Barcelona Reston

I’ve been here several times now and absolutely love everything about it. There’s such a variety of types of wines (and wines at different price points) that I love trying something new each time. The food is absolutely amazing — I have had many of the tapas, the paella, the chicken pimientos and everything is SO good. For dessert (if you have room left!) the crepas salguero — crepes with crème, ice cream, and chocolate sauce — is delicious.
It takes a lot for me to be truly impressed with a restaurant, and Barcelona has definitely earned that in my books.

Went here for dinner. The tapas were pretty yummy and enjoyable. However the entrees really need work. If I were you just order more tapas and skip the entrees. I ordered the seafood paella and my friend ordered the steak. The seafood paella was so fishy smelling/​tasting it was inedible. They noticed it wasn’t eaten and took it off the check.

$ 70 on tapas for six plates for three adults during lunch and we all left hungry. The location, ambience, service was good. The food was good. The price per tapa is too high. It would have literally taken all six plates for me to have felt full and I’m not a big eater. So if you want six tapas for $ 70/​person, I’d recommend this place. But personally I’ve had much better lunches that have filled me up for significantly less.

I’m obsessed with this place.
So, my boyfriend and I went one Friday night when it was REALLY busy. They told us right when we got there that we were going to have to wait for an hour. We were in a good mood and not starving so we decided to wait at the bar. Before we had a chance to even order, they came around and gave us free Sangria and appetizers. The waiter continued to come around and give us goodies to eat. It was great! We honestly had such a fun time waiting that time flew by.
When we sat down, we got a cheese and meat platter to start. The bread was warm and flakey and the cheese was super delicious.
Then we got beet salad, which was equally as delicious. We ordered patatas bravas, and the sauce was a tiny bit heavy, but we ended up taking some of it home and ate it the next morning and it really hit the spot.
The point of perfection, however, was the grilled lamb belly. My mouth waters just thinking about this delectable dish. The meat melted in my mouth and the chimichurri sauce was the PERFECT addition to this place. I wanted to order three more plates of this same thing!
Unfortunately, we had had so much food at that point that we were stuffed to the rim.
I REALLY wanted to try dessert though so I got the churros. OMG the chocolate sauce was soooo good and the churros were warm and sugary and sweet and perfect. The serving size was really good, we ended up sharing because they give you so many!
All in all, it was one of the best meals we have had in a long time and I can’t wait to go back.

Birthday dinner with sisters. Happy Birfday, Jenny… shawty it’s yo birfday.
We had a 7:30 PM reservation. We were seated at 8:30 PM.
I understand that’s it’s a popular place but WHAT. Is this other guests’ fault? Is this on the restaurant? Either way, I felt like it was unacceptable. What made it worse was being told that it’ll be just a few more minutes over and over. I wasn’t so much disgruntled or angry, just tired and kind of over it. I would’ve been okay with leaving and going somewhere else.
The managers and hosts were really apologetic and brought out some appetizers but to be standing in a cold foyer (absolutely no space at the bar) for an hour on a weeknight with a young child… does anything really make up for that? I’m not sure but thank you for the effort.
Once we were seated, it was great, though the food came out in spurts, I liked every dish we ordered. Favorites included Paella Mariscos, Chicken and Jamon Croquettes, and Grilled Lamb (amazing).

RTC was desperately in need of a place that wasn’t your everyday American fare and Barcelona stepped right in. I’ve been here a few times, most recently last night, and really enjoy this place. The service is on point, food delivery is fast, and menu options are incredibly diverse
My take on some of the tapasI’ve had:
Short ribs — if you don’t get these, you’re making a major mistake — they are outstanding
Potatoes bravas — creamy, awesome aioli
Spinach and chickpea cruzela — ok, can definitely taste the cumin with a bit of spice
Brussel sprouts — mediocre, had better
Empanadas — pretty good, mostly because the sauce that accompanies them is fantastic
Prawns — yes, they have their heads on (they do say prawns, not shrImp), pretty solid flavor
Potato tortilla — pretty standard
Desserts:
Churros — standard churros, good but nothing different then the churros elsewhere
Crepes — very light, filled with a whipped cream and caramel
I’m also a fan of their sangria. Definitely will be back.

