Located in a small side alley in the old town of barcelona. Recommended by locals for typical Catalonian food. For movie buffs, it was a scene in a Woody Allen film. Interior is historic and full of history of artwork. Price is a bit on higher side and some of dishes on smaller side. Overall service was friendly and quick. Good for groups as well. read more

Els 4 Gats - Spanish Near Me - Barcelona, B

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Someone had recommended me this place and I decided to wonder over for a night cap. I was pleasantly surprised by the live music and attentive service. I ordered a sangria and found it to be absolutely lovely. read more

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We had a tour and the guide recommended this place. I know the reviews were so so, but i will say, this place was actually very good. The food was good, and yes, expensive. It's all small bites, tapas food. So you will need a few plates to fill you up. A lot of history and plenty of atmosphere. It's a great place to go to and just look around, talk, and eat. The hummus was excellent. The prons were shocking at first. Big huge shrimp, completely dressed. In other words, shell, legs, and head filled with wacamole. Yea, shocking. I know people have said the service was not good. We didn't have that problem at all. Our waitress was good and fast. We didn't have any problems. Everything was good. I would recommend. read more

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We had discovered Els 4 Gats on a previous trip to Barcelona in 2023 ...like it so much my wife and I made dinner reservations with new friends and we all enjoyed the evening; We ate early by Spanish standards, (6p) but that meant a quieter atmosphere and we still enjoyed some piano music after 7p It's been awhile so I can't recall food choices, sorry ! read more

Tourist trap. Meh food. Pricy. Portions small. Had turbot. Just ok. Small and simple dish. Salad fish 1 drink bread water $72 euro

We read about this place and made reservations to stop in for dinner one evening. They were pretty busy for dinner service and they have a pianist playing in the main dining room. The dining room has an interesting upper level which is a cat walk with small two-top dining tables, it's narrow, but gives you a view of the beautiful dining room below. The menu has plenty of options, whether you're seeking paella, seafood, pork, or beef. The quality and execution of the dishes we ordered was great! The turbot was nice and smokey, as if it were made in a smoking oven - amazing! Save room for dessert, they have a couple of amazing items on their dessert list that we couldn't resist. The service was decent, but mixed. The management seemed to be rushed, not very accommodating, but a couple of the servers were friendly and went out of their way to ensure diners had a good experience. Glad we stopped in... if back in the area, we'd return and try paella next time. read more

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The atmosphere was exceptional, service was good, and the food was excellent. A new must go to spot for me when visiting Barcelona. read more

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Service was amazing!!!! Best service in town. The history is fun and it's kept clean. The churros weee fresh. read more

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Honestly very overpriced for the food. I get that the cafe itself is very significant and the vibrant walls bring out life in the late 1800s. Being that Picasso was commissioned to paint at this cafe, it felt like we were transported back to that time but.... At the end of the day it's still a restaurant that undelivered on that wow factor that the prices call for. If the menu included any sort of biography about the place or the significance of its history then it would make the experience more grandiose. read more

Els 4 Gats - Spanish Near Me - Barcelona, B

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Beautiful architecture. Service was good and food too but they forgot to bring us the arroz mar y Tierra. Big gaffe. read more

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This restaurant is extremely overpriced for what it is serve here. The service was the worst I ever experience in my life. The food I didnt eat at all and the server with a bad actitud all the time. With so many options in Barcelona I don't recoment this restaurant. Only one bathroom available read more

Love the atmosphere! Service is quite busy though. If you expect a quite and nice place this is not the case. Oyster is something must try. read more

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Incredible meal. Beautiful dining room. Everything we had was absolutely delicious. The beef cheek entree was outstanding.

Atmosphere is awesome, slightly disappointing that two of the specials weren't available for lunch but all meals were good. The beef cheek, octopus, and chicken were all excellent. Nice touch with anchovies and pepper as a snack. read more

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The service was extremely good and kind, the food was excellent and came quick for its quality, and was very delicious. The sound in the room was good and i could hear my family very well, lighting was also very nice. Would reccomend!! Romeo was also extremely kind. read more

The atmosphere is great but that is where the good things about it end. The food was awful, the best thing we ordered was the salad that was just a standard fresh salad. The servers were pushy clearly trying to upsell the most expensive items on the menu. This was our most expensive and disappointing meal of our trip. The food was even worse. There were 5 people in our group and no one was happy with what they ordered. The steak was so fatty and tough that it was hard to cut, and 3/4 was left uneaten. The tuna was a weird unnatural texture. The paella wasn't bad it just wasn't what we ordered. read more

