The best tapas restaurants in Barcelona

Bodega Solera, which opened in summer 2023, is his take on a Cádiz-style tavern crossed with a French wine bar. The wine list is majestic – 650 bottles to choose from. And for food, expect southern Spanish delights like montaditos de regañá (the crispy bread twist) with Russian salad and anchovy, a tomato salad from Barbastro marinated in hojiblanca olive oil and pickled onion, and a classic Catalan fricandó made with llata (beef chuck). It’s a broad, versatile menu – perfect for grabbing a quick bite or settling in at the marble counter to enjoy life.

Time Out tip: Don’t miss the caíllo, a stew-filled sandwich you’ll usually only find in Caravaca de la Cruz – and here.

Address: Carrer de Còrsega 339, 08037 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday-Thursday 6pm-12am, Friday-Saturday 12pm-1am, Sunday 12pm-12am

This outstanding vermouth bar serves beer, wine, cocktails, and around twenty vermouths from Catalonia, the Basque Country, Spain and Italy, mixed with tonic. Food-wise, there are small sharing plates (Ebro oysters with ponzu sauce, matrimonio, marinated and smoked mackerel, Russian salad sandwich), and three grilled sandwiches: fricandó with pickles; confit pork jowl with cheese and mustard; or sobrasada with Mahón cheese and honey. Yes, it’s a micro-vermouth bar with very limited seating, but don’t leave without trying the flan with Lustau vermouth. 

Time Out tip: They also have another location just across the street: Vilamarí 3.

Address: Carrer de Vilamarí 2, 08015 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Wednesday-Friday 12.30-3.30pm, 7.30-11pm, Saturday-Sunday 12-11pm. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

Colmado Wilmot, named after the English poet, aristocrat and libertine who predated the Marquis de Sade, is a tapas bar inspired by a traditional corner shop. The house tripe and capopita are a wonderful, gelatinous delight with just the right hit of spice, as are the Stroganoff meatballs. And of course, this is vermouth heaven, with sardines, gildas, anchovies, and homemade Maresme aperitif sauce.

Time Out tip: want to impress your pals with some local knowledge? This spot is named after English poet, aristocrat and libertine John Wilmot. 

Address: Carrer de Calvet 28, 08021 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday 8am-4pm, Tuesday-Friday 8am-4pm, 6.30-10.30pm, Saturday 9am-4pm, 6.30-10.30pm, Sunday 9am-4pm

Francesc Beltri and Nicolás de la Vega, chefs and co-owners of another Michelin-starred spot in Sant Antoni, have turned a former humble, family-run neighbourhood bar into Bar Canyí, a place dedicated to excellent Catalan and Castilian culinary traditions – and it’s now up there with the best in Barcelona. The menu is short: three grilled dishes, two escabeches, two salads, three fried items, two stews and two desserts, which change seasonally. But you’ll always find the classics: mussels in escabeche, meatballs, cap i pota, and fricandó. 

Time Out tip: Don’t miss the sun-soaked terrace upstairs. Oh, and no reservations. 

Expect to pay: Prices range from €3.50 for a gilda to €15 for the sepionets. 

Address: Carrer de Sepúlveda 107, 08015 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 1-4pm, 7-11pm, closed Sundays and Mondays

In the heart of Putxet, you’ll find this neighbourhood-focused restaurant Garum Conserves i Vins. Where there was once a garage, there’s now this Catalan kitchen, opened in late 2024, confidently blending a wine bar, small plates, tapas and vermouth. The croquettes are excellent, and so are the salt cod fritters, full of proper flakes of fish. The hot dishes and stews are well worth it, whether it’s a Thai-style chicken curry made with boneless pollastre de pagès thigh, or the delicious tuna escabeche with seasonal mushrooms.

Time Out tip: head there on a weekday lunchtime for a discounted set menu. 

Address: Carrer de Vilarós 3, 08022 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 12pm-12am, closed on Sundays and Mondays

At Can Bo, head chef Lorenzo Cavazzoni creates dishes that bridge the classic and the trendy, with nods to traditional cooking. A perfect example: a lemon fish salpicón finished off with crisps, or veal tongue with green sauce and confit vegetables. On the hot side of the menu, don’t miss the aged beef meatballs and the roasted cannelloni filled with chicken, pork and veal brains, which bring a rich, silky texture. Yes, there’s also a more standard selection – it is a hotel, after all – but Peña makes sure even the tourists can try a suquet of fish in tapa format. 

