The only really good Spanish meal we've had in Five nights in Barcelona. Fantastic. Service was excellent. Truly five star. We both had the set menu but they easily accommodated my food intolerances as well as my desire to switch to the squid ink paella, which was flat out epic. Beautiful restaurant with white linen service and monogrammed tableware. Very classy. We had local Catalonian wine, which was recommended and delicious. I cannot fault this meal and can't imagine why they aren't more highly rated. read more

See all

Referred by the waiter from Sensi for the purpose to enjoy THE best paella in the entire city of Barcelona (!!!), one had to go through a slightly more shabby neighborhood to ultimately end up in this very stylish restaurant. So stylish, it seemed, that there were no other guests ... Which made the attention and service exceptional. The paella (after superb standard olives and bread appetizers and a salad) was unquestionably very good: Seafood paella and Arros Negre Seafood paella both were well done, each with a full and round flavor, but in my humble opinion, there should have been more seafood in either one of them. There were plenty of delicious looking desserts but not sufficient stomach capacity... but the espresso was first class! read more

See all

OK, we were apprehensive when we arrived for our 8 PM reservation and saw no guests. Beautiful room, nice table setup, but nobody. We ordered the paella fixed menu, and the waiter was quick to offer alternatives if we wanted. We went with his recommendation of the seafood paella and the black rice paella as our mains. The entire meal from starters to dessert was fantastic. Very flavorful. Very satisfying. While off the main walkways, this restaurant is worth finding! read more

was told by my friends who recently came here to come here for some fresh paellas and wow, this place really had some good paella (not salty AT ALL). definitely on the pricier side than other places but honestly, the quality and quantity was worth it. the restaurant itself is pretty small and the waiters are a bit snobby but I guess it's because they had a good bit of "famous" people come here so they believe they're worth it. Anyways, the paella was definitely the best dish we got here while the razor clams and mussels were just okay ; the dessert (crème brulee) wasn't too bad either. if you want to dress up this place is the place you can do so without feeling like you're out of place, definitely a little bit more classier than most other restaurants around the area. read more

We came here specifically for the seafood paella. After a lot of research of different places in Barcelona that offered the best paella we landed here as the best combination of value and authenticity. Inside is very old school seafood restaurant. Think paintings of ships in sea and a tank displaying all the offerings We started with the grilled razor clams. They were amazing and tasted great in their simplicity! Highly recommend. We split the standard seafood paella that includes langostino. The rice was incredibly flavorful and complex with a deep brown color. You can tell it has been cooking together with the seafood and not just placed on top which other places do. We ate every last bit. read more

Cheriff - Grilled razor clams - Seafood Near Me - Barcelona, B

See all

YUM! No really, YUUM. If you ask around town where to find the best paella in the city, the name Cheriff keeps coming up. You may just walk past the place if you didn't know what you were looking for. Cheriff opens at 8p for dinner and when the doors opened there were 3 parties waiting to be seated. I went for the paella but ended up getting black ink squid paella instead of the regular seafood I had anticipated. After a walk around the inside and seeing all the cool stuff i changed my mind to try something i haven't had yet. The black ink paella with lemon is awesome with plenty of squid and fish. The table next to us was sitting a chef and he kept ordering stuff that all looked great. This is a family run spot where mama is running the kitchen and papa is managing the cash. They are great. Thanks Cheriff. If you go once, you will want to go back. read more

See all

Cheriff came highly recommended, but I just wasn't impressed. Though there seemed to be a lot of locals, which I took as a good sign, the food didn't measure up. My friend and I started with the mussels, and then split the Paella Cheriff for two. The mussels were fine, but the paella tasted like something I'd expect from one of the tourist traps on the beach. The sauce seemed too thick and too starchy. The main problem, though, was the amount of salt. Adding lemon helped cut it a bit, but I think there is much better paella to be had in Barcelona. read more

Cheriff - Paella Cheriff. Too salty. - Seafood Near Me - Barcelona, B

Amazing Authentic Paella!! We ordered the Mixed Seafood Paella and I'm still dreaming of it! We went around 4pm so it was really empty and didn't need a reservation. The service was great and felt like a classy establishment. They served our plates and made it look real good. read more

Cheriff - Seafood Near Me - Barcelona, B

Very delicious paella. Kind of expensive and the prices her portion are a little confusing. Staff is BEYOND attentive and amazing. Most people ordered a few appetizers/tapas then unnoticed everyone (like myself) got seafood paella to split with two people. read more

Cheriff - Seafood paella - Seafood Near Me - Barcelona, B

I came to a Spain for vacation this summer. I told myself I would not leave Spain until trying good Paella. All the articles have read said this is one of the best places to have paella. As I was reading all the reviews about this place I was thinking, "This food possibly can't be that good" I WAS WRONG! This was the greatest paella I have ever laid my mouth upon. It was rich with flavor as if the rice had been cooked in with the seafood unlike the other places I've went to. The seafood was delicious, fresh as if it were pulled from the ocean 15 minutes before I ate it. I highly recommend this restaurant. read more

