La Gavina

We visited La Gavina Restaurant about two evenings ago, and unfortunately, it was one of the most disappointing dining experiences I’ve had. From the moment we arrived, we didn’t feel welcome. The staff seemed uninterested, and when one waiter brought us bread, we later found out we were charged for it without being informed. We politely asked for olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but instead of assisting us, the waiter rolled his eyes and started speaking to his colleague in Spanish—very unprofessional. The starters arrived quickly, and I must admit, they were the only highlight of the evening. Delicious, well-prepared, and honestly raised our expectations for the main course. After about 30 minutes, the waiter brought out a large paella dish, showed it to us, and then served it onto three plates. We had ordered the Lobster Paella (€49.90 per person), which sounded like a real treat. Unfortunately, it was anything but. The lobster tasted off, the paella itself was unpleasant, and overall it was not at all what one would expect from such a dish. I’ve had paella many times before, so I know how it should taste—this was far from it. To make matters worse, the staff showed no care or attention. They didn’t ask why we barely touched the paella, nor did they seem concerned. They simply cleared our plates and moved on, which came across as extremely arrogant and dismissive. For a restaurant with such a reputation and premium pricing, the food quality and service were shockingly poor. The starters were good, but everything else—especially the service—left us completely disappointed.

Visited on 18 March, food was great! We loved all the food we’ve ordered. Lovely view fron the restautant. All Filipino staff were all accomodating, hospitable and lovely!!! Highly recommended!!!

Seafood Paella is the best I've tried in Spain. Other dishes are also good. Recommend this restaurant.

My partner and I were looking for a good paella and we were suggested the restaurant la Gavina... we ordered our drinks everything was good until the paella arrived... unfortunately we had to realize that the paella was completely burnt, the rice was dry and the taste was barely bearable. I spoke to the waitress, she brought the boss to our table who then asked us if everything was okay. I described the concern and was extremely disappointed because I did not get the offer for a fresh paella or a discount on the bill, which I find really very cheeky! We paid for 3 drinks 2 paellas a total of 65.- which I find extremely expensive for a burnt paella 100% FLOP

Service left to be desired. Waitress stormed away when we apparently took too long to reply (a few seconds) when she asked what we wanted to drink. Then the cooks bring the paellas, ask us if we would like them served in a plate or as is, in the pan. We say pan is fine. They go back to the kitchen with the paellas because they had forgotten the handle covers for the burning hot pan handles. Paella was ok at best. The rice didn't have the infamous paella texture. I should have looked at the comments before eating here. These are mishaps that I wouldn't have cared about is this had not been a prime location. Do better.

Very good vibe. The food was good but the dishes were a bit small. Overall a nice port restaurant (we have not tried the main dishes). And the view is nice.

We ordered paella and cocktails. The rice in the paella was dry. The waitress poured the cocktail on our table when she first brought it and did not offer a replacement. Also, we were brought bread, although we did not order it (we thought it was a compliment and tried it), when the bill came, we were surprised because we were charged 6 euros for the bread (we only tried 2 slices of bread, and they brought 5 slices). The waiters behaved as if we were not in a restaurant but at their home. Also, we were charged 10% for service. The view is really beautiful, but not worth the money.

After a walk to the beach we found this place on the marina overlooking stunning yachts and boats. We sat out on the terrace and were greeted by a very friendly waiter who was super helpful and joked with us. We ordered a variety of tapas and paella, which were all amazing, fresh, and tasty. Prices were reasonable for such a nice location to enjoy lunch. We enjoyed so much we came back the next day ! (The burgers are also excellent)

My wife and I stopped in while visiting Barcelona before boarding Celebrity X Edge for a cruise. Beautiful open air harbor side restaurant!! Service was over the top spectacular and the food was incredibly yummy! The only downside of an extremely wonderful dining experience of sautéed shrimp, steak & fries, beef carpaccio, and grilled vegetables was a Manhattan made with Scotch.

