La Taverna de Barcelona — Restaurant in Barcelona

After living in Barcelona for almost a year this place may be one of the worst places I've been to have a drink, to have bite or to watch any football. We were asked to change seats twice which was a little annoying but at the same time I understand they're trying to cram in as many people as possible. Clearly, this is a place catered to tourists and straw drinkers who have not explored Barcelona at all and want sub par pub grub. It is basically a Las Ramblas type of pub and way over priced in every way possible and has extremely average food. I had the 37 Burger and only ate half of it, the middle of the burger was completely red, they must have put the meat on the grill for maybe a minute.. bacon was raw/uncooked. I wonder how many straw drinkers get food poisoning there each week? You must ask for it well done (hopefully they do it), I was on the toilet all morning, thank god I only ate half. They claim you get 300 grams of fries, it's actually a handful of regular chips. Hmm, for €12.75? In Barcelona? I would consider this meal absolute highway robbery. And for the quality? Forget about it. Lesson learned, I don't think I will ever attempt to go to any place surrounding PDC.. I got a half litre of Amstel, (no straws) which is some of the cheapest beer available and it was €5.50. For perspective, if you go a few blocks away the exact same pint will run you €2.50. For atmosphere, I would not recommend to come here to watch any footy, especially on the weekend. It is full of visitors and straw users who want slushy cocktails, half the people were not watching the game and drinking beverages through one of their straws.

For me, the icing on the cake for not wanting to come back here. One of the worst things about this bar, and that I've seen in a long time is that every drink has 3 straws, I think some had 4, but they all have a minimum of 3!!!! This is insane! Why 3?? People drink from one and then they throw out the other 2!! So much waste! Such a waste of money as well from a business perspective.

I would imagine that they probably throw out several bags of virtually unused straws everyday at the pace they use straws!!! This is absolutely incredible to me. I can't get that part out of my head..it doesn't make any sense on any level.. they amount of straws they waste. Completely unnecessary... I would have given them 2 stars but the straw thing brings it down to 1..

Maybe they had a board meeting and they were discussing ways to increase business:

Jimmy: "I think if we advertise more grams of fries it will get people talking"

Jordi: " I think we should play 'Cant del Barça' as loud as the stereo can go, then all the people in the plaza will hear it and come in.

Maria: "I think if we put really really huge flags on massive kebab sticks and put them in each burger it will advertise to other people that we also serve food."

Jimmy: "Yeah for sure, Cant Del Barca and big flags on each burger are a great call but, we need something more. Something that screams class and oozes elegance.

Jordi: ..."hmmm, well, I made some private investments in 'Tetra Pack' years ago. Their straw business has suffered lately so they're giving away boxes and boxes of straws to investors instead of dividends." ... pause ... Maria Coughs .... Jimmy: "What colours do they have? Are they all one colour or..?

Jordi: "Yeah they come in all colours! RAINBOW!! And! AND! The straws are all 60 cm long! People will be able to see the straws on the tables when they look in through the windows!

Maria: "All in favour for the new initiative say Aye. Aye!" Jimmy and Jordi: "Aye!!"

And that's more or less how the straw policy was formed. Anyways..if any of my post doesn't make sense, head down to this place on a Saturday night and let me know what you...

We went there at about 19:00 on 30/04/19, we ordered spare ribs,a steak, bravas potatoes and the Catalunya mix of cold cuts. I requested about 3 times to have the mix and the potatoes first with our beers but they brought the food all together so we were just drinking the beers without anything for 25 min. The ribs were just ok, the coleslaw if you can call it so, had a thick chemical mayonnaise taste, bravas potatoes were really excellent, however the Catalunya mix was very poor in meat and cheese and a lot of bread for 12 something euro.. come on guys..!!! The beef was ok nothing special there either. We paid 61 euros I believe for these kind of money you can eat better elsewhere. Perhaps as live music bar it’s a good one but as restaurant needs some improvements to reach a good level but then again who cares as long as silly tourists will be happy with...

Staff were a little too casual which came across as pushy (took us a while to work out the menu options) and was almost constantly asked for our choices. Good range of beer generally and on tap, but all drinks were very expensive - €10 for the cheapest 1L of beer is ridiculous and for some reason Fosters is one of the more expensive ones. €20 for 1L is also ridiculous. Measurements are not given for some items, for example bottles, small and large (I assume a small is 250ml and a large 500ml?). The tapas is okay for the relatively cheap prices. Didn't stay for the music.

On the plus side, the decor inside is very nice. This place is perfect if you're an English-speaking foreigner who wants somewhere that feels more like home.

Overall, it felt like a bit of a tourist trap. If you want a genuine, honest Spanish/Catalonian feeling in a restaurant then...