One Saturday evening, early May, 4 people, wine, food, and conversation. We’ll be meeting up with friends from Germany for one evening in Barcelona. We haven’t seen these friends for quite a while, and they’re flying to Barcelona simply because we’ll be in Europe. So we’d like it to be a very pleasant place (restaurant, wine bar, or tapas bar), not necessarily expensive, but one with distinctive ambiance.

We’d like to find a place where we could sample lots of Spanish wine (wine bar?) taste an extensive variety of tapas (tapas bar?) and sit and talk for a few hours. We’re not sure a general restaurant (wine restaurant?) would appreciate our occupying a table for that length of time, so we were considering a tapas bar or wine bar. However we don’t want a place that is so lively and noisy that we can’t carry on a conversation around a table. We’re all non smokers, so that is a factor too.

We’ll be staying in the Barri Gotic area. We’re not sure where their lodging will be, but think a city center establishment would be best. From Maribel’s guide, from travel guides, and from posts here, we’ve come up with a short venue list.
Restaurants and or wine restaurants- Cata 1.81, La Camarga, Alba Granados, Paco Meralgo Alta Taberna, Vinya-Roel.
Wine and tapas bars- Taller de Tapas, Cal Pep, Bossborn, La Vinya del Senyor, Euskal Etxea, Irati Taberna Basca.

Would any of these fit? Are there others? Thanks.

While my husband and I we were in Barcelona (from Houston), we met a girl from the U.S. who was teaching there. She met us for tapas and took us to Luz de Gas. It is a boat docked in the harbor. You have to walk down from the street and then you board the boat.

That was one of my favorite evenings. The sangria was delicious, the food was tasty, and the atmosphere was wonderful.

When you are facing the harbor, it is to the left of the Columbus monument.

Try to get on the upper deck if you can, but if not, still really neat.

Hi kathleen,
About the ideas from my guide:

Paco Meralgo is the very best "small plates" restaurant that I've ever experienced, but it's hugely popular among the locals so you'd need advance reservations for a Sat. night. And since seating is on high tables with chairs with no backs, it's not a place where you'd linger for hours reminiscing with friends.

Vinya-Roel, its sister, has regular table seating plus the bar, but I would call it a wine restaurant, or restaurant with wine shop attached, not really a wine bar.

Cata 1.81 is also a small plates restaurant, not quite as good or as fun or as reasonable as Paco Meralgo. It has a tiny front area where one can sip wines by the glass, but the focus here is very creative, tiny portions of avant-garde cuisine paired with wines.

I also adore La Camarga, but it's a restaurant, as is Alba Granados.

I would stick with your Barri Gotic/El Born selections.

BossBorn has everything you need (except outdoor terrace): reasonable prices, great food, good wines, nice decor, table seating.

Irati Taberna Basca (which does have tables in its back "txoko" which must be reserved for Sat. night), has a lively and informal ambience, great buzz that I'm sure you'd love, with great Basque pintxos (tapas) at the bar. It belongs to the Sagardi group and is the best of the lot, IMO.

Also the real McCoy as in authentic is the Basque Cultural House, Euskal Etxea.

And La Vinya del Senyor has a great wine list, outdoor terrace but limited tapas menu.

You could do a tapas crawl:
Start at Irati, then move to Euskal Etxea, then La Vinya del Senyor and end at BossBorn.

Cap Pep is a hoot, a really unique experience, with a unique, colorful owner, Pep, and terrific seafood dishes, but if you don't get there to line up before 8 pm to snag 4 spots at the counter, you're out of luck. A really great experience, but not a place, again, where spends several hours, although you could try to reserve one of the few tables in the back dining room, but again, far in advance. It's just not a wine bar.

The Lonja de Tapas, across from BossBorn could also work, and it has an outdoor terrace, but I find BossBorn less touristy, more authentic.

Since you're staying in the Barri Gotic, I would choose one of the above there or in El Born.

Again, I'd choose among:
Irati Taberna Basca
Euskal Etxea
El Xampanet (but cava is the prime focus here-maybe just drop in for a cava and their homemade potato chips)
BossBorn
La Vinya del Senyor

If you do want to venture to the Eixample, just a few blocks from Paco Meralgo, the quintessentially Basque "Taktika Berri" on Valencia 169 (in my guide) is a real winner. You can sample wines by the glass, try the slighly fizzy Basque white wine, txakolí, go to the bar and grab the hot pintxos as they come out of the kitchen, stay for hours and hours, no one will rush you (but again, at high chairs at the counter or next to the bar).
They also have a small dining area, for dining from their menu of small plates. But again, for Sat. night, you should, well must, reserve. A favorite among the locals. I rarely see non-locals there.
phone: 93 453 4759


I consider Irati and Taktika Berri the best Basques in Barcelona.

