I normally won’t waste my bandwidth on bad reviews, but the problem with Bar Celona is that it isn’t bad food. It’s bad service and overpriced, albeit very good food.

I’ve spied Bar Celona on the several dozen times I’ve walked up and down Colorado Blvd in Old Town Pasadena, but it wasn’t until I learned that one of my favorite Los Angeles chefs – Chef David H. Plonowski – used to work there that I was really motivated to give it a go.

My friend ordered
crispy eggplant with honey, spiced yogurt
goat cheese & chard croquetas
gazpacho

I ordered
sweet potato and butter empanada
Serrano ham wrapped dates stuffed with blue cheese and drizzled with honey

Verdict: Incredibly rich, not too much chard, but otherwise very good.

Verdict: We didn’t realize “crispy” automatically meant fried, so that was kind of a bummer. Otherwise, the sauce was fabulous. I think it’d taste better if the eggplant was grilled.

My friend said her gazpacho (not pictured) was not great with “overpowering flavoring with a consistency and taste more akin to a sweet salsa given a quick run through the blender.”

Verdict: While absolutely fantastic tasting, I would have expected just a couple more dates (five-six) for the price of $8.00

You do not see my empanda pictures because it was never delivered to me. Yes, they totally spaced out about it. No, it was not busy – around five patrons including ourselves, and at least four servers that I counted.
My friend received her food relatively quickly; within five-ten minutes of ordering. I received my dates about five-ten minutes after she did and never saw nor heard about the empanada until the bill came and saw that they charged me for it anyway.
A quick correction later (at least they didn’t attempt to dispute it) and my friend and I were quick to get the hell out of there.

Would I dine at Bar Celona again? Maybe. If it was happy hour when the tapas are $5.00 a pop and someone else was footing the bill. Otherwise, I’ll save my pennies and make the trip to Santa Monica to pay Chef David a visit at his new place of business, Bar Pintxo.

Bar Celona
46 East Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91105