Ashumi L.

Zarautz is an eclectic tapas spot tucked away in a side street in Barcelona. The food consists of mini dishes of different fusions and diverse cultures on a skewer or on top of bread--they also have an a la carte menu. The service is highly enjoyable, the staff regularly check up on you and food comes out fast. The ambiance has me impartial... not much to say about the feel of the restaurant. Overall, enjoyable service, and would highly recommend this place to foodies, might not be for the beginners--easily deserving of at least 4 stars!

Lance L.

My wife and I were in Barcelona, Spain in April 2016. It was our first Euro trip and Barcelona was our stop. We took advantage of Spain's Siesta during our 1st evening and napped during the day before going out for our evening meal. We decided to try Zarautz as it was walking distance from our hotel and the food looked promising. We walked in around 10 pm which is extremely late being that we are from the States, but after our long nap we were ready for dinner. We were sat right away and our server gave us English menu's upon our request. The food was amazing and full of flavor. We started with an artichoke appetizer and each had a glass of wine. Our server was kind and was patient towards us while we ordered our food. During our meal, closing time came, but we were never rushed or given a dirty look that made us feel like we had to leave. In fact, a couple walked in shortly before closing and they were graciously seated with what appeared to be no animosity from the staff. This would never be the case in the United States. Overall, it was a great experience and a pleasant evening with the Mrs.

Daisy Y.

The service sucks, but the food isn't bad. Some dishes were pretty good, and some not so much. The Iberian pork risotto, or, as they call it on the menu, "creamy rice", is to die for. The assortment of pinchos are hit and miss. The squid in baked apple sauce was interesting, but in a good way. I didn't think those flavors would work together, but they do. I have never been an olive fan in my entire life, but, for some reason, the olives they served us here were DIVINE. I was popping them back like no tomorrow! If the service was better, I would have upped them to maybe 4 stars, but the service is just absolutely horrible, and it's so difficult to get anyone's attention. Some servers are more fluent in English than others. Free wifi available, just ask for the password.

David L.

This was an accidental discovery near the Sants train station. I'd gone over to buy a ticket to Madrid for the next day and picked them for lunch, rather than eat at station since they had good ratings and are only a couple of blocks away, straight down the street to your right as you exit the station, past the line of cabs and the giant black metal dragon sculpture. It's a straight shot down the street and easy to spot on the corner on the left side. Zarautz is spotless and very well kept, with a friendly helpful staff. They have a multi-lingual pictorial menu on a video screen above the bar. The tapas looked appealing, and the price of 10 euros for five items and a drink was a deal and a half. Everything was good to excellent. Favorites were the triangular slice of a quiche/kugel potato pie (see photo) and a crab salad. I came back for lunch the next (very rainy) day before taking the afternoon train. The cab dropped me right at the restaurant, but when it was time to head over to the rail station, the rain had intensified. The gentleman behind the bar got a big plastic trash bag and rigged it up over my rolling luggage perfectly - attaching it at the top and bottom so it wouldn't blow off (photo). That goes above and beyond good service. On top of a very convenient location, great prices and excellent food, I'd give them six stars if I could. If you're hungry near Barcelona Sants station, stop in.

Thuy Dan T.

This place was really a gem to go to after a long day of walking and being the ultimate tourist! It is conveniently located right next to the station so getting a taxi after is no problem. Service was great, atmosphere is friendly, and price is reasonable! If you sit at the bar, you can also just get their wide selection of tapas! I really enjoyed every dish, but these were the stars of the show: -Balbania baby eels with prawns: well seasoned and the eels were so good! MUST GET! -Boneless pork trotters stuffed with black sausage and shrimps: beautiful presentation with great taste. -Turron donuts: almost like frozen peanut (or almond?) butter covered in powdered sugar and then paired with great complimentary jams! Recommend anyone visiting Barcelona to make a stop here!!

Tae S.

I was slightly surprised to see this place was so highly reviewed. This was my first meal in Barcelona. I had my mouth watering for spicy shrimp. What I got was bland shrimp in and old sauce. It may have been old shrimp in a bland sauce. Either way it did not work at all. I thought about ordering more but realized I should relax. The service was ok. I probably wouldn't visit again with several fantastic restaurant in Barcelona.

LaToya K.

Came here specifically for the octopus tapas. Unfortunately they didn't have them and only had the full entree available. Since I wasn't hungry enough for a full entree I ordered the "spicy shrimp". The shrimp were far from spicy and weren't really that great in general. I doubt I'll go back to try the octopus.