A local brought us here. He brought my boyfriend and I, and two other locals who were very skeptic about this restaurant. "Best paella in Spain here, in touristic Barceloneta? No way." Well, as it turned out they were both very impressed and swore they will come back soon. As for my boyfriend and I, it was our first paella so I don't know if our opinion counts -- but my boyfriend doesn't normally eat fish yet he ate the whole plate. I think that's a good sign. The owners are very personable and still baffled that so many people come to their restaurant. "Somebody wrote something online then everybody started coming!" Ahh technology. Out waiter was hilarious, in a very sarcastic way. Loved it! read more

Great food & great service! Recommend getting a reservation We had arroz negro and seafood stew both of which were excellent!!! It is pricey--- but worth it! read more

See all

Get ready to pay a pretty euro for this meal. Went here to try the paella which had rave reviews but didn't think it was that great. The rice was really salty that I had to squirt lemon on it to balance it out. The lobster was fresh and perfectly cooked, although I wish there was more seafood and less rice. The table next to us ordered some seafood stew which looked waaay better...wish we had ordered that instead. My advice: spend your money elsewhere. read more

First time in Barcelona. A friend recommended us to visit Cheriff. Fine dining (not tapas) place for fresh fish and seafood. We had fritura mixta with chipirones, calamares, pescadillas, salmonetes. Also aguja clams a la plancha and seafood paella. For desert a Crema Catalana and chocolate cake + Coffee. Great service, great food. read more

Cheriff - Fritura mixta - Seafood Near Me - Barcelona, B

Best paella in the world!! this place is great, i went to barcelona for a few days and ended up having their paella almost every night for dinner. i cant judge anything else on the menu since i first had their paella it was like love at first sight and i didnt even want to look at anything else they had on the menu. my boyfriend and i ordered la paella el cheriff, which is good for two people but i can honestly eat a whole paella by myself thats how amazing it was. read more

Great place with special atmosphere! Now I know what is Paella tastes like! All "paellas" I have had till now were just a rice with seafood!!! read more

The food was delicious. The low rating is for general snobbery and nickel and diming. We asked for tap water (dont like to use plastic bottles, bad for environment and all) and the waiter turned up his nose and stomped off. For the record, we looked it up and the tap water in Barcelona is perfectly safe to drink. Second, the brought bread to the table, so we ate it. Then saw a charge of €3.80 for the bread. If we had known, we would have sent it back - the paella was more than sufficient. Last, maybe Im just not fancy enough, but I dont mnow how to crack langostino shells without a tool. I cut my hands trying but didnt feel like getting another sneer from the waiter by asking if they had a shell-cracker. Can get equaly good paella for a better price and less attitude elsewhere. I recommend you do. read more

We were in Barcelona on our honeymoon and read about this place in the lonely planet guidebook. They claimed it was some of the best paella in the city, and I have to agree! Great meal with amazing flavor. The calamari was the best I've ever had. Our waiter was super friendly and patient with my limited Spanish. read more

We had the special paella which was excellent! The restaurant has a very authentic feel and the service was excellent. There was no wait for a table at 10pm on a Friday night, granted that was the same time as the fireworks for the merce festival! I'd recommend this to those who would like an authentic experience!! read more

Cheriff - Cheriff's special paella - Seafood Near Me - Barcelona, B

Bad review of Cheriff written in stream of consciousness style: Bait and switch lobster makes for a foodie nightmare of a tourist-trap restaurant set with bring out a live lobster and ask you if it looks okay overpriced fare where the lobster they bring out is kept as a pet to be brought out for show each time somebody orders a lobster paella but in reality the lobster they use is shriveled, old and watery set atop a bed of over-salted brown rice slop with some compensatory trio of clams off to the side but it costs 40 Euros folks! so you better put on a I didn't just get bamboozled face and pay for the paella, the overpriced beers and the water they asked if you wanted and you answered yes because you forgot that in Europe it doesn't come free and neither does the bread but thank God you didn't get offered any of that and you wonder why people gave this place pretty good reviews before on Yelp and a nice couple you met in Quimet & Quimet told you to try it but you did trust them because they were from San Francisco and Quimet & Quimet is 100% legit so the setting was fertile for a seed to be planted to give a place like Cheriff a try even when as you sat down and cracked open the menu the obviously inflated prices screamed for you to run away but alas you didn't. Bottom line: Don't go. The paella is over salted, the lobster they bring out to show you is not the lobster they use for your meal because the one used in our paella was old, and everything is overpriced. Instead, if you're starving and don't know where to go last minute, run to Quimet & Quimet, Pinotxounfortunately only open until 4pand Cuines Santa Catarina for reliable good food at prices the locals would pay in Barcelona. read more

Fantastic fresh, authentic food. The service was as great. Do not miss it! We ask for some tapas and after an a house paella. Everything was worth it the visit. The environment is great, full of a local crowd. read more

Cheriff takes paella to a new level. Extremely well-made down to earth local cuisine with focus on robust ses food. Even more likeable: the place is easy to miss due to hardly any advertising from the street. read more

Recommended by a tour guide as one of their favourite spots for Paella. Tour guide was a self-identified foodie and paella lover. We ordered the seafood paella - it was A-ok only. Relatively good amount of seafood. Seafood wasn't as good as other places we had, rice wasn't as flavourful as we'd expect. My other half said the rice tasted like soy sauce... Wouldn't return. read more