Best Tapas in Barcelona

This monthly ranking of the best tapas in Barcelona tracks what people are actually voting for, not a "best of" list padded out with whatever's easiest to photograph. Barcelona's tapas scene is a mix, Catalan staples sitting next to dishes imported from every other region in Spain.

What tapas is Barcelona known for?

Pa amb tomàquet, bread rubbed with ripe tomato and good olive oil, is less a tapa than the constant that sits on every table here, the thing everything else gets ordered alongside. Bombas, spiced potato croquette balls served with a garlicky sauce and a spicy one, side by side, come from La Barceloneta and are still best there. Botifarra amb mongetes (grilled sausage with white beans) covers the heartier end, and the pintxo format, imported from the Basque Country and consisting of a skewered bite you pay for by the toothpick, has taken over entire streets.

Where can I try the best tapas in Barcelona?

El Born and Gràcia both run dense with bars built for an evening of moving between three or four. La Barceloneta, the old fishing quarter by the beach, is where bombas started and still where they're best. Carrer de Blai in Poble Sec is the city's pintxo strip, wall-to-wall bars where you pick skewers off the counter and get charged per toothpick at the end.

What's the local tapas custom in Barcelona?

Vermut hour is the one to know: on weekends, roughly noon to 2pm, bars fill up for a glass of vermut and a small plate before lunch rather than after work, the reverse of how most of Spain drinks. On Carrer de Blai's pintxo bars, nobody hands you a menu; you take skewers off the counter as you go, and the bar counts your toothpicks at the end to work out the bill, an honor system that surprises most first-time visitors.

How are the rankings calculated?

Every vote on The Best Tapa comes from someone in the same city as the tapa, not from a bot or an account on the other side of the world. We know this makes things a little more complicated, since you can’t vote from another country or city, even if you’ve tried the tapa. But this helps us keep the rankings and votes as legitimate as possible. We prefer a ranking people can trust, and this is the best way we've found to achieve that.

There are several rankings and ways to find tapas:

• Monthly ranking: We only count votes from the current calendar month, and the list resets on the 1st of each month. This monthly ranking reflects what's happening right now, not a definitive verdict on Barcelona's food scene.
• Historical ranking: Each tapa's full history remains available in the Historical section or on its own page.
• New tapas: tapas added in the last few hours and days.
• Venues: Ranking of the venues with the most tapas added in the city. It's a good starting point.
• Search: Type in a tapa, a bar, or a city, and you'll get results. If there aren't any yet, be the first to add them.

More cities

Best tapas in Madrid · Best tapas in Sevilla · Best tapas in Valencia · Best tapas in Granada