This place is a little gem. I came from out of town and wanted to have a nice dinner with my co-​workers. I was in Reston when they first opened but didn’t get the chance to eat here. Well, I came back and fit this wonderful place in. Before I talk about my experience here I want to point out that above all else the service I got was what really made highlighted my visit. Paola what absolutely amazing and she surely knows her wines. We polished off 4 bottles between 5 people because of her wonderful recommendations.
Now, lets get to the food. I think it would have been easier to list what we DIDN’T eat but what fun would that be? I came here on November 17^th and finally writing about it now. Hopefully I can recount how most of the food taste.
We started off with 2 appetizer platters. (3 items each) We decided to get meat and cheeses
Cured Meats — Jamon Serrano, Speck, Sobrasada
Cheeses — Drunken Goat, Garrotxa, Cabra Romeo
Lamb chops — This was the star of the show. Cooked to perfection. This was probably some to the best lamb ever. It’s served as a mini t-​bone. It’s by far the best thing I’ve ate there. I would recommend everyone to try this.
Duck liver mousse — OMFG. This was the #2 thing out of everything I ate there. The came out like pâté but I’m telling you. just WOW. It was so creamy and rich. I wanted to put this on everything. If I could keep a jar of this stuff and take it everywhere with me I would. DELICIOUS!
Royal Trumpet Mushrooms — OK so this dish is worth getting if you like you mushrooms good sear on the outside and packed with flavor. It was topped with minced scallions and garlic. I think this was a dish I’d want to order again and eat it all to myself. Very unassuming dish that is worth every bite.
Hamachi Crudo — Super delicious. I wish there was more to go around. The fish was served sashimi style in a bed of oil and pickled garnishes. Not sure if there was truffle oil in there but the sweet of the fish, butteryness from the oils went well together and the pickled garnishes cut the taste. Really nice marriage of flavors.
Seared Scallops — I don’t see this on their menu now but it was cooked to perfection. As anyone would expect. Can’t go wrong with these if you love their scallops.
Grilled Hanger Steak — When I hear «hanger steak» I always think «cheap cut» of meat but it’s actually very flavorful and near the belly. It was cooked beautifully with a nice sear on the outside and almost perfect pink in the center. topped with a truffle vinaigrette. I would have loved more truffle flavor but beef was tender and delicious.
Truffled «Bikini» — So they used the word truffle and it’s has serrano ham (essentially proscuitto). how can this go wrong? It turns out to be a really fancy ham and cheese grilled sandwich. I would probably pass on this. It’s was tasty but I would spend it ordering something else.
Paella Salvaje — If you’re going to order any Paella dishes make sure you order them right in the beginning. The dishes are huge and take a while to cook. I can only explain it as a «fried rice» style dish. It had duck confit, roasted peppers and garlic, chicken, sausage, blood sausage. just WOW. packed with flavor. Definitely fill you up if you’re eating this alone.
Duck Confit Fideos — Like the Paella it’s small broken noodles cooked with duck confit w/​roasted peppers and a sunny side up egg. I love my duck! yummy till the last bite!
Escabeche (War Shore Oysters) — People in the east coast are so spoiled when it comes to shell fish. The oysters was sweet and succulent. The cold waters there just make for a sweeter and firmer oyster. If these were cheaper I think I’d come here and just have my fill of oysters. Definitely worth ordering and sharing. a bit of sweet vinegar, chives, onions.
Pulpo Gallego (Octopus) — The dish came with seared octopus with what I’ll assume were fingerling potatoes and some chopped greens in a smoke paprika sauce. It was a smokey dish but there are very few impressive octopus dishes. I’ll just stick to Japanese takoyaki if I’m craving octopus.
Calamari — Ehh. It’s calamari.
Chicken and Jamon Croquettes — These were very forgettable. It can’t really recall the flavor. I know I ordered it because it had «jamon» and i love cured meat. LOL
Cauliflower — This was an OK dish. Somewhat forgettable as well. It was cooked well and a little firm and snappy. Over all it was good but I’ll probably pass on these next time.
Acorn Squash — forgot the name of this dish but it was grilled and topped with a very light and crumbly cheese. The flavors were good but probably not my favorite.
Sunchokes — It wasn’t too impressive. I’d just pass on this
Duck legs — Cooked well and it was a decent dish but you wouldn’t be missing out if you passed this up.
Out of the four bottles of wine the best by far and my most favorite was the San Roman 2011. Full body, earthy wine with berry aromas.
It was a bit of a write up but hopefully insightful. Paola, you’re amazing!

I am a spoiled brat here. I usually like to sit at the bar and Pablo and Brian usually find me a spot where they know someone is leaving soon. I usually have my tea custom made (a splash of this, a dash of that) the waitstaff and bartenders are all around funny, genuine, caring and I am here several times a week. the food is pretty darn good, partial menu changes to accomodate seasons and creativity make it delightful
If you come with a relaxed attitude, a smile and ready to enjoy, you WILL.

