Staff: brought out food in waves and got to interact with many different people Ambiance: more restaurant than a home-like feel as some other tapas restaurants have. have larger bar and desserts than most places I've been to, unfortunately didn't have room left after lunch to try any! Location: central in Barcelona, super easy to walk to - also outdoor seating available What to try: free-range chicken bite (1.55 € per piece, so order a few) Food: came out as it was ready, ordered plenty to share for four people and would avoid paella here Price: vino was less than 2€, which was a pleasant surprise. 4 people left for under 15€ per person for a feast! read more

Casa Alfonso - Paella, fried veggie with balsamic, bread and tomato, cheese - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

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In another city Casa Alfonso might get a bump to four stars, but compared to our other meals in Barcelona it just didn't write live up. The atmosphere is very laid back and homey, and the service was English-speaking and friendly, but did try to bring us someone else's drinks at one point. We got lucky not having a reservation and still getting to eat, but the tables were seemingly all booked for Spanish dinnertime (7:30pm onwards) so I would recommend making a reservation. The food was all good, if nothing amazing. The cuttlefish and shrimp paella was good, but while it had plenty of cuttlefish, it could have used a bit more shrimp as well even for the pretty modest price of ~$10. The chorizo in wine was good, but in hindsight I'd have gotten some bread to go with it. The haricot beans (aka navy beans) were cooked in a white wine sauce and were a decent balance for the richness of the chorizo and the winner of the meal, the Casa Alfonso Bomb. That Casa Alfonso Bomb was basically an oversized potato and ground beef croquette with a smear of flavored mayo on top, and was completely delicious. Overall a good meal for a decent price, but while we'd go back to a couple of the other places we ate at on this trip, we might try someplace different in place of Casa Alfonso. read more

Fantastic experience ! Very welcoming waitstaff, great food. An effort by all to communicate in the customer's native language, I would recommend for anyone! read more

Casa Alfonso - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

Super casual style family neighborhood cafe. Can't say enough about the food and service. The charred octopus is to die for, the tuna and tomato salad is incredible. Do yourself a favor and stop by. read more

Casa Alfonso - Tuna and Tomato Salad, Tomato Bread, Paella - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

Had dinner here with two co-workers after reading of it in Lonely Planet's Barcelona guidebook. We stopped by without reservations after almost 3 hours of walking around, famished. The wait for a seat indoors was 40 minutes, so we opted to sit outside and be served immediately. Being Feb, it was quite cold but the overhead heat lamps weakly helped ward it off. Note that while we were there the language we heard most spoken by guests was English...thus many tourists. That should not be a deterrent because it was very good. SERVICE: 4.5. Appreciated the cheerful attitude and patience of the gentleman who arranged for us to dine outside and who kindly explained items on the menu as well as quantity. His recommendations were spot on. (BTW, there is a 5% surcharge for outside seating. Outside seating consisted of 3 umbrella-covered tables on the sidewalk, shielded by walls on 3 sides.) FOOD: 4.0. We were very hungry. The taste of the first bites created one of those rare occasions when one becomes even more ravenous after starting to dine. We had the Iberian Board (mix of meats), octopus tapa, meatball tapa, heated bread with tomato sauce, and pate. All were excellent. We forgot the cold until we were sated. I had the house red wine, and enjoyed it. AMBIENCE: 4.0. crowded and friendly. read more

Thanks to Yelp, we had a great dinner at Alfonso's. The food is great and the folks are generally nice. One server even gave us one more chocolate croquette (this is one heavenly fried ball of chocolate, I must say) cos these 2 Asian girls' limited appetite could only allow us to order one to share. That was actually our last night in Barcelona before we fly home and that little gesture was a sweetener to the end of our wonderful trip in Spain. Do note that the sangria here comes in small jug and costs about €10. Having been to so many bars that just serves up a glass at €3-4 when ordered for 1 pax, we got a little shocked when we fit the bill but it was a mini jug, so the price was right, just we didn't expect that to cost that much and it wasn't listed on the menu. Other than that, it was a decent dinner with hearty food and served with a warm heart. Loved it. read more

Casa Alfonso - The chocolate croquette. Awesomely bitter sweet! - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

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Loved everything we ordered and the staff was friendly. We sat at the bar. The stools were a little to high for me. Never had that happen before. They had purse hooks under the bar which is always a good idea. The croqueta fish octopus and goat cheese dish and mini fried fish were all cooked to perfection. We will defensively go back. read more

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Great ambiance with lots of local customers. We both had mini paellas. One black rice with squid and shrimp and the other was cod with spinach. Both were hot and delicious, however the black rice one was a bit too salty. Service was good once the waiters finished their break. read more