Ok experience on the water. This local is located amongst a handful of restaurants on the water. Good view. Good service. Enjoyed their chicken, pork paella. It was ok. Lots of dessert options but I felt like ice cream. So tried the cookies icecream, very tasty. Great strip for a meal.

The food was delicious! I had the seafood paella with out shells and my son had the steak and loved it. Definitely come here to eat drink and be merry. I'm the harbor with yachts.

Definitely deserving of two stars. We ordered three different Paella which were basically Rice-A-Roni with some seafood. One was incredibly salty. The other two had no flavor. The green salad was OK. The tempura shrimp were OK. Calamari mediocre. Service was quick and the atmosphere is nice by the water.

Such a bad experience. The paella was dry-burned and so salty. The service is not good as well they forgot us half of the Time and we didn't get the drinks we ordered. I gave them one star coz of the view only but the food and service is not good !! The paella was so thin it's only one layer of rice this is made for tourists that never tasted a paella before but this is not the real one it's just so bad. If your looking for a good experience food and view this is not for u.

The food was bad overall... salmon tartar hade some nice parasites in it... ofc I would not recommend

I can't even tell where to begin with this abhorrid establishment. I guess I will be short and to the point. The Meal: Food was absolute garbage. My dish looked as if someone had spilled thick cream and dirt on my Sirloin. A third of the entree was rough and dry meat. The sauce was overpowering. The Waiter: Cold and a master of bullshitting. Said that the shittiest meal we ordered was his personal favorite. Nice. The Bread: The Bread is obligatory in all regular restaurants. Here, though? No. You need to PAY for bread. This even gets better on my next point... The Wait: It took over a goddamn hour to give us our meal. The bread came a minute or two before the meal came out, so we basically waited an hour for BREAD that we had to PAY FOR. The Bill: Extremely pricey for absolutely disgusting food. We were overcharged on the BREAD by three times, so for one basket of 5-6 pieces of disguting bread, we were charged for the absolutely scummy 5.70 Euro, as opposed to the regular (and still ridiculous) 1.90 Euro. Conclusion: Terrible waiter, terrible food, you need to pay for OBLIGATORY foods, and entrees that are absolute horse crap cost 30$. No joke, you will get a much more nutritious and delicious meal by eating at a nearby McDonalds. Overall? Don't go here unless you want to get a bad case of heartburn and a wallet filled with nothing but regret.

Worst restaurant in Barcelona. Food was inedible and waiter incompetent. Location was nice (this is how they got 1 star) and why we picked it. We should have read the reviews on yelp before sitting down to eat. What a waste of time and money. I will say be careful of the paella they bring out a pan with paella and say this is your paella, okay. Then walk away and bring back your dish with paella (which looks totally different). Sorry this really freaked me out. Something tells me everyone's paella is in a huge vat in the fridge that was made days ago. Yuck! I think with what they charge for their meals it should be made fresh. Funny thing is we couldn't eat it and told the waiter we didn't like it. We gave back our full dish and had to pay them to throw it out.

We were on a paella quest and the concierge of the hotel recommended this place since it was by the water. First, portions are large. We could have split an order of paella between two people, maybe three if you're having appetizers which we did have. We had a 8:30 reservation and were seated quickly- since we were starving and walked over from the Picasso Museum. Food was good, note, this is Europe and you will have a lot of smokers in the area and we had to deal with the thick haze of non-stop smoking with the tables nearby. I would stop in again the next time I'm in Barcelona.

Walked past the restaurant while walking on the pier and was impressed with the outdoor aesthetic so decided to have dinner. We enjoyed the red wine sangria, mussels fishermen style and calamari as an appetizer, and seafood paella, and the sirloin steak with a Parmesan cream sauce as our main dishes. Everything was delicious! Servers were very friendly and accommodating. Would definitely go back!

