Restaurant barcelona tickets: Tickets – Restaurant Review | Condé Nast Traveler

Tickets | The most famous tapas bar in Barcelona

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Individual ratings for Tickets

Location

Close to the theatre district, 300 metres from the “Poble Sec” metro station.

Ambience

A mixture of cinema, circus and garage: funny, flamboyant and a bit whacky.

Infrastructure

This is a single-room venue split into two zones: to the right of the entrance lies the main kitchen with bar and plastic tables, decorated beach-bar style, whereas on the left your will find tall tables between the “La Estrella” bar, the small bar “Camarote de los Marx,” the tomato-adorned “El Garatge” booth, and a nostalgic ice-cream van called “Dolça.”

Culinary

Wine List

Well assorted and fair-priced wine menu listing Spanish vintages.

Service

Matching the ambience: informal and efficient.

In the summer of 2011, “elBulli”, which may well have been the world’s most famous restaurant, went out of business. Ferran Adrià’s cuisine survives in Barcelona in the form of tapas. From the outside, the bar looks more like a cinema. Posters advertise the film being shot here: “La Vida Tapa” – life, a tapa. You cross the red carpet on your way to the ticket booth above which there is a bright sign saying “Tickets.” However, it’s not tickets that you buy here. The doorman will admit no one without a reservation. Inside, an open kitchen, several bars and stands. Guests are seated on garden chairs or at high tables. It took us a while to work our way through the rather complicated menu. For starters, we ordered tapas marked “elBulli.” We could not get enough of the delicious olives and peanuts, and ordered another round. The artichoke bottoms with quail egg and salmon roe as well as the filled cornet with tatar of tuna certainly hit the spot. Beautiful to look at and a further highlight tastewise: “Buey de Mar”, a cannellono made from avocado filled with prawn meat. Next we tried a helping of deliciously marinated goose liver. Winding things up, we had warm almond pastry, soft on the inside, and raspberry sherbet. Each course was a delight – and our palates did several somersault in the course of the evening. A great destination for food aficionados.
Closed on: Sundays and Mondays

Price range

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The most famous tapas bar in Barcelona! With the celebrated three-star restaurant “elBulli” now defunct, Ferran Adrià’s avant-garde cuisine lives on in the shape of tapas. Since 2011, Adrià has run the “Tickets” restaurant together with his brother Albert and the Iglesias family. They serve great cuisine at very reasonable prices.

The restaurant has become a victim of its own success, being booked solid on most weekends. But you may reserve a table up to 60 days in advance via the restaurant’s homepage.

Location: Barcelona |

Barcelona

Tickets
Avinguda Paral·lel 164 · 8015 Barcelona
Phone +34 932 924 250

ticketsbar.es
[email protected]

How the Pandemic Changed Barcelona’s Restaurant Scene

When Barcelona’s renowned El Barri group closed its entire portfolio of high-end restaurants in April 2021— including Tickets, Pakta, and Bodega 1900 — there was disbelief. Yes, the pandemic had been brutal, particularly in Spain, but surely if anyone could make it through, it would be acclaimed chef Albert Adrià — brother to El Bulli’s Ferran — and his celebrity restaurateur collaborators, the Iglesias brothers. Together they had all the money, fame, and experience one would think necessary, but none of it was enough. The El Barri group declared bankruptcy in the spring of 2021 with debts totalling more than 8 million euros.

While COVID-19 restrictions hit Spain’s entire restaurant industry hard, the El Barri group was its highest-profile casualty. Meals had hovered on average around 100 euros ($120) per person, meaning by and large, residents weren’t the ones booking up tables months ahead — it was moneyed visitors navigating extravagant online reservation queues for a chance to taste (and Instagram) the Adrià magic. That financial lifeline withered overnight when the pandemic hit. Initial travel restrictions prohibited all non-Spanish residents, including other Europeans, from entering the country, and the spendiest foreign visitors of all — Americans — were completely locked out until June 2021.

Central Barcelona has historically has high tourist traffic and even higher rents.

