Taperia Princesa

3 – 4 stars
The seafood Paella was really good and well priced. The chorizo sausages were good. Croquettes good, but not my favorite. Mojitos were sugary.
We tried using the check in offer for free cava and there was a lot of push back. They said there was a minimum of 15 euro a person and we were exactly 15 euro a person soooo give me dat cava por favor.
It was really cold inside brrrr.

I am a huge fan of hole-​in-​the wall type places. I’ve traveled all over western Europe and seem to always find the best dives. Taperia Princesa is a great hidden spot in El Born. We’re from Texas and this was our first trip to Barcelona. We found this place on our first day in Barcelona and the food was great! The waiter, David, was quiet and polite and gave us several food suggestions in impeccable English and Spanish. We had anchovies, Iberico ham, bombas (fried mashed potato balls stuffed with ground beef), tomato bread, warm goat cheese salad, etc, etc.
David was very sweet and when we returned the next day for an afternoon drink, he remembered us and was super-​friendly offering us an extra glass of cava on the house. We saw him later in the week at another bar in the neighborhood and he bought us a drink!!! We stayed in El Born barrio of Barcelona for 9 nights and I can say that we returned to Taperia Princessa 5 times. We ate and drank all over the city and found many tapas joints and honestly, few had better food and none had better service. I highly recommend this place.
And oh yeah, They make an incredible strawberry mojito!!!

Stumbled upon this place, went here multiple night and it just kept getting better. Potatoes were very good, along with the warm goat cheese salad. Ox tails were a big hit.

If I could give this place a zero star, I would. I consider my reviews honest and fair. My mom and I finished the Picasso museum with pouring rain, we wanted to grab lunch and avoid the rain. The place had great chalk boards with enticing menu items. The waiter (not sure if it was the owner) stuck us at a table right next to the bathroom, so whenever someone opened the door, we could smell the air freshener mixed in with urination and fecal matter. I asked to be moved since I spotted a tiny table for 4, he refused, and said we could wait for the other couple to leave the 2-​people table, or wait by the door. The couple did not leave for another 30 minutes and my mom and I found another 2-​people table by the entrance. To illustrate my frustration further, the table for 4 was empty during the entire time of our meal. We ordered lamb chop with grilled veggies, paella to share, and sangria. Sangria was watered down and lackluster. Although the spices were flavorful, the lamb chop was dry and tough. The grilled veggies were burnt. The paella was, the worst I’ve had. The rice was tough and chewy, so I asked the waitress to cook it further, and she said «paella is supposed to be chewy». So we ate more of it, but it was extremely salty that we couldn’t taste anything else other than salt. The seafood used in the paella did not taste fresh and was not tender or juicy. So again, I told the waitress that the paella was very salty, her response was «oh where are you from? San Diego? people tend to like paellas differently depending on where you come from.» I’ve had my fair share of homemade paellas cooked by Spanish friends, and made-​to-​order paellas in Spanish and Colombian restaurants. NO, it does NOT matter where I come from, I can distinguish between a good and bad paella dish. I did not order another paella in Barcelona during my trip. Sadly, this experience truly turned my Picasso trip sour. I just wanted to pay and get the hell out of there. The bill was not cheap either. 16 EUR for the paella, and 15 EUR for the lamb chop, and I can’t remember how much the sangria cost, but it doesn’t matter because I will NOT go back nor will I recommend this place to any travelers and waste their precious vacation time on this place.

We were on a Europe vacation and our final stop was in Barcelona, While waiting for the Picasso Museum we decided to grab lunch, most of the places on that street had crappy pictures of something resembling food in their windows, Princesa had a chalk board and a great smell coming from it. Plus a pig leg on the bar with chunks of meat getting cut off it which was just cool. We started off with the tomato bread and wow so simple but it was amazing. I had the seafood paella and my wife had the shrimp, the paella was cooked perfectly and the shrimp were fresh and flavorful. We were too full to try any of the tapas so we decided to come back. The next day we came back for lunch and tried a variety of tapas, everything we tried was great however there are a few that really stood out, the cod balls and the fried calamari. Having cooked a lot of seafood in my life I have a great respect for anyone who can cook calamari properly as it has a very small window before it becomes rubbery. This was cooked perfectly. The staff was very friendly and remembered us each time we were in, all in all it was one of our best dining experiences in Europe.

