Barcelona · 19 Citorah Picks
In the order Citorah recommends them: the order the guides rank them, and never by commission. How Citorah is paid
Citorah PickRestaurant · Barceloneta
Citorah says Singla actually cooks the socarrat, the stock tastes like the harbour outside the window, and the room isn't a cruise-ship overflow.
Wrong for Solo diners, anyone in a rush (45 minutes from order), or a €30-a-head ceiling.
Citorah PickRestaurant
Citorah says 7 Portes (sometimes written "Set Portes") at Passeig Isabel II 14 is the 1836 grande dame you want — two minutes from Barceloneta metro on the L4, vaulted dining room, marble columns, brass nameplates of dead writers above the booths.
Wrong for Solo diners (rice is a two-pax floor, full stop), backpackers on €15 a meal, anyone with a 7pm flamenco ticket.
Citorah PickRestaurant · Barceloneta
Citorah says The room hasn't moved since 1903 and neither has the formula: white tablecloths, tiled walls, waiters who've been there longer than your relationship, and rice cooked the way Barceloneta cooked it before the Olympics ruined the seafront.
Wrong for Solo diners (the 2-pax rice minimum makes it a €50 mistake), anyone in a rush (rice is 25 minutes from the pan, as it should be), and the under-€20-a-head crowd.
Citorah PickRestaurant
Citorah says The Escribà family have run pastry counters in this city since 1906, and their beach restaurant at Av. del Litoral 62 is where they cook the rice.
The catch Wrong restaurant if you're solo (the rices are built for two), in a hurry (forty minutes minimum from order to table — that's how paella works), or trying to eat for under €30.
Citorah PickRestaurant · Gràcia
Citorah says Two branches, both run by Grup Xàtiva, both better than anything you'll find on La Rambla with a laminated photo menu.
Wrong for Solo travellers (you can't order most of the menu for one), wrong if you've got a 9pm Sagrada Família slot (each pan is cooked to order, 25-40 minutes minimum), and wrong if €40-a-head feels steep.
Citorah PickRestaurant · El Born
Citorah says This is the rice address locals send their cousins to when 7 Portes is full of cruise passengers being walked in two-by-two.
The catch Wrong restaurant if you're solo, want under €20 a head, or are catching a 16:00 train.
Citorah PickRestaurant · Barceloneta
Citorah says The building has been standing on Carrer de la Maquinista 17 since 1753 and pouring wine since 1763, which makes the room itself older than most countries you'd compare Spain to. The Ballarín family took it over in 1956 and have been doing rice ever since.
The catch Wrong restaurant if you're solo, in a rush, or counting every euro — Can Solé three streets over does similar at similar money but without the 1763 ceiling.
Citorah PickRestaurant · El Born
Best for if you're solo or in a pair where one of you hates committing to a wide pan for forty minutes
Citorah says Fran Heras's Asturian-Catalan taberna has been running since 2012 and the rice it's known for is arròs negre amb allioli — squid-ink rice with a separate quenelle of garlic mayonnaise you fold in yourself, around €18-22 a head depending on whether you split it as a ración-format tapa or order the full pan.
The catch Wrong for you if you want a wood-fired valenciana on a Sunday-lunch terrace by the sea — go to Barceloneta's Can Solé for that, not the Passeig Marítim photo-menu rank.
Citorah PickRestaurant
Citorah says The exception that proves the Passeig Marítim rule. Barraca sits at Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 1, on the Sant Sebastià beach end where the seafront actually faces the sea, three minutes from Barceloneta on the L4 — and unlike its photo-menu neighbours it's a serious rice kitchen.
The catch Wrong restaurant if your ceiling is €40 a head, if you want a quick stop before the W rooftop, or if you're solo.
Citorah PickRestaurant
Citorah says Restaurant Elche sits on Carrer de Vila i Vilà 71, on the Sant Antoni / Poble Sec border, five minutes from Paral·lel (L2/L3) — and it's the closest thing Barcelona has to actually eating paella in Valencia.
Wrong for Solo diners (no way around the two-pax rice minimum), under-€25-a-head budgets, anyone allergic to the look of bone-in rabbit on a plate.
Citorah PickRestaurant
Citorah says La Boqueria is worth your time for the fish counters at the back, El Quim for breakfast eggs with chipirones.
Citorah PickRestaurant · Poblenou
Citorah says Moncho's group's terrace on the promenade facing Nova Icària beach, with glass panels that open or close with the weather, and a dining room behind.
Citorah PickRestaurant · Poblenou
Citorah says Chef Miquel Farré's Catalan cooking — oysters, tapas, rice — inside the municipal sailing centre on Mar Bella beach, with a €17 weekday set lunch.
Citorah PickRestaurant · Gràcia
Citorah says Long, slow dinners at neighbourhood restaurants (Con Gracia).
Citorah PickRestaurant · Eixample
Citorah says Sunset drinks at Majestic Hotel's rooftop, then dinner at Disfrutar or Cinc Sentits.
Citorah PickRestaurant · Eixample
Citorah says Sunset drinks at Majestic Hotel's rooftop, then dinner at Disfrutar or Cinc Sentits.
Citorah PickRestaurant · Poblenou
Citorah says Els Pescadors, on Plaça de Prim, has cooked seafood since 1980.
Citorah PickMarket
Citorah says La Boqueria is worth your time for the fish counters at the back, El Quim for breakfast eggs with chipirones.
The catch It is not worth your time for the rice stalls fronting the Rambla entrance — the ones with the giant pre-cooked vats of yellow rice and prawns going grey under the heat lamp.
Citorah PickCafé · Gràcia
Citorah says Casa Fuster's Café Vienés is a jazz club.
Some of these are affiliate links: if you book through them, Citorah may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the guides recommend. How Citorah is paid