Els 4 Gats - Spanish Near Me - Barcelona, B

This place has great history. Read on it. You will be amazed. This place is very old but cozy and appealing to the eyes. Well, at least to my eyes. It's history is so overwhelming I just can not believe it. Ah yes! They made me vegan panella! Thank you! read more

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I do not recommend 4 Gats. Nice setting, white tablecloth level location. Much anticipated evening we planned weeks in advance while on holiday in Spain I was not impressed with anything except on entree, get the Cod. Beef Carpaccio was solid, shrimp carpaccio was not. I had fish of the day, cold and flavorless. Two ordered seafood paella- fair. Great wine that owner bought every , 2500, bottle from a local vendor- tremendous. Service was the overwhelming negative. From what I saw we got the only poor server, just bad luck. Note the app auto-selected positive for service, I could not take it off. read more

First visited about 16 years ago and loved! Fast forward to present time and still feel the same. Come for some good drinks, relaxed atmosphere, and wonderful tapas. read more

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What an appropriately funky spot. We'd kinda been avoiding it as too touristy, but we had wonderful service above of the best lamb dishes we've every had in our lives. This menu isn't traditionally Catalan, but one can only eat so much jamon and croquettes. We got a lovely steak and an out of this world lamb shank, but not until after we had the caramelized aubergine that made Brian actually say "Oh my God..." (And eggplant isn't his main jam usually.) Also tasty was the red pesto and prawn pasta. We had a great bottle of red wine for an incredibly reasonable price. We heard a little live piano music. We met other tables when they ordered huge dishes as well. (The portion sizes are more American than European!) Would totally recommend the experience. read more

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Service started slow, but really warmed up. Paella is outstanding, went with squid ink. The seafood was perfectly cooked and the servings are plentiful! The artichoke starter was also very tasty with a great dipping sauce. Highly recommend for dinner! read more

Went for lunch. Both my wife & I made selections and wait staff offered "better" options, which we accepted. Although the time was early and restaurant having only 4 or 5 tables filled, it took an interminable time to receive our order. We were given excuses of the rice not cooking properly. When food was cooked it was brought to us for viewing before plating. Then our server placed the order down on the prep table and went and picked up salads for a nearby table before plating our order. The lobster on my wife's order tasted bad, the whole plate did not taste well. She didn't eat much. Later we had tapas for dinner at another restaurant and we ate off the same plates. During the night she got ill running several times to the bathroom. It must have been from the lunch because we ate dinner off the same plates and I was fine. Would recommend any one considering eating here to find another restaurant. read more

My favorite historic coffee shop in Barcelona !!! Very special place and a must see when visiting the city.

Els 4 Gats is a pretty fancy looking restaurant. My friends and I went there for breakfast because of the history--Picasso had his first exhibition here! Their breakfast menu is disappointingly limited, so we ultimately ended up going elsewhere. But the coffee was excellent, the ambiance is lovely, and it'll always be cool to say I had a coffee in the same place Picasso used to hang out! read more

Els 4 Gats - americano! - Spanish Near Me - Barcelona, B

Wonderful meal in a beautiful historic setting. Get a pitcher of sangria. Service was terrific, and the overall experience was A+

Beeeautiful building, neat history, to be able to sit inside and have tapas and an excellent hot chocolate was fun.

This is a beautiful and historic tapas bar in a lively neighborhood of Barcelona. Characters like Gaudi and Picasso were regulars here! The food and drinks are great and standard for the area. We were seated quickly when we walked in on a weekday afternoon. It is pretty touristy and the servers seem busy and didn't check on us much. read more

Els 4 Gats - Bar - Spanish Near Me - Barcelona, B

Great setting especially once the piano player began playing after 8:00. Food was only ok. Chicken in the bone is dark meat and tasted fine but came with nothing but sauce. Paella/ Rice with vegetables had tiny diced veggies when I was expecting larger veggies mixed in, like an entree. I would not go back except maybe for a glass of wine to enjoy the music but you really can't do that as they probably expect guests to eat. Even the apple pie with custard dessert was underwhelming.. really no custard or pie! not sure how that even happens. It is a cool historical building. read more

This place is MAGICAL!! The sardines were perfect, and the croquetas de bacalao are something that none of us will ever forget! To top it off, our server Sherry (Sheryl?) couldn't have been more attentive or kinder to our toddler! read more