But the reality is, a restaurant scene buoyed by incessant waves of reliably hungry tourists is a restaurant scene that’s pretty dull. The Born and Gothic parts of town — central, walkable areas favored by tourists — have long been flush with mediocre restaurants relying on cheaply made, generic versions of paellas, bravas, and croquetes. As travelers and their vacation-sized dining budgets disappeared, the city saw mass closures of some of these tourist-leaning eateries, a trend that stretched throughout the city’s historic core.

As these tourist-reliant businesses flagged, Barcelona’s food scene, and the city itself, looked inward. A new appreciation began to form for restaurants that had always focused their efforts on courting local patrons. With every small easing of baffling and zigzagging regulations, city residents flooded back into the restaurants they loved. By spring 2021, the Barcelona Restaurant Association reported nearly 30 percent of all its member restaurants had closed for good. While this unfortunately included a number of beloved stalwarts, it cleared out many of the old tourist traps, too, leaving in their place a rare opening for a new kind of independent Barcelona restaurant to move in — something that would have been nearly impossible to pull off in central Barcelona pre-pandemic. Hence small, spirited places like Maleducat (which means “rude”), founded by three friends who are as irreverent and innovative as their menu; or Amaica, with traditional Catalan dishes cooked by Basque chef-owner Carlos Salvador. “Many new opportunities appeared during the pandemic,” says Salvador. “Our chance came when a small space with a terrace became available, which was ideal since it allowed us to stay open during the changing restrictions. We are very happy with how it’s gone.”

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Young locals flock to Proper for its chef-driven, local-leaning cuisine. A seasonal dessert at Proper.

“The prices around here were always prohibitively high,”says Manuel Nuñez, the chef and co-owner of pescatarian restaurant Besta, which opened in central Barcelona neighborhood of Eixample in February 2021. In addition to rent, new restaurants in Barcelona must pay a traspaso, or fee, to the outgoing tenant in exchange for their cafe license: In the heart of Barcelona, traspasos traditionally cost anywhere from 100,000 to 400,000 euros ($117,000 to $466,000). Before COVID, high traspasos and rents were the two main obstacles for people like Nuñez trying to open new food businesses. But when the pandemic swept in, and then lingered, many departing restaurateurs lowered the asking price for their traspaso, while landlords simultaneously reduced rents to coax tenants. By the end of 2020, Nuñez was able to negotiate a traspaso far lower than he’d been offered in previous years, which allowed him, and others like him who had been historically priced out, to gain a rare foothold in the central Barcelona restaurant scene.

To stay afloat in this brutal economic landscape, these new restaurants had to maintain a steady local customer base. The locals of Barcelona are made up of Catalan, Basque, and other Spanish nationals as well as international expats who have chosen to make Barcelona their permanent home. At Besta, Nuñez and partner Carlos Ramón consciously created a menu that catered to those diners, serving niche ingredients not often seen on tourist menus, like fresh scallops from Galicia (instead of imported ones from Scotland) and inventive cocktails using locally distilled spirits. Residents appreciated the restaurant’s dedication to the region, and in turn, rewarded it with repeat business.

In today’s Gothic and Born neighborhoods, shops selling tourist wares exist side-by-side with small bars and restaurants.

Chef Augusto Mayer of the new restaurant Proper in El Born credits local diners as “the only reason we were able to remain open.” Originally conceived as a Barcelona version of a steakhouse Mayer had shuttered in Buenos Aires, Proper debuted in July 2020. “We had assumed that Barcelona was a very cosmopolitan and tourist-heavy city, and that we would have an international dining public,” says Mayer. “But the pandemic turned that into an illusion.” So he decided to focus on what the pandemic residents of Barcelona wanted, instead: comfort food, something they wouldn’t be making in confinement at home. With a hand-built wood-fired oven at its heart, Proper reinvented itself as a pizzeria. Its sourdough pizza crust gained the new restaurant an enthusiastic local audience. “We’re very thankful locals liked our offerings,” says Mayer.