Hope that helps!

Irati is fun and as Maribel says they have tables in the back. At the bar you will be standing. They will give you a plate and you wander the bar picking out the pintxos you want from the selections on the bar. They will likely give you one plate to share. The items have toothpicks so are easy to pick up and it's part of their "system". It's been several years (2005) since I was there, but the price at that time was 1.4€ each. When you are ready to pay they just count the number of toothpicks on your plate x 1.4€ and add on your wine (house wine was the same price per glass as the food).

Thank you all so much.
CIB- I think that boat (upper deck suggestion) sounds interesting and relaxing so we may do that on our own, maybe even our first night, after we finish walking the length of the Ramblas.

Maribel- What can I say. You are a Treasure!! You're always so helpful and go well beyond what is even hoped for in a response. Thank you. Thank you. When I read the responses to my husband, he was very intrigued by the tapas crawl and thinks our friends would really go for that idea. We arrive on a Wednesday. If we call that day, would that be enough time to reserve at Irati (as a first stop) for Saturday night?

I think we'll (just the two of us) sample the Eixample restaurants on our own since we'll be in town for five days.

kybourbon- Thanks for the information on how the system works at the bar. You never know, if we really like the place we (again just the two of us) may be back another night.

kathleen - It was funny when we were there, the girl behind the bar didn't have much English and although my daughter is fluent in Spanish we weren't getting very far with it. So we were asked "Do you know zee system?". She later attempted to ask four women that came in (German I think)and they were having a hard time understanding too. They each wanted a plate, but she would only let them have one to share. Later, my daughter and I were trying to figure out what we were eating and attempted to ask the bartender what kind of cheese was on one of the pintxos. She was able to convey to us it was an animal that said "me, me". We couldn't imagine any animal saying me me. Finally my daughter figured out she meant a goat. Who knew goats said me me? lol

cute story kybourbon. Goat cheese. Who knew!
I googled the Irati and was happy to find that the hours are Mon-Sat, noon to midnight. So we'll be able to fit this one into the mix easily.

Spain is only two weeks away now, and I can't remember when I was so excited about a trip. Do you have other suggestions, insights, or tips from your travels there?

Hi kathleen,
Yes, if you call Irati on Wed. night that should be enough advance time to reserve one of those 5-6 "txoko" tables in the back next to the open kitchen (they have a/c, but it's not a non-smoking area).

I checked the Teatre Liceu schedule, and there's no opera May 4, so it shouldn't be so hard to get a table.

But... the back tables are considered the "restaurant" (tablecloth dining) and are for feasting on raciones (small plates of their signature Basque dishes to feed 2 or more) not on pintxos. So if you want to do a pintxos evening, it's best to do a bar crawl, as I mentioned earlier. Pintxos at Irati, I believe, now cost 2€, raciones go for an average of 14€

http://tinyurl.com/4fmkq9

I would start with a plate of pintxos at Irati then move on to Euskal Etxea (to compare and to have more txakolí!). They both work on the toothpick system that kybourbon mentions.

Then for the sit down part, I'd head to BossBorn (call to reserve a table). From their web page:

DINING-ROOM
If you go as a couple or in a small group, you can enjoy your meal in a peaceful atmosphere opposite the bar.
Seating for 28 diners.

I think this would be just perfect for your getting caught up with the friends part, in a nice, less mobbed- on-Sat.-night environment.
I would very eagerly take my friends here for a Sat. night dinner. It's a very attractive spot with an open kitchen. The food is delicious as is the cava!

www.bossborn.es

Then you might want to end up with a final drink on the terrace of La Vinya del Senyor, in front of the Basílica de Santa María del Mar.

p.s.
Since the next day will be the first Sun. of May, the Picasso Museum is free (will save you 9€ p.p.)

Perfect agenda for the evening. Thank you Maribel. Also thanks for the descriptive difference between raciones and pintxos. I was aware that pintxos was sort of equivalent to tapas, but wondered about the raciones. I will see about a reservation at BossBorn for the sit down part.

We planned on the Picasso museum, so we'll save it for Sunday. More euros to divert to wine and food on Saturday night!

Sounds like a good plan! Euro-shaving and diverting is my new hobby (or should I say "obsession"?) O

Suggest you the follwing link,
where you will find a good list of restaurant bookable in Barcelona
http://www.thefork.com/1_restaurant/...restaurant/23/