By Joan. I have lived in Barcelona for 16 years and I eat out like someone who lives here, which mostly means near home and rarely near a monument.
Quick answer: for one good dinner in a short trip I would start with Paco Meralgo in the Eixample, a tapas bar rated 4.5 from 6,167 reviews on Google Maps. If you want the postcard instead, the Mercat de la Boqueria is rated 4.5 from 214,580 reviews and is worth the crowd if you go early. Walk one street off Las Ramblas and both the food and the price improve.
Eating well in 48 hours without falling into the tourist traps on Las Ramblas. Below are the places I would start with, the two icons that appear on every list of this city, and two spots by the water. Then the neighbourhoods, the dishes, what a meal really costs and the guided tapas, market and wine experiences that pack a lot of flavour into one evening.
Where I would start
A short list to begin with, plus the two icons that appear on every list of this city and two spots by the water. Ratings come from Google Maps and they move, so look a place up before you cross town for it.
How to read that list
Those tags are not a ranking and they are not a claim to know every kitchen personally. They are the order I would try things in, weighted towards the Eixample because that is the part of the city I walk most, and I have marked the Boqueria as touristy on purpose. It is touristy. It is also good, if you get there before the middle of the day and buy from a stall with a queue of people carrying shopping bags rather than cameras.
My advice by traveller
If the budget is tight, do the big meal at lunch on a weekday menu del dia and graze on tapas at night. If you are travelling with children, eat earlier than the city does and pick a place with a terrace, because waiting is easier outdoors. If you only have 48 hours, spend one dinner on something planned and leave the other to chance. If it is your first visit, order pa amb tomaquet before anything else and see what the kitchen does with it.
Before you book a table
- Kitchens open later than you expect. If a place is serving a full dinner very early, it is aimed at visitors.
- Book at weekends. The good neighbourhood places are small and the people who live nearby got there first.
- Ratings move. The numbers above are a starting point, not a verdict, so check the current one before you build an evening around it.
- Prices change, so check the current one before you book anything through this site.
You will not eat badly here unless you insist on it. Walk away from the photographs of paella and you have already made the only decision that matters.
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