Pre-pandemic, it’d have been easy to miss the small Catalan eatery known as Fonda Pepa in the trendy tourist neighborhood of Gràcia. It’s nothing flashy, and tastes might lean traditional for a first-time tourist (the cap i pota, or head-and-foot stew, is a favorite), but this is precisely the kind of insider Catalan cooking that locals turned to for comfort in 2020. That, plus the warm welcome of owner Pedro Baño Fernández and the menu’s devotion to sourcing Catalan ingredients — including canyuts (a kind of razor clam) from the Delta de l’Ebre, a large wetland 110 miles south — encouraged a culture of regulars, something that might have seemed far-fetched for a place like this not long ago.

Local ingredients are the foundation of the menu at Fat Barbies barbecue, too, where smoky pork ribs and Hasselback potatoes appeal to Spaniards looking for something other than pa amb tomàquet. (Not many tourists come to Spain to eat South American barbecue.) The restaurant had been open for more than a year when the pandemic hit, and suddenly “it felt like we were opening a new restaurant every couple of weeks,” says chef-owner Juancho Martini. He quickly moved to a delivery format, adjusting the menu to feature sandwiches that travel better, bottling the restaurant’s cocktails, and selling off pantry items to neighbors in need of groceries. While profits from delivery were negligible, the platforms themselves ultimately doubled as advertising vehicles, drawing in an entirely new and even bigger customer base. “When we were allowed to start receiving customers again, there were a lot of new faces that told us that they came to know us because they had ordered delivery during the shutdown,” says Martini. This boon to business, as well as the low cost of a traspaso, allowed the Fat Barbies team to open a second restaurant, the vegan Fat Veggies, in spring 2021.

Delivery apps drew in a whole new clientele for the wood-fire cooking at Fat Barbies. The South American-style barbecue dishes at Fat Barbies draw more locals than tourists.

Granted, while smart pivots and local-leaning offerings helped draw them in, Barcelona residents were something of a captive audience. Even as COVID-related dining restrictions yo-yoed — takeaway only one day; decreased occupancy another — residents of Barcelona were prohibited from leaving the city limits. That meant the slew of urbanites who would normally flee the city on weekends couldn’t, and suddenly the historically slow Saturday and Sunday business was as busy as midweek. And while today the city once again has no shortage of month-long reservation lists and hundred-plus-euro tasting menus, there remains a robust local market for the ambitious, independent food folk who had long been waiting in the wings, and for the loyal little guys who’d been there, dutifully cooking for their neighbors, all along.

Of the El Barri empire, only Bodega 1900 remains in operation, renamed Bodega Lito and now owned by the former maitre d’, Ángel. It was always the most accessible of the portfolio, a vermuteria that you could walk into without a reservation if you went early or late. The kind of place that appeals to both locals and tourists — both of which you’ll find dining there side by side today.

Suzy Taher is a Barcelona-based writer and founder of the blog Foodie in Barcelona. Gerard Moral is a Barcelona born and based photographer specializing in portrait, travel, and lifestyle photography.

How to spend 48 hours in Barcelona?

First day morning: breakfast and an introduction to the creation of Antonio Gaudí
Catalan food and Sagrada Familia
Past Plaza Catalunya and Batlló to the Rambla
Second day morning: amusement park and the best view of the city 906
Acquaintance with marine inhabitants in the Aquarium of Barcelona
Evening walk through the Gothic Quarter

Barcelona is full of interesting and beautiful places – Sagrada Familia, one of the largest aquariums in Europe, the atmospheric Las Ramblas and much more. Where to go first and how not to miss anything interesting if you have only 48 hours?

Thanks to this article, you will be able to spend an unforgettable 48 hours in one of the most colorful cities in Europe.

Park Güell.

We suggest you start your first day with a visit to the legendary Parc Güell, which is located at Carrer d’Olot 5.

But before you go for a walk, we recommend having breakfast. You can do this in the restaurant Guelli Sandwichpark. Here you can try a delicious smoothie or coffee and also eat a hearty sandwich.

Well, now go explore Park Güell. You will only need an entrance ticket if you want to enter the central part of the park. You can walk around the rest of the area for free.

The history of the park is interesting – in 1900, the entrepreneur Güell decided to build a residential complex, the design of which was entrusted to Antoni Gaudí. Despite the eco-friendly area and the luxury of houses designed by Gaudi, no one really wanted to settle here.

