Okio Asian Street Market | Barcelona — Restaurant in Barcelona

Great spot for a nice supper after a long day at the beach which happens to be very close by. It’s a pan Asian food market that can easily satisfy different types of food cravings (a plus when travelling in a group 😂). The food was top-notch served at the right temperature and full of flavour. To start with, we decided to share some starters and we paired them with some nice chilly bottles of Tsingtao, a Chinese lager that quenches the I-have-spent -all-day-on-the-beach sort of thirst. Personally I found that the Pork Gyozas were the star of the first course, but I must say that the roasted pork bao surely deserves an honourable mention. Another round of beers whilst we wait for our mains to come and the ambiance reminds me a bit of some Asian market in East London (with a lucky twist: table service), nice music and people just enjoying themselves and being delighted by the tasty food. Moving on, if the Pork gyozas were the star of the first round (did I mention how good they are?), the chicken and prawn yellow curry stole the whole night: creamy, tasty, spicy 🌶️ served with a nice steamy bowl of jasmine rice. The food was so good that we all happily agreed to share our mains, and thanks god we did, because the Pad Thai (who dares to say no to a naughty pad Thai?) and the Doraemon Futomaki (a tempura roll that any spicy food lover needs to try, that creamy siracha sauce is a cheeky one 😏) didn’t disappoint. To end the food sesh, here comes another round of booze, this time I went for that one Asian lager you know that will never let you down: the infamous Japanese Asahi beer (Wagamama lovers, where are you at?) along with some freshly made Mochis (get the chestnut one. Yes, you heard me right, the chestnut one, you owe me one). To be fair, the prices are affordable (around €20 per head) and the food is totally worth every penny. Plot twist: they happen to have a bar / disco downstairs for those that, just like me, don’t know when to end the night (in my very gay but not so humble opinion, the bar’s got the potential to become a queer venue in Barcelona, just saying). The staff were outstanding, friendly and at all times professional. They will eagerly accommodate for those with food allergies (please make sure that you mention it beforehand if you got one). To sum it up, a vibrant and energetic food market close to the pier / Barceloneta beach that won’t hurt your...

Arrived on time for a booking to be ignored by the first guy- he just never came back to me, and the second guy looked at his list then said it was downstairs. So I go downstairs and show the bookings the the guy and he does not look at any system, asks how many we are and outs at a weird bar table besides a pool table, not really appropriate for dinner. When my friend arrived ten mins later she is showed to a table upstairs....? I wouldn't trust that a booking here would mean you have a table. (Some) wait staff are nice but completely untrained. Waitress never came to our table, and over 45 mins wait for our drinks order... Actually the whole thing never came. What did come? Drinks for other tables, food for other tables, it was like a comedy we had to say we hadn't ordered something at least 6 times. At no point did the five of us have food and a drink in front of us. The food was good but atmosphere terrible and the male wait staff (2 upstairs and 2 downstairs extremely rude). We were sitting on the side of the restaurant near Estacio Franco and couldn't hear any music, no vibe.

The worst part was that we'd come for my friends birthday after seeing an advertisement on Instagram by them about kareoke. The waitress told us that the restaurant was having a licensing problem about the karoke room so it was not and had not and would not be open for a considerable time. That's fine but DONT...

We came on a Friday night and the stores around the area were pretty packed. Luckily, Yatai had no lines so we were able to be seated immediately. We were greeted by our server Nicole. She was very sweet and helpful with service and food recommendations. We started off with some drinks. I got their lychee sake which was ascetically pleasing but good at the same time. The inside of the store was nice and gave you a Japanese feel. My favorite part was the sega arcade and metro station vibe.

For the food, we ordered the crispy chicken bao, Tonkatsu ramen and uramaki California roll. The food came out fast. First was the ramen and then the bao, followed by the sushi. The Tonkatsu was pretty good. The egg was a seasoned egg, so not your traditional white boiled egg. Noodles were long and perfect if you wanted to slurp! Sushi was good but nothing special. Coming from Hawaii, it was sub par but still, nice to have something that felt close to home. The bao was pretty good, I enjoyed their tasty sauce on top the crispy chicken.

Overall, good service from your server Nicole and food was enjoyable. We also got shots on the house to celebrating their grand opening which was about a month ago. I have a feeling they’ll thrive due to good food...