Bar Central la Boquería

Prawns (Gambas) and Razor Clams (Navajas) are very good: fresh and tasty. Sea Bass (Lubina) is also good. Waiter is very friendly. Nice experience indeed.

My wife and I were exploring the Boqueria market, and as stalls were getting Tracy to close, we saw a crowd of people surrounding an eating stall at the back. They politely told us that they were closing soon, so we would have to order all we wanted in one go. We had the grilled sepia (cuttlefish) and Lubina (sea bass). Both were cooked simply on a hot grill with a touch of olive oil, salt, and lemon. They were cooked perfectly, and the simple preparation allowed the natural fresh flavor of the fish to dominate. Really delicious! It was also a fun experience to watch the cooks prepare your food. Service was cheerful and friendly.

Landed early in Barcelona and couldn’t check into our hotel yet so we decided to walk the Ramblas and ended up at the market place! The market is so colorful! With chocolates and olive oils and fresh produce, meats, hams, and seafood — we decided to have a seat and try the fresh seafood! Cerveza at 10am! Yes please! This place is so lively and everyone is drinking at this hour! They have fresh seafood on display and they pick it and cook it right in front of you! The lobster was definitely still moving before it hit the grill! I ordered the baby octopus in a olive oil pesto sauce and it was definitely fresh! I wish there was a little more flavor to it though. Good experience but not the best food I’ve had in Barcelona! Definitely fresh though. The couple next to us said their prawns were undercooked and could be better.

Fresh seafood. Great service. They don’t rush you to finish your food like the other stand. The chef and servers were all friendly and quick to get out orders. Razor clams were fantastic! Ended up coming back here on my last night in Barcelona. The seafood salad was also delicious!

Avant toute chose, il faut savoir que Barcelone est une ville où il faut être patient et où les gens ont un comportement devant lequel il né faut pas être surpris. C’est cool et il faut rester tranquille ;-)
Encore un préambule, il faut savoir que le marché de la Boqueria est un garage à touristes et que les quelques bars à tapas où l’on peut manger à l’intérieur sont également faits pour les touristes. C’est donc plutôt cher (par rapport aux prix normaux pratiqués à Barcelone) et pas forcément hyper authentique.
Nous avons donc mangé au Bar Central. Les places sont chères et il faut attendre un peu (c’est normal également à Barcelone) mais on est servis rapidement. C’est bon, sans être extraordinaire. On choisit dans un très grand menu ce que l’on veut et on mange à la bonne franquette. Pour nous c’était des supions (chipirones) frits, des patatas bravas et des pimientos padron.
Je le conseille pour l’expérience de manger à l’espagnole des produits frais du marché.

Place was pretty good but definitely a bit expensive. If you’re in the market it’s definitely not a bad option.

For what it is, this place is decent. Fast too! Everything tasted fresh. Long line to get seated. But they sat you pretty fast. As long as you don’t might hovering over people who are finishing up their meal.

This is one of those sit down bars in the Mercat La Boqueria. I had just came back from Salobreno where the Paderilla (3 fish, 1 large calamari, clams) costed EUR12. Bar Central’s Paderilla (1 slab of fish, 3 small calamari and handful of asari clams) costed EUR27.
The salad was excellent fresh crispy salad with olive oil, good balsamic vinegar and salt but at EUR10.
I also had this red sauce, olive oil octopus with fried potato.
Total cost EUR55. Cost is not worth the food but being able to sit and dine at Mercat makes it a fun experience

Our last day in Spain meant one last trip to the market for breakfast. This time we a busy spot that we spied some good looking seafood at the day before, Bar Central.
We started off with a little avocado salad that we spied being made as we sat at the counter. Filled with avocado and other goodies and topped with a thick balsamic and a plump shrimp, it tasted as good as it looked.
We then moved on to what has become our favorite shellfish, razor clams. These lil’ buggers were so sweet, so tender, so perfect, we were smitten. I would have eaten dozens of these on my own given the chance. Oh and the giant prawns weren’t half bad either.
And lastly some sausage. I was feeling meat deprived so an okay sausage hit the spot.
Definitely a place worth trying if you have more than a few meals to kill at the market. I would go back.

Friends of friends told us to «Go to the market and eat razor clams.» So we did. There are a few stands in the market that serve them but we saw a bunch of locals sitting at Bar Central so we ended up here.
First off, the servers were very accommodating by making room for us at the bar among the locals. They talked to us throughout the meal, asking where we were from and suggesting food options. We obviously ordered the razor clams as well at the «Market Fish» dish. Both were SUPERB! The salmon and the squid served on the market fish plate were by far the best cooked salmon and squid I’ve ever had in my life. All the seafood was grilled and seasoned so deliciously. My friends also devoured the fish eggs (I wasn’t a fan but it was definitely a hit with the others). But make sure there is salmon and squid on your plate!
Must go! Because it’s seafood, the meal is pretty light but also easily shareable between a few people. It’s the perfect afternoon snack and worth the price!

This is the most unprofessional, discriminatory and disrespectful place I’ve ever been!
I tried to eat there after reading a recommendation somewhere on the internet, but after waiting for more than 40 minutes to get a seat when I finally got a place to seat, the woman behind the counter told me to leave that seat because other people would sit there. When questioned, she yelled «This is my place so I can do what I want». Other clients tried to intervene in my favor, questioning that they do not operate on «First come, first serve basis», but all that followed was pure display of rudeness, ignorance and swearing. I’ve truly never been so mistreated as client anywhere in the world!

Bar Central la Boquería
Mercat de la Boquería
Paradas: 494
Ubicación: G6
Especialidades:
Tortillas, parrilladas de pescado, callos, albóndigas, arroz, paella, arroz con leche, crema catalana, manzanas al horno con crema catalana.

I got to the Boqueria late in the afternoon, starving out of my mind. A lot of the food stands were closing up shop, but luckily Bar Central was still packed and churning out delicious plates. They’re located towards the back of the market, past the seafood vendors.
There was a bit of a wait, but I was able to get some seats after stalking some of the other customers, which seemed like the norm here. Since it was near their closing time, they were running out of some of their items, but there was still plenty of fresh seafood to feast on.
The grilled prawns were huge, super fresh, and were freakin delicious. The same went for the razor clams and the salmon w/​mussels. All were grilled to order and seasoned with a simple olive oil/​herb mixture. So simple, so so freakin good.
I ordered similar dishes at some of the other tapas joints in the market, but none were as delicious. I surely haven’t tried them all, but this place was definitely my favorite out of the ones I tried.

El mercado de la Boquería es uno de los lugares más visitados de Barcelona. Al estar situado en una de las zonas más turísticas de la ciudad es un hervidero de gente, que en su mayoría camina entre sus puestos fotografiando todo lo que encuentra a su paso.
Si uno entra por la parte trasera se encuentra con este bar, siempre abarrotado y con una organización caótica en el que unicamente sirven almuerzos. Suele ser frecuentado por empleados de la zona, puesteros del mercado y mucho turista ansioso por hacerse con un hueco desde primera hora de la mañana en uno de sus solicitados taburetes.
Es diificil encontrar sitio, sobre todo en hora punta (de 13h a 15h), pero si uno se arma de paciencia merece la pena esperar. Aquí se come a base de raciones, siempre generosas, entre las que no pueden faltar, tortilla, callos, calamares, pulpitos, ni albóndigas. También sirven paellas, parrilladas de pescado y carnes de todo tipo.
Los precios son un tanto elevados, pero la calidad es incuestionable. Lo recomiendo para comer al menos una vez, y es que en este lugar sin duda si sirven auténtica comida de mercado.