Set Portes is supposed to be "the place" to go in Barcelona. It's not that good. Service was very mediocre. We felt we were inconveniencing the lead waiter. Food was okay. Tried both the traditional paella and the fish paella. It was okay. I did think the Catalan style spinach side dish was well prepared. We are from Washington, DC which has La Taberna del Alabardero which is truly the best Spanish restaurant in the world. Go there instead - much more attentive service. Set Portes was a huge disappointment. The best part of the ambiance is the piano player. He was quite good when you walk in. I would not recommend this restaurant. It was lack luster. read more

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Ambiance?? -- even with locally made reservations, we -2- were given a small table back in the corner of a back room. Fortunately --despite being panned on several Yelp reviews, the service was pretty much immediate and continually good !! We were tho fortunately cautious about their touted Paella, so instead opted for -2- chilled seafood offerings --including the seafood platter "for -2-" that a remarkable feed --a HUGE variety offered in just surprising generous quantities, starting with a full chilled lobster, add 6 fresh shucked raw oysters, 2 varieties of chilled steamed clams, 2 more varieties of chilled prawns AND at least a full dozen of chilled (cooked) cockle snails that you dug out intact from behind their still in place trapdoors. All served with olives, great bread and Catalonia produced wonderful Tempranillo wine, followed by great deserts and expresso. Re the paella being grumped about, a truly knowledgable local offered an explanation / NOT justification the there is likely a cultural difference between the expectation of the 'versions' that are served 'back home' that might typically more moist and more packed with seafood, whereas that which is served is likely a truly local version that per the local cultural and cooking style is less moist and less 'bountiful'. I'm thinking that is likely true, making MY choice and MY Wife's choice of the more focused selections of primarily fresh cooked seafood for us the better selections. We'd return in a heartbeat. read more

7 Portes - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

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Despite the struggle of a vegan and a meat lover traveling through Barcelona trying to find a paella to their tastes, my friend and I succeeded in finding this gem!! Paella comes in a single serving, a rarity in itself, and has a vegan option to boot! I loved my traditional paella, and my friend said that it was the best paella she'd ever been able to eat as a vegan! Our server was fantastic and we took his wine recommendation, which was both inexpensive and paired nicely with the paella. The inside was beautiful, as well. Great option for groups with different tastes, or that want to sample on different paella's rather than order one for everybody. read more

7 Portes - Traditional paella and veggie paella - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

We went to 7 Portes on a family trip to Barcelona. It happened to also be our wedding anniversary. The space is nice inside. Very old school in a good way. However, the service was absolutely abysmal. My wife ordered a grilled seafood plate. Only when we received the bill did we realize they actually brought two servings, essentially charging us double. We ordered espressos after dinner. They took a solid 20 minutes to arrive. The server was downright rude and seemed to care less. Food was so-so at best. Barcelona is loaded with incredible restaurants, arguably more than any other city in the world. This place is a definite skip. read more

As cool as it is to eat at a 185 year old restaurant, and to sit at the same table Salvador Dali sat at (supposedly), we had a few challenges. The food varied from OK to outstanding. The steak in particular was excellent. We had their tapas for 2 starter. While interesting, it didn't blow my mind. The jamón and melón appetizer was good. We also had the cannoli (good), various seafood plate (I didn't taste, but looked good) and a paella which was too fishy for me. Finally we had some espressos and a crème brûlée. My decaf espresso was rather sad, but it served its purpose together with a solid crème brûlée. Our main problem was the service. They were pleasant enough, but we often seemed forgotten. We waited a half hour before they took our order. We had bread and some olives but no drinks. The bread was served plain with no oil or other things to dip. It was relatively fresh, but dry when you have nothing to No with it and no drinks. Food and drinks came out relatively quickly after they finally took our orders, but it still seemed like we had to work to get the wait staffs attention. As we were leaving after a i noticed the vacant stare of another table of five with bread, untouched, no drinks presumable just wanting to place their order. Overall it was a good experience, but at the price (which is at least double what we've found elsewhere for equivalent food) I expect better service. I should note this isn't a great place for kids. They were nothing but polite, but there are no options for kids on the menu and the waiter didn't seem to know what to do with our kid for drinks. They almost put out five one glasses for the five of us including my underaged son. I looked the best day and the side explicitly says it's a restaurant for adults. Overall it was fine, and out kid enjoyed himself because he's an adventurous eater, but be aware it might be challenging for kids. read more