Casa Alfonso - Mini paellas - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

Out of all places we ate at in Barcelona, this was by far our favorite. This place is the real deal. Such a quaint place and the food is amazing, great prices. Please try it! read more

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What an amazing place! Great tapas selection and their staff was really helpful. We're foreigners and we didn't really know what to order and we asked our server for recommendations, and wow he did not disappoint! I remember getting one of their cured ham tapas and it's a great pair with the tomato bread. I forgot to get our servers name. I just wanna say thank you again! read more

I came here with a group of about ten folks. The waiting staff was very accommodating. The tapas were decent. My favorites were the croquettas and the fried olives. Also, I found that the tomatoes used to rub on the bread were very tasty! read more

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Really nice and relaxed place. Focus is tapas and vine. If you are a beer drinker prepare to drink lager only. The speciality is croquets. read more

Casa Alfonso - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

We ordered the croquettes, fried artichoke, black paella, potatoes, but my favorite was the steak pieces. Best steak I've had so far in Barcelona. The ham that everyone else ordered looked wonderful. Service was great! read more

In business since 1934, Casa Alfonso is perfect for a morning coffee or a tapas stop at the long marble bar. Wood-panelled and festooned with old photos, posters and swinging hams, it attracts a faithful local clientele at all hours for its flautas (thin custom-made baguettes with choice of filling), hams, cheeses, hot dishes and homemade desserts. read more

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We were looking for some authentic paella and found this place. I had the black paella with cuttlefish and shrimp. It was a little scary looking but delicious!!! We also had a potato tapas and a tapa called the Casa Alfonso bomb. Both were amazing. Neat little place with the feel of an authentic Spanish deli. Good spot! read more

Casa Alfonso - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

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My family and I spent around 4 nights in Barcelona visiting where we searched high and low to find places that would be good to eat while trying to avoid major tourist traps. While I had read the mixed reviews on Cafe Alfonso, we decided to give it a try since there are several five star reviews. I would not recommend it since there are several restaurants for a similar price that you could eat at with better service and food. Our first interaction with the staff was to discuss a table for 6 people where they told us that we would have to vacate our table at 9pm for a reservation. (Understandable, but it was a little strange by European standards, even if they take reservations in our experience.) We didn't mind since we understood that we were walking in off the street without a reservation. We waited to be seated, then we had a waitress who was actually quite rude and dismissive to us. She obviously seemed to have no interest in serving us and didn't check on us at all through our meal. At some point, another waitress would help us out through the meal and help take our orders who was better, but it was still disappointing service for the most part. Once we received our food, there were some missed items. They have a very extensive list of croquettes from which we ordered several but some were lost in communication; luckily, they didn't charge us for it. Their tomato bread was perhaps average and the rest of the food was just not what I had hoped with the exception of the iberian chorizo board that we got. In general, the octopus and most seafood that we ordered there were not cooked well, especially compared to what you can get at many venues in Barcelona. In addition, we ordered sangria for the group that was clearly just mixed in the kitchen since when someone tried to eat the fruit it ended up being a lemon that was particularly bitter. Given the poor service and unremarkable food on our visit, I don't think that I would recommend this restaurant to anybody visiting Barcelona. There are several other places that have excellent food for similar prices. read more

My wife and I just left this place. We are in Barcelona for our honeymoon and this restaurant was recommended by our tour guide. We did not have reservations, but the host said we could have a table if we would be done in an hour, as he needed it back. This was fine for us as we just wanted to try a few things at this place then try another tapas bar later in the night. The older, heavy set, bald man, Giovanni, was our server. We ordered water (as we wanted to have our alcohol later at another place) and tried 5 things off the tapas menu. We tried the ratatouille, the chicken croqueta, spinach croqueta, patatas bravas and croqueta de chocolate. The ratatouille was good and we enjoyed it. The chicken croqueta was just ok--no flavor. The spinach croqueta was delicious as well as the croqueta de chocolate. The patatas bravas was not the best we have had. It was not crispy and the did not have the 'bravas' spiciness as other tapas bars have. The food was ok, but Giovanni and the service was cold. He was friendly to Spanish speaking guests, but very unwelcoming to us Americans. We didn't have any issues with the service in Barcelona, except at this restaurant. Giovanni, didn't even say thank you after we paid. He just handed my card back and left. There are many other places in Barcelona with good food. The service we received here was terrible and put us in a bad mood for the night. Please skip this place. read more

