I should start this out by saying, I travel to eat. Seriously. Outside of the museums and new air, food is my traveling motivator. I was geeked about Spain and looking forward to all the eats, the tapa eats.
Mind you a friend who is living in and out of Spain, warned me, she warned me ya'll. She said it ain't right or righteous. I thought, nope she just not eating right. Right? Nope. She was right, righteously right.
The first day we stopped at this little spot in the neighborhood we would be living in. That's another soon to come blog. But anyway, the food was not good but I figured you know this was a one off and the rest of the trip would be fantastic. Plus I was tired and irritable and dirty. Water hadn't seen my body in a few hours. Perfect storm.
Nope. Dirt didn't have nothing to do with it. After you move past the Jamon (ham), fresh bread and Paella, which lets be honest is just rice cooked in a skillet, there is nothing Spanish that made my heart sing. All this lovely seafood and it's bland. All that saffron and olive oil and they don't use it. All that glorious sea salt and they are seemingly scared of it. That's the only assumption I can make.
The best meals had were foreign. I can't believe I typed that. But yep. Below is a list of our fav's and below that is a list of you should avoid with all the fiery of a bad meal paid for out of your pocket.
Fav's
Ciudad Condal - Great tapa's, extensive menu, food and wine, pricey but nothing that isn't unexpected. Atmosphere was great as well. This meal actually got us excited about food in Barcelona and we expected this level at all the places we went to, alas that was not to be. But if you are here, go. Eat all the good food. It is in the Eixample neighborhood and because we went out so late, we Ubered it home instead of traveling back by Subway.
Yashimara Restaurant - this was a find on the Hop On/Off journey. We got off in this neighborhood to switch to another bus that was going in a different direction and decided to also grab a late lunch. Did a quick google for restaurants around us and this popped up. Actually quite a few Asian inspired restaurants were in the area and this was rated the highest and was a block or so from the bus stop. The pictures don't really do this meal justice. Perfectly cooked meat with the right amount of seasoning in a zen like atmosphere. Pricey but worth it. The sushi was okay but that may have been due to the avocado. I despise avocado and didn't notice it was on the roll before ordering.
Our third fav was Modue Korean Bowl-bimimbap another quick lunch on our last day in Barcelona, we were actually walking to another place along Avenue Diagonal and came across this place on the way to get Paella. Hint to those who eat late, lunch ends at 3pm and restaurants typically don't open up again til 6 or 7 in the areas outside of the tourist zone.
Honorable Mention -Taller De Tapas on La Rambla. If you have to eat in the tourist trap area eat here. The food was good, not great but good.
Don't Do It
Tapa Tapa - just don't. It wasn't worth it. Nothing was good.
Rovica - When I tell you this place sucked believe me. Great location. Horrible service and crappy food. Get coffee and keep it moving. There is a Greek spot another block or two that was decent, go there instead.
La Poma - another La Rambla restaurant that is beautiful on the outside and you can sit upstairs and watch the street scene below but the food wasn't anything worth writing home about. I had pasta. I'm still amazed at the lack of flavoring. At this point I was a broken woman...
La Bona Tapa - I'm still mad about this meal. I read the reviews after getting wi-fi and one said run..lol Believe them. Walk past quickly.
Kat