As promised, I got an update on this restaurant. This time I went for dinner. Different from many other restaurants in Spain, La Columna serves dinner as early as 8:00. In the evening, they light their impressive parrilla. It proved to be nice and comfy to sit near the huge fireplace.
A fire was kept at the corner and amber was taken out for cooking as needed. The whole atmosphere of the restaurant was informal and relaxing, with a TV in the background.
This time I tried their Calçot menu: 10-12 calçots, a platter of grilled meat, dessert and wine, which costed less than 20 euros.
An appetizer was served, with cheese (queso curado) and sausage (chorizo) on a piece of bread.
However, I had to wait for quite some time before the calçots were served. Some friends of the chef came after us, and somehow they got their calçots before me. We received a half-hearted explanation that it was because they had reserved their calçots beforehand. It was not a big problem, but it certainly affected the overall impression of the service.
The second dish, graellada de carn, with 2 types of sausages, chicken, pork ribs and bacon. It was disappointing. The meat was a bit dry and quite salty.
My companions had entrecot a la brasa, grilled beef steak. They were good.
For dessert, there was not any more surprise. I did not fancy the pineapple again, and had an ice-cream. We tried a coulant de chocolate, which is a good dessert (if you like chocolate) with runny chocolate that flows out when you open the cake; but this one was cold, and it tasted more like ice-cream than what we were expecting from a coulant.
The chef was on the whole friendly when he was going in and coming out from the kitchen to attend to the grill. His wife, who was the waitress, was helpful and very pleasant. The other associate was also very pleasant.
I think the fish dishes fare better than the meat, and my high hopes built from the lunch experience were unfairly imposed on them. It is a good restaurant for relaxing and informal family meals, as it intends to be.
Update:
I had another occasion to try another menu with mussles, paella and dessert, which includes bread, wine and water. The mussles was elaborated with a wine sauce. The dishes were delicious. I think definitely fish and seafood are the chef's strength. For the same menu, other options are available: salad and fideuà. It costed 14 euros.
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