Where to at the best paella in Barcelona: a local’s guide for 2025

If you’re desperately searching for proper rice dishes in Barceloneta – stop! Here's a secret: La Mar Salada probably makes one of the best in the city. Simply put, they serve top-notch local seafood cooking – and every day, they head to the fish market for the catch they serve. And the desserts are high-level: crocante, yoghurt cream with green apple sorbet, and above all, crema catalana foam.

Address: Passeig de Joan de Borbó, 58-59, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday and Wednesday-Friday 1-3.45pm, 8-10.45pm, Saturday 1-4.15pm, 8-10.45pm, Sunday 1-4.15pm. Closed on Tuesdays

Lluritu 3 has a warm, welcoming atmosphere far removed from the stiff image of an old-school seafood house: marble bar, high tables, a more intimate upstairs dining area, and a fantastic terrace on the promenade. The rice dishes are sensational – especially the sea-and-mountain version with seafood and pig’s ear, a reworking of Empordà-style arròs brut, somewhere between soupy and dry. Other equally reliable options include seafood rice (on the dry side, with red prawn, cuttlefish and mussels), black rice, and a fideo and prawn casserole. Prices are very reasonable. 

Address: Passeig de Sant Joan 72, 08009 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Tuesday-Thursday 1-11pm, Friday 1-11.30pm, Saturday 12.30-11.30pm, Sunday 12.30-10.30pm. Closed on Mondays

Located on the Balcó Gastronòmic of Port Olímpic, Nuara – a name derived from the verb nuar, meaning ‘to tie knots’ – isn’t just a restaurant, it’s a full-on statement of large-scale gastronomic intent. Here you’ll find premium ingredients, especially fresh fish and seafood from the Barcelona fish market, displayed for diners before heading to the open kitchen or the wood-fired grill, as well as a brilliant rice section. The dry rice with national lobster and the surf-and-turf with grilled squid, Iberian pork belly and ceps are firmly in the premium grain league. For hardcore carnivores, there’s a grilled beef loin and Padrón pepper rice – with a vegetarian counterpart made with organic veg. 

Address: Moll de Gregal, Local 11, Port Olímpic, 08005 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday and Sunday 12-7pm, Thursday-Saturday 12pm-12am. Closed on Tuesdays

In 2019, the year Sagardi turned 25, they opened Cadaqués – a restaurant paying tribute to the cuisine of l’Alt Empordà, birthplace of the platillo and the classic sea-and-mountain style, different to the classic Basque style, cooked over vine shoot or poplar wood. Their monumental arròs brut with cuttlefish, monkfish and shellfish isn’t black (as chef Iñaki López de Viñaspre says ‘black rice doesn’t exist’) – and other mouthwatering versions include a rice with duck and salsify – a rice reinterpretation of an earthy Empordà dish – or rice with rabbit and snails like the one served at El Pinós in Seva. 

Address: Carrer de la Reina Cristina 6, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Daily 1-4pm, 6.30-11pm

Valencian chef Miguel Pardo is in charge of this high-quality eatery where you can get imaginative tapas as well as rice dishes that are so gorgeous you’ll want to eat them right out of the pan. We can definitely recommend the baby squid black rice with alioli mousse, and there’s even a vegan rice dish for your friends who aren’t up for eating meat or seafood. If it’s a bit of everything you’re after, the tasting menu features five tapas, a rice dish to share and dessert for around €35

Cheriff is an ode to top-quality fish and seafood: grilled, battered, in paella, brothy rice, caldereta, zarzuela... And the space, fully renovated in 2020, is a minimalist tribute to the meeting point between sea and shore, complete with chairs by Óscar Tusquets. Their fish paellas will find a fond place to live in your memory – and if you want to really treat yourself, get the lobster rice stew.

Address: Carrer de Ginebra 15, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Monday-Friday 1‑4 pm, 7‑11 pm, Saturday-Sunday 1‑11 pm

Opened in 2023, Pötstot is all about veganising traditional cuisine using top-quality, seasonal ingredients – and that extends to a generous, hearty section of rice dishes. Although they’re served in cast-iron pots, what arrives at the table is a thin, dry-style rice, Valencian in approach, cooked to perfection with recipes that redeem the often-abused vegetable paella – usually the Cinderella of beachside eateries. Our favourite? Their sea-and-mountain paella with shiitake and a convincing marine note thanks to samphire, lifted by a citrus vegan aioli. 

Address: Carrer de València 204, 08011 Barcelona, Spain

Opening hours: Sunday-Thursday 1-4pm, 7-11pm, Friday-Saturday 1-4pm, 7pm-12am

🥘 The best restaurants in Barcelona
🍤 The best tapas bars in Barcelona
🍹 The best rooftop bars in Barcelona
📍 The best things to do in Barcelona
🏨 The best boutique hotels in Barcelona
🍴 Ultimate guide to Barcelona restaurants