Went here on my last night in Barcelona to try the veggie paella. I wasn't impressed with the food but the restaurant is in a great location. It's right next to the harbor and a good place to people watch. We went when it was fairly empty and service was pretty slow. The veggie paella was nothing special and the burrata tomato salad was just ok. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. Prices are a little too high for the decent food and slow service. I wouldn't really recommend this place but I've had worse.

Very poor over-cooked seafood paella! We have had paella at several different restaurants and this was by far the worse. Drinks were good with generous poor and female server was very attentive, but male server never came back to check on food throughout the meal. Definitely do not recommend.

We came here after a long day of the Olympic Park. The terrace was excellent. We had a wonderful bottle of rose and enjoyed people watching! I had chicken and pork paella and my wife had the shrimp and tagliatelle. She said the pasta was fresh and had a wonderful chew - similar to what we had in Italy. My paella was good, but paella isn't really my thing, but I had to just try it in Spain. The service was great, the food was good. The bread was fresh and went well with the extra Virgin olive oil and balsamic. They gave us a crostini appetizer that was a nice touch. Get a bottle of wine and enjoy the scenery and people watching!

Theres a bunch of restaurants that cater to the many tourists in this area. I was recommended to come here. The seafood paella was very good. But it's pretty pricey and they do charge you for everything. Even the table bread. I would steer away from eating anywhere in this area and find a spot where locals eat good paella.

Our tour guide recommended this restaurant to us because he himself enjoys eating here. It definitely did not disappoint our palates! We enjoyed the location because it's by the water and the location is big and clean! They have seating indoors with air conditioning and outside seating with a lot of umbrellas for shade. Just be aware that smoking is allowed at all outside dining tables. Right away you can taste how fresh the ingredients are in all of the dishes! The menu has a lot of variety to choose from. What enjoyed when we came: 1) The noodle paella: Not many restaurants have this type of paella, believe me we searched the menu at other restaurants we visited on our trip in Barcelona and no one had it. Or they didn't make it the same way as La Gavina does. The flavors in this simple dish that consists of noodles and baby cuttlefish are delicious! The cuttlefish is cooked perfectly, not chewy at all. The lemon aioli that they give you to put on top of the noodles when you eat compliments the flavors perfectly. We enjoyed this dish so much he had to come back to this restaurant at the end of our trip one more time just to have it! 2) Galician Octopus: It's a Catalan dish. The octopus was so fresh and they cooked it perfectly that is was so tender! 3) Blistered padron peppers 4) Filet mignon with fois gras on top: Cooked perfectly and the fois gras was nice and buttery! 5) Lamb rack: Also cooked to perfection. 6) Grilled squid: Fresh and not chewy, cooked nicely! 6) The pitcher of sangria! Better value for the four of us sharing, or that's how we like to make ourselves feel a lot better for ordering a whole pitcher! I definitely will come back if we make our way to Barcelona again! Restrooms: The restrooms are downstairs. If you need assistance they have a built in chairlift to help you down the steps. The bathrooms are separate for men and women. The women's restroom has two stalls, it was clean and stocked with toilet paper. In Barcelona they do not have toilet seat covers.

Oh my Lord... after a full day of walking, our party took our time to select the perfect spot for dinner... we chose La Gavina (likely due to its great location overlooking boats and water). There were also lots of people eating outside and none of them looked upset.... I will not opine on the brash approach of the wait staff, only to mention that I felt like a third rate citizen being rushed out... now for the meal.... I've never eaten such a horrible Paella in my life and have had plenty all over the world. This was simply the worst! I also mentioned this to the waiter when he asked why I didn't eat it, to which he said it was his favorite thing at the restaurant!!! I feel bad for his toilet. Burnt, dry, and reminiscent of what my dog does after eating something this bad... pictures attached for comparison. Please don't waste your money at this expensive tourist trap, and if you do, steer clear of the poop... I mean Paella. Cheers!

