ORIO BCN Gotic

I’m rather surprised at the mixed somewhat all over the place reviews on Orio as I’ve dined here on several occasions and have found everything about the place to be a delightful as well as unique culinary experience. At my last experience I ordered their fish special. I asked what kind of fish it was but the only answer I could get, or at least the only answer I could understand, was that it was a white flaky fish. Prior to my fish being served, however, I was given a complementary wooden stick containing some really tasty olives wrapped between white anchovy which was an appetizer treat I’ve never been served before. When my fish came, the presentation was first class and the fish, whatever kind it was, one of the best in overall texture and flavor I’ve ever had.
Orio isn’t a fancy restaurant, doesn’t try to be. It’s almost pub like in atmosphere but has a huge array of desserts, specials and a specialty of fresh shucked oysters. Another good thing about it is its location on Ferran Street, a pedestrian street that is one of my favorite walking streets in Barcelona.
For the quality, freshness and unique tasty preparations of their food and the prices of it which are more than reasonable, for what it is, and though nothing fancy, it’s a solid Four Stars for me.

Orio is a great option if you need a meal on the go in Barcelona. You can grab a seat here, sample various tapas at the bar (self-​serve), and be on your way in a fraction of an hour, without a hassle. The server will tally the toothpicks on your plate and calculate your bill, which is kind of cool. Great selection of tapas for 1.95 euro, some sweet some savory. I enjoyed the goat cheese and smoked salmon tapas, but there were many worthy of trying. Overall, I had a great experience at Orio with my wife and would definitely go back. Highly recommended.

Orio est un bar à Pintxos (prononcez Pinchos). Il s’agit de tapas présenté sur des petit batonnets style cure dents.
Le concept: vous vous installez au bar ou à table, vous commandez à boire et allez vous servir de Pintxos autant que vous voulez. Attention, il né s’agit pas d’une formule à volonté! Lorsque vous avez terminé un serveur vient compter le nombre de batonnets dans votre assiette et vous facture ici 1.95 euros par batonnets. Comme, selon moi, c’est assez copieux on peut s’en sortir pour moins de 20 euros par personne (sans compter les boissons).
Bref, l’ambiance est sympathique on se retrouve sur des grandes tablées ou directement au comptoir.
Tout est bien présenté et des serveurs déambulent même dans la salle avec des plateaux remplis de Pintxos.
Il s’agit le plus souvent de morceaux de pain garnis de diverses sauces, viandes et poissons.
Une certaine recherché esthétique est bien présente mais cela reste assez sommaire dans le choix des mets proposés.
Attention! Certaines fois l’on se demande depuis combien de temps ce petit pintxos attend là que quelqu’un veuille bien le choisir.
Petit plus: il est également possible de consommer des huîtres marennes sur demande.
En bref, un cadre convivial pour un dîner/​apero entre amis et sans chichis!

The Quick: I was surprised by how great the pinxto (toothpick tapas) were and how much I enjoyed this spot. The blue cheese with jalapeño jelly is a hit, as are the different croquette options. Great spot.
The Details: After dining at the extremely popular (crowded) Irati, I was cautiously optimistic to try the spot. At first it looks modern and what could be seen as touristy, but don’t be fooled. The spot is excellent food, great staff, and ample space… No frustrating crowds to deal with while you peruse the tapas options.
We went twice during our trip; worth a visit if you’re adventurous and like to try new foods.
The Damage: 1.95 Euro per tapas (standard) and cheap beer and wine ~2/2.50 Euro.

Not as highly rated as a few other tapas bars, but very good and well worth a visit. A clean, modern restaurant with a fine selection of seafood, meat, vegetable, and cheese tapas. They feature a regular menu as well as tapas for € 1.95 per item. And a selection of beer and wine. Do yourself a favor and get off the beaten path and away from the restaurants along Les Ramblas, and give Oreo a try.

This place is OK — decent food, slightly overpriced. The highlight was the waitress making a gin & tonic. She cooled the glass with ice cubes, scented the rim with lemon zest and poured the gin right over the zest to give it a fresher flavour. But the oxtail main dish was bizarre! It came with 2 giant pieces of oxtail with no side dish… now I’m a huge carnivore but an all meat dish was a little hard to stomach. I had to steal a few potatoes from my husband’s plate just to get through it.
I’d go again for the tapas bar, not the menu.

So there are really good tapas in Barcelona and then there are average tapas. This falls into the latter category but if you cannot find a higher-​rated tapas joint, don’t skip this one. Also, they are opened late at night here in the Gothic Quarter.
Hint: take the hot tapas offered as they are the same price and are freshly prepared. The croquettes were a highlight. You can only get hot tapas as they are served.
The rest of the items were definitely not memorable but were definitely not awful. The staff and service was also mediocre. It felt more like a tourist trap then a genuine tapas place but it was opened late, had semi– decent reviews and was in the Gothic Quarter, as mentioned earlier. If this is your ONLY choice for tapas, don’t skip tapas but if you have other options, go ahead and explore them. I definitely give you permission.

