Some restaurants you visit like a museum, except here you also get to eat. Barcelona still has places that opened when the city had walls, others that saw modernisme being born, and one that survived a bomb. Here are 7 historic restaurants and bars that are still open, from oldest to newest, with their stories and what you should not miss.
The 7 at a glance
Oldest Can Culleretes, 1786 · Most modernista the Grill Room on Escudellers, 1902
For rice 7 Portes and Can Solé · For vermouth Bar Electricitat · For Catalan food Can Culleretes and Can Lluís
1. Can Culleretes (1786), the oldest in Catalonia
Photo: Enfo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
It opened in 1786 in a narrow lane in the Gothic Quarter and is considered the oldest restaurant in Catalonia. The Agut-Manubens family has run it since 1958.
Its name comes from a very bar-like story: a waiter who was always in a rush crossed the dining room with trays of clean teaspoons, shouting “Noies, culleretes!” (“Girls, teaspoons!”). Inside, the walls are covered in paintings and photos, with antique chairs and classic tablecloths.
What to order: escudella, Catalan-style cannelloni, fricandó, pig’s trotters in cava, wild boar civet and a properly caramelised crema catalana.
- Where: Carrer de la Quintana, 5 (Gothic Quarter)
- Phone: +34 933 17 30 22
2. Los Caracoles (1835), the grill on the corner
Photo: Jordiferrer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Bofarull family founded it in 1835 as Can Bofarull, and in 1915 it was renamed Los Caracoles (“the snails”), after its most famous dish. In 1934 they installed the open grill you can still see from the street, on the corner of Escudellers.
Today it is run by the fifth generation of the family. Salvador Dalí, Jimmy Carter, Charlton Heston, Robert De Niro and Lenny Kravitz have all eaten here.
What to order: the snails, of course, and something from the grill.
- Where: Carrer dels Escudellers, 14 (Gothic Quarter)
3. 7 Portes (1836), home of paella Parellada
It opened in 1836 as the Cafè de les 7 Portes, under the arcades Josep Xifré had built facing the port. In 1929 it became a restaurant, and in 1942 it was bought by Paco Parellada, whose family has run it ever since.
It is one of those places where the list of famous diners never ends: from Picasso and Miró to Woody Allen, Harrison Ford, Pelé and Antonio Banderas.
What to order: paella Parellada (with everything already peeled), Mrs Carme’s cod and, for dessert, the Pijama, invented by Paco Parellada himself.
- Where: Passeig d’Isabel II, 14 (next to Pla de Palau)
- Hours: every day, 13:00 to 24:00
4. Grill Room (1902), the modernista gem of Escudellers
In 1902 the Turin-born businessman Flaminio Mezzalama opened a café here decorated in modernista style by Ricard Capmany. After several names, in the late 1920s it was bought by the Bofarull family, the same family behind Los Caracoles, who still own it. Today it is called Grill Room Bar Thonet.
It is one of the prettiest venues in the city: a wooden façade with the Vermut Torino bull, stained glass, a curving display cabinet, cast-iron pillars bearing the initials VT and painted ceilings.
What to order: chicken croquettes, cod fritters, black rice and grilled meats. There is a set menu at lunchtime.
- Where: Carrer dels Escudellers, 8 (Gothic Quarter)
- Tip: check opening hours before you go, as they vary by day.
5. Can Solé (1903), the Barceloneta classic
Photo: Josep Bracons · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
It opened in 1903 as a fishermen’s tavern and today it is run by the fourth generation of the family. It is Barceloneta’s go-to restaurant for rice cooked the way it always has been.
What to order: cod fritters with pine nuts, fried squid, lobster rice or seafood paella (minimum two portions) and the zarzuela fish stew.
- Where: Carrer de Sant Carles, 4 (Barceloneta)
- Phone: +34 932 21 50 12
- Closed: Sunday evening and Monday
6. Bar Electricitat (1908), the vermouth bodega
Photo: Enric · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
One of the most authentic bodegas in Barceloneta, open since 1908. It takes its name from the building’s ground floor, which once housed the generator that supplied electricity to the whole neighbourhood. It is listed in the Architectural Heritage of Catalonia inventory.
It keeps its wooden and marble counter, marble tables with cast-iron legs, wine barrels and an old ice box. At weekends there is a queue for the house vermouth.
What to order: the crab ensaladilla, potato omelette, croquettes and a Barceloneta bomba.
- Where: Carrer de Sant Carles, 15 (Barceloneta)
- Closed: Mondays
7. Can Lluís (1929), the Raval survivor
Lluís Rodríguez and Elisa Vilaplana opened it in 1929 on the corner of Carrer de la Cera and Reina Amàlia, and it has never moved. In 1946 an anarchist robber fleeing the police threw a bomb into the restaurant, killing the founder and his brother. The mark of the blast can still be seen on the floor of one of the dining rooms.
Theatre and film people came here, as did two Nobel laureates, José Saramago and Harold Pinter. It closed in 2021 and reopened in 2025 under new owners, who kept the original layout and features.
What to order: pig’s trotters with snails, baked sea urchins, Catalan-style chicken cannelloni, salt cod esqueixada or roast kid shoulder. The lunch menu costs €27.90.
- Where: Carrer de la Cera, 49 (Raval)
A route to eat your way through history
To fit several into one day: vermouth at Bar Electricitat mid-morning, rice at Can Solé (on the same street) and, in the afternoon, a walk to Escudellers to see the Grill Room’s façade and the Los Caracoles grill. For dinner, Catalan food at Can Culleretes, five minutes away on foot.
If you like places like these, you will also love Barcelona’s neighbourhood bodegas, where to eat well for less and my route through Poble-sec, the Raval and Gràcia. For more fun facts, see Barcelona facts.
What is your favourite historic restaurant? Tell me on Instagram at @barcelonainspira and I will add it to the list.
Frequently asked questions
What is the oldest restaurant in Barcelona
Can Culleretes, at Carrer de la Quintana, 5, in the Gothic Quarter. It opened in 1786 and is considered the oldest restaurant in Catalonia. The Agut-Manubens family has run it since 1958.
Which century-old restaurants are there in Barcelona
Those still open include Can Culleretes (1786), Los Caracoles (1835), 7 Portes (1836), the Grill Room on Escudellers (1902), Can Solé (1903) and Bar Electricitat (1908).
What is the oldest restaurant in Barceloneta
Can Solé, at Carrer de Sant Carles, 4. It opened in 1903 as a fishermen’s tavern and is run by the fourth generation of the same family. It is famous for its rice dishes and its zarzuela fish stew.
Where to eat traditional Catalan food in a historic Barcelona restaurant
Can Culleretes in the Gothic Quarter and Can Lluís in the Raval are two of the best places for old-school Catalan cooking: cannelloni, escudella, fricandó, pig’s trotters or salt cod esqueixada.
