La Barca Fish & Wine

One of the best seafood and fish restaurants in Almaty. I came here on two instances, one for lunch and one for dinner, without a reservation, and was seated instantly. Every other reviewer on here is right — the octopus is phenomenal, so good I had to order it both visits and it stunned both times. The spicy sauce perfectly complemented the tender octopus, and the potatoes added some heartiness to the plate. I also had the king crab pasta both times, a generous portion of crab meat (like 6-8 large pieces) with perfectly cooked spaghetti. The wine is fresh and tastes great, even the ones by the glass. Service is polite, professional, welcoming, and has a perfect command of English. Prices are on the higher side but you get some of the freshest seafood in Central Asia in return. Highly recommended.

A restaurant with fish cuisine and seafood with a claim to elite status. The cuisine is not bad, they cook deliciously, but for such a price, the dishes should be impeccable, which means the absence of shell particles in the crab salad. Not a bad wine list, the price tag is above average. The service is good.

Great experience, the seafood was really fresh. Best dish for me was the octopus, eel and halibut! Recommended.

Very fresh seafood and fish, would recommend. Service staff were not very friendly, we arrived at 530 and initially they did not want to seat us, in the end they did with the request to clear the table by 7pm. Would come again, fair prices for the quality of food.

From Seattle and live in Tokyo so know good seafood. Was in Almaty on business and some local friends recommended we go La Barca fresh seafood and I am thinking really? I was really wrong and it was one of the most memorable seafood restaurants I have been to in a long time. Every was perfect from the quality of the food to the service and atmosphere. I will definitely be back on my next visit. You will need to reserve in advance

Service is as good as food. Small and cozy place. Stuff is friendly and well trained. If you like sea food, you need to visit this place. Totally worth it. Also they have a very tasty poppy seed cake, its hot with home made ice cream. So tasty, but as for me very sweet.

A well deserved five stars for this lovely bistro style seafood restaurant. Had the fresh octopus and goats cheese salad and the tuna steak. Wonderful quality and excellent service with a fantastic wine menu to accompany. You pay a premium for quality.

I'd say any restaurant committed to serving fresh seafood while being located almost 4000 km away from the nearest ocean deserves praise. This place is busy during the weekends, so maybe make reservations ahead. The airy and seaside-like interior design creates a very pleasing atmosphere. The menu offers an abundance of all kinds of seafood, which is quite impressive. Overall, it was a good experience, with most dishes meeting expectations. While they have one of the best deals in town for oysters (KZT 19,990 for 13 oysters), it took them some time to figure out what kind of oysters they are serving under that deal. So far, we've been to only one restaurant in Almaty where they serve oysters, and the staff is aware of their origin and flavor profile, and La Barca is not one of them. Sea bass and tuna tartare were exceptional, and ajvar was delicious as well. Red mullets were dry, if you ask me, maybe because they were much smaller than I've ever seen before and ended up overcooked. I also finally was lucky to get horse meat steak, which proved to be much more challenging in Kazakhstan than one would think. I know it is a somewhat grey area with horse meat when it comes to how well you want your steak to be done, but I've had a fair share of good horse meat steaks, and I know the proper doneness, and here they definitely overcooked it. Also, the lady who served our table for the first half of our stay was very nice and attentive, but then she was substituted by another waiter who left not the best impression. He reminded me of waiters in Southern Mediterranean coast countries. Some people like that approach, but personally, I do not enjoy the company of people who make me feel like I owe them something. It's called the hospitality industry for a reason. Again, I rather enjoyed our stay in this restaurant, but things were not perfect. If you claim the status of a fine dining establishment, you must strive for excellence, and La Barca still has some work to do in this direction.