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Clearly a well-run and organized establishment! The pallela and rice dishes were very nice and well-flavored. The sangria was also delicious! Service was not necessarily attentive the entire time though. Overall, a very nice place for a classic Spanish meal. Just make sure to wear decent clothing as to not get stuck in a small booth in the back of the restaurant if you're underdressed! read more

I was in Barcelona recently, and I wanted a good paella at a spot away from La Rambla. As many of the restaurants on La Rambla are somewhat tourist traps, and don't serve authentic paellas, I wanted to get away from the main strip. Initially, I wanted to go to Mana 75, but they had no availability for walk-ins, so I found that 7 Portes was another spot for good paella in Barcelona. I had the traditional paella with a half lobster tail, and the paella was tasty. It was flavorful and included that nice crust around the edges that I like. The texture was sauce-like almost like a risotto, and it had the lovely color of the saffron used in paella. However, the paella did seem a little flat, not in terms of flavor, but overall appearance and texture. It seems like many of the ingredients may have cooked into the paella, so it didn't have depth of appearance. The outside terrace was a nice place to sit. Though, it is recessed, so you can't see what's happening on the street, which can be a good and bad thing. The restaurant doesn't sell cocktails, so you're only options for drinks are basically water and wine. Individual glasses of wine were about 4 to 7 euros, so the prices for drinks were reasonable. read more

7 Portes - Traditional Parellada Paella with Lobster Tail - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

Oh ya. Elegant Beautiful Menu Lovely service Amazing food Decent prices We shared 4 courses, stuffed What a way to end our week in Barcelona Make Reservations read more

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Excellent food, service and atmosphere. Paella was second to none. The wait staff and service were very accommodating.

All the bad reviews are true, do not go here. Tourist trap. The food and service was horrible. It has the smallest Lobster tail I have every seen read more

7 Portes - Smallest Lobster tail in the world - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

If you are a paella fan, this might be your place. Fine dining setting with flies all over inside the restaurant. The food was eh. Highly recommended by several people so it could be our under developed palates. Our most expensive and least favorite meal. read more

7 Portes - Menu - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

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out of all restaurants we have eaten in Barcelona so far, this is the one that I would not recommend. The croquetas were good but the pan con tomate was soggy, and the food in general was nothing to remember. However, the worst was the service. There are too many great restaurants here to waste your time and resources here read more

Absolutely horrible service. Waited 20 min for a waiter. When we inquired about our drinks we were greeted with an attitude. Then another waiter was assigned to our table. He was even more clueless than the first. Stay away from this place. Not worth spending your money here. read more

***3.5 Stars*** On my quest to find some of the best Paella in Barcelona, I would definitely put 7 Portes up there. Before we had the Paella, we started with the starters plate - which was pretty good for what it was, but I realize I could have done without it. The main star of the starters was the seafood dishes rather than the croquetas or more meatcentric dishes. Like many places, the paella is charged based on the servings per person. Since my mate and I ordered a Paella Parellada for two with seafood and meat, it was about €46 (23 per person). The consistency of the rice was a little more al dente for my liking, but the flavor and quality of the ingredients was one of the best. in terms of the overall experience, the wait for this place (I went on a Thursday at 8 pm and had to wait an hour) can be an hour or more during dinner time. I was kind of annoyed to wait that long and then seated in one of the areas with so much open seating. There was so many empty tables even by the time we left. Maybe they do this for quality of service, but the service was not even that amazing to be fair. Their wine selection is pretty good and the overall ambiance seems very fancy, but not too pretentious. I would highly suggest here if you want a more sit down type of dinner! read more

7 Portes - Tapas Sampler. - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

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Food was flavorless we didn't even eat the steak it came out raw after waiting an hour and ten minutes! Literally do not recommend. They even charged us full price and we didn't eat more than 1 bite read more

Great quality food. We showed up on a Saturday night, with no reservation, and were seated within 30-40 minutes. Considering the taste, atmosphere, and all the great reviews... I'd say we were very lucky. Must visit! read more

