Praktik Bakery

While we enjoyed the bakery for several days, we came to understand that some of the staff was singling out my wife for negative treatment because of the Star of David she wears around her neck. We are not thin-skinned and don’t offend easily. It takes a lot for us to leave a review like this. But we are disgusted that a random barista and her colleague felt they could ban us from sitting at the restaurant tables on an obvious pretext, due to our Judaism. As my wife said, this is a stain on the Hotel Praktik/Baluard Barcaloneta brand. I hope they take corrective measures immediately to protect the customer experience and help everyone feel safe and welcome, regardless of religion.

I'm visiting Barcelona and staying at the hotel directly next to Praktik Bakery. I've been going to Praktik every morning for the past 5 days and spending between 50 - 60 euros. While the bakery is around the corner from the hotel, it does not display hotel branding and it is not limited to hotel guests by any means. It is just a restaurant/bakery with a line of customers and frequent turnover of tables. Today though, the staff manufactured a false policy about only serving hotel guests, in order to discriminate against me because of my religion. I'm Jewish and wear a Jewish star. It's modestly sized, and I don't discuss religious issues with strangers, but I wear my star on top of my sweater and don't feel any need to hide it. However, there is a red headed barista in her mid 20's working behind the counter, who took exception to a Jew eating in this establishment, and she enlisted the help of a co-worker to try and screen me out. Because this has never happened to me, it took me two or three visits to even understand what was happening. The last couple of times that I went in and it was my turn to order, the red headed barista asked someone else to serve me. Then today, there was a fairly long line. When it was my turn to order, the red headed barista pointed in my direction, refused to serve me and then made a comment to a fellow employee who was a young male in his 20's. I proceeded to again order over 50 euros worth of food and then the young male employee told me that I'm not permitted to sit in the bakery where there are about 20 tables and people walking in from the street and coming and going. His excuse was that supposedly it was "too full" and I'm "not a hotel guest." I was astounded. There were several customers ordering before me and none of them were asked whether they were hotel guests, and none of them were refused a seat either. I also asked some customers sitting down in the tables area, to confirm whether they were hotel guests, and they said they were not. They also confirmed they had never received any such instructions from the restaurant staff. Once I understood that I was the only one being singled out, while wearing a Star of David, I walked over to the manager and politely asked if there was a policy where the bakery would refuse to permit paying customers to sit and eat if they did not identify as hotel guests. The manager said there is no such policy and was shocked to hear that my husband and I were instructed not to sit in the restaurant. The bakery itself has very good food and the manager was wonderful as an individual. However, they should not allow employees who are clearly antisemitic to represent this wonderful bakery. Reluctantly, I won't be going back do the rest of my stay. This has tainted my experience and is a stain on the Praktik/Baluard Barcaloneta brand. (An important note, there is an employee working behind the counter who is tall and with a beard who is wonderful and incredibly helpful too. He had nothing to do with this disgusting event.)

Great location and quite stylish. Room and bathroom were comfortable and clean.

Excellent bakery in lobby. Good location

I really liked many aspects of the property. The location is excellent, very clean, and the breakfast was delicious. Would definitely recommend!

A simple but smart hotel choice with modern rooms. Having a working bakery in the lobby makes mornings especially enjoyable.