Located on the second level of the Hotel Arts, Arola offers diners an opportunity to try chef Sergi Arola’s cuisine in a casual setting. Catalan by birth, Arola travels to Barcelona each week to oversee the kitchen. The patio sits directly beneath Barcelona’s famed Gehry fish sculpture, and the views and sea breeze make this the perfect place for a long, leisurely lunch with a good bottle of wine. There have been some reviews of late, however, stating that the quality of the restaurant has slipped with inconsistent service. The food remains excellent however, if a bit overpriced.

The décor of the Mandarin Oriental’s hotel bar references the building’s former life as a bank with a wall made entirely of safety-deposit boxes. The drinks menu, on the other hand, references the Mandarin chain’s Asian roots with offerings like the “Ruskichai”—a vodka-based cocktail with orange and cranberry juices and champagne, served in a teapot for two. Enjoy cocktails either in the clubby lounge area or in the narrow, but pleasant, open-air porch.

A great stop before or after visiting the Picasso Museum, Bar del Pla is part casual bistro, part bustling tapas bar—and wholly delicious. The extensive wine list and seasonal tapas manage to be both traditional and creative. The unassuming spot is easy to miss, so look for the black awning above a small white counter and Spanish tiles.

Bar Mut is as popular with well-heeled business folks as it is with hipster tourists, turning out some of the most unique, cleverly executed small plates in Barcelona. Traditional Catalan dishes like thinly sliced fried eggplant or scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms share the menu with more exotic concoctions such as slow-cooked pork served with sea cucumbers, or grilled razor clams. The eclectic décor features walls lined to the ceiling with wine and liquor bottles toting old price tags. Diners can opt to sit on bar stools or at a selection of tiny tables.

The tapas bar sister of Caldeni next door, Bardeni proffers a mix of inventive Catalonian tapas, and boasts some abbreviated versions of the meat dishes for which Caldeni is known. Bardeni is casual enough to grab a drink and light tapas for a midday snack, but also has a sophistication that lends itself to a sit-down lunch or dinner.

Call ahead to reserve a seat at the outdoor communal table at Bestial, a popular Mediterranean restaurant overlooking the ocean in the Olympic Harbor. Fresh homemade mushroom ravioli with prawns followed by one of their homemade fruit sorbets makes an ideal lunch by the sea.

Family-owned and operated since 1970, this restaurant serves refined Catalan cuisine in the Raval neighborhood. Close to MACBA and featuring museum-worthy décor itself (including original engravings by Salvatore Dali), the restaurant is a perennial favorite with Barcelona’s art crowd. The menu is also a work of art, with inspiring dishes such as broad beans sautéed with baby squid and mint; or foie gras and truffle ravioli with port wine sauce. Expect a more traditional crowd of diners than in Barcelona's more hip eateries. (The King of Spain likes to eat here.)

For an escape from the tourist traffic when visiting the Sagrada Familia, Caldeni is the perfect spot for a quiet and refined meal. The sophisticated restaurant serves Catalan cuisine, with an emphasis on meat dishes, especially beef. (The highly decorated chef, Dani Lechuga, is the son of a butcher and has a deep appreciation for his father’s craft). There is a well-priced 10-course menu as well as a prix fixe lunch .

A terrific international wine selection and intimate dining room make this a date-night favorite among Gràcia’s foodies. The inventive, seasonal tasting menu combines Mediterranean and Asian flavors.

Offering haute cuisine in a basement-level dining room at below-market prices, this unassuming restaurant features a reasonably priced seasonal menu. Windows looking onto outside greenery and decorative copper-chain curtains (“coure” means “copper” in Catalan) gives the room a light atmosphere, despite the fact that it is below street level. Attention to detail (even the bread is homemade) makes a meal at this off-the-beaten-path restaurant a special event.

This restaurant’s name, which literally translates to “two sticks,” references the toothpicks traditionally used to eat Spanish pintxos (bar snacks) and is also a nod to Albert Raurich’s (head chef at El Bulli from 1999-2007) Asian-inspired cuisine. The hip cocktail bar in the front feels straight out of the 1970s with its retro décor of chartreuse walls and linoleum floors. In the back room, accessed through a beaded curtain, is a 12-seat table where the cooks serve directly out of an open kitchen. There are two fixed menus featuring creative fusion tapas like steamed dumplings with fresh shrimp and Iberian pork or red curry Thai razor clams.

As the name suggests, this is the place to go for a martini in Barcelona. Since opening in 1978, the dark-wood and leather decorated bar has shaken and stirred over a million martinis for the stylish Eixample crowd. (Check the official Dry Martini counter, a digital scoreboard at the end of the bar to see where your order factors into their grand total.) The clandestine back room restaurant, Speakeasy, is run by the same proprietors and is a good bet for traditional Mediterranean fare.

The bar and ground-floor lounge restaurant in the Hotel Majestic is open all day and into the evening for coffee and tea, cocktails and full meals. Rather than being a mere hotel lounge, however, the restaurant serves extraordinary dishes dreamed up by Spanish celebrity chef Nandu Jubany.

This fashionable Gràcia cocktail bar specializes in a traditional Catalan favorite: vermouth. A small menu of savory bar snacks is the perfect accompaniment to the sweet cocktails.

Locals flock to this Eixample restaurant to hang out, eat and drink in its light and airy Nordic-inspired dining room. Open all day, this is a great non-touristy spot to enjoy breakfast, cocktails or anything in between.

Looking out onto the picturesque Plaça Reial, this restaurant and cocktail bar serves inventive “urban tapas” in a building that dates from 1856. The building’s original oak floors have been restored and are complemented by chandeliers, ornate columns and exposed ceiling beams. The changing menu combines typical Catalan offerings like patatas bravas with spicy sauce and acorn-fed Iberian ham croquettes with exotic finger foods like Vietnamese rolls with pork and vegetables. Plus, Ocaña’s cocktails are among the best in the city. For dessert try the chocolate and churros, strips of fried dough coated in sugar served with Bailey’s-infused chocolate mousse.

Some locals call Rias de Galicia the best seafood restaurant in town. It was one of Woody Allen’s favorite spots while shooting filming Vicki Cristina Barcelona.