This is a very nice place to sit down and have some pintxos or tapas. Very casual and full of locals, always a good sign. There is some row-​boat-​theme going on but I didn’t get it. The owner was probably in some national team or so. So you’ll eat sitting underneath an upsidedown rowboat. Have some wines, and walk up to the bar and gather some pintxos. Just save the picks, they will count them at the end and they’re worth 1,95 a piece. (this wouldn’t work in Holland, idiots would hide some sticks.) You can also order some other dishes, and the staff will come by from time to time carrying other bites. You’re seated on long, high tables, so there will probably be people you don’t know, sharing your table, but thats ok. Because of the high tables and barstools it pretty much feels like a bar anyway. Love it, perfect place for casual bite to eat on any time of the day. A Barcelona Break

Stopped here for lunch whilst sightseeing around the city. Really enjoyed going up to the counter to choose your pinchos and they offer a really good variety. Hot pinchos are brought around by waiters. Thought that € 1.95 each is a good price and means you can try quite a few! Coffee was also excellent.

Nice place. Not very expensive.
Average bill for 4 persons with wine 120 Eur.
Good tapas and good oysters. Wine pretty good, but better to check before what wine does they have today.
Can recommend it for lunch place.

Not much to compare it to since this was only our second tapas experience, but our delightful local guide, Christina, took us here today for lunch.
After the waiter showed us how to pour cider from over his head we enjoyed artichoke/​sardine; Spanish omelette on toast; smoked salmon; anchovy with string beans, olives & chilies and on and on.
Couldn’t have been any better.

Loved this tapas spot in old town Barcelona. Most of the tapas were seafood related, but then again, we are on the Mediterranean here. The community seating makes it possible to meet new ppl as the place begins to fill up and folks are forced to sit together. Very nice wine & a neat toothpick counting method to tally your bill (€ 1.95/toothpick). Clean location and English-​tolerant service.

Excellent place! Delicious food and very good service! It’s location is also very good; the waiters bring some warm «pinchos» to you, although you may get some by yourself. It’s also fantastically decorated!

Honestly, I can’t say how good the food is or isn’t. We have been there twice and walked out both times. The first night we tried to eat here, we walked in and stood in the entryway for 5 mins waiting to be seated. We left since no one acknowledged us and had a fantastic dinner elsewhere. The second time we came in, we were seated in the back and no one came to our table for 20 minutes. We got up and left out the side door. Needless to say, we won’t be going there a third time.

This place was a treat. My husband and I had lunch there, which consisted of buffet style choice of delish little skewers for 1.95 € a piece. I had sardines and a hummus stuffed pepper. The pâté was awesome. My husband opted for mini sandwiches We were filled after 12 so overall not too bad for lunch for two. Such a fun gastro pub experience!

Awesome place… staff were friendly, tapas were delicious, overall a great experience!

This restaurant has an inside buffet tapas with communal shared bench seats. Tapas looked great. We chose the a la carte and sat in the side courtyard. Food was classic Catalan with just small portions of whichever fish or meat dish you choose. I had red tuna which was very good, but no other food on the plate. My wife had suckling pork which was not good — very thin cut, very fatty, tough chewy crackling. If you want something to accompany your meal would recommend attempting to negotiate a salad starter to arrive with the meal. Wine was great.

Tombés par hasard devant ce restaurant, on avait déjà mangé mais on y est retournés le lendemain pour déguster … Et vraiment sans regrets.
C’était très beau, très bon, bien servi et très convivial !
On a adoré avec l’envie d’y retourner pour notre prochain séjour à Barcelone …
Il y a un article sur mon blog à ce sujet avec des photos !

Das Orio bietet zu jeder Tageszeit eine reichhaltige Auswahl an kalten und warmen Tapas, übrigens die besten die ich jemals geniessen durfte. Es macht Spaß zu probieren, wenn man geschmacklich nie enttäuscht wird :-)
Sehr guter Wein, nettes Ambiente und ein tolles zentrales Lokal. Übrigens erinnert die Einrichtung mit dem Ruderboot, vielen Paddeln und Bildern an den Volkssport der Basken (das Lokal wird von einem Basken geführt, man sagt es seien die besten Köche der Welt). Hingehen, es lohnt sich!

This place was busy and seemed cool but i was quickly proven very wrong! you are first seated at a communal table then given a plate to go pick your own pinotxos. there were no signs so i asked the staff to explain to me which she walked away after describing a few of them. i then asked the manager to explain the rest of them which he did begrudgingly. when we went back to our seats they were taken and when we tried to sit somewhere else we got yelled at. the staff and manager pretended not to notice and refused to help us. i was ready to walk out til someone else came to help us but she stuck us in the corner and since i was unhappy she said «Chill out! you’re on holiday!» I finished my wine and left. The food was fishy and stale. Absolutely disgusting!!! I do not know why there were so many people there. Please save yourself so money, good stomach space and time and DO NOT eat there!!!

