Barrafina Borough Yards

Regardless of whether the UK is considered a “food desert” or not, this restaurant is truly outstanding. Every single dish is delicious, and the service is excellent. The prices are very reasonable for the quality. As an Asian diner who doesn’t live in Europe and generally doesn’t prefer Western cuisine, I was genuinely impressed by this restaurant. There wasn’t a single disappointing dish that day — everything was spot on. You can even show the staff my photos and ask for recommendations with confidence. It’s a restaurant I look forward to revisiting every year when I return to the UK.

Had a lovely Sunday evening meal with girlfriends at Barrafina Borough Yards. The food was delicious, especially the desserts. Kalem was kind, attentive and made our overall dining experience great. Fernanda was lovely and informative! Would highly recommend booking an evening here to catch up with friends over great food.

I think I had the best Spanish food ever. The tuna croquettas and pan con tomato were amazing. The garlicky taste on the tomato salsa was mouth watering (I love garlic) The Arroz de Mariscos (somewhat like Paella) with prawns was delectable The chicken thigh and romesco - the chicken was yum, especially with that crispy skin 🤤 Tasted good with the southwest dressing like sauce (even though I’m not personally a fan of southwest) And ooo those patatas bravas 🤌 The prawn piquillo, with that runny yolk ! And when it came to desserts, we ordered one of their specials - The apple tart with Madagascar vanilla ice cream, and churros with cinnamon ice cream and the cheese flan (flan de queso). My colleagues loved the tart and churros, I did too. But what stood out for me was the flan. I have a Mexican friend who does amazing cheese flan and this reminded me of hers. Very authentic (comparing with my friend’s and not what you might get in Spain as I’ve never been there ) anyway - it was great!! Overall, our experience was very pleasant. Kudos to the Barrafina team. A special thanks to our server, I forgot to ask her name :( but she was an excellent host!

Barrafina is a tapas restaurant with delicious food, though the speed of service was a bit slow at times. We would still recommend. The menu was wide ranging, with seafood, veggie and meat options. The food itself was tasty and well presented. Only small thing was that there was a bit of a wait between most of the dishes. We understand tapas dishes don’t necessarily come out all at the same time, and we ordered 6 plates, but we were waiting between 5-10 mins between individual dishes several times. Pricing is quite expensive though I’d say it is worth it- it’s next to Borough market so v close by lots of London attractions. The atmosphere was great though. It’s a smart restaurant with both counter and table service available.

Overall a mixed bag, although there were some stunning dishes. Considering the price, not an experience I would look forward to revisiting, especially are many good restaurants in London and in Borough that surpass it. Went to Barrafina with a friend on 16/08/25. To start we had the Padron Peppers which were amazing, prefectly salted, charred but not burned, a generous portion. Next came the Chorizo Tortilla; I was initially sceptical because I generally don’t like the taste of eggs but this blew me away. The runny egg yolk was rich and thick without being too overwhelming or cloying, the chorizo bites added some meaty goodness to stop the egg from becoming monotonous and the portion size was just right. Then came the Ham Croquetas; I didn’t enjoy these as I don’t enjoy cheese but as my friend seems to like them, this I will chalk down to personal taste. The came the octopus; this was the first and most major miss of the night for me. It was chewy and totally tasteless, greatly disappointing me. Then came the Grilled Chorizo; I don’t really know what I expected because it was just a big slab of chorizo and tasted like chorizo. Nice but not £17 nice. Lastly came the Iberico Pork in Mojo Verde; was reasonably good but didn’t blow me away. Meat was nicely done and tender, sauce didn’t add too much. The servers were polite but a little inattentive, while the service was a somewhat slow. We were seated at the counter. Unfortunately, the counter seats we were allocated happened to have our backs facing the open entrance and glass front, which made me quite uncomfortable. This soured the atmosphere a little for me, although I could imagine being more comfortable in any of the other seat; the restaurant atmosphere itself seems decent, although I find the permanently open glass doors to detract. The bill cost ~£100-110 pounds (~£55 per head). Considering my gripes, there are other places where you could spend that more happily, although the food was by no means abjectly bad. I had two Empanadas for £7 from a Borough Market stall after my meal (see pictured below) and found them to be far tastier than anything I had at the restaurant for a slightly more resonable price.

Barrafina is favorite restaurant in London. Tried every one of their restaurants now. Always a good time sitting at the bar watching the chef cooking and enjoying good food!

Incredibly delicious and beautiful food, very good value, very relaxed but everything you want from a restaurant. Darlene was genuine, kind and helped me through everything and makes the best coffee !

As Spanish living in the UK this is as good as you will get it without travelling to Spain. Not the best, not the worst. Spanish tortilla most likely made of crisps (it can be done but it's very lazy way). Portions are small. A bit slow service perhaps.