Terry S.

Finding this place is absolutely a classic example of why Yelp is so awesome! After a long week at a huge trade 5 of us decided to go out to eat a really good dinner (as compared to the company supplied "food" we ate during the week). We are all unfamiliar with Barcelona and my colleagues just stared at each other saying "where should we go?" Meanwhile I quickly turned to my trusty Yelp app and started my search! Within just a few minutes I found Zarautz. Even though it was raining and we had to walk half a kilometer, my friends trusted me and trudged on. When we got there we realized that we should have had reservations because the place was packed! If tthere is more than 2 of you - Make A Reservation! However we got lucky because enough seats at the bar opened up for us to all sit together. (See my separate tip about the front door!) I also encourage everyone to sit at the bar because other Yelpers had made a comment in their reviews that it was the place to be. They were right - Sit At The Bar! The menu offers both Basque and Catalan items but there's no way a tourist like me would know which is which. Who cares?! Everything we ate was awesome. We tried at least half of the items on their menu. A digital display about the bar cycles through showing you what each item looks like. A series of platters on the bar offers "pintxos" which are small tapas. You put them on your plate and can eat them cold but I recommend asking for them to be heated up. After just a few minutes your plate will be returned with hot delicious food. The toothpick holding each item together is then placed into a small ramekin so when you're done eating they can figure out your bill. Everything we ate tasted amazing. It's hard to pick out an item and say that it would be better than the others. However I did adventurously try the Mañanico and it was fabulous (see my picture). It's one of those dishes where your brain says no and your tastebuds says hey brain shut the f up because this is goddamn delicious. They serve draft Estrella beer as well as wine and some liquor. We tried two different bottles of red wine - both yummy and well suited for the food. Bartender we had was a really great guy. Attentive and fast. He also graciously offered us free shots of a Basque liquor which tasted faintly of Jaegarmeister but totally without the burn and with a delicious aftertaste. (We got a second round heh) After eating and eating, two beers each, two bottles of wine and desserts the total bill was about 45 euros each (with tip included). An incredible price considering how much food we ate. Zarautz is the perfect magical combination of low price and high quality. Thank you fellow Yelpers for making reviews - I hope I'm paying this forward.

Ruby C.

My first Tapas bar and I loved the experience! The bar area is self service and the dining area is for ordering off the menu. All the Tapas I tried was delicious with a perfect mix of sweet and salty. The service was great and the staff was accommodating for travelers who spoke English. Try their Tapas you will love it! They are super cheap too!

Jess F.

What a great experience on our first night in Barcelona. The waiters were polite, knowledgeable and helpful. It was a bonus they spoke English. We had the eels with eggs and ham, the green peppers, spicy prawns and the foie with caramelized apples. For dessert we had the "chocolate orgasm" and another dessert made from foie. If I was going to be picky, I didn't like the hot/cold contrast of the foie/apple and the waiter forgot my girlfriend's wine in the first order. These are really just slight detractions for an awesome and well priced experience!

Denise L.

Bienvenido a Barça! The perfect welcome back to my favorite city in the world. For our 2016 trip, this was our first meal in Barcelona and our dinner couldn't have been more perfect. SERVICE: ---------- We were immediately greeted--in English--as soon as we stepped in the door. This is not the norm in Barcelona, as they usually aren't as nice to tourist. Just in case, I busted out the Spanish I'd been practicing for the last half year. TIP: In my experience service is waaaaayy better if you speak even a tiny bit of Spanish. But it didn't matter here because they were just as welcoming to us as to all the locals in the room. And the service throughout the meal was on point. Our server made excellent recommendations and kept the dinner (and drinks) running smoothly. FOOD & DRINK: ----------------- What better way to kick off our first Barcelonian meal than with a pitcher of sangria?! We started with the **Sparkling Sangria** and it was absolutely delightful. Refreshing after our long day of travel and oh-so-delicious. Just the right proportion of wine to fruitiness. Generous emphasis on the wine: immediate 5 stars. Haha just kidding, but it definitely doesn't hurt. :) On to the food... We ordered family style and got many plates to share. Best idea ever because we were able to try so many dishes. **Pinxto Sampler - We ordered 2 platters of these Catalan-style tapas and every single one was tasty. Some had egg, others sausage, cheeses, salmon, and more. **Tuna Fish Sashimi / Tataky with creamy wasabi - Surprisingly one of the best dishes of the meal. One of those amazing recommendations by our server. We didn't expect the fish to be as fresh as it was. **Range Chicken Catalan style with roasted artichokes and leeks - Very tender meat complemented well by the vegetables. **Lamb Shoulder with pear jam and caramelized onion gnocchis - Nice blend of flavors and **Beef Carpaccio with Idiazábal cheese - Another favorite of the night with meat sliced to a perfectly thin degree. **Beef Sirloin with shrimp - Can't go wrong with surf & turf! Didn't disappoint but wasn't one of the highlights. **Duck Breast with apple and nut praline - Very tasty but one of the only dishes that didn't quite make as much sense as the others. Just a tiny bite for each of us! **Homemade Cheesecake - One of the best cheesecakes I've had the privilege to enjoy. We were all surprised that it was as good as it was. I intend to revisit on every future visit to my favorite city. TIP: Go family style so that you too can enjoy many different dishes. DATE TIP: They'll definitely be impressed by all the tapas and dishes. And especially if it starts off and ends with this much deliciousness in a sangria and a cheesecake.

