Spain: Ciudad Condal

One of the hotel staff recommended that we try Ciudad Condal for tapas, so after a Gaudi-filled day, we did so.  The building was undergoing a bit of cosmetic surgery so we nearly walked right past it:

We were warned about the long wait, but I guess we were a bit early for the dinner rush because we got seated immediately:

With the help of an English menu, we selected a bunch of tapas dishes.  First were the croquettes:

They were priced at 1.10 € each and were filled with chicken and cured ham:

Of course we had to try the bravas potatoes (3.75 €):

Not the most flavorful of potatoes.  Kind of a let down.

The montaditos (small sandwiches) with grilled peppers and pork loin (1.85 € each) were much better:

The baked red peppers (4.10 €) were interesting:

They came stuffed with cod puree:

We ordered "roman style" squid (6.95 €) with absolutely no clue what that meant:

Apparently "roman style" just means the squid is cut into rings.

There was a tapas of the day menu completely in Spanish.  In the spirit of being adventurous, we randomly picked a dish off the it.  We went with the "rabas de calamarcito andaluza" (5 €) and prepared to be surprised.  And we were...by how normal it turned out to be.

We thought we were being adventurous.  Instead we got fried squid...cut "andaluz style".  Which just means in strips:

Oh well.  You can never have too much fried squid.

To round out the meal, we ended with Catalonian-style cream with burnt sugar (3.75 €).  Also known as creme brulee:

Ciudad Condal is great because it's reasonably priced and tourists are expected so English will get you through.

However...tourists are expected.  So while the food is decent, it's not exactly spectacular.  Or even just great.  And while the staff are super friendly when you're at the door trying to decide whether or not to enter, their attitudes make a complete 180 once they have you in their trap and seated at a table.

I'm sure there are better tapas places in Barcelona.  Lesson of the day: don't always trust what hotel staff tell you.  Sometimes they only tell you what they think tourists want to hear.


Ciudad Condal
Rambla de Catalunya, 18
08007 Barcelona, Spain
933 181 997