Ambience, location and service was A+. The waiters spoke both English and Spanish which was great, considering the fact that I am not a local! The staff were respectful and knew how to hold a conversation when guests initiate. The shrimp and paella we ordered as a main dish came a bit late which is the reason for the 4 star, but really everything else was perfect! We even got offered Spanish champagne on the house towards the end of dinner. Would definitely recommend. Fantastic experience x

Again -- it has been awhile (ok...a very long time) since I dined here but here is my take: Definitely an overpriced tourist trap. In spite of this, during my few days in Barcelona, we dined here twice - I had the seafood paella and the sole. I remember that I really liked the sole. I was surprised that when it was brought out to me, the server de-boned and removed the fillets for me right at the table. Probably a normal thing but I was impressed with his poise and skill. Too much time has passed for me to remember if we waited a long time or not. The food and view was good -- the jury is out on whether or not it was worth the expense.

We ordered 6 main dishes and none of them was really tasty. The monkfish dish was 4/10. The lamb was 3/10, Paella 4/10, squad 2/10, and tuna was 3/10. Good views but low quality and pricy. Also, they served us with a basket of bread before the food without asking us and charged us €6 for that. That was really funny!

After perusing the menus of the adjacent restaurants, we decided on La Gavina based on their menu del dia. The portions were quite substantial and we were actually pretty sated after the first plates (salad with foie gras, pasta with shrimp). The second plates were very tasty and again very generously portioned (lamb loin with a cheesy potato galette, and grilled tuna with vegetable ratatouille). We finished off with chocolate mousse cake with orange sauce (light and not too sweet) and complimentary glasses of cava. It was 25 euros/person for the menu del dia, but well worth it for the quality and portion size.

This restaurant was recommended by our VRBO host. We were excited to go there and were impressed by the beautiful restaurant. We got seated right away unfortunately, our waitress was not nice at all. Being from California, we are not too familiar with Spanish wines, so we asked for suggestions. She had very little knowledge and wanted to sell us a 'sweet' wine. While taking our order she kept looking at her watch then, she finally told us the kitchen was about to close in 15 minutes. Why takes us in if they were about to close the kitchen? Then comes the food, I asked for the shrimp and avocado salad. I enjoyed it, it felt fresh. The rest of our meals really disappointed. I had the grilled tuna, it was over cooked, my husband had the salted cod and it was plain, no flavor at all, my friend had the steak and it was swimming in a white flavorless sauce. Horrible place and very expensive. I will NOT recommend it.

The service and the food do not match up with the price. Decor is nice. It was a recommendation from my doorman. I'm now guessing he got a kick back.

DO NOT EAT HERE! Credit card fraud!! I'm working on getting it adjusted but they overcharged me $100 euro on my bill and sent me a fb message that if I came by the next day they would fix it. If they adjust these charges I will edit my review.

The food was ok. The view was great. Our experience was horrible. The staff was absolutely the worst. I have not had such terrible service in a long time so this place goes straight to the top of never to go ever again. They scam you with the bread trick. They bring it to your table without telling you that they will charge extra for it. They tried to bring us a bottle of Cava that we didn't order but we refused it. Additionally, in a city full of scams and scammers this place is no different. We had to walk up front just to get our check because we were being ignored and then the host or manager ran my credit card and started selecting all kinds of options that the card holder is supposed to do. I immediately grabbed my credit card and when he knew I knew he was scamming he told me he would cancel the transaction. BE WARNED THIS PLACE SUCKS AND IS A TOURIST TRAP AND SPREAD THE WORD. SO SAD THAT ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE HERE IS TRYING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TOURIST.

Would not allow us to order just wine. It was 4 pm and empty. And January in a beach town. We were given dinner menus and told we had to order more than wine. It was not "allowed" to have just wine. This was not stated until after we ordered wine...then after we balked were given a tapas menus. We had some Cold and sad pan con Tomate, some mediocre cheese. Overpriced and not good.

Not our favorite. We visited in 2016 and while location was right at the marina, the food was average at best. Prices reflect the location, not the quality of the food. We wanted this to be our first memorable dinner in Barcelona but the food was much better as we visited other eateries around the city.