The ambiance is so great. I have been twice and loved it. Absolutely go for a date night or girls night. Drink and eat!!!
Notes for management:
– the wait times need to be more accurate. Was told 30 mins and it was over and hour
– paella was terrible. Salty and overdone
– be sure to train the wait staff on wine and class. When I asked the waitresses if they had more than one sauvignon blanc, she replied. ‘I don’t know cause I don’t drink wine.’ Ummmmm don’t think that is the answer I was looking for. I don’t care is she drinks but did want to know what my options were.

I’ve been dying to try this place because I’ve heard great things about it. We went here for a date night. It was very loud and were unable to hear each other talk. Not so great for a date night.
We got the hanger steak which was good but that was about it. The empanadas were so-​so, not worth the price. The bread was gooey on the inside and the crust was so hard it was inedible. The potatoes were very undercooked and ended up making us very sick.
The servers were very nice and the wine was good

Love the Barcelona in DC, and couldn’t wait to try this one. First of all– Pablo, one of the bartenders, is awesome. He always remembers that I love the Bourbon Spice Rack and makes them so so well!
The service here either sit down dinning or at the bar has hands down been wonderful. The staff is seriously excellent. The tapas are extensive, interesting, and the portions are very fair. That being said I’ll try anything (but it doesn’t mean I’ll love it) and everything I’ve tried has been great. I have not had a single thing I would not reorder.
On top of all of these positives Barcelona is a breath of fresh air in a sea of hasbeens congregating in the Reston Town Center. Barcelona and Bartaco added some life, competition, and much needed class (let’s be honest) to RTC.

Thank goodness Barcelona has another location in Virginia. I no longer have to play musical chairs for parking spots in DC. Although the crowd is different from the 14^th Street location, the food and service have remained the same. I am a sucker for industrial design, and so long as the food, service, and décor are great, I don’t care what crowd is there. I’m too busy stuffing my face anyways.
I usually order the following: jamon serrano, blistered shishito peppers, manchego, bacon-​covered dates, squid ink fideos, grilled hanger steak, gambas al ajillo, and paella mariscos.
Down your food with a few caiprinhas and tempranillos, and you shall be walking out of there filled with joy.

Three and a half stars. Beautiful interior, lots of parking in RTC, especially in Barcelona’s lower-​traffic corner of the map. Super friendly brunch service from Dominic. I should have taken the hint and gone for the Whiskey Root or bloody mary bar. Attaboy was refreshing and the Bourbon Spice Rack was cardamom-​dominant. Sourdough bread was plush and crusty, with EVOO plus pepper upon request. Portions quite fair on the brunch dishes, though the marinated mussels looked generous by shell size amongst the tapas.
Smoked duck fideos had moist, shredded duck, but most of the toasted fideo were adhered firmly to the skillet. The technical loss of volume across the surface area would make me hesitate to try the squid ink version on their dinner menu. That said, I was still happy with the flavors, and actually preferred it without aioli. Grilled portobellos were the hit tapas of our table– we nearly asked for another basket of bread just to sop up the chimichurri. Eggplant caponata was light on spice, but fine. Roasted green and white cauliflower were garnished with whole grains. Egg white cauliflower tortilla ate like a soft-​crusted frittata with a heavily dressed frisee salad.
Desserts were a mild regret for us, though portioned to easily share. A little too much caramel in the flan, but good texture. Crepes were supple and generously sized, with scarcely melting vanilla ice cream offering the ideal sweetness against the dulce de leche log and simple chocolate sauce.
Glad to see more tapas restaurants expand into the suburbs. Future hit list: mahi mahi ceviche, oysters escabeche, albondigas, chicken + jamon croquets, pulpo gallego, grilled lamb belly, hamachi crudo, prawns a la plancha, spiced beef empanadas; churros y chocolate.

Questionable service and some hits and misses. After arriving 10 mins late to our reservation, we waited an extra 30 mins for our table, quickly noticing a horrible archaic front end paper and pen system with just bad team work was the first impressions. We sat down cramped next to another couple, so the waiter just talked to us 4 at the same time. Awkward, lazy and just plain bad service our waiter.
Food
–Brussel sprouts confit were so salty, they were barley editable. Server and food runners all said nothing to the hardly touched dish ⁰⁄₅
–Meatballs, good but not as out of this world amazing like other reviewers talked about ³⁄₅
–Sauce drenched bib lettuce salad was good but should have ordered the dressing on the side (semi order fail). ²⁄₅
–Lam chops, excellent. ⁵⁄₅
This place seems to have there meats down more then anything else. Service was sub par for the price point. I would go back to try out the paella and some other meat dishes.