This place was terrible from the food to the service! I DO NOT recommend it at all. We entered and were seated promptly however when we got up for the buffet bar area our seats were taken by other guests then we got looks and shrugs like «nothing we can do». Then after a few minutes got shoved in a corner.
When we mentioned again our seats were taken and we didn’t want to be shoved in the corner we were told to «chill out, you are on vacation». Talk about service!
The tapas were old, bread was stale and most tasted so fishy. Only decent thing in there was the wine. We couldn’t eat any of the food so we left hungry and dined elsewhere.

Lots of delicious pintxos for 1.95EUR/toothpick as well as oysters for 2.5EUR/each.
Most people were seated at long communal tables with barstools.
The selection was very similar to Irati Taverna Basca, another restaurant nearby we visited on the trip.

Fun. Tasty Tapas by the stick. Nice terrace in private alley. 2 € per tapa.

Sus ostras son mediocres de sabor pero caras de precio. La bebida también es muy cara, los pinchos ok pero nada especial. Conozco muchos vascos mejores que este y donde pagarás menos.

Si los sitios se tienen que medir –y valorar– por los ratos pasados en ellos y por el entorno, tanto como por lo que sirven… para mi este restaurante es de 10. O de 11.
Lo descubrí cuando era jovencilla y se llamaba Vildsvin y el plato fuerte eran las ostras y la cerveza. Pero no aterricé ahí por la vía gastronómica, no… Resulta que la terraza está en una callejuela, (el Pasaje del Crédito se llama, jejeje, con los tiempos que corren!!!) que tiene una singularidad que pocos conocen: alberga la casa donde nació Joan Miró.
Y hoy, haciéndome la chula y la «cultureta» he arrastrado hasta allí a un amigo para que comprobara, de primera mano, que Barcelona aún tiene rincones escondidos. Y, como no, nos hemos quedado a comer en la terracita «del Crédito» al calor de una estufita de esas de parasol. No dejaba de ser curioso ver a la montonera de turistas recorrer la calle Ferran sin reparar en ese rincón estupendo y encantador en el que estábamos, ignorantes de que ahí mismo, al alcance de su mano, había un lugar mágico al que reverenciar, si te gusta el arte…
Ah las ciudades!!! Tienen estas cosas: de repente, un restaurante de los vascos de toda la vida, con sus pinchos, su chistorra y sus croquetillas, sube de categoría por tener un rincón especial y ser un paisaje de oasis en medio de la vorágine.
A todo esto…¿qué tal se come? Pues bien. Le he puesto cuatro estrellas porque tiene tapas correctas y ricas, el personal es amable y atento, el precio normal… pero no deja de ser un vasco más.
Ah, bueno, y siguen teniendo ostras!!! En la entrada las ves, todas hermosas ellas diciendo: cómeme, cómeme…

Sus pinchos son mi perdición. Me gusta ir a estos sitios, sentarme en la barra, comer algunos pinchos con una cerveza mientras se vacía una mesa y luego sentarme a comer.
Esto me lo enseñó mi padre, y mientras invitaba el todo era perfecto. A pesar de que está muy bueno todo, sobretodo los pinchos, el Orio es un poco caro. Quizás por estar situado en el gótico y estar frecuentado por turistas.
Hay que decir que no es un sitio tranquilo, hay mucho movimiento y ruido, algo que, en su defensa, creo que es normal en las tabernas vascas. Aparte han tenido el acierto de decorarlo con barcas y remos, que le da un toque tradicional que realmente no tiene.
Si estás por allí, acércate, siéntate en la barra (de 10 a 00:30h) y tómate unos pinchos. Te gustarán.

Lieber Freddy,
ob Du es glaubst oder nicht: ich bin in Barcelona! Also nicht in Spanien, sondern in Katalonien. Das hiesige Leitmotiv ist daher nicht der (spanische) Stier, sondern der (katalanische) Esel.
Du bemerkst bereits, dass die Katalanen ein sehr sympathischer Volksstamm sind.
Aber ich schreibe Dir ja nicht, um Dich in die Geheimnisse der unterschiedlichen iberischen Seelen einzuweihen, sondern weil ich Dir einen Tipp geben will.
Falls Du einmal im «gotischen Viertel» sein solltest, weil hier schließlich alle Touristen herkommen, um sowas wie ein Venedig ohne Kanäle zu besichtigen.
Und wenn Du dann hungrig bist, dann geh einfach ins «Orio». Vorne empfängt Dich ein freundlicher Mensch und fragt, ob du «bloß» Tapas haben oder richtig essen willst. Egal, was Du machst: es lohnt sich.
Das Essen ist gut, die Kellnerinnen und Kellner sind freundlich, das Ambiente (in Barcelona sollte man eher schreiben: das Design) ist angenehm.
Es grüßt Dich
Erich
fern von Kakanien