It's Jaica time of year again! Sunny spring afternoons spent tapeando in a busy energetic informal bar that just has something special. Perhaps it's what we want the entire neighbourhood of Barceloneta to be like but this feeling only exists within these Jaica walls. Simple small plates to share with friends in a crowded yet relaxed environment, a perfect stop before/after a stroll along the beach! read more

Went to this place based off a recommendation from our bike tour guide. Was happy we stopped in, for what happened to be my birthday dinner. The place was very small, took awhile to get seated, but was able to wait at the bar for the time. We were also able to order at the bar and eat there while we waited for a table to open up. Unfortunately, their sangria was my least favorite of the trip, never had a sangria made with fruit cocktail from a can. However, when it came to the food, I was very happy! We ordered the ham croquettes because of a Yelp review and that was actually one of my favorite things. I love seafood, so we ordered a bunch! We got an order of the mussels, which were very tasty. The fried small shrimp, which were mostly small, took a lot of work, but overall pretty good. We also got an order of the clams, which was a large order! Then we got the octopus since we've never tried it before. Was surprisingly good, but my least favorite of the plates I ordered. However, its definitely worth trying! read more

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A proper local spot. Jump straight in and stand at the bar because you're lucky to get a table, plus then you get to see all the food on display. The menu lists the food in Spanish, Catalonian and English so once you know what you want try and use the Spanish version as the staff don't speak English and will appreciate you trying to not be another monolingual tourist. The seafood is the specialty, in particular the octopus with potatoes which is very tasty if a little expensive. Three plates of tapas between 2 with a drink each was more than enough food and came €25, great value. read more

Walked by this place and decided to stop in as it was semi busy around 1930. Sat at a table and was ignored for at least 20 minutes even though multiple waiter and waitress made eye contact so they knew we were there. Waiters Walked by and served other customers nearby multiple times without even saying hello or a head nod. I gave the benefit of the doubt as half the place was full until I saw the waiter Pull out what look like a piece of broken plate out of a dish look around, walk away, and then come back a minute later and serve the dish. Left immediately after I feel sorry for whoever got that dish. read more

Awesome tapas! We arrived early for dinner like 7 but were famished after a long day of sightseeing. Got 4 plates and everything was great! The prawns were a little difficult to get out of the shell but service was good and staff was polite. read more

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Local spot. Gets packed but the wait is well worth it. It's a very delicious place for tapas. They have a large menu. All of it is great. I have no pictures to post because we are the food way to fast. The tomato bread, razor clams, potato braves, fried shrimp were soooooo bomb!! Absolutely recommend this place. read more

Very nice spot on a side street. Came in on a Saturday night and it was quite busy. Seating outside and very limited seating inside. Was quite a small place actually. We has a 40 minute wait for a table but while waiting we ordered food and drinks from the bar. Food was excellent especially the mushrooms in aceite de Oliva. Pan con to mate was just ok as were the albondigas. Boquerones in vinegar were good but I've had better. Sausages were a big hit as were the bravas. Good service too and atmosphere great and lively. We had a 5 year old with us and this was no problem at all. Next time I'd just eat at bar. Bill was cheap, especially the bebidas. read more

Some one's singing the yum yum song and doing a little dance! We popped in here for dinner on our first night in Barcelona - and it was the PERFECT introduction to Spanish tapas! We had a mass of food on the table - accompanied by Estrella beer with limon. SO GOOD. Mmmm, so here's what we had: Empanadilles Bombes Croquetes Pebrots del padro grilled garlic prawns My personal favs? Bombe and the grilled peppers. Flavor central. I could eat that combo with Estrella to wash it down every dayyyyyyy. read more

A very good, authentic (with a capital A) tapas place, that's bustling and serving food in rapid order with little pretense. This ain't a tourist spot and while you might appreciate the atmosphere and enjoy being away from the throngs of tourists near the Cathedral, also be prepared to have some working knowledge of Spanish - because they don't speak English here and don't give a hoot if you can't communicate. That's your problem. Delicious fried shrimp. The vegetable platter is great. Indeed, it was all simply prepared and good (except I thought the calamari was a bit tough). The house wine is a bargain. The atmosphere is like the Oyster Bar at Grand Central. The real deal, but if you want stone walls, candlelight, and violins - head elsewhere. Service is fine, but you have to flag them down. The price is right. read more