Tracy N.

3.5 stars. Food is up and down, service is strange and lacking. Walked in on Monday night at 8pm and waited 20 minutes for a table. We were told that the bar was full, and we could only order tapas at the bar, if we sat down it was the dinner menu only, and wine only..too bad because I wanted to try the sangria. Strange! I can't order tapas if I'm sitting at a table?? Whatever. We took the table. And waited and waited for our server to finally come over. He was the only one working, so he was clearly overwhelmed and disorganized. Idk if it was because we were tourists? But we felt like we were being treated differently...otherwise tables came in way after us and got served wayyy before us. Our dinner took 3 hours because we waited so long for service! Ridiculous! I recommend the cherry gazpacho with basil ice cream. Amazing and unique! Tapas selection on the dinner menu was only one choice of a variety of Pinchos (things on bread) and they were just OK. My squid dish over baked apple sauce with savory and sweet and salty and delicious! Great combo of flavors and textures hitting every taste bud. My boyfriend was told they were out of chicken, so he got the Zarautz eggs...which was actually potatoes in an almost raw egg sauce topped with ham. Too salty and the egg was too raw. Wouldn't recommend. For dessert we got the "chocolate orgasm" a rich chocolate and walnut brownie with white chocolate sauce and dark chocolate hazelnut mousse with these pop rock like crunchies...yum!

Cat C.

Though tapas are the best in Spain and delicious, we were getting a little tired of them and wanted something different. I wanted Catalan or Basque cuisine since I can't get it back home. Luckily Zarazutz was very close to our hotel and open on our last night in Barcelona. I made a reservation using The Fork (owned by TripAdvisor) and was also able to get 30% off our entrees with the reservation. You can dine at the bar if you want pinchos, but most of the clientele throughout our night here dined at a table. I also put in the reservation notes that we were celebrating our anniversary. We were seated before our reservation time of 7PM and at the time there was only one other party dining in the restaurant. It was still early for dinner according to local time though. I was curious about their lobster rice, however they said they were out of lobster that night. I went with the chicken Catalan style with roasted arthicokes and leeks. He got the baked codfish with a garlic mayo and roasted tomato sauce. After ordering they were so sweet and gave us complimentary glasses of Cava for our anniversary. The chicken was delicious! I got two pieces of moist chicken in a wonderful brown wine sauce topped with plenty of leeks, artichokes, and legumes. His cod was hearty and moist, served with a garlic sauce, potatoes and asparagus. I never have room for dessert and was tempted for us to order dessert on our last night in such a wonderful city. He wanted his own though, so I had to muster up the room in my stomach to finish my Chocolate Orgasm, while he ate his bourbon vanilla ice cream. His ice cream, though not really bourbony had a rich vanilla flavor without being heavy. My choocolate orgasm was a decadent mix of a chocolate brownie, white chocolate cream, and dark chocolate mousse with little graham crumbles. It didn't leave me feeling like I had a brick in stomach though, and I also stole some of his vanilla ice cream to mix with this heavenly mix of chocolate flavors. Makeshift brownie a la mode for the win! We were so lucky that our hotel was in a great area (Sants district) next to amazing restaurants that weren't tourist traps, and very close to the metro line. Zarautz was a wonderful ending to our last night in Barcelona.