My husband and I had the paella, the seafood and the mixed. Both were delicious. The service is friendly and prompt and the location on the marina is lovely.

difficult to review food portions were large; food was good just somewhat overpriced compare to comparable in other parts of town you are paying for atmosphere; and location; which were both nice great for people watching , as directly at port

Was in Barcelona for a week and came here twice. We had the clams for appetizer, and tuna for entree. Everything was delicious. The servers were nice enough to bring my friend a dessert with a candle in it for her birthday as well. The atmosphere is great and if you sit outside you look out over the marina.

Nice place near the Barcelona harbor and close to Barceloneta (and it's beach). Went there on the last day of my trip and ate some Paella with Seafood, was good and but could have had more seafood for the price. Desert was amazing, took the sortie of cakes (5-6 different deserts, small portions) on one place with ice-cream, AMAZING, would recommend. It's a bit of a tourist restaurant, employees were very friendly and helpful.

This place caters to the tourist masses. Every dish was over cooked. We ordered our food and they started serving us within 5 minutes. Everything seemed to be precooked and had sat under a heat lamp until it was a proper piece of rubber! They have a nice location and they live off of that. Never again for us and you should stay away also.

Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco San Diego's Ocean Beach Any skyscraper restaurant in most of the world Just about any restaurant inside Disneyland (Never eaten at Club 33) These are the great tourist traps of the world. Of course, sometimes you're a tourist. Somehow, this restaurant got onto the itinerary for the trip. Egads. You know, the view of Montjuic is very nice from the open front of the restaurant---but the food was pricey (between 24 and 40 euros for mains), the service flustered and discontinuous despite there appearing to be plenty of staff around and the food---Meh. It would 1 star except for the view and it's immediate presence on the Embarcedero/Puerto---which made for nice people viewing. The giveway? The entire restaurant was tourists. No locals. NEVER a good sign LOL sigh People were in khakis and oxfords---and lime green running shorts and t-shirts too. Would not repeat except for drinks and that view.

Very touristy, but the seafood and the veggie paella is very good and if you find yourself near the waterfront, it is worth trying. The outside seating on the water adds to the setting.

had very amazing service by the waiter William. Was extremely attentive and did above and beyond what we needed. Food was good. my steak was a little raw for my liking. but great location

Great food, service, and location. Looking over the marina and nice sunset. Paella was fantastic.

I enjoyed eating at la Gavina, the people that work there are nice and the food is delicious, if you are in Barcelona and want to eat somewhere with delicious food Go to la Gavina! But it is expensive

Our Concierge at the hotel recommended this place. It's located in the touristy Port section of town. One of many seafood restaurants on the strip it proved to be not more than mediocre in food and service. We had the paella which was disappointing. There are so many great food spots in Barcelona. La Gavina isn't one of them.

No, just no . Should have known when asking for a table on the outside row to be told that area of the restaurant is closed. Only to see the next 3-4 couples who turn up, request and be given them by a different waiter. The staff are so not friendly. Robots. Then we sat for 10 minutes waiting to have our order taken. But still looked forward to the food . Mistake one, the lobster salad tasted of old fish. And was the consistency of rice!! Old and boiled too long - the squid rings were ok though. Onto the mains. Monkfish for the wife tornado Rossini for me. Medium please. First attempt at a guess the steak may have passed the kitchen on the way to my table. Meantime the wife was digging into her fish. Second attempt - well the outside was sizzled to a crisp, but 3-4 millimetres in and all was raw again. By this time my wife had finished. So I had what may have been the worlds most expensive tapas plate. 40€ for some sweet peppers as the steak was not edible. And yet no one apologised or offered to sort. For one of the if not the most expensive restaurants in Port Vell this is hands down the worst eating experience I have had in Barcelona, in fact Spain. Ah well off to the street food stalls to enjoy

Very quick service but a real tourist trap... Mussels for starter were good but paella with black sausage and Iberia was way too salty and greasy... For what we payed, not okay... I'd recommend walking some blocks away and walk into an authentic restaurant... If you need wifi, the password for "La Gavina" is "lagavina1993".