I can attribute my newfound taste for olives to Jai-Ca. Honestly, there may have been some magic abrewin' here, because I literally hated olives before Barcelona. Before Jai-Ca in particular. As a little snack while waiting for my food, I said what the hell and popped one of those puppies in my mouth, and something happened! I liked it! Ok, olives aside, my tapas were great too. I'm a big fan of a tasty croquette, so I had a few of those and a few glasses of wine. The only thing that could have made my experience better would have been wi-fi (they don't have it) and if I could speak Spanish. Our communication was limited to pointing, bad Spanish attempts and hand gestures. So there's that...speak Spanish or be prepared to improvise. read more

The food here was absolutely amazing and delicious. This was such a lovely local experience in La Barceloneta. We would have eaten here every day had we not felt guilty not to try other places. The service was good, the beer was cold and the atmosphere was great. The only suggestion would be a cleaner bathroom. read more

Jai-Ca is a great tapas bar in a city that generally doesn't serve great tapas. The prices are fair, the ambiance is fun and the beers are flowing. The coveted outdoor seating is now hit or miss since they have removed a lot of it (sometimes the whole area altogether on weekend nights) due to the constant noise complaints. It's a great spot for some bravas and pescadito tapas though I wouldn't say that their quality is top-notch. It's great for a post-beach snack or just for having some beers with some tapas before heading out. read more

I'm definitely not a tapas expert, and I'm sure there are better places than this, but for the price this was pretty good. Highlights: langoustines (divine -- fresh, steaming hot and nicely flavored with olive oil and salt); octopus (very fresh and nice spice to it). Weaknesses: cod fritters (WAY too much batter, as in "would you like some cod with your batter?"). Tuna/egg/olive salad was good, but oddly simple with not a lot of flavor. By 845pm or so it was definitely crowded. I would recommend. read more

A break from our bike ride! So very welcome and the house special is so odd. What is nice is that they serve you olives with your drinks, something very rare in Barcelona. We had the house special, which was small odd but tasty and the spicy sausages which were very yummy read more

Five stars just for the razor claims! Found Jai-Ca on the Barcelona Eater 38 guide. It's a small space, but the staff is super accommodating and found us a table fairly quickly. Everything we ordered was amazing, the sardines, the croquettes. Also a good selection of vermouth. There were two bars. We were in the older smaller bar. It's all about the atmosphere. read more

Great food at a very good price. The place is quite small, but the atmosphere is very nice and it feels local. But you have to make a reservation! It's very popular. read more

Great food. We had many tapas and the everything was fresh. Fish of the day was great. Small fish, shrimp, calamari and others were very good. Place was packed with locals. Service was still fast even though it was very busy. Highly recommended read more

Amazing experience! If you're in Barcelona you have to come here late night for some fresh razor clams and calamari!

Ok, listen up and listen up real good. Bar Jai-ca place is the real deal. Delicious tapas and Sangria at a reasonable price. We ordered the Boqueron, mussels, bread w/ tomato, and sangria with cava. Everything was excellent! Especially the Boqueron and mussels. The place is rather small and tight. It's popular, so it's usually crowded, but totally worth the wait. Oh! I almost forgot, we got the chocolate lava cake for dessert. Another delicious hit. Definitely drop by here for some tapas if you're ever in Barceloneta. You won't be disappointed. read more

This place is amazing. The sangria de cava o vino is delicious. Every dish is better than the last. I can not recommend this place enough. And so reasonably priced. Cod fritters, peppers, fried fish, meat and cheese. Too good read more

Been there a couple of times and I like the blend of tourists and locals. The portions are of a good size and you have the option of ordering a full or a half portion. Prices are reasonable too. Meatballs were outstanding but the seafood tapas were OK. Customer service needs a bit of improvement. It is fun for a vermut and few tapas. read more

This was my absolute favorite restaurant/bar that we ate at in Barcelona. Hands down one of the best meals I've had. The fiance and I were having a late dinner and thanks to yelp, found this awesome little place. The restaurant isnt huge and was totally packed when we arrived. We only waited a about 5-10 minutes for a table though, and that was great. Our waiter didn't speak a lick of English which we were totally OK with. That's half the fun, right? My Spanish isn't very good, but we made do. We ordered SOOO much food...probably too much food, but hey we're on vacation! The cuttlefish was the standout dish. Incredible. Get it. We were able to mime our way through ordering dessert off of a specials sign and it was great. Our waiter was so patient, funny, and nice. He laughed with us and we really had a great time. I will be back here. read more

Awesome prices for good food and drinks. This was a local hangout for my buddies who used to live in the area before moving to Sitges. The calamari, chicken fingers, and patatas tapas were great combination with the beer. Cheap prices too. read more