Time Out tip: Take note of the noucentista building it’s held in, once the private residence of Francesc Cambó, a key political figures of 20th-century Catalanism (seen by some as a great reformist politician, by others as a deeply controversial figure).

Address: Via Laietana 30, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Daily 12.30-4pm, 7-10.30pm

Señora Dolores is run by Mathieu Pérez, a chef from Perpignan with many years of experience who once had a successful bistro in Paris. At this tapas bar, he devotes himself entirely to signature fried dishes – cooked with a churro machine! And we mean fried everything: breaded lasagne, patatas bravas churros, gnocchi, stewed lentils with pig’s trotters and bacon. But don’t worry if fried food’s not your thing – half the menu is raw: think pickle salads, steak tartare, raw fish, etc.

Time Out tip: the fried, stewed lentils are a must try; Aaclassic lentil stew with pig’s trotters and bacon, which he puts in the fridge, waits for the collagen to set, cuts it, and coats it in batter. Served in two portions you eat with your hands. Insanely weird, but utterly delicious. 

Address: Carrer del Marquès de Campo Sagrado 27, 08015 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Tuesday-Thursday 6.30pm-1am, Friday-Saturday 12.30pm-1am, Sunday 12.30pm-5pm, closed on Mondays

Josep Maria Massó and young chef Àlex López Lamiel have revived the relaxed tapas-and-bar spirit of Cañete, but with more of a focus on the market and the traditional Catalan eatery than on the old-school tavern. Alongside Tangana’s popular dishes, you’ll find classic haute cuisine touches with a laid-back twist: the hare ravioli come with a demi-glace and a mind-blowing gamey depth. Tangana is a place to enjoy seriously good tapas at fair prices, and to share larger mains too.

Time Out tip: try the pringá mollete, a traditional Andalusian sandwich, that sparked the mollete trend in Barcelona. 

Address: Carrer de la Riera de Sant Miquel 19, 08006 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 1-10.30pm, closed on Sundays

Casa Pepi is a tapas bar/traditional eatery and a fusion between Catalonia, Andalusia and Galicia, but with its own personal spin. The menu starts with small plates to share, all with the house’s trademark freshness – like a Russian salad with piparra – and playful nods to the old-school. Soldaditos, flaky cod fillets in a light batter, and devilled eggs with tuna are both excellent starters. The mains continue this popular fusion approach: one of the house favourites is Galician-style pig’s ear with romesco, or a gorgeous cured presa ibérica served on a local-style bed of patata enmascarada (cabbage and potatoes fried with black sausage). 

Address: Carrer de la Sèquia Comtal 7, 08018 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday-Thursday 1-4pm, 8-11pm, Friday-Sunday 1–11pm 

This bodega, with Madrid and Andalusian vibes, is the result of a collaboration between chefs Víctor García and Omar Díaz (of Bar Omar) and creative director Enric Rebordosa. Hijos de Javier could almost be seen as a museum dedicated to the idea of ‘Javier’ – not just to the famous Javiers in our culture, but to the stereotype everyone has in mind: the guy in brown loafers, leaning right politically, and a nightmare at Christmas lunch. The fun isn’t just in the décor – it carries through to the menu, which includes a variety of sandwiches, escabeches, and banderillas, plus classic old-school desserts like flan and homemade torrijas.

Time Out tip: ask staff for recommendations or specials of the day – you might get to try the best dishes this way.  

Address: Carrer d'Amigó 30, 08021 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Tuesday-Wednesday 7-11pm, Thursday 1-3.30pm, 7-11pm, Friday-Saturday 1–11pm, Sunday 12-3.30pm, closed on Mondays

As much tapas bar as restaurant, Cal Pep is always packed to the hilt: get here early to bag one of the coveted seats at the front. There is a cosy dining room at the back, but it’s a shame to miss the show. The affable Pep will take the order, steering neo- phytes towards the trifásico – a mélange of fried whitebait, squid rings and shrimp. Other favourites include the exquisite little tallarines (wedge clams), and botifarra sausage with beans. Then squeeze in four shot glasses of foam – coconut with rum, coffee, crema catalana and lemon – as a light and scrump- tious pudding.

Time Out tip: try the house vermouth, a blend of several Reus vermouths, which is excellent.