This restaurant serves really bad food. Expensive bad food. I and my friend both ordered roast of lamb. What we got was a completely tasteless roast on top of a slathered on almost mush of overcooked and then fried slices of potato and carrots in a yellowy also tasteless broth. And it wasn't even all hot. Of course we sent it back. To their credit they didn't complain. They did not seem surprised either, nor did they apologize. We instead ordered monkfish. What we got wasn't tasteless like the previous dish. It tasted salt. Only salt. We didn't complain this time, realizing no complaint would turn this experience positive.

Fun, fun times at La Gavina during a family visit in Barcelona. This place is located by the water. On the pier so to speak. The service was amazing. The wait staff was always there to attend to your need. My mom was craving paella (she was reminiscing on how my grandmother use to make hers) so we headed off to La Gavina. Anyway, we all ordered paella as well as Sangria to polish it off with. The chefs were so wonderful that they brought out the paella, still on the pan to show us how it was and how it's coming along and headed back to the kitchen to continue cooking/finish cooking it. The servers also gave us complimentary bottles (I stress the "s" since they literally just kept bringing out another bottle until we had to say we were done) of champagne. My grandmother even got a little tipsy, she was so cute! We had a great time with our servers, talked to them about their families and even took photos with them. Fun times in Spain. Overdue for summer trip.

Concierge recommended. He needs a slap for this! Terrible. So touristy, with the type of service and food one should expect - crap. Seriously there is much better then this in Barcelona. We had asked for a really good paella restaurant. If this is the best Barcelona has to offer for paella then go to another city or just don't take your concierge's advice or better yet give him a slap if he recommends this. The service was really poor - no smile, hello, nothing right from the get go. The food - honestly overpriced and terrible quality. Paella - meats and fish was so poor in quality. The Fillet Steak - probably the worst I have ever had - so chewy and fatty. Couldn't finish it. Don't like writing reviews like this but I will when I feel places like this take the customers especially tourists (as there was no locals present - best paella restaurant my arse) for granted.

Group of seven. Average "eatable" Paella Perelada. Take a eternity to arrive, more then regular 25'. My Gazpacho good with poor resolved "croutons" followed by a very good Bacalao al ai I oli. Correct staff. Little bit pricey for the paella (scarce seafood).

Decided to try the paella with ink and some croquettes. Paella was excellent. We were a bit skeptical about the cuttlefish ink in the paella, as it was our first time, but it did not disappoint. We only ordered one and shared it, as the portion sizes for paella are quite large (and usually charged per person) at other restaurants. Croquettes were decent; we've had better in other restaurants. To accompany our meal, we had sangria- a must when in Barcelona! Overall a pretty good experience, except the waiter made an error on our receipt; also note: bread is given but they charge €1,90 per person.

This was an amazing restaurant. Authentic Spanish food on the beach. By far the best meal I had while in Barcelona. The meal is worth the price and the staff was very friendly. I was given free champaign after my meal. For my meal I had the seafood paella and it was absolutely delicious! I definitely recommend coming here. You will not regret it!

Service was good although menu was very deceptive. There was a charge for water, charge for bread and the fish was very deceptive on the menu. Single orders of Seabass were $31 but the wild fish was 43 so the waitress said it was big enough to split. When the bill came we were charged $86 instead of 43. It was price per kilogram which was very deceiving on the menu. Many other restaurants to go to with excellent food around this area

Beautiful location to get paella but the food is just ok and our waiter insisted that we over order. I'm telling La Meridien not to recommend it again. I'd avoid it.

I came here in 2013 and remember it being the best meal during my visit- so I came back in 2015... Twice in three days. Excellent food. Never mind that it's in a touristic area, it is truly quality food.

Touristy location. Mediocre food. Mussels were good. Waitress was great and accommodating. Food was way over priced and the paella was so-so. Very disappointing. The place was practically dead at dinner time.