Couldn't be more disappointed. The front desk supervisor of the Eurostars Grand Mariner hotel recommended this place for an authentic first time Spain non touristy dining experience. Therefore we took a 17 Euro taxi (plus tip) to this restaurant at 5:00PM. There were approx 20 available tables outdoors and approx 15 tables available indoors. The woman who greeted us asked of we had reservations (which the front desk supervisor mentioned nothing about any mandatory/must call ahead for a reservation - especially at 5:00PM! The woman at the front greeting desk then looked over to the manager/maitre d' (gentleman in black tux) and spoke in Spanish if we could be seated without a reservation and his response (WITHOUT common courtesy of even looking up to us ) was "no". In shock, in the middle of an unknown town and country, I thought if I typed in a google translate app how one of the managers from a well know and upscale hotel recommended this place and mentioned nothing about making a reservation, that perhaps he would change his tune/massive attitude. He (still never looking up or at me (so wrong on so many levels of customer service), told the woman to seat us outside. At this point we would be thankful for a table regardless of how hot it was outside. She then proceeded to sit us right in the entryway, mind you their were 20 other unoccupied tables outdoors. Walked out, wouldn't you? read more

Tourist trap! Upon entering the restaurant the manager could not find my reservation in his system I had an email confirmation that I showed him but maitre d' assisting the reception host was still in disbelief Restaurant was empty and remained rather empty in all the time I was there so I don't understand the fuss he displayed when he couldn't find my Rez that I had made in advance, the restaurant was in no way selling out or overbooked for the evening Food was lackluster and not memorable except for being highly oversalted. They put in a good show here but that's all since the food was not good at all read more

After spending the afternoon on a Catamaran (Friday August 5), my wife and I were walking towards the beach but heard thunder. We changed course and started walking back to our hotel, and then it began to storm. Since this was the closest restaurant and it was dinner time, we stopped in. Since we are visiting from the United States, we both were in the mood for authentic paella. Therefore, we ordered the one with meat and vegetables (20,50 euros X 2). Although I've only had paella once before (almost a week prior in a hot-as-an-oven hole-in-a-wall restaurant in Toledo), this one was better! My gripe was after ordering, we were given bread. The bread was ok. However, when the check came, I discovered they charged us 5,50 for it. We weren't asked ahead of time if we wanted it. Had I'd known it wasn't complementary, let alone 5,50, I would've requested they take the bread away immediately! Otherwise, the food and customer service was good. read more

I don't know how anyone could rate 7 Portes lower than 4 or 5 stars! Everything I come to Barcelona, and that typically is once a year, I try to gather with friends for a celebratory dinner at this fabulous Catalán Restaurant. Having missed my trip for the last two years due to the COVID pandemic, this year I was able to return. We had a fabulous dinner. I'll include a few photos. I highly recommend 7 Portes! read more

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It was delicious and very good service. They give out mini books with famous Spanish tales in them. It's very fancy.

We came here as our Airbnb host listed it as the best paella in town. I hope that is not the case. The paella was mediocre at best. Too salty and the seafood was over cooked. On the other hand the spinach appetizer was very tasty. Service was very slow. This is a tourist place. Not horrible but I would not recommend it. The ambiance is nice. White tablecloth, waiters in white coat and live piano partially made up for the lack of cooking. read more

Good food but there are so many GREAT restaurants in Barcelona. Service was adequate, not bad not great. We had fun but likely won't dine here again. read more

Friend and I weren't dressed nice enough to be seated in the front of restaurant lol. Jokingly said they're taking us to the back room cause we dress casual for vacation. Got to the back and that was the reality . Food was great. The seafood platter was so fresh, most are in Barcelona. The mussels were as soft as clams (I don't even like mussels, too tough usually). Pallea was also good. Pricier place, but they do not cheap out on quality. read more

7 Portes - Small Seafood Platter - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

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Disclosure: dining here has great emotional freight for me, as my family dined here a few years ago with wonderful friends, and the memories are very pleasant. I arrived alone, about 6.15 pm, with no reservation, in beat-up Carhartt T-shirt and fatigues, with cameras and pack on my back (I'm a photographer.) I approached the hostess and diffidently asked for a table for 1, expecting to be turned away on my looks alone. Though --disclosure -- I did say I'd last sat at the Salvador Dali table when I was last there, which was true.) She offered me either inside or outside table. I chose the lovely, breezy patio. The waiter treated me as though I wore a thousand -dollar suit: explained the menu, offered the usual starters of gas-water, olives, bread, oil, and balsamic. I felt welcomed, respected, and accepted. I chose olives, a Catalan starter of bread, tomatoes, and anchovies, and a seafood paella, with a dry white wine. The anchovies were fine, spread like butter, and went well with the tomatoes. The paella also was excellent (as was the table-side pan service), with copious shellfish. I then spent an hour talking and drinking delightful sangria with the couple at the next table. This is a high-end place that in my experience treats you well; has excellent food and service; and knows how to give even a tattered-looking ruffian excellent food and a very pleasant evening. Go there, spend time, and enjoy. read more