Casa Alfonso - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

My family went there based upon others reviews. To start you'll need a reservation but we didn't know this. The gentleman who was working with the meats was very nice and told us to wait. We waited and Giovanni greet us, he found us a table right away with the understanding we had to be out by a certain time (I'm cool with that). We were not fans of our waitress Patricia but our food was amazing and worth going back for. After we paid and left we were probably less than a block away when Giovanni came running up to us with my beanie (favorite hockey team). Needless to say he was probably the best part of our evening. Price of the meal was reasonable too!! read more

Ahhhh Casa Alfonso. You took us in when everyone else had a long wait. You asked if we had reservations and said "esta bien!" seating us within minutes. You settled us into a cozy backroom under the air conditioner (eep). You gave us a jug of wine for maybe 10 euro. You brought out our initial food order in a rush so we wouldn't eat our hands off because we were so hungry, then you returned with the rest of the items. Your soul is marvelous. Their tomato bread was the perfect thing to stack everything on and the staff was splendid. The food was delightful. We spied items on other tables that we ended up ordering, like the eggplant crisps with goat cheese (omg), the Galician-style octopus (get. this. now), and several of their tapas. You can't go wrong with this place. It's a delightful 2-3 block walk from the main street and worth a visit. read more

Dropped in on a Friday night without a reservation, but the staff were still able to accommodate our group of five. I had heard that food servers in Barcelona were all business and not chatty with customers, and that was the case here. Being from the US, we were used to getting a guided tour of the menu. Communication with the staff in English was a little shaky, but it all worked out. After a few questions, we ordered some paella, sausage, potato bravas, soup, and a hamburger. All of the food arrived quickly and was delicious. The waitress gently reminded us to make a reservation next time on our way out. The house wine was good as well. read more

I would give it zero stars if Yelp allowed me to. My friend and I came here after our hotel concierge recommended this as a really good tapas restaurant and he said if you mention where we are staying, the waiters will give you "a little something". Instead, we were charged for the tomato bread that we did not ask for. We ordered the grilled octopus which was very bland and had chunks of salt spread all over the dish. We also had artichoke shrimp paella which was SO SALTY, we could've gotten higher blood pressure after eating this meal. The croquette were just okay, they were the size of a gum ball. I have to say this was absolutely a tourist trap. read more

Searching for my roots I end up here in paradise where everything is old/ new world. Jamon, tortilla, fideos, rioja and good company... yes... Mr. Trump... coming back where I came from... but I 'll be back to take care of the country I love... cheers! read more

Stopped in for a slightly early lunch and we enjoyed our food, drinks, and the friendly service. The two sandwiches we had were made of quality ingredients and were quite tasty. The wine we ordered was reasonably priced and nicely sized. They have a few menus in English and take credit cards, which helps jet-lagged tourists like us, though the majority of customers were locals. read more

Chose this due to lots of great reviews. Couldnt be happier. Had to wait few mins for a table and was seated at bar with a drink. Wait staff were friendly and helped with english translations. Food was amazing, had tapas of croquettes, patatas bravas, chorizo, tomato bread, omellette and risotto. Was more than enough for two. My veggie partner was very happy with the many veggie options. We didnt have dessert but they looked good. Finished off with a nice Cortado. Highly recommend visiting this place. It got very busy after 8:30pm so worth going a little earlier. read more

Delicious tapas, nice ambiance and friendly staff. Definitely try their crema catelana! One of our favorites that we tried in Barcelona.

Nice and friendly place, a little loud as everywhere in Spain but friendly waiters and good food. Nothing "haute cuisine" but who does expect this in this touristic area ? Normally I would give 4 stars but with view to the very negative comments from george k. I am giving another one. You must really behave ... How should I say ... as a ...don't dare....to have this feed back. As I said , nice Spanish cuisine, not to expensive. I had some "pimientos" some good cheese I could choose on my own and some good red wines ( Rioja Crianza by glass is good and cheap) . The waiters are friendly and open. I will come back. read more

Spending a week in Spain, someplace is going to be the worst meal. This was it for us. The "tomato bread" was the worst -- soggy pieces of wheat bread, soaked in olive oil (literally dripping), with smudges of tomato on top. We had far better tomato bread elsewhere. I ordered the black risotto with cuttlefish, and it was okay but not particularly tasty -- and again, I had much better elsewhere. My wife ordered the steak with the reduced wine sauce which was so sweet that it tasted candied. The service was barely adequate. Casa Alfonso wasn't *terrible* (except for the tomato bread). It's just that Barcelona is really great in general, and Casa Alfonso was kind of the Denny's of Barcelona cuisine. It was okay, but you could do much better. Definitely not a 4 or 5 star experience. read more