I feel like I have given this place enough tries to get a good feel of what kind of food is served here.
1^st visit — Tapas
2^nd visit — Paella
3^rd visit — Brunch.
I honestly don’t think the food here is all that great, especially given the price. Most of the food is just okay. My most recent visit was for brunch and I got Eggs Benedict for $ 15. It was a little steep, but the entrée was not very good. The potatoes that I got were curry potatoes which was a little bit surprising for brunch (I was expecting homestyle). The eggs benedict was mediocre at best. The ham that was in it tasted very salty and lacked the «hammy» favor. The hollandaise sauce was just like butter without much flavor. I have tried many eggs benedicts and this was one of the blandest and saltiest. I also tried my girlfriend’s dish which was the duck paella and that was also very salty.

Made a quick stop here on a weeknight with family. Cool space in the «newer» part of Reston Town Center. Some funky décor, the place (on a quiet night) gives off the vibe of the little tapas bars I enjoyed on various visits to Spain, it’s just missing the stand-​up bar.
The few dishes we tried were all decent, and notably larger and/​or cheaper than similar servings at established tapas places in DC: eg, the flan is $ 5, the meatballs portion is easily double what you get at Jaleo, the chicken croquettas are spiked with serrano ham. Yum.
Espresso was some of the best I’ve had on the east coast. Very tasty.
They serve the full menu until 11:30pm and a late night menu after that. Will definitely return.

I have been eagerly awaiting this place to open once I noticed the interesting wood paneling go up on the outside of the building and I was happy to finally be able to visit for a late lunch yesterday. I love the look of the restaurant! It is very unique to RTC in that it is a nice warm space and rich dinning area that blends the outside patio space seamlessly with the inside. The sliding wood paneling allows for various sized rooms to be utilized, which is pretty brilliant if you ask me, that way the restaurant looks full at off hours and can become quite large during peak times… it’s a really smart build. It’s also very pretty!
As for the food… I love tapas! To me, they are the best things ever because you get to try all sorts of things in one visit. Also, because they come in such a small package they tend to pack a lot of flavors into one bite – which makes for a big old party in my face! That said, Barcelona Reston has quite a large menu and I was very impressed with their selection. They offer small appetizer plates, more traditional tapas, salads, specials and bigger more hearty fares like paella.
We started with the Whipped Sheep’s Cheese (heaven, this is straight up heaven), Smoked Trout Paté and Olives and were pleased with each. I ended up combining the paté and cheese on my piece of bread and was pretty proud of my yummy creation. Then we had the Albondigas, Chicken + Jamon Croquettes and Spiced Beef Empanadas. The croquettes were fantastic little bites of cheesy hammy goodness, while the empanadas were spicy and rich. My husband also loved the meatballs, which I found too dense for my liking (I’m picky about meatballs-​sorry), but I did like the tomato sauce they came in.
After tapas we decided to grab a café con leche and a dessert. Seeing flan on the menu, I knew I had to try it… I love a good flan, and have been very disappointed with some of the ones I have had in the states, but this flan has totally made up for all of it’s distant not so delicious cousins. This flan is fan-​freaking-​tastic! It’s probably the best I have ever had outside of being in Europe-​no joke! Also, since we saw churros go by earlier and my husband is a glutton for all things fried dough, he decided to get some and happily polished them off. They come out light and fluffy and warm and are given to you with this side of amazing dark chocolate dipping sauce. OMG. Heaven. We both left the restaurant with extremely happy bellies and cannot wait to come back!

I could live here. I’m not joking. Por siempre. Any place that brings out my Spanish is gooooood. And this place not only brings out my Spanish, it transports me right back to living in Granada, Espana. Tapas are a ritual, a tradition there. For dinner, you do tapas — you order a vino tinto (red wine, and nothing else, don’t even bother asking for white or they’ll look at you like you have three eyeballs). With your glass of red wine come tapas. Now tapas are free in Spain as they allow you to soak up some of the alcohol with food or a bite, depending on what kind of tapas are served.
Bringing us back to the U.S., with the Americanized tapas, which we have to pay for, yet taste pretty authentic here in Reston. I’m very impressed with the selection of these little dishes, my favorites of which include: croquetas, tortilla espanola, jamon (just straight up ham), and olives — a tapas staple (the bread and butter of tapas, if you will). So we also ordered the beef with truffle vinaigrette which was so amazing, beef empanadas, and lamb belly — all of which were to die for. These meats were salted just right, just like they do in Spain, where they take their carne very seriously!
Of course I will be back to try more of the (red) wine selection, all the rest of the tapas I have not tried, the desserts, and the happy hour when they get that going in a few weeks! Yay Reston, you’re so cool now!!!