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I assked Eduardo from Kimpton Vividora for a great Paella and Ed called and made lunch reservations for two at 7 Portes. This place blew me away with great ambiance and hospitality. Our Server brought over their house Sangria and followed this up with their house Paella. One of the best dishes I have ever had and I will return when I come back to Barcelona. read more

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Excelente comida y servicio. El personal fue muy atento y los platos bien presentados...!!!

We came here upon recommendations from our food tour guide. It had nice ambience and it seemed like a high class restaurant. We ordered 2 different the paella. It was pretty good but quite expensive. Service was not too good and not very attentive. read more

7 Portes - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

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Great place if you are looking for a nice dinner! Service and food were great! Sitting outside was great.

I know this is one of the oldest restaurants in Barcelona but it really is a tourist trap. The food wasn't bad but it was the most expensive meal we had during our 10 day trip to Portugal/Spain and the food was just mediocre. So many other options for a lot less money with much better food. read more

Service was bad, over priced based on what you get, we were charged for a $50 bottle of wine that we didn't order. We ordered a starter/appetizer that we never got. However the person playing the piano was amazing! read more

Food was excellent and the service was phenomenal. Definitely get dessert when you go. read more

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Ok guys!! First Barcelona review!! This restaurant was aaah: 1-Food nothing extra ordinary. 2-Service soooooooo long takes forever just to bring the water. 3- Our waitress disappeared and never came back. 4-Paella is salty so you gotta give instruction to the chef. 4- Takes forever to bring food took 1 hour to wait. Summary there is better places for paella, seafood and better customer service. Keep exploring! read more

7 Portes - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

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When I was planning my trip to Barcelona in 2009, I asked three people - Barcelona-philes all of them - what places they recommend I dine. The lists were all pretty diverse except for this one common thread - they all listed Restaurant 7 Portes as the must-try for seafood paella. Jamie W. and I decided to try it the second night we were there since we were strolling through Barceloneta anyway. It's definitely a historic place housed in a big graystone building replete with marble floors and ah yes, seven doors! We were seated immediately since we showed up at around 5:30PM, which in Barcelona time means the lunch hour had barely ended. There were white tablecloths and matching linens all subtly emblazoned with the restaurant logo. Even the plates had a little logo on the rim. Jamie and I shared a house specialty, the Paella Parellada ("Rich Man's" Paella, 18.70 Euros, see photo) - which was sparse on ingredients (one jumbo shrimp tail, one sausage, etc.) but packed with flavor. We also tried the Botifarra amb Mongetes del Ganxet 7 Portes (Catalan Sausage with "7 Doors" White Beans, 11.50 Euros, see photo). Good, hearty peasant-style fare. There was enough room for dessert, and we were quite pleased with the slice of Pastis de Coco i Gerd (Coconut and Raspberry Pie, 5.30 Euros, see photo). Despite the white linens and the natty look of the staff, the restaurant was not very dressy. The service was very old-school, as the waiter looked almost as established as the restaurant. The place got packed fairly quickly with quite a few tourists in the mix, and the decibel level followed suit. My advice would be to come before 6PM as if they had an Early Bird special but then reset your expectations back to the higher-than-moderate prices they do charge regardless of the hour. By the way, it's just a quick stroll from the Barceloneta subway station, so it's easy to get to from anywhere in the city. FOOD - 4 stars...flavorful paella even if it wasn't all that AMBIANCE - 4.5 stars...very old school...how many places have you been that have been in business for over 170 years and still has a toilet that flushes? SERVICE - 4 stars...also very old school, no English spoken unless they must TOTAL - 4 stars...I'll pass the word on 7 Portes...paella prepared with care read more

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We had an acceptable service. We ordered a paella for two after several recommendations. It was a good paella but a bit pricey for what we got. I had better while staying in Barcelona. I believe the price includes the fact that a celebrity sat at your table. I sat where Che sat... Mixed feelings about that. Their olive oil oh yes! The best thing I tried at 7 Porte. What an amazing olive oil. So fruity and strong. Star of the dinner. read more

