In Barcelona I had the chance to eat at 2 restaurants worthy of mention. I am no foody, though I can appreciate a good meal. I also was not terribly interested in Tapas since it was focused around fish, which I don't eat. But these two restaurants were recommended by my hotel. Taller De Tapas was recommended as a less touristy place with good food. The 4 Cats was recommended as being popular with tourists. Both were in the gothic quarter of Barcelona.
Taller De Tapas, Pl. Sant Josep Oriol, 9 (Pl. del Pi). In spite of not being in love with Tapas I had the best food on my whole trip here. It was a special that evening, duck with apple and stuff. OMG, it was delicious, tender, juicy, flavorful! The rest of the non-seafood I had was also very good. My friend got several seafood dishes and she enjoyed them all. I would absolutely recommend this place! And it was very busy there and it seemed like there were quite a few locals there - always a good sign.
The 4 Cats, Montsio, 3bis, 08002. This is known for it's connection to Picasso and has a little fancier then I would expect from a place that primarily caters to tourists. But it did have a nice ambiance. I had a steak here and it was very good, not the best ever, but I enjoyed it. I did go here with a friend and a local (who seemed to be a little annoyed we were going to such a touristy place). He didn't seem to love it, but did often speak with the staff in Catalonian so I wouldn't be surprised if we got slightly better service. He seemed to enjoy the night, but I doubt he'll be returning. In the end I enjoyed it, but thought it was pricey for what it was.
A word about dining in Barcelona. I had been told that dinner doesn't start in Barcelona until 9pm. These two dinners were on a Sunday and Monday night, I'm not sure if that makes a difference, but I found that dinner does start a little earlier then 9pm. On Sunday night I found that walking in to the restaurant at 9pm it was very busy, and walking back to my hotel at 11pm MANY places were closing up for the night. I'm not sure if it's because the gothic quarter is very touristy or if it was because it was a Sunday night. Monday night we arrived at the restaurant around 9pm and dinner seemed to just be starting to pick up, but we weren't the first ones there either. If you go out at 7pm I think you'll find only very touristy places are serving dinner, but I wouldn't be afraid to go out a little earlier then 9pm either.