But, despite the fact that the park never became a residential complex, Gaudi bought a house here, where he lived for about 20 years. Only after the death of Güell himself, the park was bought by the city government and opened to the public.

So, now you can touch the fabulous place, which was designed and loved by the legendary architect Antoni Gaudí. You will be able to walk around the area of about 17 hectares: walk along the paths with mountainous terrain, examine the walls that smoothly turn into tree trunks, and even visit the “Palace of Nature” – a cave that can only be entered through a “carved” wall.

And if you are an ardent admirer of Gaudi’s work, be sure to visit his house, which now houses the museum of the architect.

Sagrada Familia.

After walking around the park, head towards the Sagrada Familia. This place is a must visit for anyone who comes to Barcelona. But while walking in the park, you must be tired and hungry? We invite you to try national Catalan dishes.

So, if you have long dreamed of trying the traditional Spanish paella, then you can go to the Tuscania Food and Wine restaurant. It is located near the Sagrada Familia, at Calle Mallorca 434. Here you can try not only paella, but also order pasta, and enjoy tiramisu for dessert. And, of course, don’t forget a glass of wine.

Have you ever wanted to try a real ham? The Jamon y vino restaurant is ideal for you, located at Carrer de Sardenya, 310 Sagrada Familia. The plan is simple: order a jamon, some Spanish tapas, sangria and enjoy the moment.

Well, then, you will see the main temple of Barcelona – Sagrada Familia. It has been built since 1882 according to the design of Antoni Gaudí. For a long time, the architect not only took part in the construction of the temple, but also lived in a small room with him.

But even in its unfinished form, the Sagrada Familia impresses with its majesty and beauty. Be sure to come here and see a vivid example of Catalan Art Nouveau.

By the way, inside the temple is no less beautiful. But the live queue for tickets to the Sagrada Familia will amaze you no less than the temple itself. Therefore, we recommend that you avoid this waste of time and buy tickets in advance online.

Casa Batlló.

The road to the atmospheric Las Ramblas will pass by landmarks such as Casa Batlló and Plaça Catalunya.

Therefore, be sure to take advantage of the opportunity and enjoy the beauty of these sights.

For example, when you reach the Casa Batllo, which is located at Passeig de Gracia 43, stop at it and look at the outlines of the facade. This house was designed by Antonio Gaudí, already known to you. You probably already learned to recognize his handwriting? Smooth lines, mosaic shimmering in the sun and dreams of fabulous sea creatures – all this is in the Casa Batlló.

Plaza Catalunya.

After Casa Batlló you will reach Plaça Catalunya, the city’s central square and one of the most beautiful places in Barcelona. Life is always in full swing here, many tourists and locals are walking around. It is from here that the routes of many guests of the city begin.

But we suggest that you do not stop at the square, but with the onset of evening, go to the Rambla pedestrian boulevard. Do not rush to see everything here in one evening, you still have a whole day ahead of you.

La Rambla.

Devote this time to a leisurely walk along the boulevard and immerse yourself in its atmosphere. Drink water from the famous Canaletes fountain, they say that in this way you will not only quench your thirst, but also ask fate to bring you back to Spain.

Admire the Miró mosaic. Finding it is easy – go along the boulevard and look under your feet. As soon as you see bright mosaic patterns, you can safely stop and start admiring. This mosaic was made by the artist Joan Miro and has been decorating the boulevard since 1976 years old.

On the same boulevard is located the ancient Guell Palace and the Royal Square, where anyone can now relax. By the way, it is here that the Three Graces Fountain is installed – one of the first creations of the great Antonio Gaudi.

Well, we advise you to end this evening in the company of delicious local food within the boulevard. For example, if you want luxury, be sure to book a table in advance at the Louro restaurant. Here you will find a stunningly beautiful presentation of Catalan and European cuisine, excellent taste and excellent service.

Can’t live without sweets? Then go for ice cream in Amorino – Ramblas, they say that they make the best ice cream outside of Italy.

And if you are tired of culinary experiments, you can spend this evening in a more familiar way. For example, in the Irish pub The Wild Rover Irish Pub Barcelona. Here you will be served delicious burgers, poured beer, and in the evening you will be offered to sit at a free table and listen to live music.

