the menu-list consisting of 6 different plates for first and second course: Fideus (small spagetties with different types of seafood) and gratinated codfish.
My wifes 2 salads were ok, but the cod was nearly uneatable so filled with fishbones it was. My wife declared that the cod tasted a bit dry and not freshly made (maybe the day before).
To comment on the Fideus, one should know, that it is normally served in an iron/ceramic pot directly from the owen - burning hot. This was served on a flat plate, lukewarm, with mayonaise (strange combination) and I managed to find one little shrimp and one small size meat of tough meat (maybe fish). The rest was spagetti. My gratinated cod was good and freshly cooked, the rice was well cooked but the vegetables were the frozen stuff just thawed up. For the deserts I chose an applepie, which was ok and my wife had something called 3 chocolate ice. This was of really poor quality, with grains of unknown consistence and served deep frozen.
They served a free cava for each of us- but this does not change the impression that Egypte has fallen behind and is not worth the high note it had 5 years ago.

On Ramblas but with no tables outside, we went in mainly because it was raining! we were warned that Ramblas restaurants were expensive, this one is not, I had the set menu, grilled sardines in garlic and olive oil to start, veal with mushrooms in a lovely sauce for main, pineapple cake for dessert, yummo! wine and bread were included and all for 8.40 euro

Favorite Dish: veal with mushrooms

This was a friendly restaurant, and the food was great. I asked for some wine-and got a minature bottle so was warm and fuzzy when I finished my meal. The staff were not impolite-just quiet-which I prefer to being clicked over all the time by loud waiters/waitresses. The restaurant had a fair few locals, but surroundings were nice and cosy.

Favorite Dish: I can't remember exactly what I had-the menu was in Spanish, so I couldn't understand-so I did eni-meeny-miny-mo and came out with some really nice slections of food, which were all lovely!!

The restaurant is full of people, rather locals than tourists what makes it a real Barcelonian restaurant. And as for locals, they are loud, talking and laughing and the atmosphere is just great.

Favorite Dish: Guess what? I had codfish here too. It was excellent. And chocolate cake was to die for. For seafood lovers they have great Arroz Negro which is rice with cuttle.
The second time I was here I had codfish with spinach and garlic sauce... also well worth trying.

The food here is reasonably priced and of decent quality, and the clientele seemed to be primarly Spaniards rather than tourists, which can be a good sign. My first visit was fine - popped in for a quick snack in the middle of the day, had some delicious pan con tomate and a bomba. However, on my second visit I encountered easily the most surly and disinterested waiter ever, who, on my having said hello, glared at me balefully before turning round to polish some mugs that were obviously in greater need of attention than I was. While it's undoubtedly an attractive looking place inside, reasonably priced for such a centrally located venue, and has nice tasting food to boot, the service is, frankly, poor. Not only was I pointedly ignored, my food was served lukewarm. It still tasted OK, but I felt sure the crap service was at least partly due to my being 1) male, 2) a tourist, and 3) alone.