Tapa Tapa, Barcelona

Today my parents and I were eating in Tapa Tapa in Placa d Espanya. I havent got so furious for a long time, although there were no complaints about the food. But when we got the bill and it said 17 euros for 3 really small plates of bread (pa amb tomaquet), I couldnt believe my eyes. I called the waitress and asked about it and basically she just said: "its like that." It was shocking since in many restaurants you are given bread for free with your meal, but here the bread was the most expensive item on our bill. Other thing, the waiter was really not kind at all, and when he sat next to our table during his shift and started to eat his meal it was horrible..then he just jumped up and brought us one of the dishes we ordered and continued again with his meal..unbelievable..tapa tapa never again..very poor service!!

After a long day walking in the heat up and down the city, visting all my favourite buildings by Gaudí, the Master of architecture and design I decided to stop in this place for a well deserved beer and tapa. It was the worse decision of my life. I had an inkling from the beggining that it would end up in disaster but i was desperate. I ordered 2 montaditos: brie with truffles, camembert with sobrasada. First of all these can´t be considered real montaditos because instead of a slice of fresh bread they give you a hard piece of toasted bread, obviously the cheap version of bread from the supermarket. Ok, so i can kind of forgive that because it's a different version, thats fine. However, when they got my order wrong with the camembert with sobrasada they put the fault on me, telling me that what i got is what i ordered! WRONG! The problem was that on the main menu there was camembert and sobrasada however on the "tablepaper" it stated it as jamón serrano. They could have excused themselves for the mistake but noooo they went on and on about my "mistake". Next, the waiter tried to make me believe that the jamón serrano that was on my plate was actually sobrasada!! Ok, a poor international tourist could fall for this but i being a national tourist from Valencia well know that sobrasada is a chorizo-like soft sausage that can be spread! I called the manager over. He was extremely RUDE. I finally managed to make them cancel my order of the problematic montadito but then i overheard him call me "fill de puta" catalan for "son of a ***".
My friends montaditos were really bad quality and a lot of the things seemed to have come from tins.
Trouble with these places is that they take advantage of tourists and this rages me because they leave a spanish city thinking their cuisine is bad. Catalan cuisine is amazing, unfortunately during my stay i didnt manage to sample any!
I regret not asking them for "full de reclamació". The next person who has a bad experience in these places should fill one out. Its a complaint form and by law they are obligated to give you one should you ask for one.
DO NOT ENTER! TOUIST TRAP ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Favorite Dish: such thing does not exist!

As many others we spent the first evening in Barcelona walking up and down the La Rambla. After considering several tapas restaurants we ended up with Tapa Tapa as many other tourists. We were greeted at the door and promptly seated next to the smokers lounge in an extremely noisy and busy environment. After some waiting we got the menus, in Spanish but with pictures. This is after all a very touristy place, like a McDonalds with tapas.

Our area was almost empty and there were plenty of waiters around, but we couldn't place our order no matter how much we tried to get their attention. They nodded politely back at us and then continued to clean other tables, move around tables and chairs and contribute as much as they could to make the noisy environment even noisier. After 15 minutes of waiting to order, we had had enough and just left the place.

Avoid this tapas factory at all costs!

We went in twice to try and really savour atmosphere, once in late afternoon (to get out of the rain!!) and just ordered a couple of dishes and beers and then again at night as a foursome and had a ful tapas meal. We thought it was delicious, the little steak and frites is gerat and verges on being cute, but the skewers were great as well. Monkfish and prawns, superb. Atmospehere was good and lots of locals in as well, all fairly reasonably priced and constantly busy. Service was good and the translation board they offered us really helped us pick through the vast array on offer.

Favorite Dish: Minin steak and frites and mini burgers. great and doll like!!

We stopped at this restaurant a couple times and loved it. All of the tapas we tried were fabulous, and the sangria was quite lethal (the next day, I felt GREAT that night) but tasty. My friend and I split a pitcher that could've easily intoxicated 3 people. There's a really cute waiter who waits on the outdoor tables, he took us out for drinks after the restaurant closed, so single ladies head to Tapa Tapa!

Favorite Dish: My favorite was probably the garlic mushrooms, but it was all great.

Tapa Tapa is a kind of "meze"..That means that with the arabic influence some sort of food is widely accepted by the tourists.
Tapa is a way of eating with small amount of food but with a lot of variety ..from cheses to brochettes and from calamaris to paella .
Tapa Tapa is agood example of this way of eaiting ..Everthing is well prepared and daily cooked

Favorite Dish: sea food varieties

Located on the very busy Passeig de Gràcia, sitting on the terrace isn't really a relaxing experience - it IS perfect for people-watching though - nor is sittin inside for that matter. Nonetheless the tapas are VERY good and since you'll be walking past here anyway to go see Gaudí's houses, Battló and La Pedrera", you might as well sit down here and have a typically Spanish lunch. Also the touristy part has its advantages : we met a crazy bunch of Japanese women who were positively hilarious!!

How is it done? Well the Spanish count the number of people in the group, multiply it by two and that 'll give them the number of tapas to order ... generally this amount is about right ... you might have to order one or two extra ones, that depends a little on your appetite.

It might be a little more expensive than average, bear in mind that "average" is 7 or 8 euros for a typical lunch menu.

Favorite Dish: Basic ingredients of a tapa-table are the patatas bravas (fried potato chunks with a sauce on top that's a little spicy) and of course NEVER forget to order the "bread with tomato" or "Pan Tomaquet" which is typically Catalan : bread with olive oil, tomato and garlic .... the basic ingredient of every Catalan meal!!

Even if you do not speak Spanish they show you the menu with pictures in the tablecloth, which in fact is a “tablepaper” with the tapas that you see by yourself how they are prepared. In front of your terrace there is the world famous Casa Batllo, the breathtaking Gaudi masterpiece.

Favorite Dish: tapas

Tapa Tapa is ideally located on the Passeig de Gracia, a short walk from Casa Battló and Casa Mila "La Pedrera". Sit at the bar for an authentic experience, from where you will be able to pick and choose from the vast array of tapas and 'raciones' (portions) on display.

Be aware that prices aren't generally visable without a menu, and although the tapas themselves aren't too expensive given the area, drinks and raciones can easily bump up the bill.

The overall atmosphere was average, as its location makes it a hot-spot for tourists.
The waiters speak English.

Favorite Dish: The Cava sangria is wonderfully refreshing but at 9€ a go it isn't cheap. Other great tapas to try are Chorizo Chistorra - a thin spicy sausage, the ever popular Croquettes and the feta cheese served between two slices of beef tomato topped with oregano and olive oil. Yum.

This is a place to go if you want fast, cheap food, with friendly service, but aren't concerned about quality. Our calamari was tough, grilled pork and cod fritters were too salty. Noticed that they keep the mayo at room temp on top of the microwave--not exactly the best way to store this condiment. Better tapas can be found at Taller de Tapas (see tip above), which is located behind the church at the Placa del Pi.

Favorite Dish: Nothing was very exceptional.