43 Best Restaurants in Spain

Rest your legs at this third-wave coffeehouse that uses a sleek La Marzocco machine and is furnished with cushy armchairs and floor lamps. There are also small-production vermouths and local craft beers to try alongside soups, sandwiches, and other snacks.

Located southeast of Granada's cathedral, this modern hot spot is a world apart from Granada's usual traditional tapas bar. It attracts an eclectic crowd of students, families, and businesspeople with a diverse international menu, including Mexican fajitas, Vietnamese nems, and Greek souvlaki. Seating is outside on the pleasant sidewalk overlooking the Botanical Garden or inside in two sizable dining areas.

Locals will point you here for fresh, reasonably priced tapas and mains including croquetas (try the wild mushroom rendition) and secreto ibérico (seared Iberian pork shoulder steak). The weekday lunch menú del día—three courses plus wine—is a steal.

This legendary tavern (established 1968), which remains surprisingly calm even during San Fermín, serves some of the city's best tapas. Choose between classics like garlicky mushroom brochettes and jamón-flecked croquetas, or spring for more modern creations such as seared goose liver toasts or almond-encrusted morcilla. It opens at 9 am.

This cheery yellow-tiled café serving Middle Eastern-inflected sandwiches and pastries is packed from breakfast to lunch, when neighborhood-dwellers show up for falafel, shakshuka, and spinach pie. At 8:30 pm, Golda morphs into "Golfa," its boozier late-night alter ego serving tapas and natural wine. 

There’s a Miami vibe to this bright, two-floored brunch spot, with its bold blue accents, wall murals, egg-based dishes, and park-side terrace. Details count here: from dish presentation (beautifully done) to a catchy playlist; even the take-out coffee cups have artist illustrations.  

In 2022, Spain's oldest churrería—perhaps Pamplona's top culinary attraction—rang in 150 years. In this hole-in-the-wall resembling a medieval foundry, hypnotic whorls of dough fry to crackly perfection in vats of Navarran extra-virgin olive oil set over a beechwood flame. La Mañueta keeps bizarre hours: 7–11 am on Sundays in October, 8–11:30 am on the two Saturdays prior to San Fermín, and 6–11 am during San Fermín week.

Consistently delicious, shockingly affordable, and unapologetically old-school, Pentxo is the sort of restaurant bilbaínos like to keep to themselves. Whether you pop in for a pintxo at the bar (the flash-fried antxoas rellenas, or stuffed anchovies, are a must) or for breakfast or for a €22 prix-fixe lunch (with standout seafood), you'll leave wishing you could be a regular.

Inspired by her Catalan roots, Teresa Carles Borrás has been creating inventive vegetarian fare for 40 years and counting but this namesake was her first restaurant. Both the space and the food are more sophisticated than the typical vegetarian restaurant.

Venezuelan comfort foods draw crowds to this bar-restaurant with cheery waitstaff and a soundtrack of Latin jazz. Start with a variety platter of appetizers including tequeños (gooey cheese sticks), cachapas (cheese-stuffed corn cakes), and tostones (green plantain fritters); then dive into a caveman-worthy portion of pabellón criollo (spiced shredded beef, black beans, and rice), the house specialty.

A little-known culinary gem on the ground floor of the 15th-century Torre de Anda, this down-home wine and cheese bar with three high-top tables is always stocked with smoky Idiazabal, limited-production Rioja Alavesa wines, and tart gildas.

Winner of many a miniature cuisine award (don't miss the prawn-filled txalupa tartlet), this Gros neighborhood standby offers outside-the-box takes on traditional tapas and pintxos. It also serves more substantial dishes for sit-down meals.

Blanc's menu couples traditional Catalan cuisine with fresh, seasonal products, and the three-course lunch menu, and the ever-changing, five-course "Sundays at Blanc" tasting menu are popular. The dining room is in an airy atrium at the heart of the Mandarin Oriental and feels lively most of the day, starting when the first hotel guests come in for the (excellent) breakfast. 

One of the oldest bakeries in the city, Brunells has occupied the same corner in El Born since 1852. Recently remodeled, it now sports a contemporary look worthy of a Wes Anderson movie, while its flakey butter croissants filled with everything from ham and cheese to salted caramel, regularly win awards as some of the best in the city.

When this centenary café—one of the oldest in Madrid—shuttered in 2015, ostensibly for good, the public outcry was so great that it inspired a local restaurant group to buy the property and give it a much-needed revamp. In a dining room that combines original elements (huge mirrors, carved wooden columns) with new high-design fixtures, feast on a menu that's a dance between Café Comercial classics, including ham croquetas and tuna-topped ensaladilla rusa (potato salad), and novel creations by chef Pepe Roch.

