On 4-24-04, my party of 4 professional adults went to have an after dinner drink at Barcelona. We were greeeted by moonlighting Maricopa county Police at the door and told that we couldn't enter the restaurant without a dinner reservation. We found that very unwelcoming, but proceeded to the patio area outside.
Before entering the patio, the men were required to pay a $10 cover charge each. We sat at an empty table and at 9:55 pm, a few minutes after we sat down, we were told we would have to leave the table because it was reserved for a 9:30 bachelor party that they were expecting. We offered toleave should they show up. The waitress took our drink order which we paid for in cash.
Moments after our drink arrived, "Hugh" came to the table and told us if we didn't leave immediately the police would be called, we would be cuffed and taken to jail. We said our drinks had just arrived and we would leave after we had drunk them. He said to leave the drinks on the table and leave immediately. The men asked for the cover charge to be reimbursed and Hugh said he would talk to us outside. Once outside, Hugh handed us a card with the manager, Kathy Kretchmer's name on it and said he had nothing to discuss. He went into the restaurant.
In the 10 minutes we were there we were ripped off for cover, drinks and valet parking. Aaron from the restaurant called me after recieving a complaint from me. His solution to the problem was to offer 4 coupons for Danny's Car Wash (owned by the restaurant owner). He said initially he would like for us to come to dinner there but rescinded the offer saying everything would have to be perfect or we wouldn't be happy given our initial horrible experience.
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