La Paradeta

I found this place looking for a place to have a quick dinner, never really had seafood in mind but I started to check out the pictures and some of the reviews, I had decided where I would have my next dinner.
Conveniently located about a 5 – 7 minutes walk from Barcelona-​Sants train station or the Gran Torre Catalunya Hotel, it’s in a place that feels like old Barcelona, tucked between tapa bars and a few other restaurants.
You basically check out what you would like first, get in line and order, when your order is complete they’ll take it to the kitchen, you then walk like 5 steps to the drink ordering station, order your drink and pay. They assign you a table number and you wait at your table for your «mesa» to be called, this means that your food is cooked is ready for pick up, no waiter service.
Some of the seafood takes longer to cook or they’ll be busy with multiple orders so be patient. When your food is cooked, you take it to your table and devour every single mouth watering piece of seafood that you ordered.
The place is not fancy it’s just a regular self service restaurant that has a bunch of tables where you can sit and eat either by yourself or your friends, except that the people behind the counter assigns your table.
I read a review that about this place from some guy that probably has no idea what traveling abroad is like. He writes that they tried to sell him mayonnaise, that the portions were not enough and that Red Lobster is better. Let me make something clear to a few of my fellow American travelers, before you decide to go on vacation somewhere that will be different from the U.S. please use your smartphone to do some research and not just to take selfies, read about the place that you will be visiting, get informed and just don’t go to a country blindly.
Perhaps people like Daniel H should not travel and should just stay in the comforts of his neighborhood. Everyone has a different culture and in Europe things like mayonnaise, ketchup, marmalade, butter, mustard and a few other things that in the U.S. are free they will sometimes not be free here. Comparing trash like Red Lobster to gems like these is just stupid.

Otro restaurante de la cadena con parada de pescado y marisco fresco, que se compra al peso y elaboración al momento. Sitio dónde comer marisco barato y con buenas cantidades. En algunos platos el exceso de salsa ajo/​perejil, que parece imperativo, le quita sabor al marisco/​pescado.

This is the Best La Paradeta in the chain and definitely worth a trip to Sants. We visited the restaurant three years ago and were impressed with the quality and deliciousness of its seafood. It defined our trip to Barcelona! So on our recent trip to Barcelona, this was an obligatory visit!
We had razor clams, monkfish, and baby octopus, grilled to perfection and topped with the amazing garlic-​basil infused olive oil. Then we had steamed muscles and fried baby fish (they were both tasty)! We accompanied this feast with good and reasonably priced local white wine!
We will keep coming back here every time we are in town! They make such delicious seafood that becomes the stuff of dreams!
(We also visited other restaurants in the chain, they were nowhere close to the care and quality of food to the restaurant in Sants!)

Marisquería barata y de cantidades generosas por Sants. La calidad no es la mejor pero no está mal tampoco. Lo mejor las gambas, los chopitos y los calamares fritos.

Amazing experience, great seafood, so fresh it still moves when you select it. I have been pointed out this place by a friend who knows Barcelona quite a bit and I cannot thank him enough. We have been there twice during our trip and we loved the food and the atmosphere a lot. The place is full of locals and outside the city center I think this is the best sign for a restaurant already. Highly recommended!

The shit they sell here shouldn’t be called seafood. It should be called no food. We ordered a bunch of mussels and there was no damn mussel living in these shells. They were smaller than boogers. The razor clams were full of grit and sand. They charge you for fucking mayonesa and they keep trying to upsell you like you’re at a timeshare presentation. Motherfucker, if I want more food, I’ll order that shit. If I want to save room for tapas, why can’t you leave me alone? Why you got to harass me until I relent and order another shrimp. Damn, I guess that shit works. Anyway, them gambas are pretty good, but I’d rather go to red lobster. At least the bread there is free.

The food’s great. The canteen-​like service gives a nice ambiance but don’t go there for a date.

Ahora en verano han ampliado el horario y están abiertos al mediodía para comer. Cuando llegue a las 14h estaba bastante vacío que fue perfecto porque me dio tiempo de ver todo lo que tenían sin prisa y sin tener que esperar por mesa. La sepia a la plancha fue exquisita, podría comerla cada día!

