Mr & Mrs Smith

Great hotel and exceptional value for money. Really central location but on a quiet street – our room was well kept and had a nice little balcony looking onto the street. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable about the area. La Fianna was a great bar in La Ribera district and we really enjoyed the taster menu at nearby Pla De Garsa, a Catalan restaurant where we were served fondue, beef bourguignon, ham, cheese and more, for a very reasonable price. We had planned to eat Sunday lunch by the port at Suquet de l'Amiral but unfortunately booking ahead is required – it looked like it would have been a lovely place for a seafood lunch.

If you're looking for fantastic tapas in civilised surroundings, then the Ciudad Condal is well worth a try. We were originally recommended this bar/restaurant by a Spanish friend 8 years ago and loved returning (twice) last weekend. It is less than 10 minutes walk from the hotel Pulitzer and you can eat outside or in (at the bar or in the restaurant). Find it on the corner or Gran Via de les Corts and Rambla de Catalunya. Leave your name with the organising staff and have a drink whilst you wait for your table!
Helen Bligh

Barcelona folklore has it that drinking from the Font de Canaletes (a fountain) will make you fall in love with Barcelona and always return. While I did not drink from this fountain, I did fall in love with Barcelona - the food and importantly the culture around eating – and hope to return. Some of my favourite foodie finds: restaurant Ciutat Comtal is excellent and a five minute walk away from Hotel Pulitzer. They serve a delicious Catalan Creme for dessert, which is a regional version of creme brulee. This is the perfect place for dinner on your first night in Barcelona, but you probably won't want to eat anywhere else thereafter! Make a reservation or expect to wait for a table, it's very popular with locals too. Any visit to the historic and enchanting Barri Gotic and La Ribera (you'll have the Museu Picasso on your itinerary) should include a visit to Bubó, a very modern patisserie. Tastings are encouraged, which saw me leaving with a bag full of truly addictive chocolates and colourful maccaroons. Stop in for lunch at the next door restaurant Caputxes. Have the Menu del dia; at €10 it is excellent value for money for a three course meal, including water and wine. The dishes are taken off the a la carte menu for each day, portions are generous and the food is fresh and delicous. Best not to order the Catalan Creme here for dessert if you've had it at Ciutat Comtal to avoid dissapointment, but the menu has a range of other mouthwatering desserts. Finally, no visit to Barcelona is complete without a visit to the Mercat de la Boqueria on La Ramblas. Ripe figs, peaches and two handfulls of cherries out of a brown paper bag – perfect food memory.

We visited La Pineda (address pi 16, Barcelona), not far off Las Ramblas in the Barri Gotic part of town. From the outside, it looks just like an old fashioned butchers shop with lots of legs of Iberia ham hanging up. However, it also has a few small tables at the back, along with a great selection of wines & spirits.

We had a meal there on our first evening in Barcelona and had a great selection of tapas (excellent Iberia ham and chorizo!) and a bottle of red for only €32 for 2 people. We enjoyed it so much that we went back again 2 nights later! It seemed to be the sort of place that locals go for food, drink and banter. The staff didn't speak English, but that didn't cause a problem as we could get by with a small amount of Spanish.

All in all, it was a great place to visit and felt authentic Spanish.

i went to the pulitzer hotel in Barcelona on friday may the 7th, very dissapointed that the resturant was closed on the sat eve , so couldnt get food , and the roof top bar was also closed , considering it was the wknd of the spanish Grand prix , it seem a little strange ! However the free breakfast that mr and mrs smith arranged for me was fantastic .

A very central hotel surrounded by numerous restaurants and with plenty to do on its doorstep.

A great hotel in a fantastic location - we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Hotel Pulitzer was very impressive and comfortable. Unfortunately the restaurant closes every Monday night, so we didn't have a chance to eat there. But the receptionist gave us the name of a wonderful tapas bar only 200m away – we ate there most nights! Highly recommended, thanks Mr & Mrs Smith

Get down to Barcelona's marina area by night where it's easy to bar-hop as well as finding great dining options. Bestial (Carrer de Ramon Trias Fargas 2) offers the best of both with a funky restaurant as well as an enormous outdoor terrace for either dinner or drinks. Resident DJs help keep things going late into the night once dinner is done.

At the other end of the scale, Restaurant Can Culleretes (in the heart of the Gothic area) is a great spot if you're after a traditionally Catalonian evening. Specialising in hearty local dishes and wine by the carafe, apparently the place dates back as far as 1786. The cosy decor will give you plenty of talking points while you eat, with walls plastered with paintings and photographs of bygone diners.

The desk staff at the Pulitzer are very well informed and helpful about the best bars and restaurants, though this Mrs Smith is also an obsessive travel researcher, so all we needed was confirmation of making wise choices. Our first night out – an easy 10-minute stroll from the hotel – was at Tapac24, a highly recommended source of traditional tapas, given a new gourmet twist by an ex-El Bulli chef (and therefore on any foodie hit list). Don't miss the 'Bikini' (a tiny cheese and ham toastie with a surprise luxury ingredient: truffles) and the Barcelona 'bombs'. The staff there don't speak much English and it's not a tourist place – but you'll be made very welcome and the bill is half what it would be in the UK for equivalent standard food and wine. We also treated ourselves to Arola (+34 939 3483 8090 ) at the Hotel Arts on our anniversary – again, an envious/approving nod from the receptionist when I said we had reservations there (and lots of restaurants close on Sunday, making booking ahead very advisable). It was very glam, in a laid-back funky way, with great food – probably the best lamb I've ever had. The swanky Terrace Bar at the Arts is a fabulous place for an aperitif, but it will set you back many euros. The Pulitzer's bar is also very nice and considerably cheaper...