Restaurant El Barroco — Restaurant in Cadaqués

In the beautiful, unique village of Cadaqués you will find many spots that will resonate within your memories for the times to come. But then, as you walk through the narrow rocky streets among white houses, you stumble upon the wall of flowers and hidden blue door with sharp Dalí moustache painted on it, as a promise of surprise behind. It's almost 7:30 and groups of people are slowly flocking around the street. Behind the blue doors, a friendly face peeks through. In two minutes - he shows with his fingers. The doors open, and you're invited into an oasis within the land-island of Cadaqués. El Barroco, a lebanese restaurant with decades long tradition tucked between high walls of the old town's garden. Everything has its designated place, an orderly beauty of abundant eclecticism. As you're seated, lovely faces of family that runs the restaurant take in orders, giving you smiles and warm southern welcome, like you're visiting a home of a loved cousin. Mirrors in the garden reflect the live paintings of surrounding buildings outside of the oasis walls. You can't stop yourself from taking pictures, as wonderful sounds of Fairuz songs take you out of space and time, joined by the bells of a nearby Santa Maria de Cadaqués Church. Tastes of wonderful lebanese food enriched with unique dashes and sprinkles of spice combinations you probably never felt in your tabbouleh tease the umami, as you imagine the grill which smoked the aubergine in your babaganoush. The art of hospitality at its best creates happiness around tables, setting of a wonderful energy flow and a dining experience you will remember. It's a true gem of Cadaqués, and a perfect place to break the tapas circle once in Catalunya. Thank you for your lovely welcome 💙 Your...

In all honesty, we do not understand the hype about this… we hoped for such a better experience than we had, reading all reviews. The food was good, and the service friendly but nothing, in our opinion, worth coming back. The place is very busy with all sorts of decorations items and it has a strange smell (we ate inside as the weather was not good, so obviously it may be a very different experience if staying outside!!). That being said, we were super open minded when we came, we even thought that this « random » decorations were giving some character to the place. But the more we looked, and waited (we waited a very long time), the more it seems like nothing made sense. Looking around, it was not clean.

About the food: good taste, for sure. But the price is ridiculous… we paid 46 euros for a mixed grill for 2 people with a few small pieces of meat on it, some basic lettuce and rice. The tasting platter is 20 euros and is supposed to be for one person. Portions are not generous at all. Also, we were supposed to get tea we never got. We always try to review restaurants objectively and we never miss mentioning when something is good. But here, we cannot understand at all why this place has so much success. We were so disappointed.

To take away from this; good flavour, friendly service but crazy expensive for...

I have never written a review before, but it is simply impossible not to leave a positive one for this restaurant. El Barroco in Cadaqués offers an atmosphere that is beyond words. I have truly never seen anything like it. Dining here felt as if we were eating inside a museum, surrounded by history and art in every corner. The building itself has stood for several centuries, Salvador Dalí used to eat here several times. He even painted the entrance gate himself, which makes the place feel even more magical and unique.

The food was absolutely perfect. We ordered the mixed grill platter for two, which included different types of meat, fresh salad, bread, homemade hummus, and homemade aioli. Every single element on the plate was prepared to perfection, and there was nothing at all to criticize.

What made the experience even more special was the owner. She was extremely hospitable, incredibly kind, and after closing time she even gave us a personal tour of the restaurant, sharing stories about many of the items on display.

For me, El Barroco was not just a simple lunch like in other restaurants it was an extraordinary and...