Marat S.
Yelp
I waited 24 hours before writing this review. It took that long to digest some of the food we ate at this Michelin star restaurant. Mind you, I had very high hopes for this restaurant. In fact, my wife and I booked the table for our 20 year wedding anniversary.
From the food to the wine list to the service, Abantal failed to impress or inspire. In a city, chock full of amazing restaurants, food, and overall experiences Abantal pales and disappoints. I repeatedly asked myself, as did my wife and family members, "how does a restaurant like this get a Michelin star?" It really diminishes the Michelin award. I hope my description of the food, wine, and service will aide you in making a better decision than I made.
Let me begin by saying that the decoration and ambiance at Abantal lacks any artistic direction or atmosphere whatsoever. I have no issues with sparseness or minimalism but I do with bleakness and this is how I would describe the environment. The lights are set bright, as to create a certain pallor in the guests and staff. White walls, with enigmatic (and dull) artwork are all you have to look at. There isn't even a hint of music and therefore one is left feeling as though they are in a cocoon of solitude. Soon the staff approach, but fear not, they will not stay long enough to leave any memorable impression. At various moments throughout the night they will find their way back to your table to change the silverware, over and over and over again until it becomes nearly unbearable. Rather than engaging with the table, discussing the food, the chef's inspirations, anything at all, they stand at the side waiting for their most coveted of tasks, Silverware Clearing.
The staff (at the start of the evening) will ask you whether you want the short or long tasting menu, which differ by three dishes. Happily we chose the shorter of the two. I will leave the wine choices and sommelier to their own paragraph but for now would like to focus on the food. Ask me what I ate last night and I will struggle to find a single item worth remembering or even particularly memorable, aside from the first dish. The first plate was some sort of red soup served with a large brown ball of fish and peppers covered in cocoa butter. It was creative but unsatisfying. It was downhill from that point forward. I love photographing food and posting those photos...I have no photos to post from Abantal. After reviewing the three photos I took, I deleted them as they looked unappetizing. Imagine how it looked in the flesh. Several dishes were served with some sort of soupy sauce (all of which tasted the same). A number of plates included a disk of vegetable purée. It looked and tasted like Baby Food. The plates lacked color, texture, cohesion of flavor. There was no contrast only discord on the plate. At one point we were served a scoop of brown duck meat in a pool of brown liquid. I will spare you the analogies to its appearance. By the end of the meal I had the distinct notion that the chef was sitting in back and laughing at all of us for trusting him with our evenings and stomachs. As the dishes progressed their was an uneasiness at our table. I could feel everyone itching to leave and have some real food at any of the restaurants a stone's throw from Abantal. I looked around at the remainder of the patrons that filled the restaurant and all looked as though they were being held hostage along with us. Not a single smile or look of satisfaction could be found in the room, only deathly hunger. No amount of alcohol could help and this brings me to the wines.
The Sommelier quietly approached with the wine list. He was impersonal, bordering on cold. After reviewing the wine list, which was organized by Spanish regions and other countries, I signaled for him to return to the table. I asked about the Listan Negro from The Canary Islands. He described it as "heavy but not too much". That's the sum total of my interaction with him. He never asked about the wines I enjoy, never offered any wines that might complement the meal. He was as "unsommeliery" as one could be. I ordered the Listan Negro and hoped for the best. To my chagrin, mediocre is the Best word I could use to describe it. The Sommelier is supposed to bring life to the wine list, which is only a paper effigy of the complex list of wines chosen for a restaurant. The wine list cannot stand on its own. If it could then why hire a sommelier? I had intended to order two bottles that night, but the four of us barely finished one. We wanted the night to end and I didn't want to contribute anymore money to this culinary disaster.
In the end, I sincerely hope the chef reads this review and assesses the multitude of poor reviews his restaurant has received. Changes are needed. Michelin stars are ephemeral and he may just find that his star falls from the sky one day.