View from Tibidabo.

The best view of the city is from the highest point in Barcelona, the Tibidabo hill. There is also an amusement park of the same name. It is with a visit to the amusement park that we advise you to start your first day.

Tibidabo hill can be reached by public transport from Cataluna metro station to Avinguda Tibidabo. Then you will need to transfer to the blue tram and take it to the final stop. And at the end of the path, change to the funicular, which will take you directly to the Tibidabo hill.

On the Tibidabo hill, there are several ways to enjoy the view of the city. You can go to the Ferris wheel in the amusement park, or you can just admire Barcelona from the observation deck. But even better is to combine business with pleasure, or rather, breakfast with a beautiful view. You can have breakfast on the cozy terrace, admiring the view of Barcelona, in Cafe 1925.

In the Aquarium of Barcelona.

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Barcelona is the Aquarium. It is located in the area of the local old port.

Here you can walk around the port area, as well as visit one of the largest aquariums in Europe. It is also worth going here for the sake of the huge aquarium. You will be able to walk along a long tunnel laid along the bottom of the oceanarium and take a closer look at all the local marine life.

And after a walk around the oceanarium, you can stop by the Italian restaurant Ginos and enjoy delicious pizza and pasta.

Gothic Quarter.

If yesterday you only had an overview of the Rambla, today you can get to know it better. We invite you to spend an evening in the Gothic Quarter.

Here you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the Middle Ages and see the buildings built in the Neo-Gothic and Neoclassical styles. The Gothic Quarter is full of musicians and cozy cafes. And in the evenings, this place looks incredibly beautiful, thanks to the backlight. So, you can not only take a walk, but also take a lot of memorable pictures.

Boqueria Market.

Well, we advise you to enjoy Barcelona street food at the legendary Boquería market. It is located near the Gothic Quarter, and therefore you can easily look here on your way back. We advise you not only to buy the freshest seafood here, but also to try the local authentic street food. We are sure you will like it.

Guide to the best places in Barcelona: Ultramarinos restaurant

Home Where to go Where to eat Guide to the best places in Barcelona: Ultramarinos restaurant

Just six months ago, in a former cinema building, in the very center of Barcelona, a new restaurant, Ultramarinos, was opened in such a fashionable multi-space format. The space of almost 800 m² combines a restaurant with author’s cuisine, a trendy bar with designer cocktails and a large selection of wines, live music concerts and DJ performances.

Menu at Ultramarinos

The Ultramarinos menu offers both traditional local dishes and international dishes such as burgers or pizzas. I highly recommend trying fried eggplant with goat cheese and honey – this is my undoubted favorite. The average check per person is about 15 euros.

Ultramarinos Restaurant: interior design

The interior design at Ultramarinos deserves special attention. Inspired by street food stalls from all over the world, the team of the famous European designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán reflected the natural beginning in the interior – wooden saw cuts on the tables, a lot of light and greenery.

Design at Ultramarinos

Despite its location at the very end of the touristy Las Ramblas, this establishment has been very popular with locals since its opening, for its really high-quality cuisine and a real Barcelona atmosphere. A great option for lunch, dinner and evening gatherings with friends.

Address: Rambla dels Caputxins, 31, next to Drassanes metro station
Website: http://www.ultramarinosbarcelona.com/

How to avoid queues at Barcelona attractions. Tickets for Sagrada Familia and Park Güell skip the line.
How not to be deceived by local taxi drivers. Order a taxi in advance with fixed rates online. The most reliable service for ordering a taxi is KiwiTaxi .
Excursions in Barcelona with locals will help you to get to know this city for real. The best way to get comfortable in an unfamiliar city is to walk around it with a person who has lived here for many years.
We advise you to take out travel insurance so that there are no unpleasant surprises while traveling to Barcelona.

Barcelona City Pass is a one-stop card that makes organizing your holiday in Barcelona easier and saves you a lot of time and money.
Hotels in Barcelona: is our selection and recommendations.
Bus Turistic is a tourist bus and a great way to get to all the necessary monuments of Barcelona quickly, with a breeze and comfort.