We were here on a Saturday shortly after they opened at 4 p.m. — and were quite surprised as to how many people were there already! Most chose to dine outside while we dined inside. As others mentioned, some of the seating is on the cramped side. We were seated at a 2 top at the end of a very long banquette and there was little room between our table and the next one. Fortunately, no one was seated right next to us during our meal. Our seat was also right by the staff entrance to the outdoor dining area. It was nice to be by the window which gave us some space but being by the open door meant that we didn’t feel the a/​c very much.
The way it works here, 2 servers take care of your table, although to me, it seemed like a server and an assistant server type set up. Both servers were friendly and attentive.
To drink, I had a Barcelona Gintonic which consists of «Boodles London gin, fevertree tonic, orange, lemon and rosemary» The rosemary was in the form of a huge sprig. This was a strong drink with the gin overtaking the other flavors. My husband had a Malbec, called «Earth first» from Mendoza, Argentina. He thought it was smooth and slightly dry.
We were given some bread and olive oil. The bread was great — crusty yet soft in the middle. The olive oil impressed us! It was mild with grassy undertones and devoid of any bitterness. We liked it so much that we asked our server about it. She told us that it was called La Boella Arboquina and the oil was extracted by cold press plus made in Spain from Spanish olives. She also told us that we could buy a bottle if we wanted, so that’s what we did! It cost $ 18 for a half liter — and we look forward to using it!
There is a section on the menu where you could make a charcuterie board. If you pick 4 items, it costs $ 20. We couldn’t agree on 4 items but agreed on 2 so we ordered Jamon Serrano (dry cured Spanish ham) and some marinated olives (citrus garlic, marcona almond). For $ 5.50, you get 3 thin slices of jamon Serrano — after all, it isn’t a cheap ham. As expected the flavoring was salty but tasty. We were glad we got the olives (btw, the olives have pits in them) there was an assortment of black and green olives. The marcona almonds paired wonderfully with the olives as they gave some well needed relief from the saltiness.
We then chose 4 tapas plates to share.
First up — Albondigas (spiced meatballs in ham-​tomato sauce). This proved to be our favorite of the 4 dishes. The meatballs (5 come with this dish) were juicy with a hint of spice and the ham added a nice layer of flavor to the tomato sauce. We ended up using some of the bread to sop up the generous portion of sauce.
Next — Chicken and Jamon croquetas with garlic aioli. These were lightly breaded which sealed in the flavor of the ham and other spices. The garlic aioli was in proper proportion so as to not overwhelm the croquetas.
Next — broccoli rabe (chili flake, garlic) Broccoli rabe is naturally on the bitter side and unfortunately, some of the garlic was burned which seemed to enhance the bitterness. The chili flakes were barely present. Yet the broccoli rabe was properly cooked in a light amount of oil.
Finally — soft shell crab. This is a seasonal dish. The crab was plump which indicates that it is fresh. It was lightly battered in a cornmeal based coating and cut in half so sharing was easy. Then it was placed on top of a mixed greens salad that had a tart citrusy dressing with a generous amount of bacon bits. My husband doesn’t like soft shell crab so I ate it but he did share the salad. One thing this dish was crying out for — some type of sauce on the soft shell crab as it would have added some much needed flavor to offset the blandness. We both found the salad dressing to be a bit tart and felt that the tartness needed to be toned down a little.
Since we didn’t feel full, we both ordered flan Catalan for dessert. The flan was smooth and silky with a full bodied caramel sauce on top. Yet the outside of the flan had a hint of bitterness (at least I noticed that but my husband didn’t). Take a way that bitterness and it would be an outstanding flan.
With the purchase of the olive oil included, the meal cost $ 97 + change before the tip. It is possible to eat more cheaply if you just want a very light meal. We will go again!

I’ve had the Barcelona on 14^th Street bookmarked for some time now but I haven’t had the chance to try it out yet. We dined here for a friend’s birthday dinner and due to our large group, we had a pre fixe tasting menu for $ 55 — and it was definitely worth the price! Their traditional red sangria was delicious and the most memorable tapas were: grilled hanger steak, yellowfin in aji sauce, and shisito peppers. Checks were easily split and the service was consistent throughout the night.
I would love to come back to try more of their tapas. Their ambiance is swanky and intimate and would be perfect for a future date night.