PIAZZE D´ITALIA — Restaurant in Barcelona

I have visited Barcelona several times over more than a decade, and this restaurant stands out as the best dining experience I have had there on every visit.

In fact, I think it probably ranks at the top of my favourite restaurants I have visited in Europe. And my favourite Italian restaurant anywhere.

I have spent quite a bit of time in Italy, including six weeks in Venice, yet strangely can't remember any restaurant in Italy that I prefer to this Italian restaurant in Barcelona.

It's not that it's some overly fancy restaurant with extraordinary decor, obsequious waiters, or sophisticated table settings. I've visited those restaurants in several cities.

No, what makes this restaurant so special is its genuine ambiance and consistently wonderful food.

It's not at all expensive, has a relaxed atmosphere, is obviously a family-run business, with attentive service, but most of all offers meals that are always just delicious. You find yourself almost licking the dishes, certainly soaking up the sauces with every last bit of bread.

If you're in Barcelona and enjoy Italian food, this restaurant is a little gem. Bellissimo!

Incidentally, it's in the gay neighbourhood of Barcelona and has a very relaxed, welcoming atmosphere with a clientele of lone old Italian men, neighbours in having dinner, young families with small children, romantic couples lost in each other's gaze, and cheerful...

I had high expectations of Piazze D' Italia after reading glowing reviews. We were the first customers of the evening, and were attended to by a charming and attentive member of staff who explained the menu and gave excellent recommendations. We ordered a pasta dish to share and two pizzas. The starter came out in good time and was delicious. However our pizza took a very long time to be served. Two other groups had arrived by now and were served their pizza meals before us. We were not bothered by this too much initially, however as I looked into the restaurant to see if our meal was coming out I noticed a different server this time taking two take away pizza boxes from the side, opened them and plated them up and seconds later he was at our table with the same pizzas. There had clearly been some kind of mistake with our order and our food had been boxed up as if for a take away order. The pizza was warm and still edible but not hot from the oven. No explanation or apology was given by the second waiter for the delay. We had no further interaction with him, which was probably for the best. It was a shame that this happened and slightly ruined our experience. How an establishment handles its mistakes speaks volumes, unfortunately this time Piazze D' Italia fell short of it's usual...

After searching for a "non pretensious" Italian we finally found one!! We simply wanted pizza & pasta at a reasonable cost. The amout of places we came across that had "truffle" or "duck" etc, as toppings was unbelievable! I'm sure they were amazing but not what we were after. Piazze d'Italia fit the bill & more 😊 Delicious, authentic pizzas and spag boll. House wine was great & my hubby assures me the lager was too. Our server was cheerful & friendly & tried to accommodate our requirements (altho chicken on a pizza is not heard of?) My son was really happy with his margarita pizza (simple tastes) it wasn't laden with herbs, just the right ratio of sauce & mozzarella. The other two pizzas were also tasty. The other thing to mention was the speed of service, we couldn't believe when our food arrived, less than 10mins aft ordering. The bill for 3 pizzas, spag boll, red wine, lager & 2 waters, was less than €60!! We are only here for 5 nights, but I can assure you we...