Address: Carrer de Canalejas 12, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday 12-4pm, Tuesday-Thursday 7-11pm, Friday 7pm-12am, Saturday-Sunday 12-4pm

Another Montferry, you might be wondering. Yes, there are ones in Sants, Barceloneta, Navas – there used to be one in almost every neighbourhood of the city because it was a franchise dreamed up by Pere Virgili, from Montferri in Alt Camp. In early 2024, the place was taken over by Laura De Muller and Fabio Lapignola – she with a surname straight out of a Reus vermouth label, and he a Neapolitan chef with a knack for Catalan stews. The food and drink at Bodega Montferry Horta are excellent and well priced: capipota with chickpeas, stewed squid with pinto beans and a fried egg, superb croquettes, butifarra cooked in white wine… It’s a menu made for ladles and sharing – perfect for good company and a lively meal.

Time Out tip: book in a few hours or a whole afternoon to spend a bit of time here – this is a rather special neighbourhood (the Horta-Guinardó district), known for its significant social struggle. 

Grupo Confiteria took on a tough challenge: to revive and renew the essence of the old, iconic Xarcu on Plaça Molina – a place with deep roots in the neighbourhood – and they’ve pulled it off. Bodega Molina blends tradition and modernity in both its decor and its excellent menu, full of gourmet tapas and delicious small plates. Think grandma’s mac ’n’ cheese (Macaroni Molina 1950) or meatballs with cuttlefish, smoked steak tartare with egg yolk and piparra, fried eggs with Mallorcan sobrasada, and a tempting variety of tortillas. You can drop in any time of day, sit inside or out, and you’ll feel right at home.

Time Out tip: On a nice (but not sweltering) day, sit outside on Molina’s terrace – it’s the largest in Plaça Molina. 

Address: Plaça de Molina 1, 08006 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Daily 12pm-12am, kitchen open from 1pm-11pm

Bar Vint-i-Quatre marks the return of Carles Abellan – one of the inventors of the modern tapas bar in Barcelona – to the forefront. The transformation of the second Tapas24 into Bar Vint-i-Quatre means he’s come back in style, doing what he does best: small sharing plates that are actually big on flavour, made with fantastic ingredients and just the right amount of rule-breaking (without going overboard). The focus is more on seasonal dishes than pure tapas (though you can still enjoy classics like the bikini sandwich, truffled omelette or roast chicken croquettes). It has the feel of a well-dressed bar-restaurant – smart but still relaxed – where you can have dinner in a jacket or not. 

Time Out tip: book ahead for dinner – especially if you’re heading there on a weekend. 

Address: Avinguda Diagonal 520, 08006 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday-Friday 8.30am-12am, Saturday-Sunday 9am-12am

The three essential tapas at this emblematic bar with just six tables are the fried whole anchovies, the tomato salad, onion and olive salad, and the morcilla sausage pintxo. We’ll add a fourth because we love it, and because, indeed, with this addition we’ll have presented the entire menu at La Plata: the gorgeous pintxo of simply the best anchovies around. They’ve been serving these same staples since 1945, making La Plata experts at what they do. Good service, good food, and good wine! Why fix it if it ain’t broke?

Time Out tip: go fish, fish, fish. These guys have been frying fish for over 30 years, so they’re truly experts. In fact, eating here feels a bit like you’ve been transported to an old fishermen’s tavern. 

Address: Carrer de la Mercè 28, 08002 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 11am-3pm, 6pm-11pm, closed on Sundays

Denassus is a gastrobar (yes, it deserves that name, in our opinion), opened in the summer of 2019 and has since established itself as a top-notch hedonistic pleasure spot in Poble-sec. Created by Sergi Ruiz and Alejo Mailan, this is the perfect spot to try broken eggs with fried potatoes and smoked cecina from León, or marvelous tripe with snout. This is a tapas bar-restaurant of a high caliber, with a small but well-thought-out menu: they constantly have off-menu specials featuring seasonal produce.

Time Out tip: this spot is a bit more high-end, so you can end up spending a bit of cash. But it’s more than possible to eat here on a budget too, just stick to the classics, like the huevos rotos (broken eggs) with chips and smoked cecina, and the wonderful  morro (tripe and snout).

Address: Carrer de Blai 53, 08004 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday-Thursday 1pm-11pm, Friday-Saturday 1pm-12am, Sunday 1pm-11pm, closed Tuesday

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