Now we are talking TAPAS! Wonderful ambiance and food! I highly recommend this restaurant. I have eaten in very many of this tapas cafes and restaurant and this is one of the best. We recommend crujientes de alcachofas al Oporto (incredible), chips of berenjena caramelizada con queso de cabra, croquetas de setas y alcachofas y pescadito fritos!!! Buen provecho! read more

We ate an Iberian meat board which was for two persons. It's more for the tiny hunger but very delicious and tasty. Very friendly and fast service. Next to a street a bit loud but it's ok - you can sit inside. read more

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This is an unsung hero of mine. Fantastic food at generous prices & brilliant to go to alone. This, as a woman is not usually as easy, but here it was a warm & lovely experience. The ambience is wonderful, & it is so easy to see why it has attracted artists for years. Nowadays you might even catch a glimpse of Javier Bardem or Carmen Maura off set from filming. Or one of the monthly exhibitions held there. At lunch it is purely Catalan customers in the know - or the tourist who isn't yet aware of the treat in store for him. The popular dishes are the jamon iberica, which hangs there, chistorias al vino (chorizo sausages in Rioja - my favourite) or pisto Manchego (ratatouille) with a glass of red wine: heaven! read more

Jamón and tapas at its best!! Do not hesitate to stop here if you're visiting Barcelona city Centre. The croquetas are top level read more

Casa Alfonso - La barra de Casa Alfonso - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

Amazing food, old-school atmosphere, and popular with locals. Get your tapas + paella fix without spending mad Euros, and hang out in a historic building that has been around for over 80 years. Loved: - The simple dishes - tomato on bread (must love olive oil), mushroom paella, patas bravas. Or maybe I just love carbs. - The paellas come in smallish pans so you can sample a few without needing to unbuckle your pants - Bull (ox) tail croquettes (all were good, but these were pretty unique) Could use a little work: - Grilled garlic squid - a bit overly salty, on top of loads of garlic. Still good though. - The bomb - seems to be a common menu item around town, but not much different that just a large croquette Note: - restaurant opens at 1 pm on Saturdays, not noon as Yelp page indicates - probably should make a reservation, as locals like this place and it fills up read more

Solid place to get tapas. You can't go wrong with anything you order here. What's nice about this tapas bar is that a lot of locals go here and it's not touristy. The paella is amazing. Only downside was I thought staff here was very rude. read more

We just arrived in Barcelona and our hotel recommended this place. I was kinda skeptical at first because you never know if they're in cahoots. Boy am I glad that we tried this place out! We ordered the stuff pigs ear, pescadito fresco and the black paella. All were bomb! Did I forget to the mention the wifey loved their Sangría too! You won't go wrong when you come here. read more

For the second time this trip, we were ignored because we didn't speak much Spanish or Catalan! Casa Alfonso was recommend to us by the receptionist at our hotel (the5rooms- which was excellent and just round the corner) telling us about the great food and service. Going in with my basic Spanish, I was told the wait would be 5/10 minutes, so we waited by the bar. Not only did we get shouted at by the rude owner and waiters for blocking the entrance with my bag (which it was not) and standing by the bar, we were ignored with other tourists and locals being sat before us. Waiting for 40 minutes because we were told the food was so good, we walked out with the owner tutting at us as we walked out. They obviously didn't want us to eat there because we didn't fit their clientele. read more

I live in Los Angeles and their are many excellent steak houses and I'm an avid meat eater. This place served me with what I would consider to be hands down the best steak I've ever had in my entire life. It was delicious, so good that it prompted me to write a review while on vacation. I also recommend the tomato bread. There is only one downfall to this restaurant and that would be their tables and chairs, they are extremely uncomfortable and small. Regardless of the seating it's still definitely worth checking out!! read more

Casa Alfonso - The steak & mashed potatoes are a must have if you visit this place! - Tapas Bars Near Me - Barcelona, B

The food was delicious and the wine list was spot on. Downside? No matter how I tried to communicate, first Catalonian and then when that wasn't appreciated, Spanish, I was shunned at every turn. I've traveled throughout Spain (and the world) and it's clear tourists aren't wanted at this establishment. Bummer. read more

This place is great. Amazing tapas selection. They have both indoor and outdoor seating which are both great and fine.

Cute little place that was able to get us in on a weekend night without a terribly long wait or reservation. Our service was quite friendly, and the tapas were wonderful! We ordered a whole jug of wine and drank it all. It was great! read more

The food was pretty good but the service was terrible. The waitress ignored us and it took forever to get service.