4.5 star! This restaurant is in every travel book, and blog. I was not sure about coming here, because it just seems too popular and over exposed. My husband and I still ended up here since we were in the neighborhood anyways. This is day 5 in Barcelona for us and we are pretty tired of the similar tapa dishes that every tapa restaurants offer. To our surprise, 4 gats has some different things on their menu. We chose the meatball with cattle fish and mushroom, cabbage with potatoes and sausages, and pork belly baos. Each dish offer new yummy flavors that we haven't had in Barcelona before. They were simply delicious. The cabbage dish was gone so fast that I did not have a chance to take a picture. We came having not much expectation for their food, but to mainly check out the shop, instead, we left feeling so satisfied and happy with the food. I defiantly recommend! read more

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Came to place randomly. If you read other people's review, there apparently is a lot of history at this restaurant, so if you're a history buff or just want to come here just to experience that piece of history, come here for a visit. The staff was pleasant and very nice. Just be warned, the bread isn't free. So if you don't want bread or don't want to pay for it, don't accept it. We didn't eat the bread as it was cold and very plain. The peppers were supposed to have "volcanic salt" on it but it was very plain and not tasty at all. The only good thing about this dish was that there was a lot of peppers, much more than what you'll get at any restaurant. There was also a strand of hair in wrapped around one of the peppers, so that was pretty nasty. The paella we order was extremely oily. It was pretty good but way too oily compared to other restaurants. My wife and I both had upset stomachs after this visit and do not plan on coming back here. read more

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Delicious paella! Great atmosphere. We had a reservation but it looked like there were some empty tables. read more

Els 4 Gats - Paella - Spanish Near Me - Barcelona, B

Everything from the food, service, and ambiance was great! Our server Bernard was very pleasant and helpful in giving us suggestions on what to order. Will definitely return the next time I'm in Barcelona. read more

Very nice restaurant with super atmosphere and excellent food. The live music boosted the vibe. Food and dessert prepared at our table was nice to watch and tasted beautiful. read more

Els 4 Gats - Live music - Spanish Near Me - Barcelona, B

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Everything was prefect! The food & customer service was on top. Loved the music & the ambience. Our last meal before returning for home. read more

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Yeah, definitely 3 stars. I was kinda hoping for a bit more since Picasso came here. What was the food that he ate to help fuel his brilliant artistic visions??But then again, this was before he became famous so he was just another ordinary person in just another ordinary cafe. The art around here is pretty sweet though. I also enjoyed learning about the history of the place. El Menu: -Don't get the sangria. It was way too sweet and probably pre-mixed aka a travesty for a restaurant/bar in Spain. -Best thing we ate here were the mussels! read more

Els 4 Gats - Spanish Near Me - Barcelona, B

Posting this a few weeks late but they have wonderful staff and the food is truly exquisite. We had such a beautiful time.

The 4 cats cafe definitely was on my "must visit while in Barcelona" list after watching Genius: Picasso. If Picasso is gonna hang out there, you bet I'm going to try and hang out there too. The cafe itself is rather unassuming. You walk down this huge shopping street and turn into this small dark alley and you will see a small sign that says Els Quatre Gats. Once you walk in, it's dimly lit with lots of pictures on the wall but mainly featuring one painting. Ramon Casas and Pere Romeu on a Tandem. This was originally a staple piece in this cafe but I think the real one is in a museum somewhere now? My sister and I sat down to order some food since we were feeling peckish and we ended up ordering: - Pan de cristal con tomate: Basically your standard bread topped with olive oil, tomatoes, and salt. It was really simple but it tastes amazing! - Ensaladilla rusa con ventresca de atun: this one was kind of weird. It's reminiscent of a potato salad with carrots, capers, and topped with tuna belly. There are some bread sticks that go along with it as well. I would skip this dish. - We also ordered some tea which came with a square of chocolate each. Overall, if you're an artist or a fan of Picasso, I would check this place out. I saw some people sitting in there with a cup of coffee just sketching away which was pretty cool. I can only draw stick figures so... :( read more

Charming restaurant with lovely history. My family and I enjoyed dinner here after a day spent exploring the Picasso museum and the Born district. The food was slightly better than average, but the service and ambiance made this a great dinner. read more

This place was mentioned several times during our audio tours as a popular hangout for intellectuals like Gaudi and Picasso. We thought it would be worth a visit and if you want to dine where famous Barcelona residents used to visit, then Els 4 Gats is worthwhile. Do not go expecting great service, delicious food, or reasonable prices. What Els 4 Gats was back then is not the same now. As a tourist, I feel comfortable saying that this was a bit of a tourist trap - overrun with hordes of tourists eating, drinking, or stopping in to snap photos, poor service, and high prices for the food that you ultimately got. Els 4 Gats seems to have leaned into its status as a tourist stop as it was selling a lot of merchandise as well and played up the Picasso theme. This might be worthwhile for a stop to peak in or have a quick drink, but I would not recommend ordering food or staying beyond that. read more