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Great service, and amazing tenderloin. The only complaint I have is that they charge you are everything- nothing is complementary. Great stop if youre in the city. read more

We came to this restaurant upon it being highly recommended. Ordered sangria which I thought was awful compared to others I had in town. The mussels appetizer was good but bland. We ordered two different paella meals, the traditional and veggies with meat. Both were underwhelming and had too much broth with not enough rice to soak it up. The only good part of the meal was the blueberry ice cream we had for dessert. Overall, the meal was super expensive and I'd recommend going anywhere else. read more

Been in Barcelona for about a week and dined in restaurants big and small, this is unfortunately the worst dining experience. The location and the building itself are nice. Inside of the restaurant, if you sit in the front room it's good but if you're led to any of the side rooms it's pretty average. Service was very very poor. It took a long time for everything. (Including getting the bill) Our dinner time was 19:30 so it was busy but not prime time (people in Spain eats dinner much later). Countless issues with our dinner. Here is the list: 1. We were charged 2 euro for bread that we didn't ask for. 2. Server gave us a wrong dish that we didn't order and tried to cover up the mistake by substituting it with an sangria order we later added. Basically, he didn't add the sangria order to our official order. When the final bill came He manually crossed off the wrong dish on our bill with a pen and said that dish was replaced by sangria. (See attached picture). The problem is that we ordered a small sangria that should've cost around 12 euro. He basically charged us 23 euro for the sangria when he did the manual substitution. (The wrong order was a dish for 23 euro). This is unethical. We were upset that we didn't catch it on the spot. the server could've just deleted the wrong item from the bill and charged us the sangria separately to keep everything clean). 3. Drink menu was not offered with food menu. We had to asked a few times for it. 4. Server gave us Spanish and French menu for dessert despite knowing we need English menu. 5. This is a little mean to say but the server had bad body odor and it was unpleasant. Overall bad attention to many details. Although not customary, I gave some tip to all my meals while in town. This is the only place I didn't tip and, I wish I could give negative tip for a dinner ruined. We had the opportunity to go somewhere else to spend our last night in Barcelona and we picked the wrong place. Food itself was ok. I wouldn't say it's bad but after having so many amazing food in town, it's hard to understand why some people think that this is one of the best in town. It's good but just not unique in any way. Competition in Barcelona is pretty tough. read more

7 Portes - Unethical behavior by our server - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

The food was mediocre and way too salty. We ordered the traditional paella with lobster, seafood, and meat. I'm used to salty paella but this was really bad. The presentation was fine... I guess. The shrimp was over cooked, the single lobster was tiny (maybe 2 inches long--not wide), and the meat was bland. At first I was glad the rice looked moist but it turned out to just be a soggy mess. We were charged for bread we didn't order (that came out tasting cold and stale with no butter or oil) but waitstaff came by so infrequently and we had to wait so long to pay our bill we didn't want to argue the point and risk our server disappearing for another 20 minutes. On top of all this we had a reservation for 10pm and were skipped over several times and weren't seated until 11:20pm after asking the hostess several times. She asked us if we were sure we had been waiting that long and we had to show her the confirmation email again. We didn't get a chance to order apps or dessert because the restaurant closed at midnight and I didn't want to make the kitchen staff and waitstaff have to stay late for me. It was also pretty overpriced for what we got. The one positive thing I can say is that the serving size was surprisingly large for a European restaurant compared to everywhere else we've been. I guess I'll attribute my 1 star to that. read more

7 Portes - That's the size of the lobster not the shrimp. For for comparison. I had a tiny portion. That was the only reason my plate was empty. - Mediterranean Near Me - Barcelona, B

I wanted to taste some authentic Spanish paella. Multiple places recommended 7 Portes. I had made reservations for 7, but circumstances ended up having us there an hour early. They were happy to accommodate us and have us seated. Service was fairly quick and friendly. We ordered the small seafood platter, seafood paella, and pijama ligero dessert. Seafood tasted very fresh. I loved the oysters and the person I was with loved the shrimp. Seafood paella was flavorful, with nice, big chunks of various seafood mixed in. Dessert was also good. It was a nice mix of textures and flavors, with dried pineapples, berrry sorbet, vanilla ice cream, pineapple chunks, flan, etc. Would definitely come back here again if I ever visited Barcelona again! read more

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