Wandering around the neighbourhood looking for food after a drink at Terra d’Escudella was not an easy task. I was so glad that my Unilocal friend suggested that we go Le Sants for some seafood.
Le Paradea Sants is like a self served fish market restaurant. You would see fresh uncooked seafood displayed on ice and just pick whatever you like and how much you want and how you want that to be prepared. I was quite happy to try some of the seafood that I saw in the markets we visited!
We shared:
Cañaillas — Sea Snails
Gambas a la planche — Grilled Shrimps
Navaja — Razor Clams
All I can said that they were all fresh and delicious. A good experience for any seafood lover!

Great seafood concept! Loved the fresh seafood they serve here. Our party ordered a lot of seafood and could not finish everything but were very satisfied.
We ordered:
1) Calamari
2) Gambas a la planche
3) Lobster
4) Crab Salad
5) Clams
6) Razor claims
7) Oysters
Honestly, I think anything you order here will be good but my favorites were the gambas, lobster and razor clams. The garlic sauce they put on the seafood is to die for. This place gets packed so we got there right when it opened at 8pm and we were the first people there. By the time we left an hour later, there was a line going out the door.

Decent seafood cooked in a simple style. Basically self service, order by weight, cook in various styles & then listen for your table #

My favorite restaurant in Barcelona. My friends and I have tried almost all the seafood there, although we stayed away from lobster and crab.
My favorite dish was the razor clams but almost everything there was good. The rape fish soup was delicious and flavorful.
Best of all the place was very cheap. About $ 13 for each person for our fill on fresh seafood.

Ir a la Paradeta es como ir a la parada del mercado y encima tener un cocinero a tu disposición que te cocina lo que acabas de elegir. Todo un privilegio saber que estás comiendo un producto fresco que acabas de escoger.
Lo descubrí hace muchos años y la primera vez que vas es emocionante. Todo tipo de marisco y pescados se presentan delante tuyo y tu puedes ir diciendo: «unos calamares, ah sí, unos berberechos, y por qué no unos mejillones?». Pero es que además tú lo escoges; es un concepto de restaurate Juan Palomo, sin que pases por la cocina a guisar, claro. Importante ir mirando la lista de precios (que va a peso) al mismo tiempo, para no dejarse llevar por la emoción. De todas maneras la relación calidad precio está muy bien, sólo un poco más que el precio del mercado, más el añadido de la preparación.
Cuando ya tienes el cesto de la compra lleno, en un segundo mostrador pides la bebida y pagas lo escogido. Te dan un número de mesa con un ticket y a esperar que te traigan la comida, que te anunciarán por un altavoz. Toda una experiencia.

La Paradeta es un restaurante de pescado y marisco de esos que tienen dentro una pescadería propia en la que eliges lo que quieres comer y ellos te lo preparan.
Hay tres establecimientos en Barcelona, pero sin duda el más mítico es éste, el situado en el barrio de Sants. Es un local un poco pequeño, con lo que enseguida se llena (es más fácil encontrar mesa siendo un grupo reducido).
Lo mejor es que no tiene pretensiones de ser una gran marisquería. Se conforma con ser un lugar al que la gente pueda ir a comer buen marisco a un precio muy económico.
La Paradeta es ideal para ir en grupo con los amigos por dos motivos: es divertido elegir la comida cuando todavía se mueve y por otro lado, al ser un local sin camareros, hay que levantarse a recoger la comida cuando ya está hecha.
Aviso para navegantes: cuidado con el vino turbio, que se bebe muy rápido.

La gracia de esta concurrida marisquería es que aquí no hay camareros, es self-​service: eliges del mostrador las piezas que quieres, frescas, y luego recoges preparado lo que has encargado. Pagas a peso. Vamos, es como una pescadería (de ahí el nombre del local) en que te preparan el marisco y te sientas allí mismo a comértelo. Ideal para grupos moderadamente numerosos que quieren comer bien sin dejarse una cantidad indecente de dinero.