Opera Samfaina is the most unusual dining experience I have ever had. From the moment you enter through an ice cream shop, and descend through a tunnel into the museum/amusement park/operatic interior, you know you are in for something strange and special.
We were in Barcelona for a trade show. One of our colleagues was staying in a hotel off La Rambla, and stumbled across Opera Samfaina while searching for a restaurant with his family. The next day, he said, "You have to check this out," so a group of us went. As the trade show catered to people in the themed entertainment industry, we were all blown away by the Opera Samfaina experience. The lighting, the room design, the projections, the strange storyline and props... verging on Grand Guignol. It was all insanely pleasing and weird. Needless to say, if you are searching for a traditional Catalan tapas experience, this is not it.
If the food were no good, Opera Samfaina would simply go down as an odd touristic find, worth a visit for the curious and bored. However, the food is very, very good, and some of it is exceptional.
We visited twice, and both times had the eight-course dinner with wine in what I would describe as the main room. It was a bargain at €30 each. Each course is presented with a description of its origins and the preparation. The design of the circular tables, that allows a single waitperson to simultaneously serve up to 10 people without having to leave their presence is brilliant and ingenious. A lot depends upon your server, as one night, we had a chatty young man who spoke perfect and loquacious English, while the other, we had a reserved young woman, whose English was perfectly understandable, but she just didn't speak much.
Your other options are to not buy a prix fix meal, and just wander from station to station ordering tapas and wine (all reasonably priced starting at about €3), or the other prix fixe meals, which are €42 and €48 (I think), and served in different rooms elsewhere on the premises.
I hesitate to give further description of the experience, or even the food. The less you know and expect, the better. Just go and immerse yourself in the moment, and enjoy the surprises.
We ended up going twice, each time with locals who had no idea the place existed. It is apparently only about a month old. Go, before it is discovered and becomes a tourist hotspot with long waits and high prices! read more