The grandmotherly upholstery, fringed lampshades, plush wingback chairs, and wooden bookshelves make Café de la Luz a cozy spot to curl up with a book, catch up with friends, or get some work done. Coffees will run you about €2 apiece, and if you're peckish, there's a good variety of sweets and open-faced sandwiches to sate your appetite. Come evening (closing time is 2 am most nights), the lights get dimmed and coffees turn into cocktails.

Pamplona's gentry have been flocking to this ornate, French-style café since 1888, but in 1926 Ernest Hemingway made it part of world literary lore in The Sun Also Rises. You can have a drink with a bronze version of the author in his favorite perch at the far end of the bar, or enjoy views of the plaza from a table on the terrace. Service is spotty; grab a beverage and a tapa here, but don't stick around for a meal.

Just under the Don Pepe Hotel and right on the promenade, this is the perfect spot for some refreshment before or after a long stroll along the seafront. Done in orange and white with wicker chairs and navy director seats, this outdoor café--restaurant has a fitting nautical theme, and if the temperature drops, blankets and gas heaters are at the ready. Meals are available all day, starting with a range of breakfast options and continuing with brunch-style dishes such as Caesar salad with king prawns and omelets, or something a little more filling like minute steak. Drinks are on the expensive side, but the ocean view is well worth it.

The tapas are offal-y good at this pocket-size bar specializing in variety meats like pig ear (served crackly with spicy brava sauce) and zarajos (lamb intestines wrapped around a stick and fried until crisp, an old-school Madrid snack).

Brunch spots may be ten a penny these days but few can compete with the superb, French-owned Cremat 11, almost hidden down this tiny street behind the Picasso Museum. The dining room is small but cozy, and there is also a shady outdoor patio on what is arguably one of the prettiest squares in the city. The menu is short and to the point: featuring all the brunch staples like pancakes, eggs Benedict, and burgers, although the real show stoppers here are the steak and eggs (served succulent and medium rare) and the mouthwatering foie-gras sausage and fries, not to mention the killer cocktails. 

Expertly pulled espressos, natural wines, and standout food—think velvety scrambled eggs, Korean fried chicken sandwiches, and homemade cakes and pastries—have made this café on Plaza del Biombo an instant hit with locals and expats, many of whom treat the roomy communal table like a coworking space (just be considerate and order more than a coffee if you plan on staying awhile). At the time of writing, the café was gearing up to launch dinner service.

This pocket-size bar's raison d'être is its garlicky seared-shrimp brochette topped with zippy carrot vinaigrette.

On a square next to the Bretxa farmers' market, this traditional little bar that opens at 7 am is a well-priced standby with a genial old-school staff.

Spaniards love their morning cafés con leche and afternoon cortados (espresso with steamed milk), but until a few years ago, it was hard to find a truly great cup of joe in Madrid. Enter Hola Coffee, whose multilayered third-wave espressos and cold brews are made with beans the company roasts itself. From-scratch baked goods and open-faced sandwiches will make you want to stay awhile; printed "Cool Beans" T-shirts make zany souvenirs.

There are a few fish and meat options on the menu but most visitors skip the animal proteins and opt for the impressive selection of plant-based foods. Delicious salads, tasty vegetarian curries, and fresh grilled vegetables are a hit with the health-conscious and the vegan desserts are even tastier than regular versions. There are three outposts in the city: the Barcelona flagship in Rambla de Catalunya, plus El Born and uptown in Carrer de Tuset.

This bright and airy restaurant is one of the best spots in the village for quick bites (tapas start at €4), pastas and pizzas, or a more substantial fish or meat dish. Spanish classics such as patatas bravas (spicy potatoes) and croquettes sit alongside bao buns and tacos. There’s a good choice of salads and a range of dishes for vegetarians. The pleasant outside terrace looks out over the main square, with refreshing shade under the palm trees.

Owned by a former professional cyclist and decorated with an abundance of bike memorabilia, this inviting café serves healthy, organic breakfasts and lunches—avocado toast, egg dishes, quinoa bowls—along with superb coffee roasted at the founder's other enterprise, Espresso Mafia. It's a popular fuel-up stop for local cyclists.

Make a beeline to this gastro bar on the ground floor of the eponymous mercado to satisfy your Basque food cravings after you've ogled all the shimmering fresh fish, plump jamones ibéricos (Iberian hams), and sweet-smelling fruit. The menú del día is usually a good deal, and the highbrow pintxos are consistently tasty.

This tiny taberna, which serves some of the best tapas in town, is always packed with locals. Order a few tostas (open-faced sandwiches on crusty peasant bread) and raciones (shared plates), and pair them with Extremaduran wines.