1- Don't eat or drink anything at the Rambla. It's the biggest tourist trap in the world. The Rambla has been a wonderful place and meeting point of the locals for more than 200 years until mass-tourism appeard in Barcelona some years after the Olympics in 1992. Today it's a nasty thematic-park we locals avoid.
2- Don't drink sangria: it's a vulgarity that only tourists drink in Barcelona. You will notice that most locals drink beer when only drinking and usually wine with meals. If you see someone drinking sangria, the chances that this person is a foreign tourist are 99,9%.
3- Any bar or restaurant with big signs in English offering sangria, tapas and paella is surely a tourist-trap, which means bad quality and enormous prices. Stay away from those places. Also stay away from restaurants where you see only tourists and not locals: they were taken in but you can avoid it.
4- Try local Catalan food. Barcelona is in Catalonia, a territory with a different language, culture and identity, something which most tourists are unaware of.
5- Tipping at restaurants is not obligatory. It's not like in the USA, where waiters have no salary and depend entirely on tips. If you have a lunch or dinner, you can give an euro (or less) as tip if you really liked the meal, not more.
6- Be careful with tapas. Although not a local tradition, it's quite widespread, especially because of tourism. Tapas are small portions of any food and is usually served as appetizer and accompanied of some drink. A full dinner or lunch with tapas may be really expensive.
7- Paella is really from Valencia. Some restaurants, especially at the Barceloneta neighbourhood, serve good paella, but de-frozen paella some places serve for tourists are really disgusting. Paella is for lunch, not for dinner and if you have one, please with white wine (a local Catalan one, like Penedès), never with sangria, as some ignorant tourists do.
As previous posts said, in most restaurants the staff will be able to speak English and you will get the menu in English as well. But be careful with the tourist-traps stated above.
Hola,
All the restaurants near the Rambla probably have menus in many languages including English and most waiters in Barcelona speak a little English so this will not be a problem.
However La Rambla is very touristy and does not have the best restaurants in town. Hard Rock is fine but it's an American restaurant, so I recommended that you try Spanish and Catalan restaurants where you will find local cuisine that is delicious!
Find good restaurants here
http://www.barcelonayellow.com/component...
Enjoy your stay!
Forget english, in barcelona they also wouldn't talk with you in spanish xD
ok just kidding....
Honestly, when you are in spain you'll like the spanish food you'll never think about english menu.
I was in a lot of restaurants and they also have known meals but don't expect that they have fish & chips or beans on toast :D
Hi there,almost everywhere you can find english menu and people speaking english. Also if you want to have a nice dinner,turn away of La Rambla and you can find perfect place to eat.
p.s. My favourite(as yet) is Gran Foc,I tryed to eat some crispy chicken and it was veeery delicious :)
Get over it! You are about to become an international traveler. Start acting like one! Unless you have some dietary restriction, like religion or deathly allergies, you should just order what looks interesting! You'll be in SPAIN!!! You want to try a little SPANISH!
Learn the words for foods. Go to places where you can point and ask, then ask how to say the names. or just take your chances! Chances are, you'll do just fine!
Buy a Berlitz phrase book; otherwise go to Hard Rock on Plaza Catalu?a.
Why bother going abroad?
Most places have menus in English - but you may have to wait while they go hunting for them.
Hola :)
I know very basic spanish and am going to Barcelona in September. I will be staying near La Rambla and was wondering if you know any english speaking restaurants since I won't be able to read the menu if its all in spanish.
Also any tips on how spaniards order their food etc? Do most restaurants have an english menu? (if you know any, it would be greatly appreciated).
My heritage is spanish so I look spanish - though my mouth is not spanish haha and its worrying me! i don't want to starve whilst on my holiday because I don't know how to order food :P I will also be travelling with people who don't speak ANY spanish and there will be times they will be alone and need to order food.
thanks in advance :)