Déception évidente devant un établissement qui mériterait une nette rénovation !
Le service est bon, les tapas aussi, mais rien qui né vaille le détour. La sangria est aqueuse !
En résumé, de nombreuses adresses près du musée Picasso valent le coup, mais pas celle-​ci.

Our first dinner in Barcelona… the staff was super friendly, the tasting menu was delicious (ham & cheese croquettes!!) but the cava sangria was the star. We were advised… hole-​in-​the-​wall dining is the way to go!

I first visited the Taperia Princesa in 2012 on a rainy July day, just stumbled in. Enjoyed the tasting menu very much along with a glass of wine, and felt really welcomed.
Found myself in back in Barcelona in July of 2013 and sought out this adorable, delicious place once again, this time got to chat quite a bit with the gents in charge and i felt like family. on a hot summer day, enjoying conversation and cava/​lemonade with David was absolutely amazing. I hope I get to return in 2014 for another visit!

Alright guys, there are a few possibilities.
The first is that this place has declined in quality. Precipitously.
Second, many good reviews are fake
Third, I feel sorry to say, people have very little experience chewing and swallowing food.
Guys: This place is complete and utter shite.
I barely have the energy to give a blow by blow.
Salad: your worst ever trip to the grocery store.
«galician pork shoulder»: single slice of cold cut in a frying pan (serious) with shitty paprika.
croquettes: cheapass frozen bollocks.
Potatoes with fried egg and chorizo: I don’t even want to talk about it, I have PTSD.
By this point in the «tasting menu» I was dying for it all to be over.
Then out came the mussels, which were dried in the sun and then microwaved. Truly insulting and a violation of both human and animal dignity.
CAN YOU SAY TOURIST TRAP? DON’T DO IT. DO. NOT. GO.

Delicious grilled vegetables and squid!

Unfortunately, I was not as lucky to have a great experience like the other reviews. We thought we’d take a chance and stop by this small «cute» spot, but to our disappointment, the service was horrible and we left before finishing our lunch. We were waiting for 1 of our orders but we were waiting forever so we wanted to get the bill and leave. Turns out they forgot about the order anyway! The main guy at the bar was grumpy and had such a negative energy. The food was lackluster and wasn’t memorable at all compared to all the other places we’ve eaten at. I rely on Unilocal reviews while choosing places to eat, especially while traveling, so I’ll be thinking twice if there’s not more than at least a handful of reviews. We left this restaurant to go eat somewhere else.

Ayant lu des avis sur Unilocal avec une bonne appréciation, nous avons décidé d’y aller lors de notre séjour à Barcelone en mai 2013.
Quelle déception!
Cadre très moyen, table très mal lavée, mouches dans le restaurant laissant imaginer la propreté.
Nous avons commandé des patates bravas. comment dire? C’était des vulgaires frites, pas les vraies patates bravas coupés en gros cubes. Pour les accompagner, nous avons également pris du jamòn. le goût pas mauvais mais dur, très dur.
Et la sangria, bonne mais pas exceptionnelle!
Je vous déconseille ce restaurant!

We were in Barcelona for New Years and ended up stumbling upon this Hidden gem. The staff was extremely welcoming, the food was delightful, and the cava was flowing all night :) this was a great NYE experience and I can’t wait to revisit Barcelona to eat and drink with our friends and taperia princesa again!

Our hotel was near Taperia Princesa, and were surprised how touristy this area of Barcelona was. Tapas and Paella are not native to Barcelona (just as Southern Barbecue is not native to New York), but there were scores of touristy restaurants advertising the two specialties, which are most well-​known throughout the world as «Spanish food.» Saying all this, we had pretty low hopes for Taperia Princesa, as it was a tapas joint in Barcelona, and along a main tourist street near the Picasso Museum. Boy, were we wrong.
The patatas bravas here were second only to patatas bravas that we ate in San Sebastian (a small town thought of by most to be the foodie Mecca of Spain). And trust me, we tried many MANY patatas bravas! The potatoes were simple fries cooked well, and the two sauces (spicy red and garlicky mayo) fused together amazingly. The difference here though was that most patatas bravas we ate were bland. These had just the right amount of spice, and a wonderful hit of garlic in every bite. Other dishes we tried at Taperia Princesa were good as well, as they have the typical Iberian ham plates, croquettes, etc… but your life will not be complete until you try those patatas bravas.