El Cafè de la Casa de les Lletres — Restaurant in Barcelona

If you're looking for the perfect home base for a stay in Barcelona, a place that is both tastefully designed and affordable, a place that is literally in the perfect location, where each apartment offers stellar views of a charming plaza, a place where you can truly immerse yourself in the culture of Barcelona--look no further. You've found it.

My husband and I have spent the past month and a half at La Casa de les Lletres. We could not have enjoyed our stay more. Our apartment offered privacy, comfort, and luxury and a true Barcelona experience. We stayed here during La Merce festival and the parade came marching by our balcony! What an experience! Truly, this place is so convenient. It's right in the Gothic Quarter but not down any confusing alleyways--very easy to get to. You can watch the world go by from your balcony. There are several grocery stores, restaurants, and shops right on your doorstep, and the apartments are very safe and secure.

These apartments seem to have been renovated recently because they are very clean, modern, and nice. We had the opportunity to stay both on the 4th floor (George Orwell themed) and the 1st floor (Jaime Gil de Biedma themed). These two apartments are nearly identical, other than there being one less cabinet on the 1st floor, and the 1st floor has a combination washer/dryer while the 4th floor has a separate washer and dryer, and the 1st floor balcony is a couple inches bigger.

As far as I know, all apartments offer the following amenities: washer, dryer, kitchen with oven and stovetop and ventilating fan, microwave, kettle, Nespresso coffeemaker, refrigerator and freezer, and dishwasher. The kitchen is equipped with utensils, plates, bowls, cutlery, pots, pans, etc--whatever you may need to prepare your own meals while staying here. This is a very nice touch, because it makes it even easier to stay here long term! The apartments also have a couch that pulls out into a sofa bed and a large bed in the master bedroom. There is plenty of storage space, with many cabinets and shelving. There is a mounted TV in the living room and a nice wooden coffee table. There is a dining table with chairs and placemats. The bathroom has a bathtub and a shower and a towel heater. There are also plenty of towels and even some basic toiletries (soap and shampoo), and you can have fresh towels from the maid. The AC works great (my husband keeps it icy cold!). Housekeeping services are available. Truly, it's easy to move in here and feel like you're home. These apartments are ideal for long-term stays or just quick trips to Barcelona; each of the six apartments overlooks the old post office building (Correos y Telegrafos) and Plaza Antonio Lopez, a gorgeous plaza with stunning architecture. By the way, the post office is still fully functioning and amazing! Go inside--it's really beautiful.

On the ground floor is a little restaurant, El Cafe de la Casa de les Lletres and its outdoor seating area in the middle of the plaza, which is called La Terrassa. Sabrina, who owns the apartments, also owns this cafe. Her amazing eye for design is carried through into the restaurant ambiance and the meals there...you'll be frequenting this downstairs spot for sure during your visit! It's convenient, affordable, and delicious. (You can look at the separate TripAdvisor listing for that place if you want to read more.)

Overall, we are very picky people, and we loved staying here! Sabrina and the staff at the restaurant were always available at our disposal to answer any questions and meet any needs, including supplying our morning coffee and printing our boarding passes! They speak Spanish, English, and probably other languages too, and they are very kind and eager to please. We had a wonderful experience here and cannot picture ourselves staying anywhere else on any return trips to Barcelona...

Our favorite food and drink in Barcelona, hands down.

We generally like to try new places, but after our first lunch we came back here two more times and tried nearly everything on their menu. It was nice to get off the packed marina walk with taxibikes and scooters just a block farther into a quiet, peaceful square.

Each time we had the pleasure of being served by a sweet man named Georgi who hand-made the most incredible Sangria (red, white, or cava - fresh and light with tons of fruit, and not oversweet) and made food recommendations based on what he knew would pair well together. For him alone, we would return!

Everything was amazing - these were our favorites:

TOMATO CARPACCIO: The most balanced tomato dish I've ever eaten. So refreshing on a warm day. MUSSELS WITH COCO AND CURRY: Tender, flavorful, massive mussels in an intense broth. Next time, I'd leave space and order bread with it to sop up all the juice. SEAFOOD PAELLA: A right-size portion that you can enjoy to the last grain. Smooth and served with gigantic prawns and, again, the most tender mussels. EGGS FROM STARRY HENS WITH PRAWNS, POTATOES, AND IBERIAN HAM: This was so heart-warming and satisfying, I would eat it for any meal of the day and be happy. LEMON BROWNIE: Sweet, citrus, light baked dessert bar with delicate cream and fresh fruits. Perfect size to end a meal and get a hit of zesty sweetness after all the other bold flavors.

It's also cool to know that much of the food they serve comes from their own farm - and that the owner-farmer is probably sitting on the patio behind you, wanting to be sure you are having a...

My husband and I ate here as one of our first restaurants in Barcelona, this after a week of great authentic food in Mallorca. It was the most upscale we had eaten all week (and we loved our Mallorca meals-authentic). The garlic shrimp is to die for! I loved it, and we could have sopped up that garlicky good sauce if we had a nice loaf of bread. And the mini calamari was the most tender calamari I ever tasted! I can’t say that anything we had tasted bad or even that the service was bad. I don’t know why other reviewers are saying that. Our server was the manager and she was so friendly! I don’t think Americans understand that in Spain, the servers don’t hover over you for every little thing. They certainly don’t rush you out of the door to pay the bill. I think if a visitor speaks a bit more Spanish, you’ll get a different experience, because the language connection is there. They were very friendly with another family who were visiting from Israel speaking in Spanish, and it was beautiful to listen to their staff and possibly owner get to know their patrons. We were always being asked if we needed more wine or water. Oh and their food really is awesome! Their eggplant (abergine?) was transformed! Mussels were fresh and had no “ocean”-ness to it! I love finding gems among the list of overhyped places and this one was definitely an accidental gem. Let the manager help make recommendations and you’ll get a fun culinary experience! As my cab driver said in broken English “Barcelona is the best place to eat the fruits...