Dining in Barcelona
 

My wife and self will be in Barcelona by the fourth week of May. We have an special occasion to celebrate and, not being too familiar with the city, I will like to hear from our Fodor friends, some suggestions for a nice place to dine, with nice atmosphere, smooth entertainment, and reasonably priced. Catalan and/or international food is fine. Lets hear it, friends!

We liked Cerveceria Catalana
C/ Mallorca, 236, 08008 Barcelona, Spain (Eixample)
so does everyone else - it gets crazy crowded - no reservations were taken - so go early!!!! Fun tapas - great service.

I would suggest not eating anywhere on Las Ramblas - we were starving and had to eat - ugh - BAD!!! Touristy yuck :)

Every time I go to Barcelona, I make it a point to have dinner at the Brasserie Flo. It's a large restaurant that serves great French / Catalan food.

The place is beautiful inside and I've recommended it to many people.

http://www.brasserieflobarcelona.com/?lang=en

BTW: it's not on Las Ramblas. Check out its map for the location.

What do you consider 'reasonably priced'? There are a lot of options.

Hi liz,

For a special occasion:
Gelonch (http://www.gelonch.es) is done in a minimalist style (all white with bits of color here and there), which we later found to be not unusual, but was relaxing and pleasant. Service was amiable, without being over friendly, and professional. (I give extra points when the wine is poured with one hand behind the back.)

One of us wanted the 10-item tasting menu and the other the 16. We couldn’t do this because the timing would be all wrong, the maitre d’ explained. He suggested, instead that we both have the 10-item menu and share three of the a la carte items that the chef would choose for us from what would be on the 16-item menu. This worked out very well.

You can see the menus at the website. I shall not provide an item by item critic, but limit myself (with some difficulty) to a few items that we particularly enjoyed:

Shitake broth with spider crab ravioli and iberian ham D.O. Extremadura
Black turnip with veal marrow, egg yolk and black truffle
Beetroot gnocchi, veal sweetbreads, codfish tripe, padrón pepper cream and carrot - passion fruit drops

All three were very imaginative combinations of flavors and textures that we both felt we would be happy to have more of.

The wine chosen for us was a Jean Leon Penedes – Good body, full flavor with nice minerals.
With coffee and tip – and some little goodies - 200E.

Less expensive and less formal is:
Gilda (http://www.gildabybelgious.com/en_home.html )

This is a pleasant, local restaurant with an interesting menu, a friendly staff, very nice service and good food. The grilled salmon with a “contorno” of horseradish ice cream was enticing. The hake was also quite tasty. We had a bottle of Clos Montblanc Xipella White which was dry, with good minerals, and lent a sensation of being at the seaside. 85E with tip.

However, what makes “Gilda by Belgious” outstanding is that they make the best Perfect Manhattan in Barcelona. (I taught them.)

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Thank you friends for your suggestions, they are all very helpful. Brasserie Flo and (Ira) Gelonch both look very attractive, is there soft music or a show at dinner time?

Robert 2533: By reasonable I mean around 150Euros and below.

Any other suggestion for a place with nice dining and some entertainment, will be really welcome.

Great hearing from you, Thanks!

If you're looking for nice dining and entertainment, I would recommend classic 7 Portes from 1836, an institution in town serving very traditional Catalan food. http://www.7portes.com/angles/index.php

Old world atmosphere and tons of history in the walls. Go after 9 if you want to dine with locals, live piano music inside and violin on the terrace from about 9.30. Here's a clip from the 175 anniversary, an event in the city: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujDIsGzDO38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujDIsGzDO38

We had a great night with a tasty Arroz Caldoso (seafood and rice stew) and no fuzz Roast lamb in October and going back in a couple of months. Reasonable prices, mains around 15-25€.

If you put the emphasis on entertainment, there are two top class flamenco restaurants (tablaos) in town, El Cordobés and Tablao de Carmen. Both places only attract top of the shelf artists.
http://www.tablaocordobes.com/servicios/general/en/1/1
http://www.tablaodecarmen.com/espect...hp?lang=en&m=2

Some of the artists that have performed here the past few months:
Pastora Galván: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2SBUcrJgeQ
Farru: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrxGsksJusU
Olga Pericet: http://vimeo.com/30444448
El Junco: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sENoCuTQYPs

Here is my own report, from 2011; we also had a marvelous dinner at Cinc Sentits; highly recommended.

None of the places I mention had entertainment as such, but there is great people watching at Tickets. (Now very difficult to reserve, however)



http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...inter-2011.cfm

Tickets could of course be great fun and fantastic food. No problem to get a reservation if you make your online reservation within the first minute after midnight (local time) 60 days in advance. Did it myself the other day, and ten minutes past midnight it's all fully booked. No other way to book ahead:
http://www.ticketsbar.es/web/
http://www.foodandthefabulous.com/re...drias-tickets/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...Catalonia.html