The absolute WORST experience in Barcelona.We sat by a window when we walked in, only to realize it smelled like urine. When we asked if it was okay to move tables, he grunted. We went ahead to order our 3 tapas and he rushed us the whole time. Not once was he friendly or made us even feel comfortable to ask for a recommendation on the menu. He was so arrogant to say the least as if our presence was bothersome to him. Keep in mind there were only two other tables being occupied there at the moment. My husband and I spoke English to him since he seemed to not understand my husbands Spanish leading him to believe we aren't fluent in Spanish. He brought my husband a drink he didn't order, 2 tapas we certainly did not order.As we were paying with the bartender,the waiter started talking smack to his co workers in Spanish about how we left the tapa with fish,complaining we don't know how to eat the tapa, making fun of us. read more

Good food and great prices! I've been here half a dozen times already and that says a lot considering I don't live in the neighborhood and theres literally hundreds of tapas bars in BCN. Definitely a good local place to take guests to, as well. read more

The best seafood tapas! No English spoken but wild gesticulation helps. Sangria presented like fountain soda!

The waiter spoke bad English and wasn't helpful at all. We felt like we were disturbing him. Not recommended...

Came to this place based on Yelp's ratings. Did not live up to its expectations. The food tasted ok, but the ambiance and service was awful. The glass counter displaying the food at the bar made it seem like a cafeteria instead of a restaurant. To top it off, outside street vendors are allowed in the restaurant while you eat to sell you stuff, horrible. read more

Everything that we tasted here was wonderful. This is the place to go to if you're seeking an authentic Tapas experience. Dishes were well seasoned and flavorful. Waitstaff was patient and helpful. Wish that they were located closer to our hotel. read more

We found a place that fit our needs! We were on the boardwalk and did not want seafood and we hit the jackpot! It was only a 5 min walk from the beach. We ordered 6 different tapas and all were delicious. We highly recommend the fried artichokes, the croquettes and finish it off with an espresso. The service was good and the staff friendly. read more

Food was good. Just greasy but very good. Chicken is nothing special. Restaurant has limited seating so expect a wait but fun atmosphere and everyone seems to really like the drinks. read more

Great tapas and a really nice staff that gave us a table very quick eventhough the place was packed.

Wow loved this place! Our host on Airbnb recommended. I didn't want to take a taxi this far but it was worth it. Especially love the sardines, the Kai ca potatoes and the meatballs. For dessert the Catalan cream is excellent. read more

Great tapas selection- razor clams, breaded mussels, gambas, giant gambas, salty grilled chillies, croquettas, aubergine, whitebait etc etc.. Sangria was way too sweet. Perhaps they could have been a little quicker to clean up after previous diners, but otherwise service was fantastic- multi-lingual, Spanish, English, French, Arabic... The atmosphere is wonderful- locals, and a handful of smart tourists from around europe made for a cool, friendly crowd of all ages. Good value- 06-2011 dinner and lots of drinks for 3- 56Euro! Closes early for BCN- dont try to arrive after 10 and expect to eat... read more

Came back here twice because the tapas were the best we tried, the drinks were the best, the location is amazing, and the staff was super friendly. If I ever go back to Barcelona, I'll be staying as close to this restaurant as possible. read more

We had a great first night at this restaurant, so we decided to go back for our last night in Barcelona. Unfortunately, our experience was not as perfect as the first time. We went for dinner around 7:30, and I don't know if it was too early for the dinner rush, but many of the dishes we had were somewhat cold and clearly not made fresh at the time. We experienced this with the meatballs, mussels, and razor clams - all of which we had the other night and really enjoyed. We sent two of the dishes back. Perhaps it was an off night for them, but as a result I'd lower our over all rating of the place from 5 stars to 3 stars. read more

Excellent food, very cosy and authentic tapas bar, slow table service - better go to the bar and order!

Great tapas, great atmosphere, but a bit rude staff! You must visit this place - it's great!

Really enjoyed both times I have been to this tapas restaurant and a friend I recommended it to said she also really enjoyed the tapas. If you want to go somewhere in Barcelona with a fun and exciting vibe, this is the place to go. The tapas is also very good! The staff are welcoming and funny. Both times I've been, there have been street performers that come in which makes the tapas experience even better. A member of staff originally tried to kick them out, but instead ended up dancing with the singers and having a good time themselves. Highly recommend! read more

Easy 5 stars. Good sangria, excellent tapas, period. Enjoy and have a good time there.