Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Barcelona Trip Report Part 1, Hotel & Restaurants 6/24-7/4/03

Just returned from 10 days in Barcelona. Wanted to post info to help others since I got great info from this board. I am a teacher so needless to say, I couldn't afford to eat at four star restaurants all week and to stay at the Ritz!

Hotel: Hotel Regencia Colon, Sagristans 13, Barcelona, Tel: 93 318 9858
93EU for single room, including breakfast, excluding 7% tax. Very helpful and accommodating staff, spoke English. The hotel does not have a restaurant but shares the restaurant at the Hotel Colon.
Pros: Nice, quiet location, clean, a/c, helpful and attentive staff. Be sure to ask for the highest floor available (floors 2-5 have guest rooms).
Cons: Walls were paper-thin, I could hear my neighbor sneeze. Difficult to use calling cards from room phone, the phones are set on pulse and cannot be changed to tone.

Restaurants:
Specchio Magico, Luis Antunez 1, tel: 93 415 3371 (Gracia)
Italian, excellent food and service, generous portions, a/c, small but comfortable and inviting. 70EU for 2 ppl including everything but dessert. Reservations suggested.

Sec (7) Portes, Passeig Isabel II, 14 Tel: 93 319 3033
Great Paella, a/c, large facility. 66EU for 2 ppl, including salad, wine, dessert. Call at least one day ahead to get reservations. I could only get a 9:00p reservation (we were getting used to eating at 10:30p by this point), but noticed that the restaurant had plenty of tables available after 10:00p. I also noticed that all of the non-Spanish speaking ppl were seated in the same room; I thought it was because the wait staff could speak English fluently but that was not the case.

Cafe de L'Academia, Lledo 1 Tel: 93 319 8253 (Barri Gotic)
Great meals, nice setting, indoor and outdoor seating, can't remember if it has a/c. Reasonably priced (can't find receipt).
Reservations recommended.

Posit Restaurant, Ramon Trias Fargas 2 (Barceloneta) Tel: 93 224 0088
Nice location on beach, outdoor terrace and indoor seating, standard seafood dishes, great wine selection, slow service, even by Spainish standards! Reservations recommended. 88EU for 2 ppl, including starters, salads, wine, dessert.

Restaurant Orotava, Consell de Cent 335, Tel: 93 487 7374
Attentive but stuffy staff, overpriced.

La Perla Nera, Via Laietana 32-34
Tel: 933 105646 (Barri Gotic)
Italian, very nice staff, inexpensive, 27EU for 2 ppl. Reservations not accepted.

La Locanda, Carrer Dr. Joaquim Pou 4 Tel: 93 317 4609 (Barri Gotic)
Italian, good starters and pizza, inexpensive.
Reservations suggested.

El Convent Restaurant, Jerusalem 3, Tel: 93 317 1052, (Ramblas)
First meal in Barcelona, was not impressed, small portions, but the sangria was good! A/c either not available or not working, very, very warm inside restaurant.

Cantina Machito, c/Torrijos, 47 (Gracia)
Mexican, small portions, over-priced sangria, unattentive waitstaff.

Tapas:
Txapela, Passeig de Gracia 8-10
Basque style tapas.

Taverna del Bisbe, next to the Cathedral
Small portions and pricey.

ba-ba-reeba
Passeig de Gracia 28
Great tapas and nice outdoor seating.

We found two more tapa bars but I can't find the names/addresses. One was located on Fontella across from the El Corte Ingles. I think it was a chain (Beer & something??) but it was good for a quick tapa and frozen lemonade. The other place was on Balmes, off of the Diagonal. It had the word "Kok" in the name. The tapas were very good, the staff very nice, and the place was full of locals.